Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Hi all!  So I just thought I better update you on how my mom has been doing with her hormone/chemo drugs.  She has been on Ibrance and Femara for a while now, and she has good and bad days.  She still has some side effects from her rounds of chemotherapy, but they seem to be getting better little by little.  Her hair is starting to come back, which she is really excited about!  Her blood counts seem to be doing okay.  They drop a bit here and there with her chemo pill but she has stayed clear of illness, knock on wood!  Her next PET scan is set for November 6th, so pray for good results!   My mom and my dad have also started the Livestrong program through the YMCA.  They absolutely love it!  It is an exercise program offered free to cancer patients and their spouses.  Instructors show them how to use the exercise equipment, and have a routine each day for them to do.  They have done different classes also, like spin class!  Of course my mom with metastatic cancer and dad who just had a heart attack would be doing this.  Why would they take a break? :)

It is also breast cancer awareness month, so we thought we would take a moment to remind you to Get Your Mammograms and Check Your Boobs!  :)  I'm really sorry but I am going to rant for a tiny bit...  These new guidelines drive me crazy about the new recommendation of waiting until 45 instead of 40 for mammograms.  You don't know how many lives I have seen saved from mammograms!  Every day I see people that are beating cancer because of these tests!  Since I am on a rant haha, I am going to also say a word about alternative medicine.  I think if it is someone's decision to try alternative medicine such as diet, supplements, chiropractic care, etc., that is great.  If it is what makes them comfortable and it is their own decision without influence from friends/family, that is wonderful!  However, I will just comment about the experience I have had and also the experience my mother has had.  I have worked with cancer patients for 11 years now.  I have seen SO many lives saved from the conventional methods of treatment.  My mother is living proof!  When she was diagnosed with breast cancer 18 years ago, she would not have made it without surgery/chemo/radiation.  Alternative medicine is fine, it is not for everyone however.  My mother has worked as a chemotherapy nurse for 9 years, and between her and I, let's just say her decision to choose radiation and chemotherapy as a treatment instead of diet, chiropractic care, etc. is based on what she and I have seen throughout years of working in the field.  You know what....people that eat clean DO get cancer too!  Can you believe there are some people that actually think they will be free of disease for the rest of their life because they "eat clean?!"  It is a great thing to do for your health but does not make you insusceptible to disease!  I know my mother has felt guilt and pressure from sources in her life that tell her these alternative methods of fighting cancer are the only way she will live, and that is completely unfair.  Whatever a person's decision is as to which type of treatment they choose should be supported and not questioned.  I am not saying it isn't okay to offer suggestions or share different findings, but to make someone feel guilty about their decision is not okay.  Wow that was way more than a little rant!  Sorry!  Now for the positive stuff!  My mom appreciates all of your kind words, letters, notes, calls, texts, everything she has received from all of you!  Even the comments and likes when I post this on Facebook make her day so much brighter!  Thank You!  We will keep fighting with her and encouraging her!  She has great days and bad days, but every day we have with her we cherish so much! 

So here are some fun pictures of the kiddos and my parents!  Thanks for all of your love and support!

 

Cheers for Belva!

Hi Everyone!  I am so sorry it has taken me so long for another update.  I know you all have been wondering how my mom's PET scan went!  I apologize!  Okay...a few weeks ago my mom had another PET scan.  This scan would show if there is any more uptake in any other areas of her body.  Basically, it is supposed to show if her cancer is growing in other areas of her body.  It would also show if the node in her mediastinum was still lit up or not.  A week later she met with her doctor to go over the results and......the node in her mediastinum was undetectable on the PET scan and there were really no other areas of cancer active in her body right now!  So that was GREAT news!  There was a little uptake where here pleural fluid was taken out, but her doctor wasn't worried about that.  It could have been just from the space where the fluid was before.  So now the plan is for her to start on hormone treatments.  She is on some very new drugs that are supposed to keep other spots of cancer from flaring up in her body.  Our hope is she continues on this for years until a spot will eventually light up.  We are hoping the side effects from these drugs are not too much for my mom to handle.  Her chemo treatments were VERY hard on her, and she is still trying to get feeling back in her fingers, along with a number of side effects she has had from the chemotherapy.  So far she has dealt with these side effects pretty good.  She is hoping for some hair to grow back, and for some strength back.  All in all, we are thrilled with the news from her scan and will pray that her body continues to fight the cancer that is trying to grow!  She will have scans every 3 months to make sure everything is under control.

As for my dad, he has been kicking butt too!  He has been doing cardiac rehab, which he really enjoys.  The people there are wonderful, and he brings the average age of the patients down a bit :).  Now when my mom and I go for walks, he tags along and doesn't get upset because we aren't going at his "hunting pace."  He's right with us pushing us along!  My parents have also been playing a bit of tennis when they can!

Here are a few fun pictures I have of my mom!  Her and my dad love to take the kids to the Zoo and the amusement park whenever they can!

We also had another addition to our family!  Matt and Lindsey had a healthy baby girl, Tenley!

Keeping up the Fight

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated everyone!  There has been a lot going on, so do you want the good or the bad?  Let's start with the bad....well I don't know if I would actually call it "bad", but my mom was not finished with chemo after my last post.  Her doctor called her and told her it would be best to do 2 more rounds of chemo instead of having a break.  This was quite a surprise to my mom but she of course took it head on and finished 2 more rounds.  I know a lot of people have had questions as to why-she did not have any scan, there has not been anything showing progression of her disease, none of that....it is just what the doctor thought would be best, so she has had a total of 6 rounds of chemo.  She is now Done!!!  How is she doing?  I am going to be completely honest, as she would want me to be-she does not feel well at all.  The treatments have really taken a toll on her body.  The side effects from her chemo have been awful.  Just to name a few, she has lost her taste, has lost strength in her limbs, has lost feeling in her fingers, different things like that.  Her doctor gave her an "out" for her last chemo, but of course she was not going to back down and took it like a rock star.  Please pray that she starts to feel better!  It is so hard seeing her struggle, so please pray she gains her strength back and gets through these next weeks of feeling awful!

Okay how about some good news?!  My dad feels Great!!  :)  He has been doing cardiac rehab after his heart attack, and they are letting him do any activities he feels comfortable with!  It will be a work in progress with his diet, exercise, and not over-doing things, but he is doing wonderful.  We are so thankful for that! 

We are hoping we get a break for a while now!  The plan with my mom is to have a PET scan on August 14, and then she will do some hormone treatments after she sees the doctor on August 20.  Regardless the outcome of the PET scan, she will start hormone treatments right away.  I will let you know how her scan goes.  Mom and Dad enjoyed a couple Twins games last weekend with some friends!  They have slowed down a little, but not much.  We are looking forward to enjoying what is left of summer once Mom starts feeling better!  Thanks everyone for the messages and prayers!  They mean the world to us!

Counting Our Blessings!

Well, there has been a lot happening that my family would like to update everyone on!  First of all, my mom had her 4th round of chemo.  This could possibly have been her last round, or she could receive approximately 2 more rounds of chemotherapy.  She will have a PET scan done on July 17, and that will determine if she needs to receive a few more rounds of chemotherapy or not.  If she does not need to receive more chemotherapy, she could possibly be put on a hormone drug.  This last round of chemo was pretty tough on her.  Her mouth sores were pretty bad, but they are getting better with time.  Let's just say she is ready to be done!  She is still in good spirits and running around like a mad woman!  :)

Here is a picture of her ringing the bell, as she is finished with chemo for now!  And also a picture of one of her wonderful nurses.

We also had another setback this week.  My mom asked if I would update you all on my dad, as I know many have heard and have been asking.  Last Sunday, he suffered through a heart attack.  He was outside lifting some playground equipment, and a little while after that he started to feel very nauseous and dizzy.  It was very hot out, so our first thought was he had some heat stroke.  He was with my husband, Matt, and after a short time, they decided he better head to the ER.  After doing some tests they said he was having a heart attack and was rushed to the cath lab where he had 2 stents put in.  Basically, he had blockage in 2 of his arteries that were preventing the blood flowing to and from his heart, so they tried to get through the blockage and then put a device called a stent in this area to keep the vessel open.  This was VERY scary for us.  The nurse told us if we would have waited another hour to bring him in, he would have passed away.  The type of heart attack he had usually kills people, because he didn't have direct "chest pain" or pain going down his left arm, he just had nausea and heartburn.  Most people with these symptoms just try to wait it out at home, blaming it on food they ate or something like that, which is why it kills so many people.  We are SO lucky he was smart enough to go to the ER.  We are definitely counting our blessings!  He had a rough first day, but is doing much better right now.  A lot of thoughts went through my dads mind during this, and as my brother Matt and I rode with him in the elevator right before his procedure, he could hardly talk, he was in so much pain.  But he turned to my brother Matt and said, "How is Ava?"  He is having a heart attack, and can only think about his grandkids.  We are so lucky to still have him with us.  He will need to do some rehab and take it easy for a while, but he should be okay!  Thank you all for your prayers, and please continue to pray for him and my mom!  Here is a picture of Dad reading to Mason in the hospital, along with a picture of Ava wanting to take care of Papa!

 

Whew!  It is easy for us to think, how much more can we take?!  Then I think about us all sitting in the procedure waiting room, waiting to find out how Dad is doing, and all it took was a quick phone call and my brothers, their wife and fiancé, my mom, my husband, the grandkids, everyone was there in minutes.  I think about how close we are and how many blessings we have, and I think...what's one more bump in the road?  We have each other, my parents are still with us, we have so many people praying for us, and we have God on our side.  We may have shed many tears the past few months, but we will all get through it. 

Well I will let you know how my mom's scan turns out the end of July.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your support.  My mom and dad truly appreciate everything, as does the rest of my family!  Here is one last picture of us at Relay for Life!

 

Round 3 is in the books!

Hi Everyone!  We have a lot to catch up on!  Sorry it has been a while since I have sent an update!
Mom had her third round of chemo last Thursday.  No surprises this time - her port was cooperating and her counts were good so things went as planned! This was round 3 of 4 rounds of chemo.  After round 4, they are going to wait 4-6 weeks and do another PET scan to see if the chemo has destroyed the cancer cells in her body.  If it has worked and she does not need any more chemo, they may possibly put her on a hormone pill.  Please pray that all of her treatments have been destroying her cancer cells!  She also had a chest xray done Friday to see if the fluid has come back in her lung, and it hasn't so far, so that is great news!

They didn't do her Neupogen shots (they help her blood counts stay high) with this round of chemo so hopefully that means even less side effects!  The only reason she got these shots last time was because she was worried about catching something in Cancun.  So....speaking of CANCUN!!!  I know you are all wondering how the trip went?!  :)  It was AMAZING!!!  If you followed us on Facebook you probably saw some of the things that happened, but we all had such a wonderful time.  The resort and people were SO good to us!  They made us feel so special!  Since it was my mom's 5th time there, we were treated like royalty.  The staff went the extra mile to accommodate us.  We had such wonderful food, lots of fun drinks, great entertainment, we even took a private sailboat out snorkeling!  Sorry some of these pictures I am posting have been on Facebook so they are nothing new, but I will try to post a few other ones!
Here is us out snorkeling!

Here's a few more family pics...

And guess what?!  We even had an engagement!  My brother Andy and his girlfriend Kayla are now engaged!  It was the perfect ending to our trip!

 

And here are my wonderful parents

 

My mom felt very good throughout our trip.  She was a bit tired the first day, but did very well after that!  Of course she got up every morning to play tennis (crazy woman), and even if she was tired or not feeling well we did not hear about it.  We made such wonderful memories that will last us the rest of our lives.  We are not sure what is ahead of us, but this trip confirmed that we can get through anything together.  We are a VERY close family, and that is 100% because of my parents.  They set such an example for all of us of what unconditional love is for your family.  Please pray that Mom will be able to get through her last 2 treatments and that her chemotherapy has been working so she does not have to take any more chemo treatments!  Thank you all for your love, support and prayers.  They mean so, so much to all of us!

On To Round 2!

Today was Mom's second chemo.  Her doctor's plan was to skip the Neulasta this time (the shot that gave her such bad bone aches).  Mom was worried about her counts being low but the doctor said there was a different shot they could give her if they were low.  She had bloodwork before her chemo today, and her counts were actually pretty low.  They were 0.1 above the cutoff level for not being able to receive her chemotherapy, so she was still able to receive her chemotherapy.  They decided to also give her Neupogen shots on Friday, Monday and Tuesday.  This is a shot similar to Neulasta but with hopefully less side effects.  The shot is intended to help her body so her blood counts don't get too low.  So we got past that little hurdle and then there was another one!  Her port had turned around in her chest!  The nurse tried to stick a needle in her port to give her chemotherapy, and it had turned backwards, so she was hitting the back of it.  They had to call someone to come flip it so the nurses could access it.  That was not a fun process for my mom-very painful.  But after a few tries they were able to flip it, and mom was able to receive her chemotherapy!  What a morning!  Whew!!
She goes in for fluids tomorrow to help her keep hydrated.  They are also planning on doing another surgery after we get back from our trip to make sure her port stays the way it is supposed to.  For those that don't know, instead of getting poked in the arm with an IV to receive her chemotherapy every time, they insert this device into her upper chest, right below her clavicle, that hooks onto a vessel that delivers her chemotherapy throughout her body.

So of course mom did great with her treatment, had smiles the whole time despite the few setbacks, and she had wonderful nurses which we are so thankful for!  If you all could please say some prayers that her body handles this round of chemotherapy better than the last that would be great!  Last round was pretty hard on her, so we are hoping that she will feel better this time!

Also, please pray that she feels well enough to enjoy our trip to Cancun!  We leave in 9 days whoo hoo!!!  I just hope she feels good enough to enjoy it.  She is pretty nervous about how she will feel and how her blood counts will be when she is down there, so we are hoping for the best!  My whole family is going minus the babies, we are lucky enough to have some great in-laws that are taking wonderful care of them so we can enjoy time with our mom!

So mom's hair took a hike this week!  She gave me permission to post this picture.  Of course my Dad had to join her in the fun of shaving their heads!  She is the most beautiful person I have ever seen.  I don't think there is a need for her to cover up her beautiful head with wigs and scarves, she is so beautiful the way she is!  Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers!! 

First chemo treatment in the books

Well, mom survived her first chemo treatment.  It is hard for me to describe how the week went, but I can tell you it was awful.  The first day or so was not bad, and then it hit.  My mom was completely wiped out and had horrible side effects to her chemotherapy.  The worst part of it was the Neulasta injection she received the day after her chemotherapy.  This shot is given to make her body produce more white blood cells, which are low after receiving chemotherapy.  This helps her to have good counts once her second cycle of chemotherapy comes along, reducing delays in treatment because of low blood counts.  The main side effect of this drug is severe bone pain, and boy did she have it!  She described it as "when you have the flu and your bones hurt, times 100".  She could not even wash her hair for a few days because her head hurt so bad-every part of her body was in pain.  This was awful to see.  I know I have mentioned she is the strongest woman I know, but I can't imagine how much pain she was actually in.  After that got better, it was just the normal side effects to chemo, such as nausea, mouth sores, stomach issues, loss of taste, things like that.  Everything tastes like cardboard to her.  So yeah these chemotherapy treatments are no fun!  But her energy is slowly returning.  Despite feeling awful, she had a good attitude, thinking 'tomorrow will be a better day' even though that was usually not the case. We are so grateful to hear from all of you and to know you are all praying for her!  Please pray that her body will handle the next round of chemo better!

How about some fun news?!  So when we first found out that mom's cancer had come back, we made a decision.  Every year my parents go down to Cancun with their friends, Rick and Linda Tofte.  They always come back and say one year our whole family is going to go.  It has been my mom's dream to have all of us down there with them.  So when she found out her cancer had come back, she said no more waiting around, we are doing this!  We booked a trip to Cancun in May!  (21 days until we leave but who's counting...)  So that has given my mom something to look forward to!  It will be great for our family to have some time together without the business of everyday life.  We leave 9 days after her next chemo treatment, so she should be feeling better.  Yay!  Can't wait to tell you all about our trip!

I again want to thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, messages, everything!  She has so much support from family and friends and enjoys hearing from each of you.  Even if you don't know her that well, the messages she reads truly helps her through!  Love you all!

Matt and Lindsey's daughter, Ava, turned 2 on Friday!  We are so thankful we were all able to spend it together!