Surprise

Yesterday my family got a nice surprise! My Grandpa Sales and his two sisters, Aunt Brenda, and Aunt LaNelda came to visit us from Oklahoma! My Mom was very excited! My Grandpa Sales had called my Mom a few nights ago and said he was going to be here on Monday, this was already a surprise for us and we were expecting Grandma Carolyn to come with him. So when they all three showed up it was definitely a surprise, a good one too! Grandma Carolyn, we do miss you and wish you could have come with them! My Mom has been so happy since they have been here. She loves spending time with her Dad and Aunts. I'm glad that they all could come and visit. My Grandpa Sales and Aunt LaNelda have visited us in Utah before but Aunt Brenda has never been to Utah. They are all four out exploring  Logan Canyon right now.

My Dad's knee surgery went well. He came home with crutches but only used them for the first two days. He limps now but gets around fine. He has three little holes in his knee, it looks really good. He goes for his post op tomorrow. I'm guessing they will take out the stitches then.

The Pink Heals was fun. They had a pink fire truck that my Mom and I signed. The pink firemen are from Arizona and drive the pink fire trucks around the United States to bring awareness to women's cancer. Each fire truck they have is named after women in their lives. The pink fire truck that we got pictures with was named Karen. Karen was the first pink fire truck and Karen was the first person to donate money to them so they could buy their first fire truck. She had breast cancer and died shortly after her donation was made. If the pink heals ever go through any of your towns you should definitely go!

My Mom has been doing well. Her skin has gotten sunburned and blistered a little where they radiate her. She met with the Doctor yesterday and she said that her skin can probably only tolerate about 12 more treatments. This means she will be finished with radiation around the first of July! That is really soon! After radiation is all over she will then do the blood work to make sure that the Cancer is all gone! I have started to worry about this more because it's getting closer. I am sure I will be a nervous wreck when they do the blood work because it doesn't come back for two days! Let's all pray that all of the cancer is gone AND it will never ever come back! My Mom has handled the past seven months so well, I am so proud of her! She became part of a club that she didn't ask to be a part of. She really has such a positive attitude, she knows that she can't change her situation so she might as well make the best of it and she has done just that! I love her more than the whole wide world and hope to one day be half the woman that she is!

Pink Fire Truck

My Mom and I in front of the Fire truck



My Mom signing the pink truck



Quick Update

I am sitting at my Mom's work waiting on her to finish her class so we can go to the Pink Heals, I thought I could do a quick update. The Pink Heals is a bunch of pink firemen that travel around the United States to bring cancer awareness to women. They have a big pink fire truck and everything! That's all I really know about them right now, I will be able to tell you more later.

My Dad is getting knee surgery today because he has two tears in his meniscus. It should be a pretty easy surgery. Since my Mom and I are going to the Pink Heals Carson is in charge of getting my Dad to the hospital and driving him home afterwards. I will let you know how that goes. :)

We all had a GREAT weekend!!! Carson's soccer team took gold in the Special Olympics in Cedar City, he was really excited about this. My Mom and Dad had fun getting away for the weekend and enjoyed watching Carson's team play soccer and I had a blast in Las Vegas! I got to go to a Goo Goo Dolls concert and was front and center and I also got to experience the Chippendale's, also front row!!! I haven't had such a fun weekend in a long time! None of us wanted the weekend to end, it went by way too fast!

Last night we had dinner with the mammogram tech who diagnosed my Mom's cancer. Her name is Loy and she is also a long time friend of my Mom. Remember, the cancer did not show on the mammogram. Loy just thought she felt a heaviness, so she talked the radiologist into ordering the ultrasound. My Mom is very thankful for Loy. Breast cancer survivors were given a free dinner last night at Texas Roadhouse along with the pink firemen. We had a good time.

My Mom seems to be feeling better everyday. This past weekend her eyelashes and eye brows fell out a long with a couple more finger nails. We thought she had held onto her eye lashes and eye brows but for some reason they couldn't hold on any longer. She is on her third week of radiation and has been tolerating it very well so far. Her lymphedema has flared up a little more because of the radiation and that seems to bother her. The radiation has also made her chest (scars) tighter. Her nueropathy has not gone away yet, I hope it will soon. Her legs and feet swell some and ache. She also has a hard time sleeping, she has always had a hard time sleeping but now it is even harder for her to sleep at night. But overall she really is doing better!!! Her hair is taking it's sweet time growing back, it's coming along just not very fast!

Relay for Life

My Mom has started feeling a little better! She says she can actually enjoy food again because she can taste it. Her bone pain has also gotten better. Her neuropathy still hasn’t started to diminish yet. This still bugs her the most. Her fingernails are still misshaped and colored, a couple of them have fallen off within the past week. My Mom didn’t have radiation yesterday because of the holiday so today was her first day of radiation this week. She will also miss Friday because we are going to Cedar City to watch Carson play soccer in the Special Olympics. She hasn’t had too bad of side effects from the radiation yet. She feels more tired but so far nothing she can’t handle. She still has about six more weeks of radiation! My Mom has also started wearing wigs! She says she finally feels good enough she can wear them all day. She had a hard time wearing a wig all day when she didn’t feel good, a wig was just too much.

We have a fun weekend ahead of us! My Mom and Dad are going to Cedar City on Thursday to watch Carson play in the Special Olympics. My friend Shayla and I are going to follow my parents to Cedar City on Thursday and spend the night with them and then on Friday Shayla and I are going the rest of the way to Las Vegas! I feel like this is going to be a much needed vacation for us all. It will be nice to get away for a little while and try to relax. This also might be a little difficult for me because I haven’t wanted to leave my Mom’s side lately. I am a Momma’s girl for sure!!

My Mom and I have signed up for Relay for Life on July 8th in Smithfield. We are excited for this. If any of you want to join our team and you will be in town July 8th you are welcome to! We are on the Budge OB/GYN team, this is where my Mom works part time. If you can’t join and still want to help out you can donate money to our team or to my Mom’s name, who is a participant. All of the donations go to the American Cancer Society in helping to create a world with less cancer! Just click on the link below and you can join our team or donate. Thank you!

http://relay.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY11GW?fr_id=30492&pg=entry

Radiation....

Radiation started yesterday. Today was my Mom’s second day of radiation. She will do radiation Monday through Friday for about seven weeks, this means she should be finished about mid July. She will go to radiation every day on her way home from work at 3:30 it only lasts about 15 minutes a day. She said the only thing that bothered her was that she could kind of smell burning while she was laying there. When she got home she said that her sternum felt like it had been burned under the skin. On the right side of her chest where they took out all the muscle all she has left is skin and then bone. Before they radiated that spot they put a cold rag on her chest because they didn’t want the radiation to go too deep. Today they told her to come in early because they have decided to increase her margins so they need to mark her up again. They are now radiating the lymph nodes up her neck and some lymph nodes around her back. My Mom asked them why they decided to radiate more but the Radiologist Doctor doesn’t travel down here from Ogden until Monday. She was told she will meet with the doctor again on Monday. This worries me that they have now decided to radiate more of the lymph nodes. I don’t know if the doctor saw something different yesterday or what‘s going on. They won’t tell us until the Doctor meets with us. This scares me. They also told her not to take any of her vitamins until radiation is over and to put aloe vera on her skin after each radiation treatment. She will now have to put the aloe all the way up her neck and back. My fingers are crossed that the radiation will all go well!

She still has really bad neuropathy and gets sharp pains down her legs occasionally. My Mom explains her neuropathy like when your feet fall asleep and they get tingly before they wake up. This is how her feet and hands feel. She still can’t hold a pen very well unless she takes her nuerontin. If she doesn’t take the nuerontin she goes crazy because she can’t pick anything up or feel her feet well enough to walk. She trips over a lot of things and has tripped a few times going down the couple of stairs we have going into the living room. She doesn’t get hurt though! We kind of laugh after it happens. Then after we laugh she gets frustrated. I think that people think that once you are finished with chemo all the side effects go away and you are ok now. That isn’t the case. Usually the worst part of the chemo is after you are finished because then you have all eight treatments in your body. I think my Mom gets frustrated too because sometimes people think she is fine now and can do what she could do before her treatments. She is starting to feel better though, this is  a good thing. She will probably start feeling fatigued before too long. The Dr. told us about a week after her first radiation treatment is when she will start feeling the fatigue. They also told her today that since they are doing more radiation she will have more side effects, more fatigue and burn. :(

Some of our family friends, Joy and Pat, came to visit us for the weekend. My Mom really enjoyed there visit, she didn’t want them to leave! All of our family lives in Oklahoma and we haven’t had any visitors since my Mom’s diagnosis. We all had a good weekend and enjoyed the company!

Overall my Mom is doing well! She is getting better and things are starting to feel a little bit more normal again. Her hair is still prickly, it’s trying to grow back in. My Mom is excited for this, every day she asks if it looks longer. She has gotten really good at wearing the scarves over her head, she is really creative with them. She also has the cutest hats! She got the cutest Marilyn Monroe wig at the cancer center the other day. They had a make-up class and got lots of free make-up and two wigs. She looks dang cute in them! I keep telling her she needs to wear the Marilyn Monroe one. She can totally pull of any wig she wants to!

Once again thank you for all of the prayers! Yes, they are working, keep them coming!



P.S. Feel free to comment. I never know if anyone reads this so if you comment it keeps me motivated.

One Day at a Time

Today was a bit of a rough day for my Mom. When my Mom has a rough day we all have a rough day. She is still having some bone pain in her legs and hips as well as neuropathy in her hands and feet. She said her body feels like it has started chemo all over again, it could be the chemo trying to come out of her body. She was really discouraged today because she feels like at this point she will never feel better again or be able to use her hands or walk normal because of her feet. It’s hard to see my Mom sad and discouraged, especially when I know she is such a strong person, it takes a lot for her to feel down. I know it will get better, it will just take time.

This last Tuesday the 10th we had an “exiting” appointment with Dr. Ben Jacobs, the oncologist. He will not do a cancer marker test until after she has finished all of her radiation. My Mom will start taking the tomoxifen after radiation as well, this is the pill she will have to take everyday for five years. After radiation we will meet with Ben Jacobs again and he will go into more detail about the pill and the cancer marker tests.

Yesterday we went to the McKay Dee hospital in Ogden, they took CT scans of my Moms chest and tattooed her for radiation. My Dad and I couldn’t go back with her so we walked around the hospital. I have never been in such a nice hospital. They had  a fountain and a big pond outside with tables and benches. The cafeteria was huge and had every kind of food you can imagine. After exploring the hospital we went back to wait for my Mom. It took them about an hour and a half to do everything. I am not sure what all they did because I didn’t go back with my Mom. I did see her chest right after and it was marked up with red pen. The dots that they tattooed are so tiny you have to look for them. They look like tiny freckles. Radiation will start on May 23rd. She will go Monday through Friday for five to seven weeks. Hopefully the chemo side effects will subside a little before she starts the radiation. I am really hoping the radiation will be a piece of cake for her compared to the chemo.

I was thinking today how hard the year 2011 has been for my Mom and family so far. Who would have ever thought that any of this would be happening, life can change in a second, the only thing constant in our life is change. Its been about five months since my Mom was diagnosed but it feels like a lifetime ago. All I want is for my Mom to be cured and start feeling better. I know it will happen, one day at a time.

“A hero is just an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”   -Christopher Reeve

My Mom is easily my HERO.

Race for the Cure

What a GREAT weekend my Mom and I had! We walked in the 5K Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure! Neither of us have ever walked in this race before but have decided we will do it every year now. It was AMAZING!

My Mom and I stayed the night in Salt Lake on Friday night. We registered for the race Friday afternoon and walked around to the different booths that were there for the race. We got a lot of fun free stuff, and a lot of PINK! The race was held at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake, which is a big outdoor mall. After registering and walking around the booths we walked around the mall and shopped for a little while and then went to dinner at Applebee’s. We then went to the chocolate factory for desert, they have the best caramel apples, so we shared one! We then went back to the hotel to get a good night’s rest before the race the next morning.

We woke up Saturday morning about 6:15. We ate the continental breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the mall for the race. The sponsors had set up more booths and were handing out more free stuff, backpacks, key chains, hats, pins, etc. We then headed toward the starting line for the race. Salt Lake was a happening place on Saturday morning, there were over 17,000 people that had registered for the race! During the race I kept looking behind us and in front of us and was amazed at how many people there were everywhere!

After the race all of the survivors met at a place they called the pink café. It was a tent they had set up to pamper all of the survivors. Once again they were giving out more free stuff for the survivors. They had food, mini massages, flowers, and so much more. I left my Mom at the pink café because the “pampering” was only for survivors and they were getting ready for the survivor parade. The survivor parade happened after everyone was finished with the race. They put all of the survivors into different categories, my Mom was in the newly diagnosed category because she has not yet been cancer free for a year. They then had the 1 to 5 year survivors and so on. There were so many women walking in the survivor parade, it was awesome! All of the survivors then stood on the stairs and they let white doves go and then played the song “I Run for Life” by Melissa Etheridge. The energy that I felt at this time was amazing. There are so many people there that are fighting and have fought for their life. Every single one of the women that I met had such a bright and positive outlook on life and are such an inspiration to everyone! Everyone needs to be a part of this race one day!

 I didn’t want the weekend to end because I loved spending time with my Mom and being away from everything back home. It was a nice little getaway and I’m so sad it’s already over but I can’t wait to do this again next year!

Getting ready!

Start Line

Survivor Parade

My Mom and a friend she met

So many people

So many SURVIVORS

 I Run for Life

It's been years since they told her about it
The darkness her body possessed
And the scars are still there in the mirror
Every day that she gets herself dressed
Though the pain is miles and miles behind her
And the fear is now a docile beast,
If you ask her why she is still running,
She'll tell you it makes her complete

I run for hope, I run to feel
I run for the truth for all that is real
I run for your mother, your sister, your wife
I run for you and me my friend
I run life

It's a blur since they told me about it
How the darkness had taken its toll
And they cut into my skin
And they cut into my body
But they will never get a piece of my soul

And now I'm still learning a lesson
To awake when I hear the call
And if you ask me why I am still running
I'll tell you I run for her soul

I run for hope, I run to feel
I run for the truth for all that is real
I run for your mother, your sister, your wife
I run for you and me my friend
I run life

And someday if they tell you about it
If the darkness knocks on your door
Remember her, remember me
We will be running as we have before
Running for answers, running for more

I run for hope, I run to feel
I run for the truth, for all that is real
I run for your mother, your sister, your wife
I run for you and me my friend

I run for hope, I run to feel
I run for the truth, for all that is real
I run for your mother, your sister, your daughter, your wife
For you and me my friend
I run for life

I run for your mother, your sister, your wife
I run for you and me my friend
I run for life

Pictures!

I have posted some picutes from the last few months, since my Mom's diagnoses in December. We had a trip planned to Maui before my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and the Dr's told us to go! We enjoyed it and are already talking about going back.

Maui -January



Maui

Hawaii has the best shaved ice ever!!

Last day in Maui

Mom and Dad

We are Family!   January

Everyone who shaved their heads with my Mom!  - February

Shaved heads  -February

We went to Las Vegas in March for the WAC tournament.

My Mom enjoying some sun on her bald head. Don't worry, she didn't stay out long!  -April

Maui has some of the craziest trees!



My Beautiful Mom!   -February



Our hotel in Maui

Maui

My Fun Mom!   -January