Last Saturday we had the pleasure of celebrating Madison’s bridal shower at Cooper’s Hawk Winery in Orlando. We are less then a month a away from the big day and so excited that mom will be officiating Madison’s ceremony! My mom was in great spirits and was able to spend time with two of her dear friends- Faith and Jenny :). A big thank you to everyone that attended!
During Mom’s last Dr. appointment they discussed Genomic Testing as an option. This testing will allow doctors a window information including:
At the time I write this, we don’t have a scheduled appointment just yet but it’s coming very soon. I’ll post more info as it comes along!
It’s amazing how every year life can be so different. Last Easter we couldn’t celebrate with Mom. She was very sick from her first 2 rounds of Chemo. A year later, she is in the process of moving. So our family decided to spend the holiday together with tons of food (of course) and help my parents pack up their house. We had 16 people doing a variety of tasks.. cooking, wrapping up glasses, putting together moving boxes, etc.. and in the middle of that, my children had some normalcy with decorating eggs and eating traditional Easter food. It’s going to be an interesting few weeks as my parents transition from their home of 26 years to their lovely new townhome a mile away.
Thank you to everyone who joined us that day. It made a huge difference for my parents.
I’ve lost track. I’m sure if I asked Mom right now it would be number ’36’ or something… Mom has sustained almost a year of chemotherapy. I cannot imagine one dose let alone almost 12 months.
Right now her current path is to continue her Wednesday treatments (3 weeks in a row with 1 week) off until May. With Madison’s wedding coming up and that she will be officiating it, Dr. Zakari is allowing her to get off the treatment for 2 weeks prior to the wedding. Once that happens we don’t know the next steps.
Mom is an absolute fighter! I remind myself of this all the time. When I have a headache, or tired or simply struggle through a workout, I stop and remind remind myself I’m not fighting a battle like she is.
I’ve honestly lost track of how many treatments mom has had until she texted me this morning! 🙂
Yes, she has now completed round 26 as of yesterday (March 7th). This one apparently has really knocked her down and she’s absolutely exhausted. On top of the Chemo, my parents are in the middle of selling their house, moving over the next few weeks AND we are getting ready for Madison’s wedding in May. It’s been very busy here for our family both stressful and exciting at the same time!
Mom needs to complete 34 rounds of Chemo before we decide on the next venture in treatment. We did meet with Dr. Zakari this past Monday (March 5th) and it was determined that although the tumors are not shrinking right now, the cancer cells inside them appear to be fading. That was positive news. Dr. Zakari is pleased with the current progress and we are all trying to remain positive and strong.
Last week Mom received news that her cell count is increasing to over 500. This wasn’t the news we wanted to hear. Yesterday she had a CAT scan to determine if and where it may be spreading.
We do know they want her to do a total of 9 rounds of her current Chemo. This would put her through the end of April. Today, she is currently getting her next treatment.
Please do keep her and my dad in your thoughts as we go through another possible direction in treatment. I’ll try to update as soon as possible.
Mom had a doctor’s appointment today. At this point she needs to go through 9 more treatments of the current Chemo. This means 3 weeks straight of Chemo, 1 week off, 3 weeks again.. etc. This means no rest until the end of April. By the time this is done, she will have endured a year of Chemo. For anyone complaining about their life, put that into perspective.
She had blood work to determine how her cell count (cancer cells) are doing. We are all hoping for good results. If the numbers are going down, then we are going in the right direction. If they are not, well we need to then look at other options. We should receive results in the next few days.. Please have good, positive thoughts for my mom this week.
Most of you know I am a runner.. Typically I run at least 1 half marathon a year. This year for 2018 I have joined the Project Purple race team and will be running the Detroit Half Marathon this October.
As part of the team, I am raising awareness and will be posting updates throughout the year regarding this charity as well as my training.. and of course being that I am running in October my training will start in the ‘best’ time of year in Florida… August.
Please consider donating what you can. Every bit goes to Project Purple and raising awareness for Pancreatic Cancer.
Here are some photos from Christmas 2017. Mom was in good spirits Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was great to have everyone together laughing and enjoying this special time together!
As we approach the holidays this year, Mom has been trying to spend time with her former staff at Bank of America and family as much as possible. This past Tuesday they drove down to Port St. Lucie to visit two of her sisters; Ines and Linda and her nieces Carla & Tina. Tina is also fighting brain cancer and the two of them together were just absolutely strong and amazing. When everyone else is thinking about the stress of holiday shopping, cooking and life in general, take a minute to reflect on your health and family.
