Happy Birthday, Mike!

Today is Mike's 32nd Birthday! So Happy Birthday to the man in my life! We celebrated his Birthday by going out to eat at a local Mexican restaurant last night where they put a sombrero on him and smashed a pie in his face!! Yep, it was great! Luke really thought it was great! We all got a good laugh out of it. Then we went to the movies and saw Four Christmases. That was pretty funny too. Today we will be going to church and then a possible road trip to Cabella's. I'm sure it will be a mad house today with Christmas right around the corner. I don't enjoy crowds at all so it could get interesting.

I'm so happy to celebrate Mike's Birthday this year. Mike has always had a good heart and he's ALWAYS been a GREAT dad but through this last year he's been exceptional and I'm so thankful for him. Like most moms I love to see my boys together. He and Luke are about inseparable. I'm pretty sure Luke thinks that there is nothing his dad cannot do. I keep reminding Mike to enjoy it because before we know it we're going to be stupid and not know anything! :)

So today it's all about Mike!

By the way, we had a great Thanksgiving! It was busy but I loved it. Now I'm ready for Christmas. Yes, you are aloud to put up your decorations now! :) I have most of our shopping done. I just have a few more things to pick up.

News Flash!!!! I forgot to put this in my last post, my mom is engaged!! Some of you who know her may have just fallen of your seats! We're all very happy for them both. Rick is a great man and we are so glad to have him in our family!

Have a great week!

Love,
Jess

Blog Slacker :(

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted anything. That's good though. That means we're doing well, no bad news, just busy stuff.

Mike and I got away for a long weekend a few weeks ago for our little "done with chemo" celebration. We had a very nice time. We went to Holmes Co., Ohio. I am infatuated with the Amish and it's mainly an Amish area. We ate a lot and slept a lot. It was great! :)

Yesterday was the day that I would have normally started another treatment so it was pretty cool to NOT be starting one! I've been feeling pretty well. I dropped one of my meds that was for the stomach pain that I get from my chemo and I think I dropped it too soon. I've been having a lot of stomach pain. Hopefully all that will return to normal again soon. I'm just glad to be where I am now. It's a good place. I'm upright, appreciating my family more than ever, and realizing what a gift every day is.

I LOVE Thanksgiving so shame on all of you who have up your Christmas stuff (lindsay)! :) I love Christmas too but I really love Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is just so laid back. I love that. I love getting together with all of our families, eating, laying around watching football. This year we are having my mom's side over to our house for Thanksgiving and I'm really looking forward to it. I love a full house!

I am yet to do my Christmas shopping but hoping to get started real soon. Luke has a special Christmas request this year. My mom made him a blanket before he was born that is now HIS "ganky." Well, it's looking pretty bad and can't be repaired anymore. So Luke said to me that he wants ME to make him a new "ganky." I do not like to sew, but how could I turn down a request like that. So I'm going to try to do my best and bring out the domestic side! Scary.

Luke is still loving school. They did preschool pictures and they are just adorable! It just makes me smile to look at his picture. It is too cute!

Mike is staying busy too. As you know we did some work to the outside of our basement last month so now we have no front porch or landscape. It looks terrible. Supposedly they are going to be putting on the new front porch anytime. Mike tore out the old carpet in our basement and is now ready to lay the new carpet. He's very excited about it. I think he's planning on it being his "man room."

Have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Love,
Jess

Hey.

So I'm done with all my chemo treatments! I'm so thankful. My last one was awful so it really made me appreciate the thought that I won't be doing that again next month. Right now I'm trying to "wake up" and truly grasp the fact that I will not being doing chemo again in the next few months as I'm so used to. It's kind of like on your wedding day (at least for me) when you're trying to make yourself realize that "this is it, it's really here, it's my wedding day!" I feel like it hasn't sunk in yet!

This blog was started to keep everyone up to date on all that was going on with me. Then it was handed over to me and I tried to keep everyone updated too. Now that my "cancer story" seems to be done I'm going to keep the blog just as a type of journal. My hope is that one day it could be printed off for something for Luke to read and have some sort of an idea of what things were like. So since it will be a sort of journal of my life it will probably be boring and you may just want to tune out! :)

I did talk to my Dr. in Cleveland and good news! I don't have to get my blood drawn every other week anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate needles!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also I get to drop one of my prescriptions.

Mike and I are going to be going on a little trip. A sort of done with chemo get away. Nothing big just a little escape. I will update more later when we return.

Luke had his preschool Halloween party today and I was able to go and watch. It was so cute. They are just so fun right now! Tonight he will do a little trick 0 treating then tomorrow evening our church has a Halloween Outreach in the park with inflatables and of course CANDY! He is very excited! Luke has a little collection of costumes. It's no surprise to seem him sitting in the living room playing wearing a spider man costume, dinosaur costume, batman mask, or a transformer. So for his school party today he was Bumblebee (transformer), tonight for trick o treat he's going to be Optimus Prime (another transformer), and then for our church gathering he's going to be spider man. Oh-my! I thought he would be one thing but he wanted to do it this way. So, oh-well. He's having fun!

Happy Halloween.

Have a great weekend!

Jess

Last One.

I just felt the urge to share with you all that I have swallowed the last of my chemo pills about one hour ago now! It's a good but strange feeling. Mike and I have had lots of talks lately about how I will be feeling in the upcoming months. The Dr.'s told us when I started chemo that I wouldn't know when I was sick with a virus or etc. unless I took my temp because I would be so used to not feeling well. So now I'm hoping that I will soon remember what it feels like to really feel good again. I'm used to the way things are now but will be glad to feel even better yet. This treatment hit me harder than usual. We think that I may have actually had some sort of bug when I started this chemo this week but again I didn't know and never thought to take my temp.

Goodnight.

Love,
Jess

Do you want to know what I know?????

If you do, go to aaronandlindsay.blogspot.com

Slow on the update.

Sorry that I have been so slow to update. There really isn't much more to say other than it was a good report in Cleveland last week. It was a very long day as usual. We waited about two hours to see my Oncologist which hasn't been typical but it was a very busy place that day and like Mike and I said she has often spent many hours with us and never made us feel rushed so we understand if they get behind. The scan looked obviously more clear to Mike and I. Dr. Tekautz (oncologist) called Thursday to let us know that the official report was that there was some slight improvement and no areas that had changed in a negative way. She also said that if I were to go back and there were some changes in my MRI (some tumor growth) that weren't significant she may put me back on the chemo I've been doing but a different regiment since I have responded so well to this treatment. She said I would more than likely take the meds for 21 days then have 7 off but I'm not sure how long she would have me do this. If I would go back at some point and there was significant growth she said I would then more than likely have surgery again followed by radiation and more chemo. It was such a busy day and we were so anxious to get on our way home that I failed to remember to ask her a few questions like: Will I have to continue to get my bi-weekly blood draw? Can I quit taking some of my meds that were to help with some of the problems chemo was causing on my body? So after this treatment I'm going to give her a call and ask a few more questions.

I was supposed to start my last treatment tonight but due to some sort of miscommunication (as my insurance called it) my meds did not get sent out as they were supposed to and I will not get them till tomorrow. It's really not a huge deal. It frustrates me just because I'm ready to do it and just want to get it done. It's mental. This indeed in my last one. It has been just over a year since I started chemo and this treatment will be round #14. I'm glad to be at this point and it feels like some sort of accomplishment to have made it here and still feel well. I have a lot of hope at this point. I struggle with some anxiety about being done but it's just not in my control. I do not like not being in control!!!! I anticipate that my next visits to Cleveland being off treatment might come with more anxiety than those while I've been taking chemo. I guess we'll take that on when it comes.

While we were at Cleveland we looked up a fellow brain cancer patient that we knew was having his second surgery in two years. I had been connected with him and his family through Ginny. So Mike and I stopped at the Doughbox on our way and picked up some fresh cookies for his family while they waited for his surgery to be over. I was nervous that it would seem weird that we were going to go up and introduce ourselves to people we had never met not to mention they were anxiously awaiting to hear that their husband/son etc was doing well after surgery. Well we were so glad we went and found them. We went there thinking we were going to be able to do something nice/good for them but walked away from them feeling like they had done much more for us. They were so encouraging, so positive, and so uplifting. Since then the last post I read was that he is doing well maybe even better than after his first surgery. So they had good news that day and so did we.

Mike and I tend to have a good in depth discussion after we leave church. Sometimes it's because I didn't get the sermon and I (this is really embarrassing to admit) ask him what exactly they were talking about. :) Don't get me wrong. I love the church we attend and part of what I love is that they make the message (usually) so clear and easily related. As most of you who know me well know that a lot goes over my head! :) Anyways, Mike and I were talking about all that has happened in the last year and all the things leading us up to this point. It was a good talk and everything seemed so clear to us. We often struggle with not being able to have more children but we KNOW that we have been SO blessed with Luke. He brings us the most pure, sweet, innocent joy. Last Sunday when we were having one of these talks we talked so much about Luke and the timing of everything. We were for the moment able to ease some of our feelings about not having anymore. Everyday we are thankful for Luke!

Treatment will start tomorrow and I will update after that.

Have a great week!

Love,
Jess

P.S. I know something you don't know! :) I love being able to say that! HA!

PRAISES - PRAISES - PRAISES

Thank you Jesus.....the report was good today.

Mike and Jessie are headed home from Cleveland. It has been a long day and she does have a headache and might not post a blog tonight, but soon.
She will start her last round of chemo on Monday. Continue to pray, even though the chemo is not kind to her body, the last treatment also brings understandable fears.

Thanks to each of you for your prayers - they have been felt.