The very same week as the Taylor Swift concert, we were given tickets to see Michael Buble. Thank you, Minnesota Wild and The Angel Foundation for great seats and a great show!
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| Great seats! |
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| Recycled hearts from Taylor's concert. Yeah!!! |
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Monday, September 9, 2013
PET/CT scans
All three girls started school: Natalie 8th grade, Larissa 3rd grade, Olivia preschool.
My PET and CT scans showed no new growth, and the tumor is slightly smaller. The tumor is moving in the right direction and Dr. Laudi likes that it gives us a visual marker to see how this chemo is working. The plan is to stay on this chemo and do another scan in 8 weeks.
My PET and CT scans showed no new growth, and the tumor is slightly smaller. The tumor is moving in the right direction and Dr. Laudi likes that it gives us a visual marker to see how this chemo is working. The plan is to stay on this chemo and do another scan in 8 weeks.
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| Olivia's pocket is full of candy |
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Taylor Swift
As a early Christmas present, my mom gifted me, Mark, Natalie, Larissa, Amy and Coral with tickets to the Taylor Swift Red Concert with Ed Sheeran!
We had so much fun! Taylor put on a great show! It was awesome to see Ed again! This was a night we will not soon forget.
Before the show.
Ed Sheeran!
Larissa, Amy, Coral, Natalie, and me.
Thanks, Mom!
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Rose Island
While in the Bahamas, we took a catamaran snorkeling tour- a half day trip to snorkel off the coast of the wild and uninhabited Rose Island. We could choose our adventure: Either be dropped off on the island to explore or stay on the boat to snorkel the reef. Larissa wanted to check out the island. Mark and Natalie wanted to snorkel. So, Larissa and myself along with a couple from Europe and a girl from Asia got off the boat...
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| Flying Cloud Catamaran |
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| Waving goodbye |
Larissa and I walked along the beach, our bare feet in the sand, collecting seashells. We snorkeled off the shore, visiting interesting fish and finding more sea shells. Back on the island, we built a Junk Castle, using things we found along the beach. Before we knew it- it was time to go. We left with a bag of sand and shells.
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| A window to the world... |
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| A door to paradise...
Mark and Natalie took turns jumping off the boat and snorkeling.
Here are a few of the fish they met. |
Beautiful, peaceful family day!
Vacation 2013
Months ago, as we started planning our family vacation, we listed all the places we dreamed of going. We looked at our budget. We researched flights and hotels.... We noticed each of us kept talking about how much fun we had last year.... so, we decided to go back to the Bahamas. This time, we decided to take only Natalie and Larissa, so we could spend some time doing things and relaxing with them. We looked at the calendar, counting out the chemo dates to pick the best time. I talked to my sister, Amy, about watching Olivia for the week... A month after booking the tickets, we learned that my cancer was back and we made plans to start the new chemo, NK-102.
Olivia was overjoyed to be spending a week with "My Amy" and her cousins, Coral, Phoenix and Terran. The week before we left, we started packing and Olivia would pack a new bag every day and ask many times if this was the day she was going to "my Amy's" house? August 26th came quickly. With Olivia safely in 'her' Amy's care, we headed to the Bahamas.
Olivia was overjoyed to be spending a week with "My Amy" and her cousins, Coral, Phoenix and Terran. The week before we left, we started packing and Olivia would pack a new bag every day and ask many times if this was the day she was going to "my Amy's" house? August 26th came quickly. With Olivia safely in 'her' Amy's care, we headed to the Bahamas.
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| Bucket list: Limo ride. Check! |
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| The Atlantis resort in the evening. |
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| Spend most days floating together in tubes. |
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| Snorkeling and swimming. |
Wish you were here...
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Remembering August 29, 2009. Four years ago today...
I still remember every small thing about that August morning in 2009.
I struggled to put on my jeans and shoes for work. I left our house 15 minutes early, so I could stop and pick up a treat for work. I kissed my kids and my hubby goodbye... one last time... before my world turned upside down.
I drove down 35W toward Minneapolis and the Mat Kearney song, "Closer to Love" started playing:
"She got the call today,
one out of the gray
and when the smoke cleared
it took her breath away..."
My cell phone rang. I glanced at the screen, but did not recognize the number coming through at 0748 on a Saturday morning. Didn't know this was the phone call that would put months and months of doctor visits and pain med prescriptions and the scrutinizing of everything from my lifting techniques to the tightness of my pants- all to rest. This phone call held the explanation of my months of back pain. I remember the doctor on the phone telling me he was on-call and the results of the MRI I had on Friday ended up on his desk and they were right in front of him. He asked me if I was driving? He asked me to pull over. He waited. He told me he had no answers for me, but my MRI showed tumors- some very large- in every single bone on my MRI. He had read my last clinic note, where the doctor suggested to me I was seeking pain medication and he would not give me any more. His summary note of that visit must have said the same thing, because this doctor said he was very, very concerned that I was in a lot of pain and needed pain medication...
Stage 4 Breast Cancer. Most people look at that diagnosis as a death sentence. Life itself is a death sentence, if you think about it. The way I saw it, I could stop and resist or I could choose to view cancer as a teacher and keep living... with cancer. Once the radiation worked to shrink the tumors- pressing into my spinal cord- the pain lessened and I felt better.
I feel so much better today than I did on that day in August, 4 years ago.
Through fear and pain and acceptance and hope, cancer taught me about life. Cancer showed me what really matters. It showed me who I am and what I am made of. Cancer also gave me many gifts...
the most precious gift was Olivia Joy.
Cancer showed me the meaning of community and friendship and family. Cancer humbled me as people reached out to me and my family and touched us with hopeful thoughts and healing prayers, meals, giftcards, money, support,... and our friend, Becky, hosted a wonderful benefit for me. I am grateful for every moment of my life, for all the joy I have been given. Cancer is a firm, blunt, brutal, hard teacher, but cancer is a wise teacher.
I may not know how or when death will come for me- none of us do- but I choose to live my life.... without an expiration date.
I struggled to put on my jeans and shoes for work. I left our house 15 minutes early, so I could stop and pick up a treat for work. I kissed my kids and my hubby goodbye... one last time... before my world turned upside down.
I drove down 35W toward Minneapolis and the Mat Kearney song, "Closer to Love" started playing:
"She got the call today,
one out of the gray
and when the smoke cleared
it took her breath away..."
My cell phone rang. I glanced at the screen, but did not recognize the number coming through at 0748 on a Saturday morning. Didn't know this was the phone call that would put months and months of doctor visits and pain med prescriptions and the scrutinizing of everything from my lifting techniques to the tightness of my pants- all to rest. This phone call held the explanation of my months of back pain. I remember the doctor on the phone telling me he was on-call and the results of the MRI I had on Friday ended up on his desk and they were right in front of him. He asked me if I was driving? He asked me to pull over. He waited. He told me he had no answers for me, but my MRI showed tumors- some very large- in every single bone on my MRI. He had read my last clinic note, where the doctor suggested to me I was seeking pain medication and he would not give me any more. His summary note of that visit must have said the same thing, because this doctor said he was very, very concerned that I was in a lot of pain and needed pain medication...
Stage 4 Breast Cancer. Most people look at that diagnosis as a death sentence. Life itself is a death sentence, if you think about it. The way I saw it, I could stop and resist or I could choose to view cancer as a teacher and keep living... with cancer. Once the radiation worked to shrink the tumors- pressing into my spinal cord- the pain lessened and I felt better.
I feel so much better today than I did on that day in August, 4 years ago.
Through fear and pain and acceptance and hope, cancer taught me about life. Cancer showed me what really matters. It showed me who I am and what I am made of. Cancer also gave me many gifts...
the most precious gift was Olivia Joy.
Cancer showed me the meaning of community and friendship and family. Cancer humbled me as people reached out to me and my family and touched us with hopeful thoughts and healing prayers, meals, giftcards, money, support,... and our friend, Becky, hosted a wonderful benefit for me. I am grateful for every moment of my life, for all the joy I have been given. Cancer is a firm, blunt, brutal, hard teacher, but cancer is a wise teacher.
I may not know how or when death will come for me- none of us do- but I choose to live my life.... without an expiration date. Sunday, August 25, 2013
Vacation
It is never easy to plan a vacation for a family of five. Summer makes it somewhat easier to plan for the kids between soccer and camps, but when Mom has cancer a vacation has to be scheduled around chemo and labs and trying to just figure out when I will feel ok.
From my Bucket List (in my head) I wanted to take my kids to the ocean and see them play in the sand and water. We planned a trip to Nassau, Bahamas. Here are some of our photos from our trip in the Summer of 2012.
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| Early morning flight |
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| Bahamas 2012 |
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| My little fishes |
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| My family ( matching haircuts) This week we are back on vacation again in Nassau, Bahamas. So we could spend some fun time with Natalie and Larissa, Olivia is spending time with Aunt Amy and Amore is at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I finished my 5th round of NKTR-102 on August 12, 2013. I will be getting a PET/CT scan when I return. Your thoughts and prayers will be greatly appreciated! |
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