First chemo treatment update

Good day!   Four days after my first chemo treatment and I'm so grateful that the side effects have been minimal and nothing unbearable at this point.  Mainly fatigue, headache, mouth is sore, some tummy issues, but all in all feeling pretty good.  

Thankful that Lacks offered the chemo training class and went over the possibilities of the many side effects, as well as gave a tour of the chemo room.  Thanks to my sister, Kim, and my good friend, Sandi, for taking me. The day of my training/tour, it was an exceptionally busy - "standing room only" in the chemo room and I was hit with an unexpected wave of sadness and had a mini meltdown.  I had to leave the room quickly and felt bad and hoped that none of the other cancer patients saw me crying.  It was the reality of the next phase of this journey where I would eventually lose my hair and look "sick" and not be able to deny that I was battling cancer.  I had a week where I continually prayed for God to not only give me peace, but to continue to use Jon and I to offer light, healing, hope, laughter and mostly love to everyone that we came in contact with for each chemo treatment.  I woke up Friday morning and had my quiet time and this was my daily devotion:

"Trust Me and don't be afraid, for I am your Strength and Song.  Think what it means to have Me as your Strength.  I spoke the universe into existence; My power is absolutely unlimited.  Human weakness, consecrated to Me, is like a magnet, drawing My Power into you.  Instead of  trying to fight your fears, concentrate on trusting Me.  When you relate to Me in confident trust, there is no limit to how much I can strengthen you.

Remember that I am also your Song.  I want you to share My Joy, living in conscious awareness of My Presence.  Rejoice as we journey together toward heaven; join Me in singing My Song".  

God is so faithful and His timing is ALWAYS perfect!


When you first arrive at Lacks,  you check in and then you're called back for blood work, then a brief visit with the oncologist to make sure your blood work looks good and in the meantime, the pharmacy (located outside of the chemo room) is mixing your custom chemo concoction.  My treatment is two kinds of chemo medicines, Taxotere & Cytoxan.  There are three sections to the chemo room ~ private rooms (first come basis), Lounge area with refrig./microwave, T.V., work space area and then the main room has leather recliners with a chair for your guest.  You're assigned to your nurse and mine happened to be Sara, who thanks to our dear friend Kris Grek, who works at Lacks, hand picked Sara and told her about Jon and I before our first treatment and Kris shared with us that she was a tall, country girl that was fun and sarcastic and that we would be a good fit.  It was a perfect match!  We had to be in the main room for our first time since they want to keep a close eye on you.  We picked a recliner next to the window.  Next Sara accessed my port (located below my clavicle on my right side) and put the first IV with anti-nausea medicine then followed with my two chemo meds.  The whole process was about six hours.  During our time, we met three other chemo peeps with their partner/guest.  The first person that we met was a woman that was probably in her late 60's who sat next to us and asked me  "what I was in for?"  We thought that was kind of funny. She was super sweet and she shared that she had Stage 4 Ovarian cancer.  She later moved to a private room that became available and sent our nurse a message that Jon and I could join her and her husband back in the private room.  The next person we met was a gentlemen from GR who was also in his 60's and shared that he had tonsil cancer.  He was actually done with his chemo/radiation treatments, but was there because he was dehydrated and they were replenishing his fluids.  They were boaters so it was fun getting to know him and his wife.  Another gentlemen had throat cancer and was in his mid 50's and we were bantering with his wife who was sportin' a U of M sweatshirt. There were many more beautiful people visiting with their guest and walking freely around accompanying their IV pole.  There was actually a sense of community in the room.  If there is one thing that can build community, it's vulnerability.  We were also visited by a sweet doggie, Chaz and
his handler, a lovely volunteer Irene. They made the chemo room as comfortable as possible;  warm colors, lots of windows over a beautiful court yard and tan leather recliners.  Jon and I packed a picnic with lots of healthy snacks in our new lunch cooler from our dear friend Janet...thank you! We had many laughs, smiles, and felt grateful...we envisioned that the chemo meds were like the Pac Man game where they were eating all the "bad" cells and the "good" cells were escaping (thanks for that visual Bonnie!).

Let's do this!



My new hat! Thanks to the people who volunteer to make them!

Shout out to Chaz and Irene! Thanks for visiting!!

Here,  I am actually getting the chemo....and 1 down!!

Within 24 hours of your chemo treatment, you go back for a shot ~ Neulasta (given in the arm or belly) which raises your white blood cell count.  Typically, the side effects with this medicine is 7 days after the shot where you may experience bone/muscle pain.

Belly Shot! 



I have four cycles of chemo treatments with three weeks in between each treatment.  With treatments, follow-up shot, two weekly visits from home health care nurse, two weekly visits from physical therapy for lymphatic cording syndrome exercises/massages, "fill" for right expander every three weeks, blood work in between chemo treatments, my schedule still remains pretty busy.

The CAT-SCAN for the spot on the liver, has been rescheduled for this Wednesday at 1:00 p.m.  Please pray that it is just a cyst or even better, that it's completely gone.

We finally received the results from the genetic testing from Cleveland Clinic...major praises ~ negative for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation testing!

Thank you so much for your support, encouragement, cards/text/messages/calls, Zumba video tribute, gifts, dinners, love and prayers!  You continue to give us additional strength, hope and peace!

Thank you Tirza and the Zumba peeps for the

 amazing "Overcomer" video tribute and card!!!!

So incredibly thankful that I'm feeling up for a light workout with my incredibly handsome husband/workout partner!

We love you!  God Bless....xoxoxo

Jen, Jon & family

Back in the battle!

First, happy St Patty's Day from Lack's Cancer Center!!!





This is Jon, by the way.

Well, after GI Jen was sidetracked for a couple weeks, due to an infection, she has healed nicely and is ready to re-enter the battle.




Today she had her "port" installed where they will administer the chemo. Her first chemo is this coming Friday, the 21st. Ever wonder what a port looks like? I did! I thought it would be like a funnel hanging out of her....a perfect place to administer a pint of Guinness later! Not quite. :-) Here is a port:
Hey, what is that blingy thing in the background?? Did I mention that we got married two days ago?







Ok, back to the port. Here is what the port looks like installed (just keepin' it real):





Jen is sleeping right now and doing great.

As always, thank you all for your support, concerns, and most importantly, your prayers.

Prayer requests:

No more infections.

Quick healing for this latest surgery.

Peace and comfort in the Lord's strength for Jen as she approaches chemo on Friday.

Peace and comfort to McCulla, Macie, and the rest of Jen's close family and friends as this battle enters another chapter.

Thank you again for everything.

God Speed!!

Jon

Update, prayer request, praises!

Good Afternoon!  Hope you're having a beautiful weekend!

Thank you for the support, love & prayers through the last obstacle. I've had a week to rest and recover from my expander infection surgery.  Grateful that we made the decision to remove the expander since the infection was the "tough" bug.  I continue to take an antibiotic and each day feel better and stronger ~ thank you God.  Thank you to my incredible partner Jon, for being right there by my side and giving such great updates, bringing me so much humor, love and strength and for making the sacrifice to support me while missing the biggest yearly event for his company.  He is such a Godly man and I'm so grateful God brought him into my life!  I'm back to "creative attire" with the "return of the grenade".  I have two appointments this week at Lack's Cancer Center in Grand Rapids.  Tomorrow, it's bye, bye to the grenade/drain tube and Tuesday, chemo101 training class.  The following week,  Monday, March 17, I have outpatient surgery to insert my port for chemo and then my first chemo treatment on Friday, March 21.   I look at the chemo as my next phase/obstacle for my Gi-Jen journey.  I'm thankful that Lack's offers a class that informs their patients on what to expect with everything associated with the chemo treatments.

On a side note, I am thankful for the drugs that helped reduce my pain last week, but on the other hand, I was pretty much in la la land! So, if you received a text, email, or FB message from me that made NO sense, whatsoever, please extend a little grace! ;-) It's pretty bad when I have to read my own blog to see what I went through last week!

This past week, my beautiful and amazing Aunt Barb lost the battle to cancer at age 80.  Yesterday, we were able to celebrate her life and her legacy.  I'm grateful for the Godly example, influence and impact that she's made in my life.  She was sweet, tender-hearted, thoughtful, generous, loving and always looked for opportunities to share her faith.  When people ask me how I can remain positive and strong, I too have the opportunity to share where my source of comfort, joy, peace, and strength come from and that is my relationship with my Heavenly Father.  The doctor said I was "brave" for making the decision to having the expander surgery ~ We (Jon/I) can't take credit for that, God helped us with that decision.  He makes you brave/strong!  My aunt will be deeply missed, but I know she is rejoicing in Heaven and one day we will be reunited!  Until then, I will embrace this season of my life and pray that I have more opportunities to share my faith and pray that I can be half the example that my aunt Barb was through her cancer journey/life!

My beautiful Aunt Barb:

"She leaves behind a legacy of a selfless service, a firm faith, and a steadfast love for The Lord"

 



Prayer Request:

*     Appt. on Monday goes well and that I'm healing as I should be.

*     Port Appt. goes smoothly.

*     Chemo training gives me additional wisdom, peace and understanding.

*     Chemo treatment fights off any other bad cells in my body and side effects are minimal.

*     Results from genetic testing, from CClinic, are negative (should have results by the end of the week).

*     The spot on my liver is in fact, just a cyst (ultrasound will be rescheduled after I'm done with my antibiotics).

*     Jon/kids - that they remain strong and peaceful through this journey.

*     Prayers that God continues to use me and my story.

Again, we can't thank you enough for the outpouring of love, support, encouragement and prayers!!!! The dinners, cards, text messages, FB messages, flowers....we are so blessed to have such an army of supporters!

We love you!  Have a great day ~ SHINE ON beautiful people!  Life is good!  God is GREAT!

Jen, Jon & Children

Richly Blessed

Wow, good morning sunshine and Monday . Thank you God! I will be released later this afternoon from Lacks and I feel so much better now that the nasty infection has been dealt with and pain level is manageable. The nurses, staff, resident...s, doctors and level of care that I've received has been EXCEPTIONAL! It brings me so much comfort and peace knowing that the remainder of my procedures/journey will be done here. I maybe leaving with one less temporary breast and in a matter of time, losing my hair, but what I'm discovering more & more through this journey is that these are all relatively minor things in the "big picture". What can't be taken away, is my love for my Heavenly Father. Today, I'm so thankful for a God that resides in my heart and is holding my hand and giving me so much peace, strength, courage and ALL of you who have shown so much love & support! I am richly blessed with so much JOY, LOVE & GRATITUDE! Thank you!!

 

 

And off she goes

GI-Jen just got wheeled into surgery (removing expander and cleaning up infected area in her left breast). She was very at peace with this and looking forward to having the pain and infection removed. She will be out of surgery and back in her room at about 5:45 pm Eastern time.

Ya, she's got this.

As always, we cannot thank you all enough for your prayers, love and support.

Love Jon

I've Got This (God)

Good morning and happy Sunday! After lots of prayer and counsel from a team of wonderful doctors, we have decided to move forward with surgery that will take place today between 12-3 p.m.. I am at complete peace with this decision and ready to conquer this next obstacle! Thank you so much for your love, encouragement and ongoing prayers! Have a super Sunday! Thank you! Xoxoxo

 

 

God's Plan Over Our Plan

What a roller coaster this has been. It is Saturday night and we are still at Lack's Cancer Center.

So, we have been praying to keep the expander. Even though all signs have been pointing toward removing the expander, we just couldn't see them. I think God can have a funny way of tapping us on one shoulder to get us to go His direction, while we keep trying to go our own. If Jennifer keeps the expander, there is always a "chance" the infection can come back even weeks down the road. It would not be good if this happen, while undergoing chemo, which already decreases white blood cells. A couple of doctors here made such a big deal (I think for righteous reasons) about not wanting to lose the expander, we thought we should be fighting for it. After processing many conversations with different doctors, and praying about it, we have come to the conclusion that it makes the most sense to have it removed. 1) It is only cosmetic. 2) They can completely rid the area of all infection once it is out so Jen's body can heal and be strong for her chemo. 3) In 6-8 months, they can start the reconstruction process over with a clean slate with the same result. 4) Her pain will go away much quicker. The only downside we can see to removing it is that it puts her reconstruction behind 6-8 months, but the risk just isn't worth it, not to mention she has the whole 2nd half of her awesome life ahead of her! What's 6-8 months?? Thank you God for tapping our shoulder a little harder!

So, that is the decision we have made. She goes into surgery tomorrow morning.

Ok, even with that all going on, we still have a little fun:

Jen received some beautiful flowers from the Stockbridge family

McCulla giving her award speech on the 5th floor!

 

 

Ok, this was kind of funny. McCulla wanted to spend the night. The night nurse (good nurse, but very strict) asked me how old McCulla is. I told her 15. She said she can't spend the night unless I do too because she is under 16. Well, we made a new me, I threw on my coat and snuck past the nurses station. :-)

 

Jen has an over night guest, McCulla!

 

 





Here are our latest prayer requests:

1) Removing the expander is the right decision. 

2) That Jen, the doctors and nurses will have a simple, uneventful surgery with zero complications. 

3) That Jen's pain will leave her body quickly, along with the expander, and that she will heal quickly. 

4) That Jennifer is at peace with this decision and gets a good nights sleep tonight (she's zonked now!).
 

I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out here. We're all pretty tired. Thankful to see McCulla (who is spending the night here tonight with her mom), Laura, Jamie, Mike and Sandy today. Also, as always, thankful for all of your prayers and loving support. 

Godspeed to GI Jen!!

Love Jen, Jon, McCulla and the rest of the clan. :-)