Relay for Life

I have had 4 days of radiation and all is going well. They have marked my left chest with target looking markings in permanent ink. I go in every day except Sat. and Sun. I just go in and put on a lovely hospital gown and they take me to a big x-ray room. I lay on the table and be real still! This big x-ray machine zaps me from the top then it travels down below me and zaps me from my back then it comes around to my side and zaps me again. All this takes about 5 - 8 minutes and then I'm through. I don't feel any different yet - although I am so tired already. I guess the going into Ft. Worth every day is going to tire me out. I saw the dr. today and he showed me some pictures of the areas that the radiation is hitting. Pretty interesting.

I am definitely having a team at the Relay for Life here in Azle on April 24th. The name of my team is just like my blogspot - Joyce's Journey. So far I have about 28 team members! We are going to have such a fun night. We are working on fund raiser ideas right now. If you are interested in making a donation to the American Cancer Society under my team name - just go to www.relayforlife.org/azletx and go to Joyce's Journey. The theme of the whole relay in Azle this year is the silver screen so I picked Mamma Mia for the theme for my team. Now we just have to come up with decorations and stuff to go with that.
I still say that I could not have made it through all the mental and physical troubles I have gone through if it hadn't been for my wonderful support team. Ronnie has been the greatest caregiver anyone could ask for! My children have been with me every moment providing me with anything I ask for. My friends have called all the time to check on me and been the greatest chauffeurs! I don't know how people handle all this without support! Most of all, though, is the power of all the prayers that have been said on my behalf. I know that the prayers are what gave me the inner strength to keep thinking positive when I felt so bad. I remember around Thanksgiving time telling the girls that I wished I could just close my eyes and wake up and it was after Christmas already. Those were the worst days of my chemo treatments. But here I am - way past Christmas and I'm still here and positive that all will be well. God is good - He heard my pleas and the prayers of others and got me to this point, of this I'm sure!
My cousin Calva started her radiation treatments on Monday. Keep praying that she will sail through these also. My other cousin , Janice, will have surgery tomorrow(Thursday) and have the spot on her kidney biopsied and frozen. I pray that it is nothing more than a cyst. I'll keep you posted.
Love you all!
Joyce

Wonderful news!

Yes, I got wonderful news yesterday. I had a pet scan done last Thursday and I went to see Dr. Sorgen(the radiation oncologist) yesterday and he told me the scan did not show any new cancers anywhere. Yeah! I am going to start my radiation treatments tomorrow ( Wednesday) . They will last for 6 weeks - 5 days a week. As of right now, I will be going at 4:30 every day. It just so happens that my cousin Calva is going to be starting her radiation tomorrow also! She has recovered from her brain surgery very well. She thanks everyone for all the prayers ( as do I)
My other cousin, Janice, will be having kidney surgery on Feb. 12th in Arlington. They are going to do laproscopic surgery and biopsy a small spot she has on her kidney then freeze the remaining spot. Pray that this is not malignant but only a cyst of some sort.
I am working on the planning of my booth for the Relay for Life here in Azle on April 24th and 25th. I am excited for all the participation so far and know it is going to be a fun night. I am trying to get in touch with the guy to make us t-shirts so everyone on the team will have matching shirts for the evening. We are also trying to come up with the best ideas for fundraisers. We had to choose a movie theme for our booth, so I chose Mamma Mia. Got to come up with decorating ideas now. My mind is whirring!
In case you didn't know - Starla lost a baby a couple of weeks ago. She was about 2 months along and the fetus just quit growing. The same thing happened last year at this time so the dr. is working on figuring out what is happening. She is doing fine. Also, the day after she found out that she lost the baby - Aaron got laid off from his job! Double whammy! He was fortunate though because he found another truck driving job a couple of days later. Keep them in your prayers.