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.

A New Path

Hi, everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I still don't know how I did it, but I completely crashed my computer! I had been having trouble with it being so slow, so I decided to try an air card. Well, that sent it into orbit and the more I tried to help it - the worse it got! Finally, one day when I turned it off in disgust - I tried to turn it back on and it wouldn't boot up. At all!!! I went camping the next day for the weekend and before I got back , Brad brought Scott over and he was able to get me going again. Thanks, thanks, thanks to Scott! He is soooo smart. He was also very kind to me and didn't laugh at me for my computer ignorance! I don't know what I did but I am going to be verry careful. He did not get all my stuff off of my hard drive so I'll be busy recreating my pictures and music and those very important things!
Since my last letter, my cousin Calva has had very successful brain surgery and is already home. The surgeon said he was able to get most of the tumor out so the upcoming radiation won't have to do so much. Thanks to all of you for your prayers - they are powerful and effective! Keep it up for her as she recovers and starts her radiation.
My other cousin, Janice, has discovered that she has a very small spot on her kidney! Since Wendell had the same thing, I think she will be having laprascopic surgery to freeze the spot. I'll keep you informed on that.
Speaking of radiation - my journey will be taking me down another path now. I will have a PET scan done week after next and see the radiation oncologist again that same week. (Starla , Amy and I went to see him yesterday). He wants to start the 6 week, 5 days a week regimen the first week of February. I am not scared. He was so very informative. He explained that lung cancer has a history of not traveling very far at first so we need to hit the area close to where the tumor and lymph node were that contained the cancer cells. The chemo was more for total body eradication and the radiation is an added precaution for any microscopic cells that might still be hiding away in that left lung area. The side effects are not supposed to be bad. Best news of all is that maybe my 5 month nausea is finally coming to an end! Hallelujah!!!!! I have finally quit taking my Marinol, but am still using the phenargan occasionally.
I also have decided to have a Joyce's Journey booth at the Relay for Life in Azle on April 24th. It will be an opportunity to raise money for the American Cancer Society but mostly for me to be with all my friends and family that have been carrying me for the last 6 months. I truly can't imagine going through what I have been through without alllllll the support I have had.(and especially the continued prayers!) I'm planning on having a very fun night!

Keep up the prayers for me and my family. I can tell that Ronnie is getting very tired and weary. Pray especially for him and my sweet children.
Love you all!

ahhhh! Finally

Well, I finally made it! The 16 weeks are over and I have received my last scheduled chemo treatment. I go to see the oncologist next Tuesday and see what he has to say about my future. Ginger took me to the final chemo on Monday. It only took a couple of hours from the time we arrived until the time we were walking out. My white count was only down to 1.3 or 1300 this week and my red count had gone down a little bit more. The nurse asked Dr. if I should get the shot to boost my count but he said no - wait to see where it is next week when I see him .

I have been waiting for this last 4 months to be over. It's almost as if I were in a time warp and it was in slow motion! Now that it has passed I am trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do with this future that God has given me. Lots of heavy thinking,huh? You have to remember , though, that I am still talking my Marinol this week to fight the nausea from Monday's treatment. I can't think too seriously during this time. I'm likely not to remember what big decision I came up with!

I do know that God has provided me with days ahead to use to His glory. I'm not sure where that is leading but I am still listening for God's whispers. I pray that I will recognize them when they appear. I have been studying about when God speaks to you - you will hear Him and you will know that it is God. Let me be listining!

I'll let you know about the dr. visit next week. Calva is still having mri's done to know the exact treatment for her - it should start soon. Keep us in your prayers. Love you all.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

On one hand, I can't believe that 2009 is almost here - but on the other hand I never thought that the last 16 weeks would ever end! I only have one more scheduled chemo treatment. That will happen next Monday if my white count remains high enough. This Monday, it was 1900 or 1.9. That's way more than it has been on the week after my cisplatin. I do know that he reduced my dosage down to 60% it's original strength. I guess that's what kept my count from dropping so low this week. Anyhow, Monday ,Amy took me because she was off of work. I only got the 1 dose of Navelbine so we weren't there but a couple of hours.I did find that the nausea was still with me . I came home and took my regular nausea medicine on schedule and took a nice long nap!
I forgot to tell you last week about having a day of pampering. (Of course, Ronnie has actually pampered me for the last several months!) This day was Ginger's. She went and bought me a copy of Mamma Mia! and brought it over Saturday. We had total girl day. We put in the movie on the big screen T.V. and she brought out her manicure equipment! I had a total pedicure with everything from foot soaking to red nail polish! I actually have only had one official pedicure that I can remember because my toenails are so ugly! But this foot pampering sure did feel good! Of course, she did manicure also. You know how you look down on your hand and you wonder when your mother's hand appeared on the end of your arm? Well, that's the feeling I had. Mother's nails had developed ridges over the years and I have noticed that mine have done the same. The difference though is that Mother always had strong, long, pretty nails and mine have always been short and thin. Maybe they are changing to be more like hers! I can work on the ridges if only I had nails strong enough to take some abuse. Of course, right now, I don't have the strength to do much hard work so my nails are growing better. I have started taking prenatal vitamins to get the added iron , so I'm thinking this may help my nails to be stronger also! But I know before long my strength will return and I can get out and work in my flower beds. They are looking kinda sad.
Thanks for pampering me Ginger!Love ya lots!
My cousin, Calva, is still waiting on all the MRIs to be done so she can start her radiation. She is supposed to have 6 weeks of radiation - 5 days a week. (That is the same schedule I am going to have if radiation is necessary for me.) After the rounds of that she will have gamma knife treatment done on what's left of the tumor. Keep praying for both of us, please.
Love you all and HAPPY NEW YEAR AND MAY GOD RICHLY BLESS EVERY ONE OF YOU!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!
I am happy to report that I had a good day on Christmas Eve. That's when we got together at Starla's house for our present exchange. We each brought finger foods so we had a good variety of snacks. Starla and Aaron drove in from Andrews that day so we waited till about 5:30 to get together. I was so surprised when Michelle and Brandon gave me a camera! I haven't had one in several years. It is so cute and small. I hope I will remember to take it with me wherever I go so maybe I will remember to take pictures. My pictures around the house definitely need to be updated!
Ronnie is almost through renovating our master bath. It looks sooooo good. What a difference changing tile will do. We used 18 X18 pieces of travertine instead of the standard 4 X 4 white squares! We are still waiting on the shower door to be made , but we are just using a shower curtain in the meantime. I think the next step of our project will be putting wood floors down in the bedrooms. Ronnie wants a break from bathroom project for a while! I can't wait though to get the hall bath done because it is the ugliest bath ever! But I will be patient.
I had my chemo on Monday as scheduled. Shara took me and got to experience the long day, although , it didn't take as long as usual. He has reduced the dosage of the cisplatin to 60 per cent strength. So I guess maybe it didn't take as long because of that. The nausea didn't really hit me till Thursday, so I slept probably 18 hours out of the 24 hour day! Thank goodness for medications! Today is Friday so I will hopefully be getting over some of the nausea by this evening. This was my last week to get the cisplatin and navelbine together. The next 2 Mondays, I will only get the navelbine if my blood count is high enough. Then I should be through with chemo! I thought I would never get to this point!
Keep praying for me as the next weeks pass. I am supposed to see a radiation dr. sometime in January or February. Also, keep my cousin, Calva, in your prayers still. She should see the radiation dr. this next week to see what her treatment will be for her tumor in her brain.

Just a week till Christmas!

Here it is Thursday morning! I was able to get my cisplatin and navelbine infusion on Monday. My blood had come up to it's normal numbers. I did talk to Dr. Redrow on Monday (Amy and Starla were with me ) and he seemed to think everything was going fine. He didn't indicate that there is any worries over all the treatments that I have not been able to take. He will see me again the second week of January and reassess my condition then send me over to a radiation specialist to see whether I will require radiation also. I'm hoping that they will do another pet scan so they can make sure it hasn't shown up somewhere else.
The nausea is better this week because maybe I have my pill taking schedule under control a little bit better! I will just sit real still when the wave starts rolling in!
We are getting our Christmas schedule all worked out. Of course, the important part of the festivities is what goodies to make. We decided we just wanted snacky type meal on Christmas Eve instead of full-blown holiday meal. Remember, we did that for Thanksgiving at Starla's. So for Christmas - it won't be so healthy!
I think all my shopping is done. I really didn't do too much. A couple online purchases and a couple of someone else going and doing my picking! Been pretty easy for me, huh? We did some tree switching this year. Starla took Amy's big tree because Amy took my tall skinny tree because I borrowed Grace and Lily's little tree to put in my living room! Starla also is using my outdoor lights because that was not something that Ronnie was going to mess with this year!
I asked all of you last week to remember to pray for my cousin Calva as you lift my name up. She had a biopsy done and found out the results on Tuesday. She does have a neural-pineal blastoma. A malignant tumor on her penial gland in her brain. They have told her that it is not related to the colon cancer! She is waiting to get with an specialist for this to decide the treatment plan ,probably radiation. She is still very brave and positive, but still remember her name to God. Thanks!