I AM A 2 YEAR CANCER SURVIVOR!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe that it has been 2 years? I remember Aug.8th, 2008 very vividly in my mind(well parts of it anyhow) I remember my friends faces as they watched me being wheeled down the hallway to surgery. Ginger's eyes were big! Of course, I especially remember my kids and precious Ronnie walking beside my bed until they took me through those doors to surgery. I was anxious! It seemed like the next 6 months took about 3 years to take place! I thought I would never make it till January and chemo would be finished. But look at me now - 2 years have gone by! Wow!

I went to see Dr. Redrow , the oncologist, a couple of weeks ago and he said that the ct scan that was done about a month ago showed no new signs of cancer! What a relief. I was so anxious as I waited for him to come into the room. I guess he could tell because the first words he said to me after hello was "the scans all looked good". He said it was normal for me to be apprehensive and afraid that something was growing and I didn't know it. He said that maybe by this time next year I wouldn't be so anxious. I hope so!

I will go back and have another ct done the last part of Nov. and see him the first week of Dec. I think he has me on a 4 month schedule now.

We have had a lot of out of town time since May. We went with Jerry and Ginger to the hill country and stayed in a condo outside of Bandera. Kenneth and Gwen got to go with us for 4 days. We all wished they could have stayed longer. I did my first kayaking adventure down the river there! I wasn't so sure I would be okay but the fastness of the river was perfect! I only dumped over once but I said that I rolled in the 20 foot deep water for about 20 minutes!(It was actually only 4 feet and maybe 30 seconds!) I didn't have my life jacket on but after that happened I strapped that sucker on! Anyhow, it was so fun!

On the way home we decided to do the touristy tour of the LBJ Ranch. We really enjoyed it and especially like the working farm that the State Parks have at the site. It was very informative. If you haven't tried it, you might.

Then, we have been camping in our 5th wheel travel trailer that we bought from Ronnie's brother-Steve. We love it! It has a slide out on it which gives us so much more room than our old camper! We have been one weekend to Benbrook with the Foxes,Gearys,Rollmanns and Nortons. It is always fun to go with lots of people - never boring!

Then we went a couple of different weekends with Amy and Brad and their newly acquired trailer and Starla and Aaron with the camper they got last year. Brandon and Michelle usually drive out to wherever we are and join us for the day.

Then we have been gone the last 2 WEEKS at Ray Roberts camping with Donna and Steve,Amy and Brad and Starla and Aaron. Fun,fun, fun and a lot of sun,sun,sun! I came back a lot browner than when I went.

Gracie decided that she was going to learn to ride her bike without training wheels while we were camping! And she did! Way to go , Grace!

Lily became a better and faster bike rider but was not able to loose the training wheels yet! She is finally going to get to start Kindergarten in a few weeks. She has been waiting a long time to be 5 so she can go to real school instead of day care!

In case you haven't heard, Amy is the new principal of Eagle Heights Elementary!!!!Way to go,Amy! My mother would be so proud - that is the school that she worked at for 25 years! I used to take Amy there when she was little and eat lunch with Mother in the lunch room!

Starla is busy, busy taking care of her 3 boys. She has also lost a lot of weight doing Slim for Life.Way to be dedicated, Starla!

The grandkids are growing up! Toby is 9 months old and so cute! He, like the rest of them, loves Pawpaw sooooo much! He cut his first tooth yesterday. He'll be walking before we know it.

Dakota is almost 5. He has decided within the last week that he doesn't need his floaties on in the pool anymore! He does pretty good , but it scares me that he will get out in the middle and not be able to make it to the edge, but he is not worried one bit!

Riley will be 7 next week. He has been swimming like a fish for a couple of years. I am a little jealous! He'll be going into the 2nd grade this year.

I pray that this post finds everyone feeling as blessed as I do!

Never forget that God does know each and every one of us personally and loves us more than we can even imagine!

Blessings to you all!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wow, the last 4 months have flown by!
I have been feeling good and enjoying life. God has truly blessed me in so many ways. I pray that every day I look around to see blessings and not anxieties.
I went to my 3 month check-up with Dr. Redrow and he said that I am doing great. He didn't order a scan before I went in for my appt. so I told him that he was making me a little anxious! I told him that the fear of the unknown going on in my body was a little scary to me. He said that was completely normal considering all that I have gone through in the last 2 or 3 years. He sent me in for a Ct scan of the chest and the reports came in this week. All is clear and nothing abnormal! Yea, Yea! If only now I could figure out how to not be anxious! Isn't there a scripture about that?
Talk about blessings! Starla had a sweet baby boy on Nov. 7. He weighed 7 lb. 8 oz. and is just perfect. His name is Toby Miles Norton. Amy and I like to say that we delivered him since Dr. Howell didn't make it to her room in time - but actually we helped Tonya the nurse in every way possible! Tonya had a cast on her left arm where she had broken her wrist the week before. She told Starla to keep from pushing when she felt she needed to so Dr. Howell could be there for delivery, but Toby could not wait! Starla did and EXCELLENT job of natural childbirth and Amy, Aaron and I were intent on making everything easier for Tonya to do her job.
Christmas was great this year. We always do our gift-opening on Christmas Eve. The kids got there around 2:00 - right when the snow was starting to come down pretty heavy. It was sooo beautiful. The kids got to go out and play in the snow and get all wet and cold. What fun!
Thank you again all of you who have kept up with me and my journey and encouraged me on. I'll never forget it.

A Good Report!

Yes, I went to Dr. Redrow yesterday for my 3-month check-up and he said that my scans didn't show anything new! That is so awesome. God has gotten me through this last year and blessed me with healthy days ahead.
I was a little apprehensive about going to see the doctor. You never know if that ct scan is going to show something that shouldn't be there. I know from personal experience that there can be those horrible cancer cells growing in your body and you never know it! I told him that I was a little concerned that something might be growing and the wait is kinda hard from the time you get the scan until you see the doctor. He said that is not an unusual feeling to have.
I go back for another 3 month scan and check-up in December.
We had a wonderful weekend getaway to Hico for Labor Day weekend. We took our trailer and the Geary's took theirs. The Foxes stayed in the house. We got up there on Friday and Donald cooked us delicious ribs and Shara fixed the veggies. Wonderful!
We all were blessed by our children and grandchildren coming up and spending all day Saturday with us! Kevin and Holly and their 4 precious ones; Aaron and Starla and their 2 precious boys;Brandon and Michelle brought Randy, Jessica and cute little Macy; Josh and Mandy(and Teddy);Craig and Shana. And I of course can't leave out that Tuffi was with us all weekend also! I was bummed out though that Brad, Amy, Gracie and Lily were not able to come because Brad had to work! That would have made it perfect!
Some were fishing in the tank off and on all day and others were playing washers and others were exploring and some( the women) were mostly sitting on the porch and enjoying the beautiful weather and visiting with each other. It can't get much better that that!!!
Well, we are on the 2 month countdown now until our newest family member arrives! I am getting excited to get to cuddle and kiss a new grandchild! Everything so far is going great with the pregnancy and due date is still Nov. 14th. They are still working on a name for him.
Keep my friend, Charlotte, in your prayers as she has started her chemo for breast cancer! Thanks and I love you all,
Joyce

Vacation Pictures

An Anniversary Not Fun to Remember!

That's right - 1 year ago today I found out that I had cancer. Not a fun memory! The 2 months before this day, I had been going through test after test and playing the waiting game to see the Dr. to find out the results. I knew that the results of the PET scan were not going to be good when the surgeon's office called and moved my appointment up 2 weeks. I still remember that day so clearly. Dr. Brooks had called and said she wanted to go with Ronnie and I to see the Dr. I didn't think that was odd because we had become personal friends and I thought she wanted to meet Dr. Macias. I remember the nurse calling us back to the dr. office and him walking in and showing us the findings on the computer screen. The pet scan shows my body ( the inside, not the outside) slowly turning around showing all the organs and any abnormalities. He stopped it and showed me the area on my left lung that was a hot spot. This means cancerous. His words were "I'm so sorry , but you have adenocarcinoma." I looked at him then over at Kathy Brooks and Ronnie, trying to process what he had just told me. I said "what exactly does that mean?" His answer was the dreaded words "lung cancer"!

But you know what? God was with me in that room that day and I have felt His presence every day since. I don't know how people with serious conditions can get through those dark times if they don't feel God. I did have many dark times during the next 6 months as I went through the chemo and then radiation. But even then , I never doubted that God was feeling my anguish. I just hope now that I don't forget where I've been and what I've been through. I know it must have been to help someone else through the darkness. I pray that my eyes are open all around me so I will recognize my opportunity.

Now, for some news on the wonderful side! We did our family vacation in July. All 12 of us went to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We stayed in a wonderful townhouse. It was a 3 story structure across the street from the white sand beach. The bottom floor was actually the garage/parking/storage area because all the houses are on stilts. The whole 2nd floor was rented to another family. We had the 3rd floor to ourselves. There was actually a whole 5 bedroom/6 bathroom house on each floor. We had a deck on the front side that overlooked the ocean and on the back side was another deck that looked out over the swimming pool and a couple of blocks over was a lagoon. Everyone got along great and Ronnie was able to sit on the deck about 3/4 of the time with his binoculars always around his neck!

The guys went bay fishing one day and golfing one day. The girls and Brandon went for a massage one day. Ahhhhhh. Anyway, the family vacation was great and now we have to figure out where to go on our next trip!

Thanks for keeping up with me. I still covet your prayers. I go for my next scan sometime within the next month.

The Circle of Life

I know it has been over a month since my last update. That means that my life has been pretty uneventful ( some might use the term boring). I have learned this week that our lives are made up of highs and lows - happiness and sadness - and I have to learn how to handle and express both.
Happiness first. Starla is pregnant. We have actually known this for a couple of months, but yesterday was the big sonogram day! She is 19 weeks, the perfect time to make sure the baby is growing on schedule and to find out the sex of the baby. She already has 2 boys , so what do you think this one growing in her belly is? It's a boy! She and Aaron are excited about this - so is Riley. They all 3 were hoping for boy. I'm not sure which I wanted her to have, but I think I would have liked her to experience girl, but boy it is. Most important, though, was that all the measurements were right on target and all the organs and bones were connected like they should be. Sonograms are so fun to watch and see the miracle of a baby being formed and functioning inside a womb!
Another good thing was our vacation to South Padre with Ginger and Jerry. We had a wonderful relaxing time. The guys played golf a couple of days and Ginger and I did as little as possible! We rented a dune buggy one day and drove all along the beach. We of course picked up shells to bring home. We also did a lot of walking along the beach. It is so refreshing and relaxing. They are great vacation buddies.
Sorry, but now some sad. My longtime friend , Cynthia Adams, passed away last Friday of a heart attack. (I called her Bim ) She was 56 years old. We have been friends since our freshman year of high school- maybe longer. We hung out together throughout high school - having a great time together - sharing our boyfriend woes and all the other traumas that comes with the teenage years. We kept up with each other through marriage and childbirth and the years watching our kids growing up.
She was a kind, caring and loving friend and I'll miss her a lot. She was also a very Godly person and it showed in her everyday life. She felt blessed even in her darkest times. During the last year, she was one of my greatest prayer warriors! I knew that she wasn't feeling her best, but she didn't complain. She lost her husband, Keith, to cancer about 2 days after I lost Wendell to cancer. She and Sandy were going through the same things and the same emotions at the same time. I pray that I was an encourager and as good of friend to her during that time as she has been to me this last year.
Goodbye my good friend - I'll never forget you!

LIFE IS GOOD!

Hi everyone!
I know that it has been a while since my last update, please forgive me. I am just trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing!
Well, Relay was great fun. We all had a great night. We raised about $1,800.00 that night in donations and selling our wares. That brings our total so far to about $3,000.00 for Joyce's Journey 1 and 2. We all wore t-shirts that matched and said Joyce's Journey on the front and were a beautiful teal color. I ended up ordering 54 shirts, so there was a lot of that color going around the track. We sold necklaces, crosses, lemonade, do it yourself mosaics and outdoor tea lights. The night was so windy that we could not keep our canopy up!
It was great walking the survivor lap with my father-in-law, Wallace, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer the year before I was diagnosed. Thank goodness his cancer was not as far along as mine was so he did not have to have the horrible chemo and radiation!
My ex-sister-in-law, Sherry, also walked the survivor lap with me. She has been completely free of her leukemia since 2005 when she underwent a bone marrow transplant!
A constant encourager in my life, Chelsa, also walked with me as she is a skin cancer survivor. It was an awesome time!
The next lap walked was supposed to be the survivor and their caregiver walking together. Ronnie walked with me and Wallace's wife, Pat, walked with him. That was very touching to me also. Of course, Lily and Riley couldn't stand seeing Mimi and Pawpaw walking without them, so they joined us on the track. We were all holding hands and sporting huge smiles!
The organizers asked me on the Thursday night before the relay if I would be willing to speak at the relay about my story. I agreed, then began having butterflies. I am not a public speaker! It was better when I found out that I wouldn't speak until about 1:15 A.M. Not a lot of people left at that early hour! My speech lasted maybe 7 or 8 minutes (seemed like a lot longer!) and my people left there said I did a good job. I hope it helped someone there who has just been diagnosed or has a loved one going through testing. It was to promote doing everything we can to fight cancer.
I did have a CT scan done last month and went to the Dr. for the results last week. Great news! He said that it showed no new signs of cancer anywhere! Yea,Yea,Yea!!! I think that I will be going for scans and seeing the oncologist every 3 months for the next 2 years. I'm glad of that because I know now that I can have cancer growing inside of me and not know it!
I am trying to start a walking routine so I can gain my energy back and get that left lung expanded on out. I do get pretty winded still but I just need to work on it every day. I also did go back to the hairdresser and am once again BLOND!
Ronnie and I are going on a week vacation to South Padre next week with Jerry and Ginger. It will be good to go and not think about being sick. I just want to have a fun, relaxing time with good friends!
Again, thanks for continued prayers,
Love ya, Joyce