First T-Shirt Order

We are going to make the first order of Cancer Sucks shirts on Monday the 15th. If you would like to get one please let us know size and color. They are $15 if we have to ship them the shipping is $5.

It's shrinking....

Today has gone amazingly well. Burke has felt no side effects at all. In fact the tumor on his neck that we could feel growing has already started softening. He woke up this morning and was like " Oh my gosh I can breath!" He also has a tumor above his left lung that has been causing him to cough and have little bit of a hard time breathing. He has had a ton of energy today and has been on the go all day. He has not been able to go a full day without a nap or some kind of rest for at least two weeks now. We know that it is the 2nd and 3rd day that are usually the worst as far as the nausia goes so we will see what the next few days bring. So far so good. We'll keep you updated! SJB

Chemo day #1

Well it all began today. I got to the hospital at 9:30 am. After the initial regular check in stuff the nurse went to access my port. They said that there is not to many nerves in the skin in that area, while that may be true, when you are accessing it with a framing nail it hurts. I got the numbing cream for next time so hopefully that will make it feel better. After the needle was in she flush the port to clean it then tried to draw blood. She was unsuccesfull so we hooked me up to an IV bag to see if we could flush it. In the mean time she had to draw the blood out of my arm so we could get my blood tested to make sure all of my levels were ok to get the treatment today. The Port never would draw so they sent me downstairs to run some dye through it to make sure there was no problem with the placement. I was told that I must have a good immune system because it had formed a clot and basically turned it into a one way valve. So it works to put stuff in but At this point it looks like we wont be able to make draws. (what was the point of the port again:))

Since the Dr. gave it the OK we went in and did the drug treatment. The nurse gave me some pre-drugs (pain, nausea, ...) then the 4 chemo drugs. I actually fell asleep for about an hour during the treatment. I got wrapped up around 3:30pm just in time for Mom, Dad, and the kids(Shelly had been hanging around and supporting me all day) to stop by. I really wanted the kids to see me with the line in and to see that it didn't hurt me. So the nurse did the final flush and disconnected everything. By far the most painfully part of the day was removing the tape on my chest. I think that she removed about half of my chest hair at the same time. I will definitely shave that part of my chest before the next treatment.

Since I got released I have felt pretty good. I feel a little floaty like I took a bunch of cough medicine and my stomach feels like it is a little upset but really nothing major today. We will see how I feel tomorrow. I have been told day 2 and 3 are the worst.

Burke

Our life outside of cancer......

Although the main focus for our family right now is getting Burke healthy, believe it or not we have a lot of other things going on too.
Burke has gotten HotShots on a really good track with the help of our amazing staff. We are so incredibly thankful for them especially at this time when Burke is not able to be there all the time. He can actually take time off and not feel like the business is going to go under. They have stepped up BIG TIME in the last month. So if you all are reading this THANK YOU for making at least this part of our life a little easier.
But for the most part you all know what is going on with Burke.

Aden is in second grade(I swear he was just born yesterday). I just had a conference with his teacher and she said he is a joy to have in class. He learns very quickly, and doesn't have to be told twice when learning new concepts. He is very positive in class, and is always happy to do what he is asked to do, but...........he talks too much! You would not believe how much this boy can talk. He wants to know everything, or he knows everything and is going to tell you about it. He has recently become an expert on Hodgkins Lymphoma! He is a REALLY good diver and we recently signed him up for the local swim team, he is pretty excited about that. He thinks Michael Phelps is the coolest.
E.J. is in preschool 5 days a week this year, and on to Kindegarten next year. She Looooves school. She is so social and has reports of what she and all of the other kids in her class are doing everyday. She is Daddy's little princess. On the days he has a surgery or is not feeling well she loves nothing more than to climb into bed with Burke and watch TV, or get him some water, or make him some tomato soup with Mamma. She is his own personal little nurse, and she is in heaven. She starts dance class on Monday and is so excited to be in a class with two of her friends from church. Her latest hobby has become painting. I will sometimes get between 5-10 paintings in a day. My fridge is FULL!
And then theres me! Before we found out about Burkes cancer, I was a foster Mom for the local animal shelter. I have had 3 pregnant Mama dogs, and helped them through birth. We keep the dogs at our house until the babies are 6 weeks old and ready for adoption. We have also fostered a few young dogs that just needed to get out of the shelter for a while. All in all, we have had around 40 dogs through our house in the last 6 months. I will definitely pick this back up when Burke is healthy again, but for now we need to keep our house as sanitary as possible. I will hopefully be starting an online course, and getting my associates as a veterinary technician soon. For the most part right now I am just doing the best job in the world and being a mom. Oh Yeah! We are going to Disneyworld in October so I have that to obsess about. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN. Burke thinks I might have a little OCD when it comes to Disney. What can I say it's the happiest place on earth! AND we get to bring my niece Makaila this year, which makes us all Sooo happy! I have some awesome friends here in Dothan that are so helpful when it comes to all that we are going through. I still have the same best friends from home that I had 15 years ago +1 and they are my sounding board for when just need to vent. Family is Numero Uno in my life, and I am so thankful for My parents and Burkes parents, and our brothers and sisters. I am very blessed for all of the amazing people that have been put in my life, and for the way I was raised. Sometimes you just dig your heels in and bulldoze your way through whatever life throws at you. I am realizing I get that from my mom. Thank You for all of the love and support!
SJB

More Good News

I met with the oncologist today. The bone-marrow came back perfect, mugga was good, the Pet scan looks like I am at a stage 2. I have some cancer on both sides of my neck and in the upper part of my chest. All and all really good stuff.

The best news is he said the 8 courses of chemo is out the window. He thinks we are going to go with 4 courses (possibly 6) and some radiation. I like the sound of cutting my chemo treatments in half.

I am scheduled for chemo on September 9th and 23rd and the next Dr on the 23rd to see if the doses are right.

He did forget a test. I have to get a Pulmonary Function Test. I guess one of the Chemo drugs can do damage to lung function so they want a base line.
Burke

You can call me "Radio-Active Man"

Today I had my first PET scan. It was rather interesting. The radio-active isotope that they use only has a life span of 110 minutes, so it is made everyday and delivered from Birmingham. The shipment was late so I had time to get to know the techs and learn about the procedure. Basically they gave me a very small IV (no they didn't use the new port, why did they install it again?) and injected me with a sugar solution laced with radio-active materials. The solution is absorbed by active organs (ie. heart, brain, kidneys...) and the cancer. I had to sit around, holding as still as possible, for about an hour while it all processed. Then they put me in the scan machine (it is the same scan machine that they use for CAT scans) for about 25 minutes and took pictures. They then can overlay the CAT and the PET scans so they can tell exactly how much and where the cancer is. Of course the techs can't officially "read" the results but he did let me look at all of the pictures and showed me how they were layered. I could easily see the cancer on both sides of the neck and in my chest. The really good news is there was no "hot-spots" anywhere below my heart. That means that it has not spread below my diaphragm or in other words it really looks like I am at a stage 2. Great news!

The one thing they told me that I had to avoid children and pregnant women for 24 hours because of my radio-active levels. So basically I had to semi-quarantine myself for the day to not expose anybody else to me. Ellie and Aden had a hard time not getting their standard hugs and kisses this afternoon. They were both very sweet and painted me pictures and brought them to me at work. They brought them in and set them on the desk next to me and blew me kisses. I promised them that I would give them a goodnight kiss and tomorrow everything would be normal. That seemed to help but Shelly said it definitely was hard on them tonight.

This has a scary/pain scale of a .5 Yes there was a needle involved but it was a VERY small one and everything thing else was rather relaxing.

Port update. All I took was a couple of ibuprofen and I was fine today. The stiffness in my neck is all but gone. The site is still a little tender and sore but really not that bad. The worst thing that I have found so far is that a seatbelt shoulder strap goes right over the top of it so I can't wear it properly.

Burke

Infusa Port

What a day! Burke had to be at the Hospital at 5:30 this morning to get his port put in. He drove himself so that I could stay home and get the kids up and ready for school. As soon as I dropped Ellie off I went to the hospital to pick him up. This might sound a little gross, but this is how a port is put in: they make a slit and insert the port just under the collarbone above the heart. It looks like he has got a marble under his skin. Then they make another slit and insert the tube that is connected to the corroted artery in the neck(thats the gross part). As soon as everything is in they connect the two and we are ready for business. Now every time he goes to have his chemo they just tap in to the little marble area and he won't have to have an IV every time,which he is very happy about. The best thing about a port is that in about two weeks, when the cuts from inserting the port are healed, he will be able to go swimming with the kids and stuff. The doctor said everything went really smoothly, and they can use the port tomorrow for his PET scan instead of an IV. His neck is very stiff, he actually took one of his painkillers today after we got home(amazing!) That kind of tells you how painfull it is now, he actually took a painkiller! He said he is already starting to feel better tonight though, so hopefully this one won't take too long to recover from. We are really hoping to start Chemo on thursday and start getting this thing out of his system and get on with life.

shelly