No more cancer

I have been told by everyone that I have not ended the story in the blog. I really am sorry. According to the Doctors they are officially calling me cured and I don't have anything else to go through. Thank goodness!! The radiation was pretty rough. It really burned me up. At first it felt like a sunburn but each day it got worst and worst. By the end I felt literally fried to the bone. After a couple of weeks after I got finished with radiation, the skin got better but, I can still feel the tissue underneath healing. It itches like crazy at times. The other weird part is that it has messed up my saliva glands. i get really dry mouth all of the time and my mouth is constantly producing a really thick mucus. As long as I have something to drink regularly it is not to bad. It does take awhile to get the pasty morning mouth to get feeling normal. The only other weird thing is that my tongue is really weird. About 2 weeks ago it turned all white then I think the tissue started healing and it kind of sluffed off. The new tissue is really tender like new skin. Both textures and extreme flavors really effect it. Each day it gets less sensitive so I think with in another week or so this should pass too. All in all I think I got through things pretty well and don't have to much lasting damage. I was thinking about it, it was exactly a year ago when I talked to Dr. Baker and started this whole process. WHAT A CRAZY YEAR IT HAS BEEN!

Radiation

The Doctors have decided that I need to have 20 treatments of radiation to insure that I don't need to go through any of this again. Radiation consists of bolting me to the table and laying perfectly still for 20min. There is really no sensation from the radiation but it has given me the feeling of really bad indigestion the last couple of days. I have also have been very tired this week. Please excuse the fat guy in the pictures. I have gained 25lbs since I got diagnosed.

CANCER FREE!!!

This is definitely the post I have been waiting to make. I met with my Dr. today and he gave me a high five and said, "you are cured." He made sure to say this is not just remission but this is cured and he feels like I will never have to deal with this again. I even get to take the port out. Follow up will be blood work every 4 months and a cat scan every 6 months. After five years then it will go to a yearly check up.

I am really sorry that I have been so bad about posting. But, it has kind of been a no news is good news situation. All of the chemo visits were really the same and rather uninteresting. The part that really surprised me was how well my body held up through it all. Except for a short bit of flu right after I started I really have not been sick at all. Well besides the normal side effects of chemo. Now that I have a clean bill of health it is time to clean out my system and get myself back in shape. I have about 15 lbs that I need to take care of.

If I haven't said it enough. Thank you for all of the love, prayers and support. I know that is what got us through this so smoothly.

We think we are done with Chemo..

On Tuesday I had what we think will be my last chemo treatment. I got tested after my first rounds were finished and the Doctor wanted me to do 4 more treatments that were basically for insurance. He said it would lower my chances of having to deal with this again. Next week I will get retested and then on the 29th I meet with the doc. again. Hopefully all of this is coming to and end.

It looks like the next step for me now is getting out and finding a job. Well, hopefully I will be able to make arrangements with an investor to reopen HotShots at a new location but that is up in the air at this point. We will see. We are just trying to be positive and have faith.

The many faces of Ellie

This is what you get when you get Ellie in front of a camera and ask her to make a face!

Mamma's sweet little boy

Oh I just love my babies! Burke was at work the other night, Ellie was already fast asleep so Aden and I got the chance to just snuggle in our big fluffy bed. We watched madagascar for a while until he started chatting my ear off, so I figured we would turn the movie off and just lay in bed. It was poring down rain outside, so I said " Let's just snuggle and listen to the rain." After about a minute he said " Ya know what mom? I love this, it is just so peaceful." That's it. The end of my story. Just a really sweet boy and a mamma who loves him.

Swimming with the Manatees

We went to Homosassa Springs Fl. this weekend and went swimming with the Manatees. It was amazing. They are HUGE animals! Our captain of our boat said they are like 5000lb puppy dogs.

He was right. The picture above is of Aden and I. We were in the water for about 20 mins, and here comes this massive manatee straight towards us. He swam straight to me and got about 4 inches from my face and just looked at me like I was the funniest looking thing he had ever seen. I scratched him for a while and then he had enough and went back to the bottom. OH MY GOODNESS!!!
This picture is of Burke(red mask), Aden(yellow mask), and I(behind the boys). This Manatee visited with Burke and Aden for a while and then rolled over to his belly for a rub. That is a manatee belly you are looking at. We had a great weekend. We got to camp for the first time this year. We stayed at Manatee springs state park. The kids got to ride bikes all day. And they swam in the 72 degree spring waters. Still a little chilly for me. We LOVE to camp though, so was good to get out.

More Chemo

I met with my oncologist Thur. We have scheduled a PET scan for 1/13. He feels that the results will come back as 'total remission.' That being said he want me to go through 2 more cycles (4 treatments) of chemo. NOOOOOOO! He said that the chance for reoccurance sp? goes way down with the additional cycles. So it is go through this and hopefully never have to deal with it again.

I will let you know the official results of the test as soon as I get them
Burke