Ready for Round 2

1-30-09

The end of an energizing week!

I have enjoyed not having any chemo treatments this week and spending time with friends. Yesterday Larry Wilde, a fellow librarian, took me to lunch and then during the afternoon dear friends Barb and Janene, from Evergreen paid me a visit. Afterwards I was able to join them with Moses and Chris for “coalition” meeting at Crown Burger. Today I enjoyed a Café Rio lunch with the Skyline group..good friends and good food! These are reminders of how many wonderful and support friends I have surrounding me during this battle.

Monday I will begin round two. It will be much more aggressive I will be having chemo for longer sessions for 6 days in a row and then 3 weeks off. Radiation will also begin on Monday with a 5 minute daily session for 6 weeks. I hope that the side effects will be minimal and that I will still have the energy to work at least part time.

We are looking forward to having my parents with us for a couple of weeks. Hopefully they won’t freeze in this cold weather.

Thanks again for your prayers and support…we are surrounded by great friends and family!

Another Week

1-25-09

This past week has been busy for our family…..

Ron continues to stay busy with school, classes at the U, and basketball games at Bingham High. He did get the results of the radon test in our house; it came back high, so now Ron is doing research to find out how to ventilate our home. If you are interested in ordering a radon test click on this site….http://www.radon.utah.gov/. Since January is national radon awareness month the kit only costs $6.00.

Savanna continues to enjoy student teaching at Draper Elementary, she is also helping with coaching the lacrosse team.

Marie enjoyed having Monday and Tuesday off from school. She was thrilled yesterday when her winter league team won the championship game. Marie played well and even scored a goal!!!!

On Thursday Ron went with me to see Dr. Avizonis, the radiologist. It was informative meeting with her. She talked to us about my next round. I am thrilled that I will have next week off, but then starting on Feb. 2nd I will be starting radiation and chemo. I will have radiation every day for 6 weeks, and then I will have chemo for 5 days in a row and then 2 weeks off. It will be a more aggressive round so I hope that my body will be able to handle this treatment. I have been blessed with having minimal side effects so far, hopefully it will continue! On Thursday I also got my radiation tattoos….too bad they look like freckles; it is hard for me to find some of them!

We appreciate everyone’s prayers and thoughts for us. Thank you!!!

Go Cardinals!!!!

Thanks for Dinner!

Thanks to the Cardona women for bringing our family dinner tonight. Yvette and Ivonne brought some delicious soup, rice, and oranges for us to enjoy!

Chemo Day

Chemo Day

WARNING….WARNING…WARNING…WARNING…WARNING…

OK, you HAVE BEEN warned…..I decided to document my chemo treatment today. If you have a weak stomach you may want to skip viewing this blog!!!!

Thanks to Marie for joining me on this treatment and being the photographer.

My appointment was at 8:00 A.M. this morning, the first stop is the desk to check in and make a co-payment!




Now we wait in for a few minutes in the waiting room.



Don’t you like my “press and seal”? I wish that they used this instead of the dreaded tape. Before I go in I have to apply an ointment that numbs the area where my port is so that I won’t feel the needle that they have to insert.


This is the tray of medical equipment that is used to access my port. Notice the needle that is located right beneath the yellow plastic object that is on the lower right hand side of the tray.


This shows you a picture of my port. It is the bump right below the collar bone.


No, this is not blood!!! This is the iodine mixture that is applied to kill any germs that may be on the port access area.


This shows a picture of Shelly, the nurse as she is inserting the needle. I can’t feel a thing, it doesn’t hurt!


After the port is accessed Shelly can take a few vials of my blood. They check my white blood cell count and make sure that it is high enough before they administer the chemo.


The worst part of accessing the port is the tape…yes it has to be strong tape so that germs can’t seep through, but it is so strong that it hurts when it has to be removed!!!! The thought makes me cringe!


Ready to go…but first I have to meet with the doctor.



Dr. Harker took the day off so I just met with Rick his PA today. Everything seems to be fine with my blood work so all systems are go for chemo!

Now we wait in the Chemo Waiting Room for a few minutes while they get my chemo ready!

Here is a picture of the chemo room at the Utah Cancer Specialists. Usually the room is busy, but since it is MLK day there were only 2 other patients today.


Today Darren was my chemo nurse; he is getting me hooked up to receive the chemo. Notice the comfortable leather recliner that I get to relax in while I get my “drugs”.


Darren makes sure that I am warm and comfy during my treatment. I love the warm blanket. They also let us have treats while we are undergoing chemo. You can see the refrigerator behind the chair where Marie sat during my chemo, it is stocked with juices, pop, and other munchies!


Now I just sit and relax for either an hour or an hour and a half while the chemo drips into my body! Today Marie and I watched an episode of “The Office” while we were waiting.



At half-time I usually have to unplug the pump and take a “potty break”. With the juice plus the liquids dropping into my body I have really need this break.


Now the worst part of the treatment…removing the tape!!! Darren is gentle, but it still hurts!!!!


The tape is gone!!!!!



The little bandage to keep my port free from germs while the puncture wound heals. I only have to leave this on for about an hour!


Marie and I are glad to have completed my final chemo treatment for the first round!!! I continue to have minimal side effects, I will find out later this week when I start radiation and my next round of chemo!!!!

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers!

Countdown

1-18-2009

Another week has flown by…this week I was more exhausted from the chemo. Working and chemo can be demanding on my body!

I had my treatment on Monday, but I was able to work at school in the morning. Tuesday I was able to work all day, but by the afternoon I was running low. Wednesday I stayed home and slept, this is the day that I felt like I had hit a wall. I slept most of the day and then forced myself to stay awake until 9:00 P.M. because I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. No worries, I slept all night and then returned to work on Thursday, but by lunch I was running low again so I came home and slept two hours before my brain MRI scan. Then that evening I had my hair cut!!!! I am so grateful that I still have my hair!!! Friday I was able to work the entire day but I went to bed by 9:00 P.M. Then yesterday I was able to have a normal day!! I really am glad that my side effects from the chemo have been minimal.

Friday evening Dr. Harker called to let me know that the scan showed that the spot on my brain are stable!!!!! The spots are still of a concern, but they haven’t grown so that will give the doctors the green light to make my next round of treatment more aggressive. I will be doing chemo and radiation during the month of February. I pray that my body will respond well to this new treatment and that the cancer will go into remission! I want to enjoy my summer!!! I am going to countdown to summer!

Ron has started his classes at the U and is now in countdown mode, only 15 more classes until he is done! He has decided that he doesn’t want to “walk” through graduation, but he is going to have a class party at his school!

Savanna is enjoying student teaching at Draper Elementary. She has some fun stories about the kids in her class.

Marie is looking forward to sleeping in again tomorrow and Tuesday since she doesn’t have school because it is MLK Day and the end of the quarter! Lacrosse tryouts will begin this week so she will be busy with lacrosse after school now.

Thanks again for your faith and prayers as we go through this trial. We are blessed with such great friends and family.

MRI Brain Scan Results

Dr. Harker just called to let me know that the brain scan looked very "stable"!!!

Yippy...but now I will face a demanding month with chemo and radiation. On Monday I will have my last treatment of chemo for this cycle, then I will set up an appointment with Dr. Avizonis and get ready for radiation.

Today I feel normal...I have energy and food actually tastes good! Yesterday I came home and had a 2 hours nap before my scan. Thanks to Sally, Ruth, and the secretaries for insisting that I go home and rest. They are taking care of me and they notice when I start to run out of energy. They are also great to help out when I am gone!

Thanks again for all the considerate acts of kindness, thoughts, and prayers for me and my family. We truly feel strengthened by the love and support that our friends and family extend to us.

We will enjoy our long weekend, even though I have chemo on MLK Day!

Tired....

Today is my "tired day" so I am home getting some extra sleep. I seem to hit a wall the 3rd day after chemo, but luckily I am back up and around on Thursday. Last night Savanna and I enjoyed a Stake Enrichment Night with Sister Julie Beck. Savanna was asked to give the opening prayer and she did a great job. It was a wonderful, uplifting evening.

Chemo Update

My chemo went well today. It was a longer treatment since I received 3 bags of medicine. Dr. Harker has scheduled my brain MRI scan on Thursday, so now I am hoping that all will go well and that the spots on my brain won't change.

Dr. Harker also let me know that if there are changes I will be facing radiation for 2.5 weeks for 5 minutes daily! If the spots have not changed I will be facing radiation for 5 weeks for 5 minutes daily and chemo every day for 1 week and then 3 weeks off. Either way I will get to experience radiation, another new adventure for my body.

I continue to feel good, in fact I asked the doctor why I was just limited to 30 minutes of "non-sweating" exercise. He told me that I could exercise as long I didn't exhaust myself, so tomorrow I am looking forward to working up a sweat on the elliptical or stair stepper!

We received the radon tester today, so Ron set that up in the basement, on Wednesday he will send in the sample. Dr. Harker doesn't think that my lung cancer was caused by radon, but he did feel that it was a good idea to test our home for safety reasons.

Thank you for the remarks on the blog, the encouraging thoughts, prayers, and service that you have provided for me and my family. We continue to feel your love and support through this trial in my life. I continue to find small things to be grateful for each day. I am thrilled to wash my hair! I am thankful to Sally and Steve who step up and cover for me when I have treatments. The Skyline staff continues to supply me with encouragement and support daily, I feel lucky to work with such great people!

Utes are #2

1-11-09

We were thrilled to see the Utes ranked #2....they did have a great season! Ron remains a proud "UTE"!

It has been a more routine week for us! We have enjoyed returning to school and getting back on schedule. I have also enjoyed a week with no chemo!

Ron is back to work at Elk Meadows Elementary. His nights are busy with helping out with the Bingham basketball games!

Savanna enjoyed her first week of student teaching. She is working with 4th graders at Draper Elementary.

Marie enjoys high school life and had fun attending the basketball game with her friends on Friday night. She is getting ready for the end of the quarter by studying for tests that will take place next week.

I enjoyed being back to work this week. It was great to see everyone! I find that I do get more tired! I really enjoyed not having to do chemo last week. Tomorrow I will have my third chemo treatment. I am hoping that all will continue to go well and that I will have minimal side effects! I enjoyed washing my hair this morning, I just wonder if this is the week when it will start falling out!!! Hopefully I will be emotionally ready for this next phase of my cancer.

Last week Ron was watching the news and saw a report on radon gas and learned that it was one of the major causes of lung cancer. He ordered a kit, so we will test our home and see if that may be the cause of my lung cancer.

Thanks again for all of your kind thoughts and prayers. We are blessed to have such supportive family and friends!!!!

Heat Wave!

Right now the temperature is 42 degrees in South Jordan!!! This feels like a heat wave to us. The snow is melting off the roof, but the road in front of our house is still covered with ice and snow.
I love being back to work this week! I feel great and have enjoyed having a week without chemo!!!

Enjoy

New Cold Year!!!

1-4-09

Happy New Year!

We enjoyed moving to the 11:00 Sunday schedule today! Marie took advantage of the new schedule by sleeping in! It was a bitter night last night, this morning the temperature was below 10 degrees! The high today will be less than 20 degrees!!! In spite of the cold temperatures it is a beautiful day outside; clear blue skies, snow-covered mountains, and snow-covered lawns!

Our week was relaxing and exciting! Ron is still cherishing the fact that the Utes won the Sugar Bowl. He wore his Ute tie to church today to celebrate the victory.

Each of us have been able to enjoy our time off from school the past two weeks, tomorrow our vacation will come to an end! Ron will be back in the classroom and then doing extra activities during the evening at Bingham. Since is it high school basketball season most of his activities will be basketball games! Thursday night Ron will begin his last semester of classes at the “U”. He is looking forward to graduating in May!

Savanna began a new job this week. She is the assistant to the activity coordinator at a care center for the elderly. Her personality will be a benefit to this job; she knows how to plan a “fun time”! This center will be opening near our home in the next few weeks so she has been working at another facility in Sandy area these past few days. Tomorrow she will begin student teaching at Draper Elementary. This will be an exciting time for her!

Marie will miss sleeping in, but she will enjoy going back to school and seeing her friends. She has remained busy with activities during the break. Yesterday she had a lacrosse game and then she went ice skating with her friends. It was bitter outside so we were glad that she dressed warm!

I am looking forward to returning to work, it will be nice to get back on schedule, but it will be hard to get up early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow I will also be taking a break from my chemo treatments!!! I get one week off and then I will have my 3rd treatment on January 12th. I remain grateful that my side effects have been minimal; I am just really tired on the 3rd day after the chemo.

The football bowl games are almost over, what will I do in my spare time?

We hope that everyone is enjoying a new year!!!

Love ya,
Jolene

UTAH Victory

UTAH WINS!!!!

Yes, it is great year to be a UTE!!! Ron was so excited!!!!

New Year's Eve

Thanks to Randal for organizing another memorable New Year's Eve Party.....we loved the Western Theme. I only wish that I had been able to stay longer, but it was my "tired day"!