Fun weekend!!

I've had a great weekend.  Mike and I traveled up to Washington to see my family and to get ready for surgery this week.  We spent some quality time with my brother and Jordan and Emily.  They have a new baby Sunny and she is such a good baby and so cute.  Johnny looks just like Jordan did when he was a kid with the coarse blond curly hair.  So cute...love the curls although I am sure he will grow to hate them.  Mike and Jordan went golfing while I hung out with Emily and the kids.  They are moving to Texas soon and so it was fun to spend some time with them before they leave.  That night we just spent time together like we used to when they lived in Utah.  It brought back lots of fun memories.

Sunny's blessing was on Sunday and it is so neat to see my baby brother as a dad and he gave his daughter a beautiful blessing.  Then we all had dinner together at my parents and broke our fast.  We missed Jared and Jessica but they were in our thoughts and know that they were thinking of us.  It was also Brigham's birthday.  I  can't believe how quickly time has gone by since it seems like he was just a baby not that long ago.  He turned 10 and I am so lucky to be his aunt.  He is a very special person in my life.

Today we drove to Spokane and went through the worst wind storm of the year.  It was very dusty and we seemed to be in the middle of it the entire drive.  We are here and hopefully things this week will go well.  Tomorrow I meet with the doctor and get all my bloodwork done and then surgery will be at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.  Please continue to send your thoughts and prayers my way and that surgery will go well.  Hopefully I will have internet access and can update from the hospital.

Life is so precious and I still feel so at peace with whatever the Lord has in store for me.  I know that this surgery is the right path and I know that He will help me in my recovery.

Beach Trip

I went to the beach with my family.  We missed Jordan & Emily & Mike but had a great time in a big 7 bedroom beach house.  We had great weather and were even able to enjoy some fun times in the sand.  Here are some fun pictures. 

Playing kickball...almost everyone got involved in the game.

Our beach house is the wide one with all the windows.

We had fun crafting with Perler beads, coloring, playing games, watching movies, flying kites, but most of all just being together.  Jason looks pretty intense here but he's just playing a computer game.

Celebrating all the March birthdays in the family.  I love the way Lily is blowing out her candle.  Once it was blown out she threw out the candle and attacked the cupcake.  Too cute. 

We had a great time and hopefully we'll all be able to make it next time.

Here is my new toy.  I ended up getting a bonus for the 1/2 year I worked last year and so we spent it on a Clavinova.  I love it.  Mike got his first piano lesson on it.  I forgot how much I miss playing the piano.  I play the organ so much now but it is nice to just play some of my old classic piano pieces.

That is the end of the fun times.  I am heading back into surgery on May 5.  I met with a doctor in Spokane, WA who does what is called a HIPEC treatment.  It is heated chemo flooded into the abdomen but first he goes into the abdomen and removes all the cancer he can see.  It will be a long and intense surgery but it is the first time I have heard the word cure.  With the treatment I'm on right now, we know the cancer will come back, we just don't know when or where.  I feel like this is the right decision.  I've been talking it over with my medical oncologist and he feels like this might buy me some time.  So it is going to be a busy month getting ready for this surgery with x-rays, colonoscopy, blood tests, etc.  I will be gone about 6 weeks so I have to get everything in order at home too so Mike can survive when he isn't with me.

The good news is that my CEA score came down to 6.0 from 7.4.  I was pretty sure it was going to go up again because that is the trend it has taken.  That gives me some relief and hopefully when I have the surgery, there won't be much disease that has to be cut out.

Another exciting thing happening this month is that I start playing the organ in the Mt. Timpanogos temple.  I am so excited and know that I will feel the spirit so strongly.  I had my orientation and got to play a couple hymns on it.  It is such a simple yet beautiful sound.  If I can help others feel the spirit in the house of the Lord then what a great experience it will be.

Please continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers.  I still feel incredible peace and know that it is because of all those around me who pray for me and love me.

ALOHA!!!

Mike and I took a trip to Hawaii for 10 days. It was heaven to get out of the cold and into warmth. Just what I needed. My doctor gave me a break from chemo and so it made the trip even better.  It only rained our last day.  We spent most of the time on Maui but island hopped to the Big Island and Oahu.

On Maui, Mike saw the sunrise from Haleakala and rode a mountain bike down.  He had to be outside our hotel at 2:30 a.m.  He went the day after we got there so that jet lag wouldn't be so bad.  I spent a leisurely morning sleeping and shopping for snacks for the week.  On Maui, we went snorkeling at Molokini (a crater just off the Maui coast).  It was AMAZING.  I was a little freaked out at first because I don't really like to see what I am swimming with.  Luckily Mike was right there to calm me down.  Good thing I missed seeing the shark (I was fixing my mask) because I'm sure I would have been freaked out ... all those JAWS movies.  We also went on a whale watching trip although we saw way more whales on our snorkeling outing.  Mike wanted to go see a popular surf spot called Jaws.  We found it and there was one surfer there.  The waves are so big that they use jet skis to pull them to the wave.  Pretty fun to watch.

If you look really close you can see the jet ski and the surfer.

This is the beach we were at on Maui at the Grand Weilea.  Beautiful spot.

Just before whale watching...how lovely :):)

Twin tails.

Whale watching

This was a mama and baby whale.  We saw lots of these.  We were never quick enough to get a picture of a whale breaching (coming out of the water) but they were amazing to watch.

Can you believe how blue the water is? I love it.

We then left Maui and went to the Big Island for 2 days.  We had so much fun and wish we would have stayed longer.  We went to Volcanoes National Park.  It was very interesting and the lava flows and formations look so new even though some are 100 years old.

This is the steam that comes from the active volcano.  It was pretty stinky and on this day the air quality was really bad and they closed down part of the road.

This is part of a lava tube that we walked through.  Pretty cool.

This is an arch made of lava that has been carved out by the ocean waves.

Here you can see how the lava flowed down the mountain.  Pretty impressive.

We stayed at the Mauna Kea which is an older resort that Mike's grandmother used to stay at each year.  It supposedly has the best beach in the whole state of Hawaii.  We went body surfing and had a blast.

Our final stop was on Oahu. We had been here before a few years ago but did not go to Pearl Harbor on that trip.  Here is a submarine that we were able to take a tour of.  Pretty tight quarters.

Here is the USS Arizona.  I had a very humbling feeling at this site.  For so many, this is their final resting place and I am so grateful for those who volunteer their lives for our safety and freedom.

The day before we were to leave it was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning and we were awakened by the tsunami warning alarms outside.  We were staying on Waikiki Beach and they do what is called a vertical evacuation.  The tsunami was to hit around 11:00 a.m. and so we went and had breakfast and then camped out in our hotel room which was on the 27th floor and watched the news.  Luckily not much happened and no damage was done.  It was just surges but we couldn't tell a difference in the shoreline.

Here is a picture from our hotel room.  The beach and water are empty except for all the boats which you can see a little bit in the next picture.  It is safer for the boats to be on the water about 1/2 mile away from shore than to be in the harbor.  There were so many boats out there.

The day we left it was really windy and rainy.  Our flight wasn't until 10 p.m. so we spent the day driving around the island.  We came to the North Shore (Mike loves to watch the surfers) and came upon these kite surfers.  They would jump and surf these waves while hanging onto their kites.  We watched them for quite a while.

The Hawaii temple.  So beautiful.

We found this beach using a book we bought.  The sand was so soft and the water so blue.  It would be a perfect swimming beach but as you can tell it is really windy on this day.  We decided that if we come back we will definitely go to this beach.

We loved our 2010 Hawaii trip and hopefully we will be able to go back.  The first night I got a little teary.  I was so glad to be able to make the trip because I didn't think I would ever be well enough to go to Hawaii again.  It is a magical place.

As for the cancer update:  I am meeting with a doctor in Spokane, WA next Thursday about another treatment option.  It is pretty rigorous and requires another surgery but it will be good to see what he says.  There are only about 10 doctors in the country that perform this procedure and Spokane is the closest.

My score went up to 7.4 which is not good but my scans are clean so I'm not sure what is going on.  Maybe this oral chemo isn't working as well.

Anyway I am in good spirits and going to the Oregon coast with my family.  We are renting a 7 bedroom beach house.  Should be chaotic but lots of fun.  I also became an aunt to another niece yesterday.  Congrats to Jordan and Emily.  I am excited to see little Sunny next week.

Scan update

I had my scans today at 8 a.m. (too early).  I looked back and realized I haven't posted about what these scans are like.  The day before the scans I can't do anything strenuous and nothing to eat after midnight.  For my PET scan I go in a room with a recliner and they inject some radio active solution into my vein and then I get to recline wrapped in warm blankets for 45 minutes.  I'm not supposed to move very much.  In fact they won't let me bring a book in with me unless it is on headphones.  The first time I had this scan...I sat in that room with a broken clock and sang in my head all the hymns I could think of.  Pretty pathetic and it seemed to last FOREVER.  So after the 45 minutes then they take me to the machine that scans and I have to lay still for 30 minutes.  This scan picks up any cancer, infections, or areas that are healing.  Then I get to have a CAT scan of my abdomen and pelvis which is a piece of cake since it lasts a total of 10 minutes at the most and I just have to hold my breath a couple times.

So anyway....onto the good news.  I got a call this afternoon from the nurse at the cancer center and she told me that they received my scans and everything is normal.  YEAH!!!!  I meet with my doctor on Tuesday and I'm sure I will have to point out the spots on my liver.  They are pretty small and he never remembers quite where they are on the CAT scan.  Or maybe they will be gone.

My doctor won't say I am in remission...we tried last time we met with him to get him to say it...he'll only say I'm sort of in remission.  The best news is that he will most likely let me take a month break from any chemo since we are headed to Hawaii next week.  I am so excited.  Life is great and I'm trying to make the most out of each day I am given.

Neglecting my Blog - Finally an update

Sorry about disappearing for a little bit.  Things have just been so much better since I switched to the pill form of chemo.  I am still dealing with nasty side effects but for the most part I can't complain.  I sleep a whole lot (about 12 hours a day).  I have never been one to sleep a ton so this is new to me.  My days just seem to fly by.

Christmas was amazing.  I was in Washington for 2 weeks with my family and it was so great.  Mike joined me for a few of those days.  He got up early one morning and took some amazing pictures of Mt. Rainier and the sunrise.  This is across the street from my parents.  It only rained about 2 days while I was there.  So nice to have good weather.

I made a quilt for my sister Emily and she was quite surprised.  She has admired one I have like it that goes on a queen sized bed.  She was hoping maybe I would will it to her when I am gone.  In October she was visiting me and mentioned how much she loved that quilt and would just have to take my scraps and make one for herself.  Little did she know that I was just finishing up hers.  I shrunk it down a little to be a large throw blanket and it turned out great.  It was fun to surprise her with it.  (I stole this picture from her blog). 

Here are my 2 favorite one year old nieces.  They are just too cute.  They got matching PJs from grandma and are loving their suckers.

Christmas was mostly spent with family visiting, playing games, eating good food, putting together puzzles and celebrating all that goes with the Christmas season.  It was pretty laid back and so nice to be with my family all through Christmas and New Years.

Here is a cute picture I caught of Megan and Mike.  She was so tired and cuddled right up to him.

My mom and sister came to Utah just before Christmas for a quick weekend trip.  We saw "A Christmas Carol" at the Hale theater which was my first time seeing that play there.  It was so well done and very entertaining.  We also went to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir christmas concert with Natalie Cole.  I am always amazed when I go to the Conference Center and see how many people it holds.  The choir was so amazing and I was glad that we were able to get tickets to go.

Tomorrow I am headed back to Washington for my niece's baptism.  It will be another laid back trip since I am just so fatigued.  Just being with family is going to be great although I will miss Mike since he is staying home (to hold down the fort...oh yeah and go to work).  My sister Alison made me the cutest little pillows for Christmas that have so much time put into them. I could not fit them all in my suitcase at Christmastime so I am going to pick them up this weekend. I will have to post a picture of them so you all can see how cute they are.

As for a cancer update...I have scans coming up on Feb 10 and I hope they are still showing normal.  My score is currently 3.8.  Still under the normal mark of 5.  I just hope it stays there for a long while still.  Thanks to all for your continued prayers and friendship.

Excited for Christmas!!

I am getting so excited for the holidays.  Last year at this time I was still going through chemo treatments.  This year I am feeling so much better and my markers are looking really good.  My score went down again to 2.5 this past week.  I'm OK if it even bumps up just a little but stays under 5.  My doctor has been great.

Mike is doing well..he turns the big 40 this year.  I keep teasing him that he is finally catching up to me.  We will actually be the same age for a week before I turn 41.

Today we picked out a headstone.  Quite morbid to have your name on a headstone already but it looks really nice.  We got a large monument that will have Mike's parents and us on it.  The company is having some end of year deals so we took advantage of the sale price.  It is nice to have that all figured out already and done.

Hope everyone has a great holiday season....I know that I will as I am spending it with my family in Seattle.  YEAH!!!

Feeling Good!!

I am feeling so much better on my new chemo regimen.  I take 3 pills twice a day with breakfast and dinner.  So far there have not been any of the yucky side effects.  I'm feeling pretty normal...not 100% but a lot better than I have in the last 6 months.  My latest CEA score was 2.6...it came down just a little more.  Hopefully it will hold steady for a while.  My doctor is just not sure what the cancer will do or how soon it will start to grow back.  He's not up to letting me take a full break from chemo just yet.  So that is how I am doing...I'm getting excited for Christmas and spending time with my family in Seattle.

The funeral went really well.  Mike did a great job with the eulogy and I was so proud of him for doing it.  We both commented to each other at the end of the day that his mom we're sure enjoyed the day and the celebration of her life.  It is still hard to think that she is no longer with us.  Mike is doing really well though.  We went to the Grand America for thanksgiving dinner with Mike's dad.  The food was good but we were missing Jean.  I'm not sure we'll do it again because there is nothing like a home cooked thanksgiving dinner.