May 20th, 2012

There haven't been many bad days for Mom... We feel so blessed with how well she has been doing.  After her first round of chemo, she started to feel dizzy and by the end of that week she had one bad night where she just felt sick.  Other than that, Mom has been hanging in there and feeling well.  The next bad day came last Sunday, May 20th, when her hair began to fall out... She was devastated. Tiffanie gave me a call Sunday afternoon and asked to come over, and when she did she asked me to shave her head.  Tiff wanted mom to know that Mom is never alone in this and no matter what, she will always be beautiful inside and out... We had quite a bit of fun with Tiff's hair, and took some video and pictures to so Mom when she arrived that evening for dinner.

Mom came over later and as she walked through the door, Tiff came around the corner, hairless but beautiful.  It definitely caught Mom by surprise and they both cried together.  We decided that night, that the following Tuesday we would have a head shaving party... We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs as I had the awesome opportunity to shave everyone's head... Something I most certainly enjoyed!  I was almost convinced I could make a living out of it- well at least Mohawks and flat-tops.

I must say everyone had beautiful shaped heads!  Here is mom's final shave!...

 BALD

IS

THE

NEW

BEAUTIFUL!



Doesn't she look great! We sure love you Mom and admire your strength as you continue on with this journey! You are never alone and you will never fully know how much we love you!!!

Hairs!...

Sorry I have not posted in awhile... Things have been supa busy! But I wanted to upload pic of mom's doo! Our great and wonderful family friend took a sunday night and cut and put some funky blue streaks in Marmies hair... The kids at Mom's school loved it and thought she was super fly! We alway love hanging out with Trish, she is truly part of the family and we apprecite her being so willing to cut and color moms hair, and she is so good at what shes does (for anyone that wants a hair cut, go see Patricia at Paul Mitchell!)... Here how it turned out...

Hello, hello...

Mom had her first round of chemo Tuesday and it all went well and smooth.  Right now she is doing a clinical trial for anti-vomiting medication, and we think that mom got the "good stuff" and not the placebo, because she has been feeling really well.  She did get a few headaches but didn't get sick like most patients do on the chemo treatments she is having now. What a blessing! While she was at the hospital, they gave her a beautiful scarf and showed her how to wrap her head, and they also gave her some wig options... She chose one but wanted to know what everyone else thought about these options, so here they are...

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Option 4

Option 5

Option 6

We feel really blessed that mom is so far doing well and feel it is because of all the thoughts and prayers in her behalf.  We are so grateful to have such great, strong and amazing people in our lives.  Thank you so much for all you do!

Portacath?...

Well according Marmie, having a portacath makes her half portuguese and half catholic!... I actually just got off the phone with Mom and she said she'll start her chemo this coming Tuesday... She said it'll be an all day event, since it's part of the clinical trial for the anti-nausea medicine. We'll let you know how she does! Keep her in your prayers!

Sorry it's taken me a few days to post, things have been super busy.  Mom's surgery went well tho... They had to put her port on her right side (her dominate side) and for right now is causing her some discomfort, but will get better as she heals. This is what the port they put under her skin looks like...

She starts her chemo treatments next week... She won't be doing the estrogen blocker clinical trial, but they have asked her to do a different clinical trial for some anti-nausea medicine.  The first rounds of chemo will be what they called AC&T, which stands for Adriamycin, Cytoxan, and Taxol... She will do this once every 3 weeks,  for her first 4 times... then after that it will just be the Taxol, and she will do that once a week for 12 weeks.  The doctors also said she will most definitely loose her hair.  Mom wants to put some fun purple streaks in her hair before she looses it, and when she starts to loose it she has decided to shave it.  In support of mom, some family members has chosen to shave their heads as well, so they're calling it a head shaving party.  We were able to get some awesome family pictures done tho and we had so much fun taking them Here are a few and I will post more when we get them back from our awesome photographer, Annemarie Plazier...

I will continue to post, as mom receives chemo treatments as well, to keep everyone updated on how she is feeling and doing.  Thank you so much for all your love and support!

Surgery

Everything went well this morning, and mom was home by noon... She is now resting and I am sure will be up on her feet in no time... I will be going over to get all the detail and will post later tonight.  Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers!