IRISH SWEETHEART RLGF 2 DEADLIEST CATCHD...'s blog: "Cancer"

Sorry it's been so long since i've checked in. I've gone through alot these past few months. I went through 8 days of chemo, 29 external radiation treatments (thw side effects of this were much worse than the chemo), as well as 3 internal radiations that required surgery and a 2 day hospital stay. I have to say all the prayers have blessed me and as of Monday when they did surgery the doctor saw no visible signs of cancer, meaning the tumor was no longer there. He did the internal radiation to try to kill off any cells he wasn't seeing. I don't have to go back to the dr til April and we are quite confident I am in remission. Please continue the prayers that the cancer stays gone. Thanks for being such awesome friends! Much love and respect, Jackie

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Our home was filled with love and laughter. Certainly one of the best Christmas' I've had in a long time! Len and the boys made all of our Christmas very special. It was sad to see them go, as a house filled with young boys laughter is definitely a house of love! Len was here with me today to see the Chemo dr. Amazingly enough, the dr. apologized to me for the last visit we had with him. I was kinda in shock. He said he didn't mean to upset me with all the news and he was sorry, just something they need to do with their patients and reminded me that it was just a statistic and didn't necessarily mean anything suggesting I would be one of the 62% that didn't make it! I didn't get any different news, which I feel is good news. However, I got about 5 prescriptions and more to come. A few nausea meds (including the 'Hummer' of them all, you that know me know what that means...LOL) and some antibiotics. Plus numbing cream for my new port. As for my port I was only expecting two incisions from the surgeon, but after the chemo dr took off the bandages it seems I have 4. I don't think the dr today, nor his nurse were impressed, but they did say everything was fine. I did have a scare this morning, as my left hand was clearly swollen...seems the bandages were binding me and not allowing the blood circulation. It's gone down quite a bit since the dr took off the bandages! I'm kinda overwhelmed by all I have to remember or should I say my 'care givers' need to remember. I just hope god takes as good of care of me as he does them! They are my so called life line right now and I don't know what I would do without them! I'm really lucky I have such a wonderful and caring family, that means the world to me! I just hope one day I can repay them for the awesome care they are giving me. Thank you to all my friends that have left a message in the guest book and I will call and visit with you when I have time. Much love and respect, Jackie

I met with the Chemo dr and found out my success rate for my cancer after 5 years is only 38%, the 80% was 1 year. My dr., who is awesome, said he wants me in that percent and they are trying to get me on a clinical study in which he says would be beneficial to me. It apparently has gone into my lymph nodes in that area! If they get me in on the study, I won't have to pay for that part of Chemo. He says my age and health are definitely a plus! My Chemo starts on the 29th of Dec. If they don't get the Study I will be doing Chemo on a 21 day cycle. Which means I will have Chemo 4 days in a row and then break til the 21st day and start over for approx. 18 weeks (6 treatments). For those of you keeping track and researching the chemo for the 21 day cycle will be Cisplatin and Fluorouracil (also know as 5 FU). I was given so much info today the clinical chemo I don't recall! Sorry! They are doing radical Chemo and radiation as they normally don't do them together. If I get in the study it will be once a week between 3 to 6 hours. They are wanting to put a port in my chest for the chemo and get this...do it on Christmas Eve night! The port is put in by a surgeon and is outpatient surgery! Anyways my attitude sucks a lil right now, but is coming back up. I told the dr. lets just get this done. I know for sure now ... I will lose my hair about two weeks after chemo and will be sick 3 to 4 days after the treatment not to mention all the radiation side effects. I know it will all be worth it though .... WHEN I beat this! Keep those prayers coming.... Love to you all, Jackie