A Girls Weekend

I just had a fab, fab, fabulous 3-day weekend with two of my best girlfriends from Florida! We have wanted to get together for a while, and well, thanks to the cancer, I provided a very good reason...not to mention my friends just had new babies and needed a good getaway too!

Krishawn flew into Grand Junction and we headed over the mountain to pick up Julie. First stop...The Melting Pot! It was a first for Krishawn and me at the fondue place. We all loved it, all three hours of it. We even got Krishawn to say she liked cheese (she claims she hates it...hmmm). The best part of dinner was Krishawn's sound effects as the waiter explained the chocolate fondue menu. You can imagine, and she wouldn't stop doing it with every word out of his mouth describing the chocolate, caramel, etc. We laughed so hard, and embarrassed him so much, he quickly said 'I've gotta go take a smoke break!' and ran off before we could even catch our breath. It was great!

We really were trying to have a fun and relaxing weekend and treat ourselves. That required a fabulous hotel, The Ritz-Carlton in Downtown Denver. It was awesome! The room was super nice...hardwood, marble, bathrobes, perfect beds, etc, but I have to say I was by far most impressed with the service there. It was top-notch! We didn't have to lift a finger there and were treated like queens!

We spent most of our time shopping, but had fun doing it. We certainly wore ourselves out, even to the point we required a nap back at the Ritz on Saturday afternoon.

I loved my time spent with these great gals...all the shopping, eating out, late late night talks and laughs, sleeping in until 9 and 10 a.m. each day.  It was so wonderful!  I miss them already!

Piece the next three pictures together to get all of us...we didn't see anyone handy to ask to take a picture of us all.

Little Lily joined us for the 3-day weekend.  She was super cute and fun to have around.

Our wonderful hotel in the background.

One more note...I have to say a BIG THANK YOU to our husbands who all put their schedules on hold and stayed at home to watch our families for us.  Thank you, thank you, thank you...and we hope you are now trained and broke in for our next girls weekend! :)

My Life...updated

This cancer world is a whirlwind!  It seems since my last post about it, so much time has passed, when really it was just a few weeks.  My world has revolved around a million doctor appointments and tests and lots of stress, heartache, worry, and scheduling. 

I have learned so much about my breast cancer.  Our (Tyson too) mindset about the cancer and treatment has changed 180 degrees from when we first learned about it.  All of our decisions (there's a lot) about how to deal with this revolve around survival for me and to be able to live for Tyson and our kids.  All other plans and decisions in our lives seem quite insignificant right now.  Honestly, I'd love to get back to the insignifcant decisions! 

I did have a surgery about two weeks ago to remove pre-cancerous cells around where the tumor originally was and also to remove a lymph node for testing.  The lymph node came up negative, which as wonderful.  But the biopsy of the tissue taken from the breast revealed that there was more cancer, not just pre-cancer, and there still is more cancer in me now.  We learned a lot more about the type of cancer I have from that biopsy, and it is much more serious than we first thought.  It is now categorized as Stage 2, but the treatment is still looking the same.  We learned about the proteins attaching on the cancer cells...some good and some bad.  I will undergo another surgery probably next week, and then I start chemo about a month after the surgery.  I will do about 5 months of chemotherapy, and then there's more I.V. treatment for another 7 months.  It's a long road of treatment that looks like it will extend to about 6 years from now, but I know that all of this is to save my life and prevent this from coming back.  It does make me feel good that we are doing everything possible to fight this.  It doesn't completely prevent it, but its giving me the best shot at it.

So now I'm preparing myself for a bit of a transformation and my hair loss.  I really think losing my hair is going to be one of the hardest parts of all of this, not that I'm in love with my hair, but I know it looks better than me being bald!  I'm starting to stock up on knit caps and scarfs!  I can't knit fast enough.

So many statistics about breast cancer survival are on a 10-year time frame. We haven't seen any statistics beyond that. Ten years just doesn't cut it for me! I need plenty more than that, and that is what all this torture is all about.

Our Fall Hike

I've been wanting to go on a fall hike, and suddenly it was "needed".  It was the best getaway from reality and great therapy.  I loved it.  The fall colors were gorgeous, but I think we were a little late getting up there since a lot of leaves had already fallen off.  Still pretty though! 

Hi-ho, hi-ho, off to play they go...

There always seems to be a 'troll bridge' everywhere we go, and this was no exception. 

The Pineapple Girl

She called all the pinecones 'pineapples' as she collected them.

Boy, they love each other!

Cute treehugger!

The Mountain Men

Mommy and Mackenzie

Good News!

First of all, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You for all the concern, support, offering to help, and the many prayers!  It really does mean a lot and I certainly feel at ease with all the kindness.

I went to the dr. again today with some great news.  I've had an MRI and CT scans in the last couple of days and they all came back clear of any more cancer.  What a relief!  The pathology results from the lump removed were very positive as well, confirming it is in Stage 1 (the earliest stage), and that it is acting as a non-aggressive cancer.  This is all great and we feel so good about it all! 

Down side is that next week I have another surgery to remove more tissue (pre-cancer cells) and a lymph node for some testing.  Then I have four weeks of recovery and then I'm supposed to start radiation. 

So it will be a while until this is all over, but knowing what I face makes it so much more bearable.  I actually do feel great and am not on the emotional rollercoaster that I've been riding for the last week.

Wish me luck and keep the prayers coming!

Come What May, And Love It!

Sometimes life throws us curve balls.  You never know what is going to come your way.  Tyson and I haven't really seen much adversity or roadblocks in our life until now.  About 9 months ago, I found a small pea-sized lump in my breast and immediately went to the doctor.  After seeing two doctors, having ultrasound imaging, and a "100% sure" confirmation from the surgeon that it was just a fibroadenoma, I was put at ease and was able to carry on with the rest of life.

About 2 months ago, I felt the lump growing and sometimes a bit painful.  I still wasn't worried since I was told that it could grow and become uncomfortable at which I might want to remove it only because it would be obnoxious.  So the time came when I had to go for my dreaded yearly exam at the doctor, in which I also asked about the lump again (new dr...new city).  Once again, I was referred to a surgeon to see about getting removed (which is what I wanted at that point). 

Last Monday I met with the surgeon, and then Wednesday had the surgery and watched the whole thing.  The lump was about the size of a large marble, and quite a simple procedure to get it removed.  But the next day I got the dreaded phone call that no one ever wants, with the nurse requesting that me and Tyson come into the office as soon as possible to discuss the results of the biopsy.  There is no way to explain how I felt when she called, and then as I frantically tried to get ahold of Tyson at the office.

We made it to the office and were told that the lump was cancerous.  They believe it is at Stage 1, but there is so much testing, a few surgeries, and a lot of information still to be gathered.  The next couple of weeks are going to be intense and we are anxious to know the entire story behind this, but the waiting and not knowing is hard at times. 

We both feel very positive about it, and the dr. does too.  I am certainly scared, but am also finding comfort in having Tyson by my side, the sweet blessing he gave me, and two very active little kids that will keep me busy and are too young to understand this stressful time we are going through.  This certainly is a time to draw closer as a family, and closer to our Savior. 

I hope sharing this brings some awareness to all my girlfriends out there,...and a little therapy for me and place to vent. :)  We hope this can be a chapter in our lives that we can look back on and are greatful for the growth that we gained from it. 

I read an article the other day that was the last talk given by Elder Wirthlin in the October 2008 conference that I love and gave me a boost of strength and perspective.  It is called "Come What May, And Love It".  Awesome and entertaining talk.  This was the advice his wise mother gave him when he faced disappointment as a young boy, but it certainly is profound.  I love it!  Take a read...Come What May, And Love It

...Now nobody freak out on me! :)