September 19, 2017. Our oldest baby girl's first field trip to the apple orchard with her daddy--and boy did she love it! The pictures from that trip made my heart beyond happy. All I could think when I saw those smiles was, "Gosh, I'm blessed."
This day also marks my first day of chemo--a 7 hr day. It may sound long, but when you have a visit from your hubby, your mom (who also watched my 3 little ones the entire day) and a seriously remarkable friend who's willing to sit with you the entire day to keep you company, it makes the day go by incredibly fast. This, and the numerous texts, messages, phone calls, topped off by a vase of "First Day of Kicking A$$," flowers from your besties really makes a girl know and realize how truly blessed she is. THANK YOU. My heart aches for anyone who has to go through anything like this alone--I just want to hug them.
So....chemo....where do I begin. My treatment plan-- I go in for chemo once every three weeks, and I also take a pill form that is 7 pills a day for two weeks on, one week off. Instead of the pill I could have come home with a pump for 46 hrs but I opted for the pill to see how that is on me because a pump with 3 toddlers seems like an interesting scenario to me. And by interesting...I really don't mean interesting. ;)
I didn't start noticing any of the effects from chemo until I was just about done for the day. Then, when I got home, I started to feel a bit "funky." I don't want to go into detail about side effects, so the best way to describe it is "funky."
This is where I'm at. First treatment under my belt and we go from here. I'll have another CT scan in 6 weeks to check progress. So now what? Live. Love. Pray.
There are never enough 'Thank you's' for everything that people in my life are doing for us--whether it be taking the kids, cleaning my house when we were gone, meals, being with us at appointments, just being there to talk, all the prayers, love, kind words, etc. It means the world to us and there will never be enough 'thank you's' to give.
Hi Jess,
My name is Ross Matthews. I found your blog through my sister-in-law Shelby Matthews (formerly Lehman). I was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic colon cancer last week. It has also spread to the liver and we’re getting a plan in place and hope to begin treatment next week! I’m just getting started on your story, but you’re truly an inspiration and seeing how you’ve handled this is helping me find strength and hope!
We (myself, wife, daughter and son) live in northern CO and our lucky enough to live near a hospital that is partnered up with MD Anderson. Like I said, I’m just getting started on your story, but it sounds like MDA is the right grou…