In Memory of Gene

A few years ago, my cousin Andrea shared that her husband was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.  He fought long and hard and this past week, passed away.

This is the first time I ever had to witness someone my age bury their spouse.  It was eye opening and heartbreaking. 

As we sat at the showing the night before the funeral, I could feel the love & support from all of the family and friends that were crowded (and I mean crowded - it was wall to wall people) into the building.  Andrea and their boys greeted each visitor with a hug and smile.  They laughed and cried as they shared stories.  I could see how exhausted they were, but they kept going, never not welcoming another person in with a hug. 

I wish there was a cure for cancer...I wish we would quit losing people to cancer.  I pray for a cure, in my lifetime, where I can see all those that are sick be healed. 

Please keep my cousin and their 3 sons in your thoughts and prayers as she learns to live her life without her best friend.

Cancer, Cancer, Cancer…

When I wrote the F*CK Cancer post two years ago, I thought that was it…  Enough of my family had been affected that we should be done!  No more!  Then my cousins husband was dx with stage 4 colon cancer.  They have 3 sons under 21.

A month ago my mom was dx with thyroid cancer.  

A few weeks ago, one of my oldest & best friends was told her 12 year old son has osteosarcoma 

Seriously.  FUCK CANCER.

 

 

Prayers for my family and friends are most welcome and appreciated.  Prayers for their strength during treatments, for their faith to never waiver, and for a cure. 

Fuck C**cer

The filthy word is everywhere...  I can't seem to shield my kids or myself from the word.  I want it to go away - I want a cure to be readily available.

My Uncle Rick was diagnosed w/APL Leukemia about a month ago.  My Aunt M was diagnosed with breast cancer 6 wks ago.  My Auntie R had a masectomy 3 wks ago.  My gramma's best friend, Wendy, a beautiful woman we lovingly refer to as Grandma #2 is full of cancer and was moved to hospice last week. 

The diagnosis for my Aunt M looks good.  They found it in my Auntie R's lymphnodes...still waiting on the prognosis.
My Uncle Rick will be hospitalized for 6 wks at a time - w/a possible 1 wk break at home in between.  During his 9 HOUR blood transfusion he started getting hives, they gave him benadryl through his port - his throat start closing up - his bp dropped - he passed out.
He's 52.

Besides having advanced alzheimers (she's only 63), Wendy now has full blown cancer.  She hasn't eaten in almost a week.  She has a constant drip of morphine.  My Gramma said she seems to be in a coma.

When I climb into bed at the end of the day - I thank God for my healthy family...that I'm healthy... I pray for my family and those I don't know.
I cry...I pray...I cry a little more.  I roll over, wrap my arms around Dennis & fall asleep wishing I could take away the pain of my loved ones.

How you doin?

We could be ‘doin’ a bit better.

My great-great-Aunt Sis passed away a few weeks ago. She lived a long wonderful life, she was 100 yrs old! Even at 100, she was still sharp as could be. It was hard on my Gramma, this was her mother’s sister. She was like a 2nd mom to my Gramma. It broke my heart to hear the pain in her voice.

On the day my aunt passed away, my Gramma received news that her best friend, Wendy, was diagnosed with liver cancer. Wendy is young, 63, and already suffering from Alzheimer’s. It’s not fair that she is now suffering in pain from the cancer, on top of not remembering.

Our 9 yr old lab Quinn was also diagnosed w/cancer a few weeks ago. He had a VERY large tumor on his leg which we had removed. Since it was cancer, we needed it removed b/c it could split open. It was 2lbs! My poor guy. He was pretty drugged after the surgery - and fell asleep w/his head in Dennis' console.

He’s doing good now, though he’s still losing weight. We’ve also found more lumps on his body, but they are small, so we won’t do anything with them.

Last week my great-Aunt Rebecca (my mom’s dads sister) told us that she has breast cancer.

Cadence & Auntie R

My Uncle (my mom’s brother) Rick had some blood work done & it came back critical. He saw an Oncologist yesterday. Last nite my mom told me my Aunt M (my mom’s sister-in-law) has breast cancer & starts chemo today.

I’m in shock and scared for my family. Please pray for them as they each enter into a new world of chemo/radiation & medicine.

PS. The winner of the last contest was Queena Da Castle..I contacted her at the closing of the contest but never did an updated blog post - so Congrats! :)

Quinn

He’s been with us since he was 6 months old…he’ll be 10 in May. He’s my boy. He can break your heart when he hangs his head…he can drive you crazy when he counter surfs (yep – 110 lbs never slowed him down!) and he truly is better than any electric blanket we’ve ever used!
Yesterday the vet told us he has cancer. My heart broke. He has this large lump on his leg – he’s gotten them before…it’s a build-up of fluid on his joints. The last time it was drained (Apr ’11) he was 102 lbs. Down 8 still but still about 20 over.
Yesterday he weighed 79 lbs. And the rate and size that the growth grew this time was alarming. Even the vet was taken aback at how large it was this time.

She started to draw it out & it was blood. She looked at it under a scope & concluded my boy has cancer.

He has surgery next week to have the mass removed. We’re not going to do further testing on him. We talked about it last nite and came to the conclusion that even if we could do radiation, I’m not going to put him through that. He’s 10 yrs old. He’s still active, this mass has NEVER slowed him down (see above counter surfing!) and I don’t want treatments to age him.
Dr. F feels that just having it removed will be all he needs. And even that isn’t necessary, the concern to leaving it is if it continues to grow – it could split open, which is very painful.
So if you could say a prayer for my boy, I sure would appreciate it.
He holds this family’s heart in his 79 lb body…