Friends for life

This gentleman is in our ward. We did a service project for him by raking his leaves because he has cancer. We became fast friends due to our common enemy. While we were talking, we discovered we were on the same chemo regime and we bonded for life. He is now in remission and I could not be happier for him. We decided to pose for these pictures and it was a great bonding experience. I think they are really cute. Enjoy!

A lot to be thankful for

What a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were able to spend it with Chris' family in Memphis. All of his sisters were there with their spouses and most of the kids. My mother in law Dana is a phenomenal cook so the food was nothing short of spectacular. It was wonderful to have everyone together as it has been 5 years since that has happened. My daughter Jordin also came from Utah although her husband was stuck at home working. She will stay with us here in Virginia for an additional 2 weeks which will be wonderful. I am dreading my next round of chemo on thursday as I am starting to see the long term side effects of peeling skin and lifting fingernails. I still can not taste much which was a real bummer at Thanksgiving. I especially can not stand chocolate or diet Coke, my two biggest vices pre-cancer. I have been feeling well the past week so I should not complain as everyday I can spend with my family is a good day. I hope Thanksgiving was good to you all and as always, keep me in your prayers. Richelle

More good news

Sorry it has been a few days. When I am feeling well, it is hard to find time to write. I had wonderful news on thursday. I had a repeat MRI done on my head. I did not tell most people that I had been told in the hospital that they found some cancer in my brain. After review by several physicians, they decided it might be a brain bleed brought on by my low platelet count at the time. I was scheduled for a follow-up in three weeks. You can imagine how scared I was. I happened to get my H1N1 shot the same day in my doctors office and the nurses..who I love..asked how I was doing and I mentioned the scan and immediately started to cry as I was nervous about the results. Just then my doctor walked by and they told him I had just had my scan. He volunteered to get the results right then and said he had a good feeling about it. Rightly so, as my brain scan was clear.....YEAH! We are also changing me to a 3 week schedule of chemo and looking into studies that I may be eligible for when I come off my chemo. It has been hard to always stay upbeat but I take any piece of good news and celebrate it. We are going to Memphis for Thanksgiving and all of Chris' family will be there as well as my daughter Jordin. She will then travel home with us to spend and extra week. She won't see me at my best when we get home as I am scheduled for chemo on that monday. It will be wonderful to have her help out though. Well, better sign off. It is a beautiful day and I am feeling pretty good. Richelle

Duke University visit

Ok, here is the scoop from the experts. There is no cure for this disease at this time. However, there are an arsenal of drugs to treat this and some are chemo and some fight the receptors on the cancer. The bad news is that this cancer is aggressive so you can never "stop" treatment although you can live a relatively normal life for long periods of time on maintenance treatments that keep the cancer at bay. The good news is that there are a lot of new drugs coming out all the time and a lot of studies you can participate in and that they are working on "cures" so that no one knows what will be available in just a few short years. The bottom line is that I need to stay on my chemo until the cancer is no longer found in my blood and then switch me to a receptor type drug at which time I will feel much better as I will not be dealing with all these side effects. Hopefully I can be on that maintain ace for years. Again, I trust the doctors but put my faith in God and all of your prayers. What can I do except fight the good fight......Richelle

I should have listened

Ok, so yesterday (sunday) was horrible. I could barely move. I made the huge mistake of trying to help rake leaves the day before and paid for it. I did not realize how much energy was sapped out of me until I tried to attend church the next day. I ended up leaving early and took two pain pills to knock myself into oblivion for the rest of the day.......not something I enjoy doing! The chemo causes back pain which was not all that bad it was just that my mind was not tired but my body could not move. I pretty much slept for 2 days and now I feel a bit better. I will never make that mistake again. We had a great turn out for the raking of the leaves and everyone really appreciated getting their yards in shape. One of the people we helped is also battling cancer and we discovered we are on the exact same chemo regime only his is every 3 weeks and mine is 2. He just went into remission so he only has 3 more treatments and he gets a break for a long time I hope! We took a picture with both of us bald so we will see if I am brave enough to post it! Today is Kelly's birthday so I hope I can muster enough energy to make it special for her. She also starts swimming today for her school so she is excited about that. Well, better sign off. Richelle

Sweet 16 and Leaves!

Today will be very busy as we will have the "Annual Raking of the Leaves" with our church today. Chris and I are in charge and we will be raking leaves for 3 older people in our church as well as cleaning their gutters. It is also Kelly's 16th birthday party and she is taking some friends out to eat and then back over to our home for cake and ice-cream. She wanted to keep it low key this year and with everything going on, I don't blame her. I finally got some sleep last night (10 hours)I had no idea the steroids they gave me with the chemo could keep me so hyper. I only slept from about 11:30 to 1 am the night of my chemo. I will definantly remember to take a sleeping pill in the future. Chris is home from Spain and I am grateful I will have his help today. He brought me some beautiful gold jewelry hand made there. Better sign off.......lots to do.

Leaving on a jet plane

Ok, so the prayers are still working. My sisters were supposed to all leave on wednesday but we were "blessed" with some bad weather on the east coast and their flight was canceled so they all returned to my home where we ate pizza and watched even more movies......by the way, UP by Pixar was very good and I never watch animated movies anymore. Laura and Tonya left on a 5 am flight this morning and Faith flew out at 11 back to Oregon. I had my third round of chemo this morning and have an appt. at Duke University on the 18th so my doctor could get a 2nd opinion even though he feels that this medicine is working wonderfully.....He is a great doctor and told me I could have any and all records anytime for other opinions and even suggested Duke and made my appointment. It is amazing that we have such a wonderful regional cancer center right here in little Ol Lynchburg. My bone marrow is also functioning now so I can go back to church....yeah! I know, my sound crazy but no one has ever told me you CAN'T go. The next few days I am going to feel great and probably will feel tired starting on wednesday for about 4 days. Please drop by anytime or call if you like. I am usually parked on the couch on my tired days watching way to much "trash TV" Love Ya Richelle

Sister love.....I like it!

Today has been wonderful! I am loving having my sisters here. We really do nothing but shop,talk, walk, watch movies and generally cause havoc in the community. My birthday was amazing also. Church members and friends dropped by and my husband made me a cake before he left for Spain. The gifts and cards left me in tears (they come more easily these days) I have so many wonderful people in my life and I feel that I can never payback the kindness I have received. I feel guilty that I can't write personal thank you cards to everyone but just know that each of you are loved!!!!

So far so good

The doctor visit went great. He is very pleased with my blood counts and made the statement that I am travel ready and wants me to see some breast cancer specialists at Duke University some time in the next two weeks. I will have another round of chemo on thursday. My sisters are here and my energy level is almost back to normal so the timing is great!!!!!

Off to see the wizard

Today I meet with my Dr. to see how the 2nd round of chemo went and to have some blood drawn to check my WBC and platelet levels. I am still very tired but hope to start on my upswing here soon. My sisters Tonya, Laura and Faith come in tomorow from California and Oregon. They will be here while Chris is in Spain on business. I hope to show them around Lynchburg a little bit and am grateful that the weather should be good. Keep the prayers coming as they really help. Love you all!

It got me!

Ok, so I am finally feeling the effects of the chemo. I am not tired but my body is!!! Can't seem to get off the sofa. Chris bought me a wonderful lunch of Wendy's chili....something I can taste and hopefully has any germs burned out of it....he he. Of course I had to top it off with a little chocalate frosty. Scary that I am now trying to gain weight and can eat whatever I want but don't want anything! The Lord works in mysterious ways!!!!

Resting today

I spoke with mom this morning and she is very tired today. She plans on reading in a nice warm bath and then taking a nap. So if you cant get ahold of her today, she has probably turned her phone off so she could get some rest.

Just thought I would give you all a heads up!

Beautiful day!

I can hardly believe that I feel so good today. More energy than yesterday and I thought I would be feeling more tired each day. What a wonderful surprise and it is sunny and beautiful outside. Makes me want to take a jog.......well, not yet. Maybe I can actually vote and have lunch with Chris.

So far so good !

Starting to feel the effect of the chemo I had on friday. The next couple of days will probably be rough but so far no nausea or much pain. I was able to run a few errands with Kelly and do the MOM thing as much as possible. A wonderful friend brought me the softest "prayer shawl" ever and I took a wonderful nap with it. Not as good as my husband but close. I have heard from so many of you that I have not heard from in a long time and it is wonderful to touch base with you again. Keep the prayers coming, I can really feel them and they are the best chemo ever! Love ya!

Note from mom

Mom just wanted me to post to say that she is doing great! Yesterday she went to help paint someones house in the ward. She really enjoys getting out and helping people on her good days. She always went to a Halloween party and went to eat at some friends house. My mom always finds ways to get some social time in :). She is so grateful for all the good news she has been getting from the doctors and she is grateful for everyone's prayers and support.

loves to all our family and friends!