Happy 2010!

Wow... it's been over a month since I posted last! I guess I have a lot to catch everyone up on!
First...the holidays! We had a great holiday! Saw a lot of family and friends which was nice. It was a very emotional Christmas in our home and mom's. First for all my "great" nieces and nephews I gave them the Hallmark Night Before Christmas book in which I was able to record myself reading the story to them. We'll the kids are little too young to understand but their parents did and every one cried. But that was ok, I want them all to always have something special! Then in our house Christmas morning (which was actually Christmas afternoon by the time they all got out of bed!!!) was very nice. I made the kids books and gave them very special things to always keep with them. The books I got were great and I recommend them for all parents to give to their kids. They are called Dear Daughter (Son) a message of love by Marianne Richmond. The book can be personalized with your own pictures and you can add your own writing to it, it's great just how it is but my adding your own stuff it makes it wonderful. There was not a dry eye in our house although we laughed and cried at the same time. The difference in my children...Sean read each and every page slowly and Caitlin flipped through looking at all the pictures first! Both crying and laughing along the way. I also gave the kids a small chest called a Hope and Cope Chest. A place for them to keep all their special items to always remember the good times and special items. Sean always keeps things....Caitlin on the other hand...if she keeps things she never remembers where they are are. In each box I added some things...like pictures of their bedrooms when they were little kids, guardian angel coins I purchased and I added my tickets to the Luxury boxes for the Red Sox games we went to. Sean's was his 18th Birthday Game that he and I went to and for Caitlin was the Mothers Day game we all went to. This Christmas was about giving everyone something special and sentimental from me so they always have them and I accomplished my goal! One special gift I gave my mom was a book of this blog. My mom doesn't use a computer but a lot of her family and friends do and they always mention it to her. So I found this website...http://www.blurb.com. You download their software to create a book. You can write you own book using the software our you can download direct from your blog. So I did that and created the book titled "My Journey The First Two Years". It shows every post from the beginning up to the last one below the day before Thanksgiving 2009. She loves it and yes guess what...I gave it to her early...I couldn't wait until Christmas. Which I'm glad I did. It gave her the opportunity to read it and share it throughout the holidays. On the weekend, Patti & Stephen took Bernie and I to Foxwoods and we had a great time. We didn't win any money but it was fun! New years Eve very quite in our house. Caitlin went into Boston with her friends and was spending the night in South Boston at my nephews house. They rented a bus and where were going the bar in downtown...and you know 21 yr old girls...new dress, have to have hair done, etc. It's only 10:30am so I haven't heard or seen her yet...I'm sure she is still sleeping! Sean actually worked last night. He worked security at a party in Boston...he was working from 9pm to 3am. He's home sleeping so I probably won't see him until late afternoon. So with both kids out we just got some takeout and watched a movie. But needless to say I didn't last until midnight...I was out like a light before 11!

So now to the medical side. The month of December was a complete cycle. Actually Cycle#4. The first treatment of Dec 4th was suppose to be both Avastin and Ixempra but because the pan in my hands was getting pretty bad, they had to reduce the amount of Ixempra I get and protocol calls for skipping a dose before it it reduced. So on the 4th I only got Avastin but they gave me the H1N1 shot which ended up knocking me out for the weekend. On the 11th I did get my Ixempra as scheduled but at a lower dose only 13cc versus 16cc. Then on the 18th I got both meds and was off the week of Christmas. Oh ya, also been put on high blood pressure meds because my blood pressure was pretty high. It's much better now but still watching...I think the other day it was 146/88...still a little high but at least the bottom number now under 90. I had my every 8 weeks CT Scan on Tuesday on the 29th and saw the doctor Weds the 30th. Results are mixed. The actual summary result reads...Mixed response to treatment with decreasing mediastinal lymphadenopathy but increased size of multiple bilateral pulmonary nodules. The largest tumor in my chest shows some continued decrease...on Sept 2nd it was 6.4 x 5.3 cm, then on Nov. 2nd it was 4.8 x 3.9 cm and now Dec 29th it measures 4.0 x 3.1 cm. So that's good, but the smaller ones have all increased. Actually one of them that had shown a decrease in Nov has now grown bigger then the original measurement in Sept. Also have now seen a 5mm area on my spine that bear watching along with what appears to be a exophytic fibroid on my uterus that will also be watched. So now you know why they say..."mixed response". The good thing is some decrease seen so I can stay on this trial treatment for another 8 weeks. So I look at that as good news. Remember at the beginning they told me this treatment was the first of three that we could try....well after further research on my part....the other two possibilities are either one of the other, so I look at that I only have one other option if this stops working so anything to continue on this one so not to have to to make a decision and resort to my last option just yet is good news! And I know the side effects of this one...if I did 16 weeks already, I can do another 8!

So I'll end for now, Happy New Year to all, lets hope 2010 is a good year! My 2010 resolution is to live each day as if it where the last because you never know and I don't wan to have any regrets because I didn't do something or say something!