cancer, cancer, cancer

well.... of course it's cancer. 4 or 5 new spots in my right lung and a couple in my left. They removed one from my left to confirm it is cancer. They will be doing a new clinical trial on me. They won't start treatments until mid July. I have to have a complete re-staging done. CT, MRI, PET, EKG, and bone marrow test. After all of those tests are done they can start the treatments. Instead of chemo it will be infusions of an enzyme to attack the cancer, 1 1/2 hrs in Seattle every three weeks for six months to a year. depending on the results. they will continue to test me during all of this to see if it is even working. after all of the treatments, if they work, after a year or so, I will have ANOTHER stem cell transplant. I go in 2mrw to sign the paperwork for the clinical trial. Then start scheduling tests and crap. Anyway. that is all for now. ttyl. love u guys.

Dawn

Surgery is scheduled.

6-11. No idea what time. They won't call me until Wednesday to tell me what time to be there on Thursday. Oh well. Nervous. I HATE surgery. AHHHH.... could be either only one night or two though. That's not so bad. I better not have to be in longer than that. UofWA Medical Center.

Went camping this weekend. Very wonderful. Just went to Lake Goodwin. Wish there had of been more sun!! Went in the lake Sat and Sun though. Wasn't so bad after you RUN in. :) It was me, Ron and Hailey, Charles was there for both nights too. Lizzy came up and stayed Saturday night. Shaun and Troy came up on Sat night too, didn't stay over but might as well have, it was sooooo much fun.

Came home to a "surprise" birthday party for me. Got a ton of wonderful stuff. Some great gift cards, my original birth certificate in a frame, baby blankets from when I was two or so, scrap booking stuff, a calendar organizer, a very nice watch, coffee cup, charms, a plant, cash and more.

Thank you everyone. I love u. xoxo Dawn

consultation

well, the consultation for surgery is scheduled for 6-3, I will be in Seattle all day. My dad is going with me. They will be scheduling surgery on that day. Not sure when it will be.... hurry up and wait. Gotta love it.

Thanks everyone.


xoxo

Dawn

Weekend

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Went to the drive-in last night. It was wonderful!!! Terminator and Star Trek were playing. Ron and I went in the tow truck. Boy do kids just love that truck. They wave and smile and yell "hi!!!". As soon as we park here comes the sheriff. First words out of his mouth.... "you lookin' for somebody?" Nope, it was funny, "is it as bad as they show on T.V.?" Nope. That's usually every one's first question. Not that exciting. Rarely exciting. But fun.

Surgery. ASAP.

Well this sucks. So much for organic making a difference in 2 1/2 weeks. The 3 new spots GREW. Damn. The doc said I must go in for the "next available" surgery time. :( Back to the hospital. Damn. They will biopsy one of the nodes.... it could be an infection.... or cancer. Then we will go from there. I meet with the doctor 10 days after surgery. Not sure yet how long I will be in the hospital. The gal better call me today with my surgery date. I am a VERY impatient patient. Maybe I am just being cynical but I told the doctor.... "I know it's not an infection" and you want to know what his response was???????? "I know, we just have to prove it". AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comments would be nice. I know you are all checking for updates but a few uplifting words would be greatly appreciated. :)


xoxo

Dawn

TOMORROW.

Nervous about tomorrow. Should have results on newest scan by 2pm or so. My dad is going with me. All day in Seattle again. Hope it doesn't resort to that for months and months again.

Is all this worth it??

Organic, free range, no sugar, no coffee.... AHHHHH is it doing any good? It is tough. If I was single and lived alone it would probably be much easier. It really sucks though sitting at the dinner table eating a Boca burger that has been chopped up in a HUGE salad while everybody else is putting gravy on their non-organic potatoes and having some roast (red meat). AAAAAHHHHH I may just KILL for a coffee one of these days. I want a MOCHA. Thanks to everyone that is staying updated with me again. I was gone for quite a while. :) Sorry. Love ya!

Off to read a book.

Eating Organic and the OCA

I went to see a cooperative alternative medicine doctor that specializes in cancer patients. He's based out of Swedish in Seattle, last Tuesday was my visit with him. I KNEW I should have gotten an espresso before going there. Boy did he tell it to me straight. No red meat, well... once a week two times a month is OK. But only free range, chicken and turkey too, only organically grown veggies and fruits, green tea and "filtered" water. That's what I get. No coffee, no Diet Coke, no regular Lipton Ice Tea, as little sugar as possible. Fish is okay as long as it is "wild" salmon or cod, nothing else. Organic dairy products, organic eggs, good luck finding organic cheese... I'm staying with Tillamook. The package says something about no bad stuff in the cows it came from. It is VERY hard to get in 64oz of water per day, along with at least 3 8oz cups of green tea. (it's not bad, but it would be nice with a little sugar). 2-3 fruits a day, 5-7 veggies per day, 64 grams of protein, and attempt to reach 2100 calories per day to maintain my body weight. It is harder then heck to reach 2100 calories!!! I did it today though! Actually got about 2800!! It's only do to the fact that I got a vanilla flavored protein powder though. TONS of protein and TONS of calories. A perfect lunch. I am about fed up with salads. That's about all I eat. Or so it seems. Add a Boca Chicken patty, to my salad, spice it up for the day. I am still so new at the "eating healthy" thing it's hard to get used to. Recording every oz. of food I eat, making sure to write the calories and protein down. Search after search of how many calories in this, how many calories in that... found a great website to help with that though http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/ check it out. I will end this with the thought of.... I really need to get my calories up. To maintain my current (well previous) current weight I needed to eat at least 2100 calories. I have lost 9 pounds in 6 days. Not a bad thing. But not what I was trying to do. Organic Soy Chocolate Milk is good. Organic cream cheese tastes the same. OOOOOOOhhhhhh STAY AWAY FROM ORGANIC COTTAGE CHEESE. That was not a tasty experience. I have only tried two different kinds, but oh boy. Not so good.

I can say that I have felt much more energetic and healthy since starting this way of eating. Not going to use the word DIET, just sounds like a bad word to me.

BTW my title links you to the Organic Consumer Association (OCA) if you are interested in checking it out. :)

Have a good night everyone.

I'm still here!

I am still around... :) trying to get updated on the Internet. I have neglected all of you and haven't kept you informed. Sorry. After my stem cell transplant I went through a bunch of radiation. My 3month check up was in the end of April, on the 27th of April I found out that I have THREE new spots. In my lungs. The plan right now is to wait until the 27th of May and get another scan to see if the spots have either stayed the same, gotten bigger or gone away completely. We of course are hoping for gone away completely but nothing is for sure. If they get bigger there will possibly be a biopsy, and if the stay the same I will just have to wait another 30 days and see what happens.... so that's a mini update. I promise to get back on track with blogging. My laptop has a desk area in my room now so it is easier to set at it and type. :)

Love ya!!

Dawn

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, it's been so long since I posted. Sorry for that. I find out tomorrow what the results of my PET scan will be. Three options at this point can come out of it. 1. I'm all fixed and don't need any more treatments, 2. I may need "spot treatments" if there are small areas that are still active, 3. mini allogeneic transplant, using my sister's stem cells. Nervous about tomorrow. Thank you to all my friends and family for standing by me during this time. Boy was it nice have a couple weeks vacation from thinking about cancer. :) Talk to you all soon....



Love,


Dawn

SNOW!!!!!!!!

Well..... I'm home!!! Got here Wednesday the 17th..... one appointment this next week on Wednesday and then NO appointments until January 5th!!!!! Ron, Hailey, Charles, and I went sledding at Jennings Park yesterday!! So much fun. There are some great hills there. I really want to go again!!! I got the tubes taken out of my arm today. NO MORE TUBES. :) Well, we can hope.

Talk to you soon!!


Dawn

update!!

Love you guys!! Thanks for all the comments!! The scoop is I will be home SOON!!!! I am on antibiotics for a another week or so. Starting Monday I have random appointments all week, I do have a three day weekend though, which is containing packing as much as I don't need and getting it to Marysville. WHICH MEANS..... if anyone calls me there is a great possibility that I could be in town. Which brings me to The Lights of Christmas. I want to take Hailey there the weekend after this. Does any one already have a date set for going?? Leave a comment, let me know!!

I am super excited. Things won't be a perfect world for some time but I want my life to be normal. "Guess you don't always get what ya' want". Christmas..... it will be good. I can't, I'm not supposed to hug or shake hands with anyone during the Cold/FLU season. Hailey is my exception. :)

Thank you all for caring so much. It does mean a lot to me. This process isn't over when I get home and might not be for some time so please keep me bookmarked, "favorited" or just become a follower, as I am excited to continue to keep in touch with everyone while get my life put back half way together.


The donations are exceptional. THANK YOU. I can not wait until these hard times are over. I know things are hard for everyone this time of year and I think about you all. Seattle is great and all but I am not prepared to live here again anytime soon. :) I just want to go home! "There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home......."

I seen a roll of wrapping paper at the Safeway in Seattle today and it was of the The Christmas Story. I really wanted to get it but I couldn't today.... has anyone seen it in Marysville... I still want it.

Thanks again for everything,



Dawn

P.S. Mom, Dad, Billy, Breanna.... Love you so much, can't wait to come home.

Finally A Positive Test Result

Well they have done a whole bunch of tests on Dawn over the last couple of weeks and finally got a positive test result. They found a negative gram rod in her blood cultures from yesterday. This is a type of blood infection but they aren't for sure what exact type it is. They have to grow more on the cultures to get a more pin pointed diagnosis. They have her on antibiotics and she should be ok to leave by Monday. Hopefully this will be the last time in the hospital. They are most likely going to pull her Hickman line incase the infection got in her line. They were planning to pull her Hickman before she goes home anyways due to the risk of blood clots if they leave it in. They believe the blood infection is from herself due to the conditioning of her treatment. When a person is on antibiotics for a long period of time it kills the good and bad flora in her body. When it does this any bug in her gut can get out of control and seep through the intestinal walls into her blood. So even though Dawn has to be extra cautious for the next year or so she could still give her self a bug. She is the biggest threat to herself over the next few months. LET THIS BE THE END.

Back In The Hospital

So it is official, Dawn has been admitted back into the hospital for a fever and chills. Not sure how long she will be there this time because they don't know what is wrong yet. It could be a whole bunch of things but until the results from all the tests come back, we won't know anything. The tests could take up to 5 days before they know what is happening. I am staying at the apartment tonight because Dawn is in isolation. People can still go and visit her they just have to wear a gown and gloves while in the room. I hope more people can actually get down there to see her, even if its only for a hour. It will help her with her depression and help her not feel all alone. If anyone is interested and wants to know the room number or directions just let me know.

Can Anything Go Right

Well everything has been going somewhat ok until today. Dawn woke up at 5 am with a fever and chills. I called the clinic like I am supposed to and they said give her tylenol and come in at 8am. So we did and upon getting here the triage nurse wants to know why we didnt come in sooner. I told her what the nurse on the phone said and they were't happy by her decision. As it was put to me they have wrote an incidence report on that nurse. They have no clue what is going on cause her neutrophils jumped to over 5000 today. A very large jump for 1 day. They say if it was an infection her body should be able to fight it on its own with her counts where they are. She is most likely going to have to be admitted to the hospital again because they can't get her fever and chills under control which means there is most likely something more serious going on. The only other thing they said could be going on is her body is reacting to how fast her numbers are jumping. It isn't common but can happen. Well we all know when they say it isn't common what to look forward to cause that is what happens to Dawn. I will post later tonight to update if she goes to the hospital or not.