Hello to All
This is just a note to let you know what has been going on with me and my surgery. For the past 2 weeks I have gone in to my oncologist 2x a week to get a blood draw. This showed what my counts were. The first one showed that I was
to high ---which means I would bleed too much for surgery. The last couple showed that I was too low --- which means I would clot too much for surgery. My surgeon wants me in a certain range before he will perform the surgery. I
appreciate how cautious he is with my well being. Every time I go in my doc adjust my meds in hopes that it will help with my count as well as my clot. I go again on Tuesday to see where it's at.
The down side to all of this is that my mom will be leaving July 5th. These plans were made when we thought I would have been recuperating already. Now we are looking at the possibility of me not even having the surgery until she is gone.
Who will be with my kids while I'm in the hospital?
Who will be with me in the hospital?
Who will take care of all of me when I get out?
Who will take care of the kids?
How will I manage when I will not be able to lift anything (including Takai) for weeks?
Whose gonna cook?
Whose gonna clean?
These are just a few of the many questions I ask myself everyday. As Roy can only do so much and can only be in one place at a time. I am grateful that Roy is able to take time off of work...but we financially can't spare him to do much
of this. Therefore, we feel pushed into a corner and don't know how to get out of this one.....I have to go for my surgery, the kids need to be taken care of, Roy needs to go to work, etc.
So please, keep us in prayer as we try to figure all of this out. I won't try to hide the truth that I am just a little stressed by all this. On top of all that, I have not gone without side effects from my drugs. I can hide most of this from my kids....but what I can't do is take for granted that this journey is anywhere near over....I still need to take care of myself. I am so thankful that I have not been extremely sick like others that I know. But it does not take away from the side effects that I do have. I am constantly tired in a way that I have never felt, I do have many aches and much pain most of the time, I am having allergic reactions and along with all this I still have the clot in my arm that does come with some pain and limitations.
Uggh...can you tell it's just been one of those days?! My spirits are low right now. But I do want to end on a positive not. Tonight, just before going to bed, I was reading and was reminded that no matter what is going on in my life I
need to take just one minute to remember what blessings and miracles I have been given. Wow...what a slap in my face. Here I am complaining when I have so much to be thankful for. Yes, I know that you think I have every right to complain given the circumstances.....but NO, I do not. We were not promised a easy life....just one that He would walk hand in hand with us. That alone should be enough....yet He saw fit to carry me through all of this with a multitude of blessings and miracles. I could write a book on just what has been given and done for me and my family....and I have promised to let you in on some of these blessings....but for tonight I will tell of just two.
The first and probably one that is dearest to my heart is how blessed we have been to have my mom here with us. There truly are no words to express what my heart feels. She was here in moments and stayed for months....I have been able to leave for doctor's appointments with peace that my children are being cared for and loved. I have been able to sleep at night and know that my baby was not forgotten when he awoke. I have been able to successfully go through this part of the journey knowing that my mommy was by my side:) How do you thank someone for given up their life without hesitation so you can have yours?!
THANK YOU MOM! I LOVE YOU!
The next blessing came about a month into all of this...but so special as it comes from my 10 year old niece who wrote the following for a school assignment all on her own.
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MY HERO
POOF! In one minute something happened to my hero. She got BREAST CANCER. It is not a very happy thing. It's actually a very sad thing to have. My hero is my Auntie Shannon. She is very helpful in these ways. My Auntie is friendly. So you now how people get mad and yell, but she will never yell at me and she is always trustworthy. She is very brave when it comes to her cancer. She is also brave when she has to fight the cancer.
She always lets me come to her house, but now that she has cancer I am contagious because she cannot get sick or it will be a lot harder to fight and she would have to go to the hospital to fight it. A little thing is a BIG BIG thing for her because she has cancer. It will take her a very long time to get better but right now she is doing very good. She is very nice to kids because she used to be a teacher a long time ago. I wasn't even born yet. She is also my hero because she can always help me, but now that she has breast cancer I can't come to her house because she cannot get sick or she will have to go to the hospital.
THAT IS MY HERO, SHE IS VERY SICK, I LOVE HER!!!!
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It's probably the most humbling thing I have ever been called. I sit here after months of reading this over and over again and I still have tears in my eyes and a very humbled heart. This is something that I will treasure for all my days. Thank you, Kailynn!!!
May all of you have a peaceful Sunday and a wonderful week. I will keep you informed to the next step in our home.
My love to you all
Shannon
One needs to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames are the hottest as to burn away all the impurities. His eyes never leave the precious metal and knows it is refined & finished when He can see His own image in it....May He see His image in me.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
update 6/11/07
Hi to all!!
Leave it to me to bring more excitement to the table:)
Up until 3:30 this afternoon, we were all ready for surgery tomorrow. After talking with my surgeon things have changed. My surgery is now postponed. The issue of the blood clot in my arm has him not wanting to have it with the fear of things going into my lungs or heart. (Thankfully I have a wise Doc.) He wants the clot gone before he will perform the surgery. Therefore, tomorrow will probably be a day of ultrasounds and deciding if the port needs to come out. I am kinda up in the air as to what comes next. I will keep you all informed as it comes.
Please keep on praying for my health. I'm off my bone medicine (because of the surgery) so I have some pain now. My joints are aching and I have pain in my back that's here to stay. My doctor said that since the cancer was in other places...even though the cancer's gone, the damage has been done. So the pain in my back is mostly from the damage to my spine. We are trying different drugs to see what will work, and yet, still enable me to function on a daily basis. The pain is pretty intense at times, but I do want to be able to live my life as normal as possible for my kids sake.
Thank you to all of you. I appreciate the calls, cards & emails so much. There are some 'yuck' days. And they really do uplift me as well as remind me how blessed I am to have so many on my side.
Love to you all
Shannon
Leave it to me to bring more excitement to the table:)
Up until 3:30 this afternoon, we were all ready for surgery tomorrow. After talking with my surgeon things have changed. My surgery is now postponed. The issue of the blood clot in my arm has him not wanting to have it with the fear of things going into my lungs or heart. (Thankfully I have a wise Doc.) He wants the clot gone before he will perform the surgery. Therefore, tomorrow will probably be a day of ultrasounds and deciding if the port needs to come out. I am kinda up in the air as to what comes next. I will keep you all informed as it comes.
Please keep on praying for my health. I'm off my bone medicine (because of the surgery) so I have some pain now. My joints are aching and I have pain in my back that's here to stay. My doctor said that since the cancer was in other places...even though the cancer's gone, the damage has been done. So the pain in my back is mostly from the damage to my spine. We are trying different drugs to see what will work, and yet, still enable me to function on a daily basis. The pain is pretty intense at times, but I do want to be able to live my life as normal as possible for my kids sake.
Thank you to all of you. I appreciate the calls, cards & emails so much. There are some 'yuck' days. And they really do uplift me as well as remind me how blessed I am to have so many on my side.
Love to you all
Shannon
Monday, June 4, 2007
update 6/4/07
Hello Family & Friends
It was on my list to send out an update tonight and up until today I only had surgery details to fill you all in on. But now I have more excitement to share than I planned.
For the past few weeks my right arm (the one with my port) has been hurting off and on. So last week Friday when I saw my oncologist, we arranged for me to go have an ultrasound done today. Well, I bummed to say that I do have a blood clot in that arm. It goes from my neck down to my elbow. Yes...it's pretty big, but my doctor put me on meds for it right away. I am, again, having to have shots twice a day. Pray for me, as Roy already gave me one and it was
extremely painful. But with my daughter getting up to 4 shots a day, everyday....how can I complain. She really is the bravest person I know:)
My surgery is next Tuesday. My surgeon will check to see if the medicine did it's job to remove the clot. If not, then they will remove my port while I'm there. Beings that this is the second time that this has happened....I personally think it's wise. The only draw back is that I will have to get stuck for an IV every time I go in from now on...every three weeks. And for those of you who don't know this about me, I'm a VERY hard stick (that means my veins are hard to get) So usually, I have to get poked numerous times. Not the funnest thing!
I go in at 6:45am on Tuesday morn and the surgery is scheduled for 9:00. I am told that it will be 3 hours and that me recovery should only be one night in the hospital. I actually asked for more time, so my doctor got me an extra
night. We felt it wise for me to be there as long as possible for healing away from the kids trying to bounce all over mommy. For those of you wondering if you should call...do what you feel led to do. LeeAnn has said that she will be
sending out an update that night to let you all know about the day and how I am doing. My mom will be home with the kids and Roy will be sleeping uncomfortably at the hospital with me:)
I will go home with 2 pain pumps which are to be removed the next week. I think right now the thing I am most anxious about is the pain involved. But as I look to this event, along with the shots....I can only take it all in stride and be so grateful that I get to face all this knowing that God has a plan. And His are so much better than mine.
As always I have to end with thanking all of you for so much. The many blessings, some so creative, others just plain thoughtful and don't forget the ones that are simply needed....THANK YOU is never enough....may I learn from
your example and bless someone else the way each of you has blessed me and my family. One day soon I will salvage some time to write down for you some of these wonderful blessings.
Love
Shannon
It was on my list to send out an update tonight and up until today I only had surgery details to fill you all in on. But now I have more excitement to share than I planned.
For the past few weeks my right arm (the one with my port) has been hurting off and on. So last week Friday when I saw my oncologist, we arranged for me to go have an ultrasound done today. Well, I bummed to say that I do have a blood clot in that arm. It goes from my neck down to my elbow. Yes...it's pretty big, but my doctor put me on meds for it right away. I am, again, having to have shots twice a day. Pray for me, as Roy already gave me one and it was
extremely painful. But with my daughter getting up to 4 shots a day, everyday....how can I complain. She really is the bravest person I know:)
My surgery is next Tuesday. My surgeon will check to see if the medicine did it's job to remove the clot. If not, then they will remove my port while I'm there. Beings that this is the second time that this has happened....I personally think it's wise. The only draw back is that I will have to get stuck for an IV every time I go in from now on...every three weeks. And for those of you who don't know this about me, I'm a VERY hard stick (that means my veins are hard to get) So usually, I have to get poked numerous times. Not the funnest thing!
I go in at 6:45am on Tuesday morn and the surgery is scheduled for 9:00. I am told that it will be 3 hours and that me recovery should only be one night in the hospital. I actually asked for more time, so my doctor got me an extra
night. We felt it wise for me to be there as long as possible for healing away from the kids trying to bounce all over mommy. For those of you wondering if you should call...do what you feel led to do. LeeAnn has said that she will be
sending out an update that night to let you all know about the day and how I am doing. My mom will be home with the kids and Roy will be sleeping uncomfortably at the hospital with me:)
I will go home with 2 pain pumps which are to be removed the next week. I think right now the thing I am most anxious about is the pain involved. But as I look to this event, along with the shots....I can only take it all in stride and be so grateful that I get to face all this knowing that God has a plan. And His are so much better than mine.
As always I have to end with thanking all of you for so much. The many blessings, some so creative, others just plain thoughtful and don't forget the ones that are simply needed....THANK YOU is never enough....may I learn from
your example and bless someone else the way each of you has blessed me and my family. One day soon I will salvage some time to write down for you some of these wonderful blessings.
Love
Shannon
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