CANCER FREE - NO cancer in the bone marrow!!

It was just a routine follow up oncologist appointment for me today, Monday, March 18.  The plan is to have a CT scan every 6 months for two years, then go once a year for five years just to make sure nothing shows up.  The doctor is very optomistic, but best to be proactive with cancer in the body.  I told the Doctor that Dina cleaned out her garage last Thursday...I told him that because I felt that was a really good sign...her energy is back, and if she can clean out a garage she must be feeling good, which is a really good indication of maybe NO cancer!  After going to scheduling for my next appointment, the doctor caught us before we left and said that he called the radiologist to get a preliminary report on the bone biopsy from last Friday for Dina...It came back CLEAN!!  NO sign of cancer at all!  YEAH, Thank you God!  You answered our prayers!  He asked us to tell her!  And of course Scott is thinking of a way to surprise her with the news.  so we call and ask if we can take the family to Red Robin for dinner...I told her that Scott had a surprise for them...I also called Lacey's family and invited them.  And I called Jamie's mom and invited her and Jack to join us.  I did NOT tell anyone the news.

Scott talked to the manager of the Wilsonville Red Robin store and told him we wanted to surprise Dina with a 'group song' but instead of their normal "Happy, Happy Birthday" song, we wanted it to be a "Today You Are Cancer Free".  We brought a dozen roses with us and Scott presented the roses by telling her he ran into his good "friend" Ian (that would be Dr. Schnadig!!) and her eyes got big (she didn't remember that I was seeing him today) and he then proceeded to tell her what Dr. Schnadig told us about her bone marrow biopsy...SHE IS CANCER FREE!!  NO CANCER IN HER BONE MARROW!!  We all cried!  OMG, the best news EVER!  And the employees brought a big bouquet of balloons and sang the cancer free song (made it up on the fly!).  And the sweet manager gave us a couple of appetizers for FREE!

Can you see how happy she is, such a relief!  We can now go to AZ without worrying about the results!  We can have fun and be carefree!  We are missing a couple of "littles"...they went next door to the "Critter Cabana" (an animal store) so we are missing Addie, Tristan and Jalen in the picture,, but they were there for the meal!  (we do have an extra "little" in the picture...a neighbor girl, Lily's best friend...they have a choir concert to go to after dinner.

Friends and family, I want to thank you all for going on this tumultuous journey with us...every step of the way we felt your prayers and were so very thankful for them.  Even in the darkest moments, the painful ones, the ones filled with fatigue and worry, we were always "lifted" by the power of your prayers.  I cannot speak for Dina, but for me, the pain and suffering, the worrying about the unknown, only brought me closer to the Lord...taught me in sometimes painful ways to Trust in Him...to keep the Faith and to know that He will be with us every step of  the way...He will not abandon us.  He loves us and He asks for our love in return.

Dina will have another PET and CT scan in a couple of months, she still has a slight spot on her spleen, which we are hoping will be totally gone when she has her next testing.  The fact that it is NOT in her bones is HUGE...we are ready for whatever is to come!  We can handle it with the help from Our Lord!  God bless you all!

Dina's Bone Marrow Biopsy and Birthday celebrations!!

I know you all are anxious to know the outcome of the bone marrow biopsy...just as we are, but the results will not be in until Friday the 22nd.  We are leaving on the 21st with Dina's family and heading down to Arizona for some sun!  She is to call the doctor on Friday and get the results.  I will post as soon as I know!

A good sign...Dina was inspired to clean out her garage...pretty much all by herself!  Pulled things out onto the driveway, threw things away into the truck, organized and made piles for a garage sale, so I would say that is all a GREAT SIGN.   And today she actually helped Lacey coach Lily's VB team down in the gym...another sign that things are looking good for her!

Last Friday and Saturday after having the biopsy, she was pretty sore and laid in bed...they took the marrow from the bone in her sacrum where the lymphoma was quite packed back in September...but Sunday she was feeling pretty good.

We had a gathering for all of our Feb/March birthdays in the family.  Dina starts us out on Feb 19, Scott follows on the 23rd, mine is the 5th of March, Jamie's is the 8th and Aaron is the 17th!  We just pick ONE day and do a big grown-up celebration.  And of course we were celebrating Dina's good news too! 

 

First, I must show you the picture of how Scott has been getting around the last couple of days.  He was doing absolutely NOTHING (maybe that is the problem!  tee hee) and he hurt his back!  He couldn't stand and could barely walk...I remembered we had the walker out in the garage, so here he is heading home from Dina's house after eating some dinner with us.  I knew I needed this picture for the blog...after all, he is only 63 NOT 93!!

And here is a group shot of all of us who could make the dinner.  Marty and Kim had Winterhawk tickets, so they were unable to come and Bernie and Diane had already made plans with friends...Do you see the birthday boy all decked out in green and wearing the leprechaun hat?  He was 40 on this day!  Kyle is the tall dude with glasses and right in front of him is his fiance, Elisa...Dina is wearing the BIG smile with the BIG O sweatshirt and Jamie and Jalen are hangin on her!  And doesn't my dad look great on the couch with the kiddos?  Scott's brother John is sitting on the edge of the couch and his wife Robin is standing to his side.  Caleb is between me and Robin...and Lacey is next to me.  Well, that is it...we had a great meal, good conversation and so happy to share the day with family!

 

The NEWS everyone has been waiting for....

....she is really really close to remission (and still may be) but the doctor could NOT confirm total remission at this time because there is ONE warm spot (NOT HOT) on her spleen.  He went on to say that normally they would wait at least another month if not two to do a PET Scan, but the trial drug she has been taking required that she have the scan within 30 - 45 days of the last chemo.  So what we read into that is the chemo is still working in her body and in another  two or three months when another PET scan is done, it may show NOTHING.    What the scan did show was NO active disease.

When we were shown the original scan at the time of diagnosis, her spleen was HUGE and ALL WHITE (the worst color you want it to be...showing that it was filled with the lymphoma cancer)  This latest scan showed a normal color spleen with just one slightly warm spot...now he also said they rate these spots and anything under "2" they don't consider suspicious...hers was rated at 2.6...so you can see that is just slightly higher.  So we are going with the hope that in two or three months when she has another PET scan it will show nothing!

And to add to the positive thoughts about this whole affair...Dina is feeling REALLY good...NO pain, her appetite is back! She has no other symptoms of this disease.  The doctor said if she still had active disease, she would NOT be feeling good, no energy etc...so he took that as a positive sign.

I guess what that means for us is we wait at least two months and possibly three for a PET scan to determine if it is totally gone or not.  The doctor said at that time it will be VERY clear whether she has it or not because lymphoma is a very fast growing cancer.

I saw the urologist today and he did a bladder scan and I have good news/bad news...good news there was no evidence of infection or redness or anything foreign in the bladder...bad news?  Why the continued infection?  He has a plan and I am on it now...a few more different kind of drugs "holisitic" he called it...I will do this for 2 months and hope nothing occurs within that time and certainly hope that after two months NOTHING occurs....which should mean I have managed to get the bacteria out of me...

When I had a few quiet moments to myself, I did take time to thank the Lord for Dina's news.  I feel it is really good and I thank Him for that.  Now we just need to pray a little longer to be sure that it is totally gone at the next PET scan!

A birthday celebration...63! Now how is that possible?

These are a few of my favorite "people"!

(Did I plant that little song in your head?  These are a few of my favorite things.....)

Okay, I turned 63 and my BFF, Linda from Seattle came down to spend the week with me.  You will most likely find us in the "studio" making cards, crafting, laughing, having a grand time.  Of course my celebration would not be complete without my two girls.  Isn't Lacey just the cutest with her short pixie hair?  And look at Dina?  WOW, without hair, with a scarf (by the way, the scarf is one I sewed up for her.  We went to the fabric store and bought five pieces of fabric for less than the price of one we bought in the store and I hemmed them all and now she can wear them on nice sunny days instead of the knit hats!) she is just beautiful.  She is so radiant...she feels fantastic!  NO pain she says!  Yeah!  Tomorrow morning (Thursday) we see the oncologist to get the word from all the scans.  But on Friday she has her bone marrow biopsy...that will be telling for sure!

The other favorite person in my life is taking the picture!!  Yes he joined us for lunch at LaProvence...yummy food, my birthday, my pick.  And you may notice I now have glasses...seems I needed them not only for reading, but for distance!  Amazing how clear the world looks now!  I wonder what I have been missing?

Thanks for stopping in and checking on us...more news on Thursday and then later next week the result from the bone marrow biopsy!

A Belated Birthday lunch

We went to the Lavendar Bleu Tea House for a belated birthday celebration for Dina.  Joan (Dina's MIL) arranged the date...her twin sister on the far right (Janice) and her younger sister (Joy) next to her, then Addie and Lacey.  Amber (Jamie's sister) is in front, then Dina and next to her is Joan.  We had a wonderful time chatting and eating a delicious quiche, salad and some dessert treats.  We all had some tea...specialty teas...I chose a pomegranate tea, Dina loves the vanilla almond tea and Addie thought that was really good too!  The three sisters shared a big pot of mango tea, Lacey had a kiwi and Amber had a peach ginger...lots  of varieties to choose from.  This store is in downtown Willamette and they carry a very nice selection of gift items aslo.  Great food, great conversation and fabulous people to share the afternoon!  Oh, and isn't Lacey's hair the cutest ever?  She is just a little cute pixie I think!

Dina is looking good and feeling good...see her cute smile?  She has good color too!  And her hair is growing...very short, but it is there!  So we are thinking next Thursday will be a good report day!

And for me?  Guess what is B  - A -  C -  K?  Yup, the UTI.  I knew it...felt it, was not good on Wednesday...so I went in to give another urine sample.  The doctor called me today.  I think he is perplexed why it comes back.  So the plan now is to take a stronger oral antibiotic for 5 days then go in for a bladder scope...I will keep you posted!  Other than that, I am feeling good...the cough is way better and I am back to exercising.  Now if I can just get this UTI cleared up!  And yes, I am taking the cranberry capsules that several of you suggested and the doctors office also recommended them...I guess this is a tougher bug to kill!

Tomorrow morning we watch Jalen's BB game and then go to Lily's BB game, after that we are dropping off Lily for a birthday party and the rest of us are heading up to St. Helen's to watch Ellie in a VB tournament.  So a busy day watching the grandkids tomorrow...!

I will let you all know the results as soon as possible.  I know you all are on pins and needles and hoping and praying that everything comes out the way we want.  Think positive!  Every night before falling asleep, I picture Our Lord standing by Dina's bed and he is holding his hands over her body...all up and down, from the head to the toes and He is performing the miracle we all want...He is pulling that cancer out of her body.  You know it doesn't take much for Our Lord!  Remember the lady who simply touched His cloak?  He knew it immediately, He felt it, He knew she pulled from Him what she needed to be cured.  I think that is what He has been doing for Dina...she needed this journey though and now He is ready to give her back her life to her family!

Have a great weekend.  And if I can just leave you with one little bit of wisdom I read in The Little Black Book (six-minute meditations on the Sunday Gospels of Lent): 

  "Jesus never did anything for just display.  He was asked to several times.  It was part of the temptation of the desert.  But Jesus didn't do things that way.  He would feed 5,000 people, raise a little dead girl back to life, cure lepers, blind people and paralytics - but never for display.

It was always to change people's hearts."

What do you think about that?  ...to change people's hearts."  I quite like that comment.  And if it worked for just one person, then what Dina has gone through will have been worth it!