It was a quick summer and we packed a lot into it.  We began with Adalyn’s first birthday and her first steps, soon followed by Justin’s final chemo treatment.  After a few weeks of recovery, we headed out for a week at Conneaut Lake for some well-deserved R&R that kicked off with a fun party that included many, many friends and family.  I returned to work the first of August, Adalyn started in the Waddlers I room at daycare (our baby just can’t be that big already) and Justin went to Chicago for six days for a work conference.  We returned back to PA for Justin’s fantasy football draft and visited with good friends in Pittsburgh on our way back home.  Whew! No wonder I am so tired! We’ll have more details on our summer fun in subsequent posts.

This past week, however, had to have bee...

We’re done! At least with chemo…  I can’t stress how happy I am to be able to say that.  It had started taking it’s toll on me mentally because of the physical side effects that started taking hold.  Most recently and most annoyingly the hard veins and chest pains.  I’m proud to say that I’m special!  Heather, my nurse, asked if she could show off my arm to her new colleague because it apparently doesn’t happen to that many people.  YA!  In my left arm, and now my right as well, you can track my vein from wrist to arm pit because it’s rock hard and for parts has a red line on the surface of my skin.  This is very unpleasant to say the least.  The veins are inflamed and react by hardening because of the chemo we are pushing through them...

Yesterday was Justin’s last treatment! Woohoo! While I am feeling super excited about moving forward, Justin’s excitement is a bit tempered.  He’s feeling the usual fatigue and sluggishness that come post-chemo, but it seems a bit different this time knowing that the healing process begins today.  We went through our usual routine for treatment day; taking Adalyn to daycare, blood-work, meeting with the doctor, then treatment.  We went out to lunch afterward and then picked Adalyn up from daycare.  Then we came home to this…

Adalyn is loving these balloons!

Such pretty flowers!

Thank you to our anonymous supporter(s)! This surprise was such a treat to come home to and certainly lifted our spirits even higher. Have a happy 4th of July, everyone...

As my last treatment approaches I find myself dreaming more and more… about the food, foods I love and haven’t enjoyed for many months now.  My current weight is 155lbs.  Just about where I was when I graduated high school and where I stayed through two years of Thiel while playing soccer and pole vaulting for indoor and outdoor track.  After soccer my sophomore year (Thiel’s first official soccer team, Go Tomcats!) I discovered bottomless cafeteria food and beer and quickly rose to 175lbs where I basically stayed until now.  Well, there was that one time that Elizabeth talked me into doing the South Beach diet with her as a way to make our grocery shopping easier and be supportive.  After 2 weeks she had lost 1-2 lbs. and I had dropped 11...

Holy Crap – It’s been a year!

First off – THANK YOU to EVERYONE who helped out in any way for this party.  We really couldn’t have done it without you.  We are endlessly grateful to have so many amazing friends and family.

We had Adalyn’s party on June 15th (a week before she actually turns 1) to maximize my time between treatments and take advantage of being over a week removed from the last one.  It worked well, as I was slow but had a great time and got along just fine.  The day started with a whirlwind of activity that had both sets of Grandparents with all hands on deck.  There was cleaning, setting up tables, chairs, canopy and games and picking up food...

Happy Birthday to our baby girl!  Our lives changed in an instant (2:44 p.m. to be exact) one year ago today. She has been such a blessing and we couldn’t be more proud of her.

Here’s our baby, Adalyn Grace, one year ago.

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We’ve been getting oodles of support from everyone, especially our amazing Mothers.  Last week it was Nana Jones’ turn.  Task one, overcome Adalyn’s “fear” of grass (see pic below) – Check!

The week went pretty well.  I get a bit slower each time, but was able to work the full week, thanks in part to Nana Jones helping out around the house and allowing Elizabeth and I to relax and enjoy time with Adalyn.  Elizabeth had been a busy little bee with preparations for Adalyn’s birthday party.  We even made time to participate in the Winchester/Frederick Relay for Life which raised over $243,000!!!  It was really amazing to see so many people come together in support of ending a disease that has no discrimination and in some way has affected us all.

Elizabeth, Adalyn and I walked the openi...

We’ve been a little late in posting, so time to catch up.  Nana Mistretta came for the week and we kicked it off with a pool party.  Adalyn loves the water and got a kick outta having a pool.  The weekend weather was beautiful and we all had a great time.

Treatment #6 took its toll.  Prior to the treatment the doctor explained that he had been waiting for me to level out where most people are at this point.  Apparently, I was in a very high percentile with how well I was handling the chemo thus far.  That was great news, but it was then followed with “so, you’ll probably feel really bad the rest of the way because it’s finally catching up with you.”  Boy, was he right.  For the first time I missed work on Thursday and only made it till 10:30 a.m...

Where to start… Thank you all for your responses to our great news!  Although I’m in remission, this week has reminded me that I still have a ways to go.  3 more treatments to be exact.  This last one was and still is a bit challenging.  I thankfully, again, had little nausea thu-fri, but the fatigue is really starting to set in.  I’m still feeling the affects now over a week later.  It’s annoying to say the least and it forces Elizabeth to do that much more for that much longer.  I’m really gona have to come up with an amazing “Thank You” for her once this is truly behind us.

Other than that, not much new to report on the chemo front.  My taste buds have all but given up at this point...

We did!

We can make this short and sweet!  We found out today that Justin’s PET scan showed NO signs of cancer!  This is exceptional as we were hoping for a reduction in the cancer activity but got even better news.  Today was treatment 5 and we officially have 3 more left.  The countdown to July 3 begins today.