CANCER HAS SUCCESSFULLY BEEN EVICTED!!

We went to our doctor appointment on Wednesday and were so nervous!!!!  We sat in the room and tapped our feet, talked about feeling sick - you name it!  Dr Gerson popped her head in and said she would be with us in a minute, she wanted to say hi to another patient real quick.  THAT sent our brains going a mile a minute!  She has bad news, that is why she went to another room first!  She wanted to think of a way to break it.  No, maybe it's good news and she was saying hi because she knew we were ok!  OR maybe she did not have the results at all!  Our minds were in overdrive.

Bonnie the amazing nurse we have had from day one popped her head in and said hi while she added papers to his file.  Bonnie sat there talking to us and said that Christina really worked hard on the pet scan.....uh.....why did she have to work so hard on it?  Bonnie said that the pet scan showed conflicting results.  One part said the tumor progressed and another said his node measured normal.  So Christina called the pet scan doctor and they worked through it.  Jason looked at her and said....."so is it good?"  "It's good news" Bonnie said!  My heart about hit the floor!  I think she saw the relief in our faces so she showed me the papers and said she was sorry she ruined the surprise.  I told her not to feel sorry, I was so thankful because I was tired of feeling like I was going to throw up one minute and poop my pants the next.  I know...details...but you know you have felt the same way sometime in your life!

Dr Gerson came in and was her normal perky self.  I love her!  She showed me pics of her new dog she just adopted and told us the story.  Then she said how amazing the news was!  On a normal scan they would still see a spot where the cancer was.  On Jason's scan they saw NOTHING!  The cancer is completely gone!!!  Jason looked at her and said..."So, I'm cancer free?"  :)  YES!

We started talking about having his tube and port removed and Dr Gerson had talked about calling Dr Chua to see what she thought.  Just as she and Jason agreed they would just wait and she went to grab a nurse- who was standing at the door?  Dr Chua!  She has done this to us 2 other times!  CRAZY!  Dr Chua said Jason can have the port and the tube removed as long as he can take his meds by mouth.  Last night he did just that!

When there was a small scare that the cancer was not gone Bonnie said there were nurses and staff that were really upset!  Jason has really made an impact on that office and everyone knows his story.  I can not say how much we appreciate each and every one of them.  Our nurse Megan who normally helped us out on the oncology side came over to see what the answer was too.  She said she could not wait any longer!  So after our appointment we had to do a walk through of the oncology clinic and hug all of our nurses.  Amazing women!!!

We made it to the car before I started to cry, wonderful tears of joy and relief!  Jason cried with me, we beat it!  We did JUST as we said we would, we evicted his cancer!  I love him with all my heart and I now see how truly strong he is!  I married Superman! (Or Diego as the nurses call him)

We go see the ENT Friday so he can do a follow up and then Dr Chua at the end of the month for her follow up.  Then we have nothing for 3 months!  Sweet nothing!  We have a trip planned for the beach in June and will have an amazing time.  We are a cancer free family!

THANK YOU to everyone who prayed for us and helped us through this rough time!  I know all of you helped keep me sane.  Now please forward your prayers to those of THANKS and some for our good friend Rachel who is having a rough time evicting her cancer.  She has surgery this weekend and is very stressed out.

One other cancer patient I would like to mention is little Annabel Kramer.  Not yet a year old and has been battling her own cancer along with Jason.  They went through a lot of the same things around the same times, but she still has more fighting to do!  I will attach a link to her progress page, please take a moment to look and maybe leave a few positive words for her family.  I have known her daddy Greg since I was 16.  I have no doubt that she will pull through this a winner, but the road is a rough one and she and her family could use the prayers!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/124260784357669/

"Always Blessings, Never losses!"

Results day......

This afternoon we get Jason's PET scan results.  We are both extremely nervous about this.  I will post as soon as I know something.  :(

Slow and steady wins the race

It has been a little while since my last post.  Nothing major has been going on, we are working on incorporating new (old) foods to Jason's diet.  Many are too spicy or dry his mouth out.  We are also working on weening him off of the feeding tube.  We have to be very careful with this, Dr Chua is watching his weight VERY closely and will not ok the tube removal unless he is gaining much of his weight back.

Wednesday we get the results from his most recent PET scan.  We are both nervous but ready to find out where we go from here. Please keep the prayers coming!!

Thanks!

Healing....slowly....but healing!

This week has been AMAZING!
Not only have we been free of treatments, but the weather has been great too!  Jason is doing great!  His throat is still very raw yet everyday he notices a change!  He has been spending more time downstairs with the family and yesterday we sat outside for quite a while!  Every day he tries to drink something....so far it leads to pain.  Food smells good to him again so now I feel horrible to eat around him, but take that as a good sign!

We had Amerimed set up to do over night feedings to help him get the needed calories in.  THAT WAS A JOKE!  No one in that company talked to each other, they actually asked me what the other person was doing or planning!  The nurse that came had no clue how to work the pump, she did not listen to us and had her own ideas!  We told her MANY times that his feeding tube is not new...we have been using it and if she looked at it she would have to know that!  She ignored us and started to tell us how to use it.  WE KNOW HOW TO USE IT!!!!!  The pieces that connect the pump to Jason's tube would not stay together so she told us to tape it.....when I told one of his oncology nurses that I have become friends with she went crazy!  "DO NOT TAPE IT! You should never tape something like that to someone who has a compromised immune system".  When we found out the formula that Amerimed had was not covered I said we would stick with our ensure.  They did not send the formula but NO ONE knew we chose to not use it.  The nurse was looking for it, the dietitian that called asked about it and the lady I spoke to yesterday telling her to come get the equipment asked about it!  Oh, and they only had us adding 1.5 cans a night and going up a small amount each night. (Because no one listened that we HAVE been using it)  After talking to our doctor they were also angry because they said they want him on 6 cans a day!  NOT the 3 they were starting him at.  This was the WORST experience and I would have a very hard time telling anyone else to use them!

We meet with Dr Gerson next week and they will run labs to check his levels.

We removed days from the meal page because I feel bad having people bring meals if I am home.  There are some people that have still expressed an interest in bringing something, I really do appreciate it!  If you are one of those people shoot me an email at jaime.smiddy@gmail.com and we will work it out.

We have a team walking in the RELAY FOR LIFE walk at Lakota West High School on May 18th.  Please check out our page and donate or join our team!  This will be our first year participating and we are VERY excited!!!  
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12EC?pg=team&fr_id=40155&team_id=1139775

TREATMENT IS OVER!!!!!!!!

Friday Jason had his final chemo!!!

Everything went well and Dr Chua is very hopeful that we are now cancer free!  We will find out for sure by the end of the month.  We have a follow up with Dr Gerson in 2 weeks, PET scan in 3 weeks and follow up with Dr Chua in 4 weeks.

The last day of chemo went well, nothing bad happening other than a lady next to us having a massive allergic reaction to her chemo.  (She is fine)  With massive thunderstorms rolling in I was really worried about the kids being home alone.  I pushed and pushed those nurses....but they understood.  We got home some rain and 2 claps of thunder.

Jason has been doing a lot of sleeping and wont listen to me about needing to get some ensure in him. MEN!  I will get some in him before the day is over!!!  It may be crazy, but I am already seeing a change in him....for the better!  He does not sound as congested from the raw throat and mouth and he seems to be moving his mouth and tongue more when he talks.  Hopefully he will be eating via his mouth in about 2 weeks!!

The kids are getting really excited to have their "old dad" back......I can't wait to have my husband back!

Thanks for all your support! We have some amazing friends and family!