Chemo Round 6 & a Road Trip!

After a much needed week off of treatment, we're back!  My mom and I spent last Monday/Tuesday in Tampa with family.  A very special occasion took us there--my niece Jael's 15th birthday!--and my mom insisted she wouldn't miss it for the world.  Jael, Monica & Brian's daughter, is my parent's first grandchild so her Quinceañera is a bit of a milestone for us all.

My sister, Monica, arranged a beautiful luncheon for Jael.  She invited many of the older (*ahem*),  wiser women in Jael's life (grandmothers, aunts, friends, etc.) so that we could come together and offer her encouragement, advice and prayer as she enters this next stage of her life.  It was pretty awesome...and pretty emotional, too!

We've had a few other changes in our family this month.  In March we lost our two elder dogs, Mapei and Speedy.  Both dogs lived long and happy lives.  They were 15 and 16 years old when old age and health complications finally caught up with them.  We will miss them very much and take comfort in the fact that we will meet them again some day at The Rainbow Bridge.

This Monday/Tuesday, we were back to business as usual at the Sylvester Center.  My mom felt great after a week off of chemo and her lab works showed that she is progressing nicely.  All blood counts are in the "normal" range and her tumor marker continues to make progress towards "normal."  This is awesome.  Keep up those prayers!

The doctor told my mom that she will go through two more rounds of treatment and then the following week a CT scan to determine next steps.  Next steps could be anything from more chemotherapy to radiation or surgery.  What we're really hoping is that her next step will be REMISSION and that we can eradicate this cancer with chemo & prayer.  That being said...

Praises/Prayer Requests:

• Praise for steadily improving lab work.  We're on the road to better health!
• Praise for a break from chemo & time with family.
• Continued prayer for REMISSION.  Come on folks, let's see the power of prayer and positive thinking in action can do.
• Prayer for my dad.  He does an awful lot to make treatment and life for my mom and our family comfortable.  He's got a lot on his plate these days and a few doses of prayer and relaxation couldn't hurt.

Thanks again for all you do, friends!  One last thing.  Remember that awesome company Feel Good Gowns I mentioned in the last post?  Well my mom is one of their "featured models" on their blog.  Check it out!