See you in 1 year!

"See you in 1 year! You are now over 5 years since remission. If it was going to come back it would have by now. We don't need to see you for 1 year, unless something arises. We will also not be doing anymore scans"

These were the words I heard at my last appointment on 4/28. I have mixed emotions about those little word of "See you in 1 year!" It scares me but it is a relief at the same time. For awhile after treatment I was doctor visits more then I was during treatment. Now only a few side effects remain from one of my most life altering experiences. My hair has grown back but scares and other struggles still remain. Most don't know looking at me that I am a cancer survivor. My scare from my lymph node surgery still remains along with the partial numbness in my arm, the scare on my chest from my port no longer hurts and has faded but it is still visible. The girls ask about what happened and I explain “that is where they gave me medicine to make mommy better.” You no longer see the scares from my bone marrow tests. There are scares that aren’t visible that still remain; my lung will be forever damaged both from the treatment and from the tumor. The tumor that still remains in my chest resting on my heart and lung, the constant worry that one day my cancer will return and the frustration that I feel when I try and laugh with my family and then can’t stop coughing.

While checking in for my appointment a nurse says to a young couple in front of me “everything will be ok and we will go over everything when the doctor sees you.” As I sat waiting to be called back for my last round of labs for a year with my 3 youngest miracles, all of which have arrived in the 5 years post treatment, the same couple is sat across from me, the young women rubbing her belly across from me and the kids. Few minutes later I got call back for my labs and so did she. I noticed the look of worry and the unknown of what to expect next the feeling that I too once felt and still do. I hope her appointment went well and she too will be told what I was told by the best nurse “you will see your children grow up. If you are to get cancer this is the cancer you want.” I think back to those words and they helped me get through those early days.

The other day my mom was looking for our group pictures from our first Light the Night Walk in 2008. While creating our event on facebook and I can’t believe that that was 6 years ago!

Here are our past years pictures.

2008
 

2009 – Missing :(

I will need to look though my computer to see if I have it there.

2010


2011
 

2012
 

2013
 

New Year

Here we are in 2014! Wow were has time go. Back when I had last posted it was almost Halloween in 2011!!! Well needless to say a lot has happened since 2011. In the pictures I last posted there is a picture of Sophie holding a little pumpkin. That was our way of secretly announcing that we were expecting baby #4. Well since then we have not only welcome Mr. Landon, we moved to Kentucky for a year (only 10months for me and the kids) since Vince got a job with amazon, moved back to Washington and had to find a rental since we have tenets in our house until July of this year and we have also welcomed baby #5 Charlotte. As I write this it doesn’t seem like a lot has happened but they have been pretty big events. I really do hope to keep posting whats going on in our crazy home :) Kids Christmas picture from 2013

Well well.....

Well here we are almost at the end of October! It has been a pretty busy summer. Our summer started off with a drive to Disneyland. It was so much fun and the girls did great in the car for that long. We also visited universal studio, San Diego zoo, sea world.

In June Melanie turned 5 and Sophie turned 1. It was such a nice day we got lucky considering we had so much rain until almost the middle of summer.

Melanie has been cheering for Richmond football she likes it but gets worn out and she doesn't like it when it's cold. She also started kindergarten. She been having a hard time with working on homework and staying focused.

Allison has really been up to to much. She is turning 4 in a couple of weeks. We have been trying to figure out something for her to do since Melanie has a lot going on but it's hard because she is too young for a lot of things.

Vince is almost done with his masters degree. He has I believe 2 semesters left including the one he's taking now.

Sophie is getting so big and is happy most of the time. It still amazes me how fast they learn things at this age. She can be such a little chatter box.

This week my brother nick started off on a new path. He shipped off to boot camp for the national guard. He decided that the guard was the right path for him that he can stay in Washington to be with Tyler. I hope this works out for him.

That's all I have to report on for now.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!

Guess where we are taking the girls for Melanie's 5th and Sophie's 1st birthdays.

That's right we are bringing the girls to Disneyland!

We are really excited! I have never been there before!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

My blog turned 3 on April 2. I cannot believe what all has gone on over the last 3 years!

Well here I am almost 1 week into to my new career as a stay at home mom and it did not start off very smooth... 1 hour in I locked Allison in the van at Vince work.... thank god she is old enough to open the door too bad it took 20 minutes to talk her through climbing into the front seat to open my door since she can't open the sliding doors on the van. We headed to long beach which was nice to get away for the weekend. We came home Sunday morning.

Sunday evening after we got home Sophie was not acting herself, very sleepy and clingy. Monday did not get any better she slept from 7:30pm until 10:30am she woke up and wouldn't eat, well she did get in about 3 ounce and then up it all went.... and slept off and on throughout the day. Finally that evening I decided to bring her to the hospital but oh guess what..... KEYS LOCKED IN THE VAN AGAIN!!!! Thank goodness we have roadside assistances on the cars they came in about 30 minutes and then we were off to the hospital.

When the nurse came in she was worried about how lethargic she was and being in the back of the ER away from a nurses station so we were moved to another room. They took a chest CT. poor baby she has a pneumonia in her right lung. She is defiantly starting to act more herself. She is on antibiotics and an inhaler.

Tomorrow is the Mariner home opener! Now that there is no parking anywhere down there the girls and i may try and take the train down. The girls are so excited about going to the baseball game!

I had a follow up CT in February and I never posted the results. I had another CLEAR scan!

I have been working some on my cupcakes. I need to practice more on my cakes and I am hoping to do that when I am not working anymore. So if you would like some cupcakes let me know and we can work something out!

The count down!

I am about to experience a new journey in life one that I never thought that I would take or would want to take. In 44 days (32 business days) I will become a full time stay at home mom.

I have a follow up CT next Tuesday 2/22 and I have an appointment with Dr. M on Wednesday to go over the results.

Other than that there isn't anything else going on with us.

Sophie is 8.5 months old and weighs 13lbs 5ozs, we go in every other week for weight checks still. She is still breastfed at least 1/2 to 3/4 the time and the other times she get formula. I truly hope that I can make it to 1 year. I think that when I am home and I can nurse on demand it will get better.


Melanie is all registered for kindergarten and she is so excited about starting in the fall.


Allison is still our sweet girl but she has become more and more stubborn, which has sometimes been very challenging.

Bad, bad blogger

I have been really bad at blogging lately; life has been a little crazy. I am going to try and recap the last 3 months... even this post I started on 11/14 and i am now just getting around to finishing it... hopefully

Overall update
Vince - Just finished a quarter of school, he has 4 quarters left and he will have his masters, he is still enjoying the new job.

Me - my health seems to be doing well. I have been struggling with breastfeeding off and on. Working, currently on vacation!

Melanie - Has ballet every Tuesday and she loves it. She is currently dancing to the end of the Shrek movie..... Silly girl!

Allison - has ballet every Monday. She is still herself! Our sweet Allison-in. :)

Sophie - still struggles to gain weight. She is currently 12lbs 1.5ounces. So we continue to go to weight checks every Wednesday. We are going to Children's on Wednesday this week for a feeding evaluation.

Recap.....
September 25th was the Light the Night walk at Green Lake, there was a great turn out! Thank you all that were able to make it this really it really means a lot!

Sophie with Great Grandma


Lilly!


Vince and Grandma








Uncle Joe (My birthday Buddy!)






Our group!


Me and Melanie by our sign from the 2009 walk!


Love Breanna's face!




Allison




Pizza after!

October
Nothing really happened in October or not that i can remember.....

Melanie


Allison


Sophie


My girls!


All 3 girls!


Daddy and his girls


Matt and Sophie


Each adult had a kid


Nick and Tyler

November
This year for thanksgiving we had it at my parents’ house. It was nice it was the first time that we had it at mom and dads. It was nice. Marv meet all the kids for the first time.

December
December 6th, my mom donated a kidney to Marv.


December 11, my 2 year remission birthday!

Family Pictures!

We recently went and had family pictures done!






Update
Not too much going on here. Just working and the never ending laundry. On Monday night i am taking some cake decorating classes which have been fun. Defiantly something that you have to practice to get good at. It is also nice to get out of the house on a regular basis by myself.

Sophie continues to have to be brought in for weight checks. Today she weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces. She only gained 3 ounces since her last appointment 2 weeks ago... really frustrating that she isn't gaining weight consistently. So now i am mixing 1.5 teaspoons of neusure to 90ml of breast milk. My goal is too strictly (for the most part) breastfeed until she turns at least 1. I know i can do it she just needs to be putting on the weight. It is really hard not to get discouraged but i nursed Allison for 8 months while having cancer and not knowing it.

Well little miss Sophie is wrestling around some so it is time to get her jammies on and a new diaper (which also reminds me that I need to finish washing diapers) feed her and head to bed myself. Good night all

Oh and if you are interested in the light the night walk see my previous post from August 14 with all the information. It would be really great if you could walk with us, so please join us to walk!

We hope to make this the BIGGEST one yet!

Most of you that read my blog know about Light the Night but for those that don't know Light the Night is held on fall evenings in communities across the U.S. and Canada, Light The Night Walk is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's walk and fundraising event to pay tribute and bring hope to people battling cancer. Thousands of participants raise funds for vital, lifesaving research and patient services and, on these special nights, they carry illuminated balloons in a show of support from a caring community.

Anyone can take part - children, adults and seniors are all welcome. This is a casual fundraising walk with no fitness requirements. There are many ways you can help. You can register to walk individually or as part of a team; just make a donation online; or become a volunteer or sponsor/partner.

Funds raised through Light The Night Walk support the work of hundreds of the world's best and brightest researchers in their search for better therapies and cures for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.


Our team from Sept 2008 - we had join Seattle childrens because we didn't have time to form our own team that year.

Why is the Light the Night walk important to me and my family?
August 8 2008 I received that phone call that no one ever wants to get it was Dr. B (breast specialist) at Swedish hospital he was the doctor that performed my lymph node biopsy. He called to tell me that the results were in and it is Hodgkin's lymphoma. Vince and I had hope to celebrate our 4 wedding anniversary that night (yes I was diagnosed on our anniversary) but instead we spent the evening telling our families the results were in. that was one of the hardest things I ever had to tell my parents and family. I remember getting upset with Vince because he kept saying "Melissa has cancer" and I told him that "it is Hodgkins Lymphoma" I didn't like hearing that it was cancer. I received my first chemo on August 22. I received 6 rounds of AVDB - Doxorubicin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine, Dacarbazine. After I completed my Chemo rounds I under went 1 month, 5 days a week worth of radiation. Luckily my cancer responded really well to treatment and I was classified remission in December 2008. On July 19th had a follow up CT and everything still looks good! To this day I still continue to have some complications (decreased lung function) due to the cancer and the radiation treatments, we are working on my lung stamina and playing the wait and see game.

Here are some pictures from my battle/journey

Melanie and I snuggling after I needed to have a second surgery to have a drain placed in my armpit from having my lymph nodes removed for biopsy



Where my bone morrow tests were preformed


My armpit where the lymph nodes were removed



Where my port had been placed



My before PET scans. The bright yellow is the active (live) cancer


Vince and I during my first chemo treatment 8.22.08


Just waiting to begin


We were at the Mariners game when Hairmasters was there preforming $5 haircuts and the proceeds went to Mariners Charity Care. I figured that my hair was falling out anyways and I had no control over that but I had control of when I went bald.



My CLEAR PET scan


Christmas 2008


Getting ready for my friend Steph's wedding


Sleeping through my last chemo! 1.26.2009



Waiting on one of my radiation treatments

We really appreciate all the love and support that we have received over the last 2 years. I couldn't have stayed so strong through out the whole process without it.

For this years walk we are hoping to form our biggest team yet! We would like to invite everyone to attend the walk with us this year.

Here is the information (cut and pasted from my mom's facebook event)
Time September 25 · 3:00pm - 9:00pm (We are hoping to have a picnic before the walk.

Location Green Lake by the playground near Evan's pool

Please join us for our 3rd annual walk for Melissa!

Our goal is 50 walkers raising $100 each.
Raising $100 is easy! Send your online fundraising webpage to 20 or more people and ask each person for a donation of $10 or more. Even if only half of the people donate $10 or more, you will have raised $100 and most likely more.

...Team name - Melissa Powell

To register please go to -
http://www.lightthenight.org/wa/register/teams/#action=join_team;programGroupName=LTN