Merry Chrsitmas to us!

Great NEWS!

The Doctor just called and her test results look AMAZING! Her liver function has improved a ton, way more than we could have hoped for. What a great Christmas gift!

Tomorrow she is going to the Huntsman Center to see what options they have for her. Cross your fingers!

Doing great!

She is feeling so wonderful. She is happy, energetic, and so excited to leave for Arizona this weekend. She is for sure loving life!

On a side note I am loving myself becuase I just figured out how to make it so that you could have these updates sent STRAIGHT to your email, just incase you are more of an email person than a blog person. Just type your email address in the box right over there ---------------------------> and BAM, you will start to get the emails.

Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, and of course shout it from the rooftops. Chris is feeling great and her daughter is kind of a genuis!

Test Results

Test results came in yesterday and it looks like everything has gotten a little worse.

On the brightside she feels great and has tons of energy! They are leaving Sunday for sunny Arizona. Her liver is totally excited for that sun, I just know it!

We are looking forward to a very Merry Christams.

Doc visit

Today is the :LAST: day of radiation. Horray! It has really seemed to do the trick too, her brain is functioning better than ever...

The doctor visit was uneventful. He basically told her to keep on resting and get stronger. He didn't do any blood work this time, but will next time.

For now the plan is to take a break from Chemo! That will be really nice for the holidays.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. We will. We have lots to be thankful for.

Update

Still improving. Just two more days of radiation to go! WOO HOO!

She has had Zak visiting for the last few days and has been loving his company and his cooking!

She goes to the doctor on Monday so I will post any news after that!

Thanks everyone, you are all so kind!

Great Day!

Today was a great day.

She went to radiation and walked from the car to the hospital... uphill...

She even let Brooke take her out to lunch.

Zak arrived and brought lots of happiness.

Mom told Zak she is coming to visit him in Arizona in December. She will.

She is speaking clearly, making sense, and doing do much better.

We believe in miracles.

Todays lesson: Do not let a doctor determine your fate. Have a will to live. You decide, it's up to you!

Almost a week ago...

From *

I think the new name for cancer should be... rollercoaster... honestyly that is what cancer is to the family and the patient, a rollercoaster of emotions, information, and day to day battles. It is so amazing how from one day to the next things can change so drastically!

I never updated the blog yesterday, I think because my brain was fried. Honestly by the time I got home I didn't even know what day it was. Our morning started off with some very bad news that her liver function was worsening, and the news was not well received by anyone, especially my Mom. Well, okay not by anyone. I have to say that our morning was hard.

From *

She was so excited to have some fun visitors, especially our sister Jenny and our GIANT nephews Brock and Jon. It was so amazing to see them and it really lifted her spirits.

From *

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Amy came to visit from Arizona, and it was a good thing. My Mom had an adverse reaction from her sleeping pill the night before and was up all night going crazy. She was arguing with the nurses saying that she was at a credit union seeing Amy and they needed to let her leave. She also said they trapped her in a hotel and wouldn't let her out. She called Brooke at one in the morning ("HI! What ya doing?") and the nurse called my Dad at 4:30. They said she would get really mad at them saying that they had to let her out and then she would just smile. She didn't want to be rude. So funny. Well not, but we are laughing about it now.

From *

We got her to go on a little walk down that hall which was huge (okay I made her and she was angry but she liked it) and she eats and loves her food. She has gained over 20 pounds since Wednesday (which is possibly fluid retention which is not good, but hopefully that will fix itself) and she is loving telling us stories, which we like hearing since they are so imaginative!

From *

She wanted to have a sleepover last night so Brooke was the lucky one. In the middle of the night the nurse came in to check her vitals and she told them to hold on. She then reaches over to Brookes foot and tickles it and says "tickle tickle" and then turns back to the nurse and gives her the okay to talke vitals. First things first she says! Brooke needs a nap today!

This morning the doctor came in and said that he liver funtion is IMPROVING and that she looks SO much better today. She is going home right after her radiation.

From *

Good day

Today was a good day. She had lots of joking around to do, and even walked down the hall. She is loving food, drinking, and seems to be reacting well to her radiation therapy.

If only I knew how to work my new computer and wasn't so tired I would have some great pictures to post.

Maybe tomorrow.

Update

First let me thank everyone for how extremely kind and thoughful they have been these last few days. It really means a lot to our family and to Mom.

Today was a rollercoaster of a day, and one we would not like to ever have to repeat, but at the end of the crazy day here is what we know:

Her cancer has now spread to her brain. She has two spots on her frontal lobes which explains a lot about her confusion and hollucinations. They are going to do ten days (in a row) of radiation on her entire brain which should help hold the cancer off for a while, her first dose happened today. It will not get better, but hopefull give her a few months without growth. We chose to do this because it doesn't really have any harmful side effects and if we didn't do it she would basically not make it very long, or even know who we are or what is going on. It seemed like the right thing to do.

As far as her liver goes it is not functioning well either. Basically it has lots of cancer in it.

I wish I knew more or knew what the next little while holds but I don't. I do know that she is a fighter. She was diagnosed with breat cancer fifteen years ago (15!) and has managed to fight this long. Last year at this time she was as close to death as is humanlly possible and make a near complete comeback, so anything is possible. Postive thinking is huge!

So again, keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Let's hope that they find a cure for this STUPID thing soon.

I will update later.

In hospital.

She was admitted to the hospital last night. She has had a rough few weeks with some bad side effects from chemo and some bad side effects from medication.

She could not keep any food in her and is down to 103 pounds with lots of clothing on. She was severly dehydrated and it took a long (long, long) time to get an I.V. in here, but she is now getting the liquids and potassium that her body needs.

She has already improved a lot, and we are just waiting for the confussion and holucinating to stop.

They are running all kinds of tests on her and the results are just trickling in, but so far nothing too alarming.

I will keep the blog updated as new information comes in, and as of now the plan is that she should be able to come home tomorrow.

Send your good vibes her way!

Old Lady!

Guess who just turned 55?!?

That's right! Chrissy is now officially a senior citizen!

She is doing great! Still just doing treatment and as strong as ever. She recently had a scan which looked really amazing!

She spent her birthday at treatment, but met a great new friend there which made the time pass quickly, and was treated to a giant rice crispy treat and the happy birthday song by her doctor and all of the nurses!

Honestly, you would never even know she is sick. She looks great and feels great (ok, usually).

We are all so proud of her progress. She will be 56 before she knows what hit her. Which reminds me, I should get her one of those great hats the old folks wear, she is always looking for new ones!

Arizona!

Just got back from our FUN vacation to Phoenix.

This is us at our PRIVATE cabana at the Sandbar (a nightclub). We got there at 9:30pm and partied the night away. Some of us partied harder than others. Ha ha ha!

We had an amazing time and were all very grateful to have such an energetic Chrissy with us!

Update

Everything is going VERY well. Her counts all look great and she is doing great. She goes on walks and can pretty much do everything she used to do. Well, yes, she can do everything she used to do!

She is VERY excited for a trip we are all taking to see Zak in Arizona at the end of the month!

Doing so great!

No news is good news right? Or in others words sorry I have been slacking on this blog!

She is doing amazing. This weekend her and my Dad went up to Idaho to spend the weekend at Brooke's house. They had a great time.

She is also back to walking. She goes a mile at a time!

She is still doing a low dose chemo about once every two weeks. Her liver is still having good function.

She continues to amaze her doctor, and he still hasn't been able to explain how well she is doing.

She is really strong and doing great!!

Please read!

John Hopkins Update - Good article

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY ('TRY', BEING THE KEY WORD) TO ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKIN S IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY.

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins:

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2 . Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3 When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors..

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs..

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

1. No plastic containers in micro.

2. No water bottles in freezer.

3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Cast le Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers.. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc.., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper.. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

Update

Well, she is still getter stronger all the time. From dancing at Zak's wedding, taking walks, and more, she is constantly improving. She had chemo on Monday for the first time in three weeks. Her liver has improved and is staying about the same. She is a trooper.