Great update on Dennis...Praise the Lord!!!

Friday, January 20, 2012

I have copied this and posting to update everyone on the great news that Dennis and Joe received at their recent trip to the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Philadelphia, PA. Praise the Lord for his wonderful blessings for my dear friends. With news like this, there is nothing I can add. Thank you, Lord!!!


Friday, January 20, 2012 8:05 AM, EST

Good morning everyone,

2 good CTCA appts in a row!! I feel like things are back on track. They didn't do any new scans or tests yesterday, just doctor appts. The big news is Den's surgical wound finally started healing on its own and they were able to take out the rest of the stitches with NO NEED OF FURTHER SURGERY!

He continues to get a bit stronger each day. Yes, we still have some "issues" but as I said in my earlier post... no new cancer.

We go back to see Dr. Willis right before our trip in February for normal check up scans. There are a couple "abnormalities" that they will be watching... that tiny spot in the brain and a couple "nodules" in the lungs that they believe are just post treatment changes but will always just keep an eye on. They started him on a new, forever, chemo pill yesterday as well. I have been nervous to be honest that he has not been on one since this whole craziness started in September or maybe it was October. They still say that the serious stomach pain and pancreatitis was caused by a drug interaction between the steroids he was on and the chemo pill Tarceva. When we discussed it last week with Dr. Willis & he agreed that it was not an option to go back on the Tarceva but he had to have a CHEMO pill to keep him cancer free. He found the one he wanted...SUTANT. He says this drug is used for other types of cancer but will work well on Den's lung CA as well. He is starting him off on a low dose and we will gradually increase. I talked to the pharmacist about it and thankfully we don't have to worry about timing the taking of this pill in regards to the timing of his other meds. Poor Den used to get up at 4 or 5 am to take his Tarceva so he could take the rest of his meds at 8 or 9.

So, things again are looking up, we have passed thru the storm. Thank the good Lord for staying by our side and leading us thru even when we were so low our faith was weak and we couldn't even see the positive!!Wow it is so amazing and so humbling, looking back. He was and is always there, willing to overlook our weakness and fear. He just keeps on loving and somehow making us put 1 foot in front of the other and keep moving.

Well, hope you all have a wonderful day. Ours will be, ha quiet but wonderful as seems these little trips to Philly tucker us out :-)

I do pray you are all able to see God and beautiful little miracles all around you as you go about your day.

Love,

Jo and Den










POSITIVES ALWAYS:
GOD
FAITH
HOPE
LOVE
FREEDOM
BLESSINGS AND ANSWERED PRAYERS
SMILES and HUGS
ACCEPTANCE
Thankful for each new day that I am given!!!
The choice and freedom to try...
Our armed forces and all who are protecting us and our freedom
Doing at least one special thing each day for others and myself
Too many positives and blessings to list them all here...Praise the Lord!!!

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Goals

Thursday, January 19, 2012

If an idea, I reasoned, were really a valuable one, here must be some way of realizing it. ~Elizabeth Blackwell

These words were written by the first woman who earned a medical degree. They're useful to anyone who fears that their most precious dreams are doomed to failure.
If our dreams are valuable ideas, they will be useful goals. If they're childish fantasies, they won't, although those can be fun. It's important to distinguish the ones we can achieve from the ones we can't. The first kind will nourish us, like bread; the others, like candy, won't.
We have a responsibility to those nourishing dreams because they come from what's best in us. Our responsibility is to live so that the dream might be realized. When dreams become goals, they have a way of calling us forth. Goals organize our lives, so that we may reach them.

Reaching my goal is never as important as the progress I make toward it. It is all about the journey and living my life each day to the fullest.







POSITIVES ALWAYS:
GOD
FAITH
HOPE
LOVE
FREEDOM
BLESSINGS AND ANSWERED PRAYERS
SMILES and HUGS
ACCEPTANCE
Thankful for each new day that I am given!!!
Appointment with nephrologists this morning
Getting results of CT scan of kidneys and blood work
The choice and freedom to try...
Our armed forces and all who are protecting us and our freedom
Doing at least one special thing each day for others and myself
Too many positives and blessings to list them all here...Praise the Lord!!!

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

Personal Choice

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

One is happy as the result of one's own efforts. ~George Sand

Our attitude about our circumstances or our hopes determines the mood of a moment, eventually of the whole day.
No attitude, no feeling or emotion, is foisted upon us. We have always made the choice. Perhaps our passivity regarding choices has all too often eased us into situations detrimental to our emotional, and maybe even our physical, health. Nevertheless, responsibility for the pain that accompanies poor choice is always our own. On the other hand, the joy that is ushered in by certain other choices is also our responsibility.
Personal power commands our lives, and the fruits are as bountiful as are our choices, selectively made. We will be as happy as our choices make us, and as we decide to be.

Today is all mine, and whatever I make of it is by my personal choice.








POSITIVES ALWAYS:
GOD
FAITH
HOPE
LOVE
FREEDOM
BLESSINGS AND ANSWERED PRAYERS
SMILES and HUGS
ACCEPTANCE
Thankful for each new day that I am given!!!
Appointment with nephrologists Thursday
Getting results of CT scan of kidneys and blood work
The choice and freedom to try...
Our armed forces and all who are protecting us and our freedom
Doing at least one special thing each day for others and myself
Too many positives and blessings to list them all here...Praise the Lord!!!

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

Struggles

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

No man is an island entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. ~John Donne

Our problems seem so singular that we often feel alone with our struggles. It's true that each of us must come to our own terms with whatever situation faces us. But no struggle facing us is free from the influence of other people and their struggles. We have a shared destiny which is accompanied by individual perceptions and both singular and mutual responses to the ebb and flow enfolding us all.
Knowing that we share this journey offers comfort when we need it in our daily struggles. We are not alone, forgotten, unimportant to the destiny of others. Nor are others without meaning in the experiences we're gifted with. Our existences are mutual--we are interdependent contributors to the total life cycle.
What each of us learns eases the struggles of another. All experiences are meant for the good of us all.

Today I may feel alone, but I'm not. My life is fully in concert with those around me, and all is as it should be.

POSITIVES ALWAYS:
GOD
FAITH
HOPE
LOVE
FREEDOM
BLESSINGS AND ANSWERED PRAYERS
SMILES and HUGS
ACCEPTANCE
Thankful for each new day that I am given!!!
Our armed forces and all who are protecting us and our freedom
Doing at least one special thing each day for others and myself
Too many positives and blessings to list them all here...Praise the Lord!!!

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

Getting started...beginnings

Monday, January 16, 2012

Getting started can be very hard for people who have trouble with beginnings. After all, where do beginnings begin? ~Dorothy Bryant


Most of us have trouble getting started at one time or another. It is a common phenomenon, whether the project is Christmas cookies, an annual report, or cleaning the attic. "I just don't know where to begin."
It is a good rule to begin with ourselves in the moment that is. Start the project where we are now. The other things that are necessary, details from the past and plans for the future, will reveal themselves as the project takes shape.
Sometimes we will begin, like writers, by talking about how hard it is to begin. This seems to oil the wheels, they start to turn, and before we know it, we've begun...though we may have to throw away the first paragraph.

Trying to begin at the beginning is a good way to drive myself mad. I will grasp the tools that are at hand, myself and the moment.

I started my healthy lifestyle journey again today...this morning. I can not start at the beginning...beginning of when? My beginning is today and I can only move forward. Anything that has happened in the past will stay there...nothing I do can change it. It is over and done. But from today forward, I will grasp the tools that SparkPeople has provided for me...the nutritional planner (food tracker), my exercise program made of exercises that are doable for me and which I enjoy. I will read the book, THE SPARK for guidance, motivation and inspiration!
There are many things that I cannot change even moving forward. But I can and will do the very best I can each day. My best may be different each day but I can and will continue to do my best.
I am not setting a certain weight as my goal. My goal is to be the healthiest and happiest person I can be.
Above all, I will trust and have faith in my Lord, knowing that FAITH DOESN'T MAKE IT EASY, IT MAKES IT POSSIBLE!!!







POSITIVES ALWAYS:
GOD
FAITH
HOPE
LOVE
FREEDOM
BLESSINGS AND ANSWERED PRAYERS
SMILES and HUGS
ACCEPTANCE
Thankful for each new day that I am given!!!
Our armed forces and all who are protecting us and our freedom
Doing at least one special thing each day for others and myself
Too many positives and blessings to list them all here...Praise the Lord!!!

  Member Comments About This Blog Post: