This is Nicole's Aunt Sandy reporting on the weekend.
Upon arriving at the Johnson home, Nicole and I engaged in a conversation about the surprising perks of having cancer. When a life threatening illness consumes every waking hour of thought and you go through the various stages of grief you begin to really open up your eyes and mind to those who surround you. She explained that she looks at people longer, making eye contact letting them know she really sees them for who they are. Also realizing that behind every face there may be unseen challenges in their lives, much like she is experiencing. She now takes time to notice the little things in life that we often overlook in our busy lives.
With chemo session #5 completed Nicole spent time this past weekend taking it easy, experiencing some nausea, upper back and neck pain, hotflashes, and fatigue. However she didn't spend as much time in the bedroom as she had with previous sessions. Her mom made sure she took her pain meds, anti nausea meds and other meds on schedule. Nicole's tumor marker test (which is the CEA-27.29) was 44.0, down from 61.9 last time. Wow at the time of diagnosis this level was 763!! The significance of Thanksgiving this year is truly realized by Nicole and all that love her.
Griffin is such a beautiful healthy boy and smiles easily. Brock carries on a conversation with you as if he were a 10 year old and his energy abounds. He readily and proudly displays his underwear designs, such as Diego and Spiderman. Potty training has been pretty much conquered, there was just a few set backs the last few months. Bryan is amazing, always catering to everyones needs and mixing in some welcomed humor.
Tom, Tangy, and Trayeton (Nicole's brother and his family) surprised us on Saturday afternoon. Grandma Linny enjoyed spending time with her 3 grandsons and celebrated the reunion of her family with some spectacular dance moves with Brock and Traeyton in the living room, what a sight!
All in all Nicole's treatment is on track. She has come a long way in a short amount of time battling this cancer and also has successfully hurdled a lot of the steps of acceptance when diagnosed with cancer. I think I'm safe to say how much we all admire Nicole's courage and attitude during this chapter in her life.
Aunt Sandy.
Nicole will post pictures that were taken this weekend when I send them to her.
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4 comments:
Dearest Nicole,
It was great visiting with you yesterday. I am so happy you had the opportunity to spend quality time with your family. We are so grateful for the miracle of medicine. You are an amazing woman. Stay strong. We love you so much.
Love,
Aunt Brenda
Nicole, My name is Jean Anderson. I saw your Aunt Sandy at the Clay County Fair and completely forgot to email you after I talked with her. I apologize. I wanted to tell you my personal experience with breast cancer, which was 13 years ago. My daughters were in high school at the time, I was 39 years old. My daughter, Andrea Anderson, graduated from high school with you. (She says hi by the way!)
I don't know how much I can write in this blog (I am of old school and know nothing about these!), but I just wanted to tell you what a great job you are doing by keeping up with your adorable little boys and staying strong! My mom gave me a t-shirt that said "attitude is everything" that I wore almost all chemos (I think all, but I truly don't remember). I had 6 months of chemo and 7 weeks of radiation, with a lot of lymph nodes involved. I had too many things in life to let cancer stop me!
Please let me know if I can continue to email you, or if you have a different email I can send you words of encouragement to continue on! You are a great person and a great mom, with great reasons to beat this darn disease.
I have decided to pass along some of the angels that so many friends gave me throughout the years, and I have one for you. I work with
Tangi, and I know your mom-in-law Sherry as well, so I'll give it to one of them for you. God bless you! Jean
oh, my email is laja102@smunet.net
Oh, Sandy your entry was so many things...so true, so well written, so inspiring! Thanks!
Nicole, It sounds like you had some great entertainment this weekend-dancers, boys flashing their underwear and who knows what else happened that went unwritten:)
Miss and love you all and can't wait to see you all next weekend.
Stacie
Sandy, thanks for the update on your weekend. I could actually visualize the dancing. I'm glad your family were all able to spend time together. What a great surprise. Spending time with your children and grandchildren is what life is all about. Nicole, I'm so thankful that you didn't feel as sick with #5 but the best news of all is the tumor marker just keeps dropping. Love You Mom & John
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