Graduated and Praise the Lord!!

Are we happy or what! Today was her last day of radiation! They gave her the "mask", and presented her with a certificate of completion. She is feeling pretty good, but still gets tired. She (and I) both feel that she "hit the bottom" as far as getting sick, and is now slowly progressing and working back to whatever "normal" is. ((we don't know what the chemo resumption will cause, if anything)) When we arrived home today, the house was decorated as you see in the pictures. (Shelley was the pixie) Jean was so excited, thrilled, and thankful. Later Kara brought balloons over and helped me get this blog updated with the excitement. Jean never quits smiling, but today her smiles were of gratification. I baked her the cake myself!! (ta-dah)

Praise the Lord for the blessings he has bestowed upon us. Blessings which include the sincere loyalty of old friends, and the placement of new friends in our path. God Bless each and every one of you.

We are awaiting calls from the chemo doctor to see what the story is with that treatment. She has been off of the chemo for something like 5 weeks now. It has taken that long to get the platelet count back. She has had many many platelet infusions, as the count kept getting so dangerously low. She received an infusion last Friday, and as of today, the "count" had held and an acceptable level. Our prayers are that whatever the body-process is that creates platelets, is "kicking back in", and she will be able to "make her own".

I'll keep everyone posted with the results as they develop.

Again, God love and keep you all.

Bill

1 More Radiation Treatment

Hello All,

Monday will be my last day for radiation! Very thankful and very hopeful that the rest of my platelets, WBC, etc. will go equally as well. The nurse for my chemo called today and asked that after I have my treatment on Monday that I go for more blood work. That's the part that is scarey to me. I am supposed to be on chemo pills for 5 days and then off for 23, but I've been off the chemo pills for over a month now and my platelets and WBC continue to go down. I gotta tell ya kids...that stuff has kicked the pants off of me. So, please keep those prayers coming. I need them, but there are so many others out there who need them just as bad.

Bill's oldest son, Chris, is in town and we have had the pleasure of having him stay with us. He arrived about 7:00 tonight, 7/28, so Bill went to pick him up and my sis came over to stay with me. We straightened up the house because I wanted the house to look a little more presentable. It's such a delight to have Chris here!

Quick updates on my parents. Dad went to doc and is now cancer free - That's what we've been wanting to hear!!! Praise God! Mom had crystal lenses put in both eyes and they were bothering her a little bit. One eye she can see out of great...the other is really fuzzy. We still have time for the drops to work on her and they told her she should be seeing fine by Monday. I know she'll do fine. Thanks for your prayers!

All of you - thanks for taking this journey with me. It's been a long and hard road, but we will see the end in sight soon. Let's just give God the glory. I am seeing so many folks who are in such worse shape than I am. What I have is nothing compared to their struggles.

Many blessings to you all,
Jeanine

Back to the doc today

Hello All,

Guess what? I only have 2 more treatments after today! YAY! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!!

That's the radiation portion of my treatment. There's still about another year's worth of treatments (using chemo pills, etc.) to cure this disease. I'm sure it will include having to be transfused, but that's ok. As long as I am alive I can handle that!

Thanks for the many prayers being sent up to God for my parents. Mom has her procedure at noon today and Dad had his yesterday. All went well and we give God the glory. I miss those two when they aren't around to take care of me.

Gotta get ready for radiation treatment. Just think after this treatment - 2 more to go! Whoo hoo!

Blessings,
Jeanine

Tomorrow is Platelet Transfusion Day

Hello Friends and Family,

Today was another happy day! Didn't have to receive platelets, but will tomorrow. It's already been pre-arranged, so once I have my radiation treatment, I will go upstairs to the transfusion room and get those life-saving platelets! My doctors are really taking good care of me and I'm thankful to have them. YAY doctors!

I need to ask for your prayers for my parents. Tomorrow Dad will have another procedure to check for his cancer. And then, my Mom will have cateract surgery on Thursday. They are so precious to me and I want to be with them so badly, but I can't. So, if we can all lift them up to the Lord for a healing and then have them sent back to us whole, that would be the greatest gift of all to me. They have been with me through this journey and have been wonderful. It's nice that my family is here to help me.

Bill is out of town and will be back tomorrow night. Kara, my niece, is staying the night with me since I can't be left alone. Then my sis-in-law, Shelley, will be taking care of me tomorrow. She's going to take me to my appointments and trust me, she will make me behave! I'm just getting to have all kinds of slumber parties too! So, if any of you would like to volunteer to spend the night, then come on over! Just kidding. I really prefer my slumber parties with my family members at this time! Once I'm well, we can have slumber parties all night long!

It's exhausting to sit around and not do a lot of things. I can't work very long at all, and I can't stay focused on reading a book either. When my platelets were getting really low, I would come home from treatments and go right to bed for rest. Since I am healing, which is hard to believe with all the hospital stays, etc., I've been getting to come home! It's like WOW! What am I supposed to be doing right now?!!!

I thank all of you for your prayers. They have been working so greatly. My body is just not used to having the chemo pills which has caused it to turn my body upside down. But, I coming back and can't wait to be more myself. I will remain strong, so continue to pray for me.

Thank you God for giving me all of you!
Jeanine

..made it home without another hospital stay!

Jeans white blood cell count went up significantly; a GOOD thing! Platelets going down still. She claims to feel bunches better than yesterday, but when I spoke to her about 3pm, she was ready for a nap.
Notes in passing - she (nor Jan nor I) cared for the wig she had received, so she is going to exchange it for something more color-appropriate for her. Not too much to add for today, except that the white cell count going up is really really important. She had radiation today, blood draw, saw Dr. Ramsis(spel) and returns for radiation again tomorrow. There should be 6 remaining radiation treatments.

Love to all.
Bill

Another weekend - Plans for Monday

Good evening all. This weekend has been quiet, because of the "isolation" we have had to ensure. We didn't go anywhere to avoid exposure to any nasties that might give her grief. Jan did come over and stay with her Sunday morning so I could go to mass. Jan wore her little mask. Jeanine had a bit of an upset stomach all day long. We watched her closely, but no fever or anything bad like that. We did sit on the back porch for a bit, and she couldn't stand the weeds in her flower bed, and pulled some of those. It was pretty hot, so we didn't stay too long.

Tomorrow, she is supposed to resume the radiation treatments. (she only has 7 left) There will no doubt be blood work to see if the white blood cells have come back, and hopefully the body-machine that makes the platelets has kicked back in. There is always the possibility that she will have to go back to the hospital until those critical items are corrected. We should know more after tomorrows session. Including, when she will resume the chemo. I have to go to St. Paul, MN for 2 days; will return Wednesday evening. Again Mom and Dad Ezzell will stay with her constantly.

Love and prayers always.
Bill

She's having a good Saturday. Being very cautious.

Howdy: (Us Navajos would say "Yah-ta'Hey")
Jeanine is having a pretty good Saturday. She slept in late, but her sleep was deep, sound, and undisturbed.
During the last post, I couldn't think of the word for her low white blood cell count. Here 'tis: neu·tro·pe·ni·a (nōō'trə-pē'nē-ə, nyōō'-) Pronunciation Key
n. An abnormal decrease in the number of neutrophils in the blood
Also, the shot that they gave her was "Pedfilgrastim". (Biologic response modifiers)
(Ok, that's way over my head)
Thanks for your prayers that this will work, and get her started back on the path of treatments. She only had 7 days of radiation remaining when this all started. We believe the radiation treatments will resume Monday, but we have no idea about the chemo.

Love to all

Bill