Brynnley is 7 months old

Brynnley is 7 months old!

- She is still wearing her helmet to correct her flat head and is making good progress.
- Her hair is finally long enough to put in a little ponytail!
- She loves watching her sister and playing with her
- Is starting to like the bathtub more and splashes around
- Loves the tassels on blankets just like her sister
- Loves to eat puff snacks and feed herself

                                          Aubrie decided she was going to be Mom this day!

                                                                      Sister love!

           Both girls are great eaters and thankfully Brynnley isn't quite as messy as Aubrie yet.

Chemo's effect on my hair

Looking back at the past 6 months since I was diagnosed, I have decided that loosing my hair was one of the hardest parts of having cancer and going through chemo.

This was after I had lost about 1/3rd of my hair and had decided to cut it short to avoid having long pieces of hair all over the house, my clothes and car. This was after my first round of chemo.

My new short hair cut! I would have never dared to cut my hair short but have always wondered what I would look like. I actually really liked it, but do to my hair falling out with the slightest touch, I wasn't able to ever use a blow dryer, curling iron or style it. It all fell out in large amounts within the following 2-3 days.

 My hair continued to thin, but I was able to pull it back to hide the balding on top of my head.

 I had Jeff take a picture of just one night of what my piles of hair looked liked. I wasn't able to look at all the hair I was loosing or I would break down and cry.

 More thinning of my hair. At this point I was wearing baseball hats all the time. I never thought it would hurt so bad to have my hair fall out.....it was a mix between burning and stinging pain to even lightly touch my hair.

 Looking back at this picture I never realized I would be loosing my precious eyelashes soon after.

 This is in October/November.

 My skin color got really gray and towards the end of chemo in November my eyelashes and eyebrows started falling out and after finishing chemo in December, they all fell out! It was an awful feeling to not have any eyebrows or eyelashes. I attempted to wear false eyelashes for a few weeks but decided it wasn't worth the hassle to glue them on all the time.

I had the most difficult time completely getting rid of my hair by shaving it because I was trying to hold onto every last bit of my hair. I finally let my mom cut the long pieces I had when I was reading a blog of a lady who was in my same shoes and her family told her she looked like Golum in Lord of the rings.  That was the turning point for me...I couldn't stand the little pieces anymore.

This is what I look like without drawing my eyebrows on and without eyelashes and hair. 

 This was the beginning of January when I finally started to get little bits of soft chicken fuzz on my head. I started taking Hair, Skin, and Nails pills everyday and Amber got me some Bosley hair growth products. Since starting the supplements and using the product I feel my hair is growing longer everyday. I even had to start shaving my legs and plucking my eyebrows by the end of January. I can't wait to finally have hair long enough to style and not have to wear a wig.

Final 2 surgeries and Starting a New Year!

 On December 16th, I underwent 1 of 2 surgeries to remove the ports that my chemo was delivered through. I first had my interperitoneal port removed at IMC under anesthesia by Dr. Zempolich. For some reason I though this would be a quick surgery and recovery, but it was actually an hour surgery and a slow recovery because of my weak immune system. It sure felt nice to have that removed as I was able to finally sleep on my side and stomach again once I was healed up.

Two days later I had my chest port removed. This procedure was done in Dr. Poretta's office with me awake on the table. Lidocaine was injected around the port, which really stung, and then she preceded to remove the port. To my luck, I make a lot of scar tissue and the port was stuck in the scar tissue which she had to tug at for a while to finally get the port out. The incision was a lot smaller than the first so I was glad for that. These procedures were a closure to this phase of my cancer treatment so I was actually looking forward to them.

Update # 6 (January 2016)
I have had a lot of people asking how I am doing now and decided to make an update here. Since finishing chemo in December, I underwent 2 more surgeries to remove the chest port and abdominal port that my chemo was delivered through. They were a little tougher than expected, but I am healing well and am happy to have those uncomfortable things out!

I had a CT scan this month that looked good, but I still don't put a lot of trust into them as my original one didn't show I had advanced stage cancer. I also had more labs drawn to check my cancer marker CA-125. My number has been staying around 20 (0-35 is normal) so that is promising right now. 
At the beginning of January, I returned to working part time as a physical therapist at RPT, 3-4 hours a day. It has been nice to get my mind off cancer and the daily doctor's appointments and focus on healing others through their therapy. I still get quite tired after working or just grocery shopping and spend most of my weekends sleeping or resting. 

I have been focusing on a more holistic approach to keeping my cancer away by eating mainly fruits and veggies and avoiding sugar, breads, and dairy. I also have been continuing my exercise regimen by going to the gym everyday after work to regain strength and endurance. Some exciting news for me is that my hair is beginning to grow back! I never thought I would be so happy to shave my legs or pluck my eyebrows again, or see my eyelashes growing back!

Now I will continue to follow up with both my surgical oncologist and chemo doctor every 3 months to make sure it doesn't return!

Overview of 2015

Nobody is as happy as I am to Welcome in 2016!!!
To me, being able to survive through the past year and make it to 2016 means I fought the battle and Survived Cancer and get to see my little girls grow up!

Looking back, 2015 was a busy year!

- We began the year off with exciting news that we would actually be able to have another child and that it would be a little girl! I was given the news that I had complete Placenta Previa and to expect a C-Section for delivery. I spent Jan to March on partial bed rest due to contractions and worked 3-4 hrs/day.  April to June was spent on complete bedrest at home watching Aubrie play outside.

- In March we visited Moab and in May we stayed in Park City

- In April, we received terrible news that Dave and Cher's home burned down

- In the Spring, we took a tour of the Payson Temple where Jeff helped with the woodwork

- On June 12, 2015 we welcomed our baby Brynnley at 7:40 AM at 6lbs 5 oz and 18 inches long born via C-section at Riverton Hospital with Dr. Quinn

- Brynnley was given her Blessing at our home on September 13th

-Brynnley has grown from a tiny newborn to a 6 month old cutie who loves her big sister and loves her veggies

- On June 12th, I also received the devastating and shocking news that I had Ovarian Cancer

-On July 15th, I underwent surgery for my cancer, expecting a Stage 1 diagnosis, but was shocked again to hear after a 9 hr surgery that I was Stage 3C.

- I began 6 extremely rough rounds of Chemotherapy at Huntsman in SLC and South Jordan locations on August 3rd

- I found out the week before Christmas that my CA-125 number was good and was considered CANCER FREE!!!

-Aubrie spent the summer having slurpees, playing in the sprinklers, riding her pink 'Corbett' like a crazy woman, learning to ride her bike, taking dance and swimming lessons and playing soccer in the Fall.  She also loved to visit Grandpa Matt at the Fire Station and having Grandma Susie take her to have her nails done and playing with 'Yoki', Shannon's cat.

- Aubrie turned 3 this year and chose to have a Disney Princess party.

-Jeff continued working for Ivory Homes Warranty Dept. and loved spending time with a new baby and having some time off work

- Sterling and Amanda were sealed in the Jordan River Temple and a few weeks later welcomed Adlyn Evans.

Christmas pictures

To celebrate the end of Chemo, I decided I wanted to get Christmas pictures of the girls since they are only little for so long. Brynnley was 6 months and Aubrie was 3 years old.

The picture above is the best sad face I have ever seen Brynnley make...it is also the first time she has really cried...she is normally such a happy baby. Good thing big sister was there to cheer her up.

The girls went to see Santa at the mall too and neither of them cried. Aubrie asked Santa for Princess nail polish and Minnie Mouse.

Aubrie thought it was so funny to wear Mommy's hair.

Christmas miracles

Since being diagnosed with Cancer in June, I have been overwhelmed by all the help that has been offered by our ward members, neighbors, and my family. Both of my grandma's have sacrificed their time to babysit every week along with my parents taking a lot of time off work to help with the kids, along with Shannon helping me out while she is home for the summer. Due to me being so sick, weak, and exhausted, I needed somebody to be with me 24/7 to make sure I was getting my medications on time, eating, driving me to my appointments (almost daily) and helping with the kids.

In December I had a few wonderful surprises provided to our family. The first one was at my RPT Christmas Party the first Saturday in December. I was asked to come up to the front and informed that my work chose our family as the Sub for Santa family. My parents and sister surprised us by bringing the girls to us during the announcement. All of the clinics in the company had been collecting money from patients and staff for our family and was shocked to hear that $8,000 had been raised to help with medical expenses!

We were again surprised by a knock at our door and "the Grinch" with Christmas dinner and some toys for the girls. The Grinch was Miss Shenna, the director of the daycare.

Another blessing was being the recipients of the 12 days of Christmas by 2 families. We received wonderful gifts, gift cards, and food which helped us out so much.

Then on the 20th of December, we were again surprised by a handful of people on our doorstep and hearing the news that we were chosen as Toyota of Bountiful's Sub for Santa Christmas Wish family. They provided us each with a large garbage sack full of gifts for each one of us, Christmas dinner, and lots of baby food and diapers! What a blessing!

The blessings we received continued into January when the Bishop's wife helped to set up a fundraiser at Chick-fil-a. Chick-fil-a donated 10% of the money they made from 5-7pm. We had a wonderful turnout full of neighbors and friends.

Brynnley is 6 months old!

I can't believe how quick this little munchkin has grown! Brynnly is 6 months old!

My cute 6 month old baby is growing up so quickly.
Brynnley:
- is still quite petite and weighs 13.15 lbs and is 26 inches long
- started wearing her helmet to correct her flat spot at the beginning of December and has been a trooper as she has to wear it 23 hours/day
-loves to sit in her walker and play with toys
-is a good eater and loves to snack on gerber puffs
-sleeps most of the night but will wake up for a bottle about 2 am.
- is such a happy and content baby and hardly cries


We saw Dr. Rodney Schmelzer at Primary Childrens who said her flat spot is mild-mod and recommended a helmet for a few months to re-shape Brynnley's head.
 Here she is getting fit for a custom helmet made by the orthotist, Alan.

Brynnley is such a trooper with her helmet! She can have it off for 1 hour a day and she doesn't seem to mind the helmet at all. I think it bothers Jeff and I more than her!