Great News!

Hey Everyone- We got great news last night. Greg (my brother-in-law) got in to KU for Physical Therapy, so it looks like my sister and her family will be moving back to KC sooner than later. We are all very proud of Greg and excited to have the rest of the family back together again, it has been a long time.

Round two of chemo seemed to go well. No nausea/vomiting today and only a slight tingly sensation in my fingers afterwards, no need for gloves to reach into the fridge yet (one of the side effects called peripheral neuropathy, I may get from this chemo). I am now hooked up to my pump until wednesday afternoon so hopefully the next few days will be a breeze like today. My mom went with me today, thank you mom, she was not only helpful to me but to others around me, getting them blankets and talking to them as well. What a wonderful lady she is!!!!

I wanted to tell you all after my chemo today, a lady at the cancer center approached me and asked if I would be willing to be interviewed for a news piece, I guess on NBC in the month of march (national colon cancer awareness month). Cynthia Newsome, a newscaster from NBC, already called me and we are set for next monday to do the interview. She told me they might wamt me cooking or making a recipe of something since it is also on nutrition for cancer, since I met with a nutritionist. I informed her it might be kind of boring since I really don't cook. I will think of something. I will be calling on my neighbors again to help me primp for the occasion as well. Ugh, What to wear? Gosh, I hope my hair doesn't start falling out this week, yikes. anyway, you all in KC might look for me towards the end of march sometime on tv. I hope it will bring some awareness to the diagnosis in younger women as well. Maybe Oprah will be watching, ha!
Enough blogging. I promise I won't be sending stuff every day. Just wanted to let you know things are good after round two, hasn't knocked me out of the ring yet. shawndra

great neighbors

I want to thank all of my neighbors who came over last night for a girls night. I had a blast. For those of you who don't know, we moved last May, and we have been blessed with the most incredible neighbors anybody could ask for. I have to say, we found out how difficult it was to make jewelry, I have a new respect for the people who make jewelry for a living, not as easy as it looks! Who knew pliers can cut things, wow! Anyway, thank you all. We included a picture to commemorate the evening. What a good looking group of girls, isn't it!

I met with my oncologist today, so I am on for round two tomorrow. Let's hope I keep my lunch down, unlike last time.... note to self, no bar food for lunch on chemo day. I hope everyone has a great week. shawndra

first blog

Hi everyone- This is my first time blogging you all. To introduce myself, I am a 30 year old with a terrific family, Doug is my husband, and we have a 15 month old daughter, Ella. I have recently been diagnosed with a rare form of colorectal cancer in which I have undergone 6 weeks of chemo and radiation then had surgery in which they removed the mass and did a total hysterectomy. During the surgery, they did find more cancer in the omentum (lining of my abdomen) which they could not remove. I just started chemo two weeks ago, the regimen is called Folfox. I go in once every two weeks to the Kansas City Cancer Center for about 5-6 hours while they infuse the chemo into my port, then I take home an infusion pump for another day and a half, then I go back in so they can take my pump off. I am then done for a week and a half. I go back this coming week for my next round of treatment. The first round wasn't horrible, I did get sick though, which isn't fun at all, especially in a room full of patients. Otherwise I did well with minimal side effects.

This is going to be my diary of my life. Now that I have you all up to date, I can go from here. Doug helped me set this up, I am not that computer savvy. We will try to put in some pictures of ella and the family once in awhile, she is much cuter than I am and definitely more entertaining! Thanks for reading. I got this idea from a couple other young girls who have been in the same situation I have and started a blog of their life. They have been inspirational and I hope I can inspire someone as well or atleast bring some awareness to colorectal cancer in young women, obviously it is more common than we think.

I would love to hear from you all. We will continue to update and work on this blog. I better go rest, tonight is girls night with the neighbors. I want to save up my energy. Thanks for reading. Talk to you all soon. shawndra