A Thank You

A Huge and
Heartfelt Thanks
On behalf of Pam and Troy,
the organizers of the numerous events and efforts
that took place over the last month
would like to thank all of you for your contributions.
The wonderful energy generated for the Paradee family
came from all of us hiking, praying, donating, running,
skateboarding, cooking, and gathering together.
The list of contributions goes on and on.
The support and love we wanted to give to
Pam and Troy and the boys was beautifully conveyed
through the amazing websight, the activities, the shared
conversations, and the photos and captions.
Also important to mention is that we exceeded
our financial goal.
All efforts are enormously appreciated.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Please note that individual thank you notes will not be sent.
Just in case you are wondering, donations to individuals are not tax deductible.

a piece of good news

Yesterday I had a PET scan and today we had our follow up to find out what it showed. And for the first time in a looooonnnnngggggg time, we had a good PET report!! The cancer is responding to the chemo I am currently receiving and knocking it back. It is not all gone, nor did we expect it to be, but this sets us up to get ready for the transplant, which is what we want to have happen.
There was quite a bit of anxiety in the last few months that this chemo may not work and the cancer would have continued to spread (worse scenario). This would have been very bad news for the possibility of the transplant to be effective.
So obviously we are very encouraged right now that we will be moving forward with the transplant and it probably will happen in December. I will have one more round of Chemo. (two doses, one per week) right after Thanksgiving. We will then start making the first of many trips to Hanover to get the process rolling.
Keep the prayers going!
Lots of love, Pam

October's - Hiketober, Skatetober, Soxtober, and YOU ALL ROCKtober!

I'm going to try this again. I sat down Friday a.m. and wrote a detailed and lengthy BLOG, then..... the laptop froze up and lost it. So this will be a brief BLOG (unless I get rolling) as a reminder of where we are at. I've been pretty tired after this chemo or just plain the end of an amazing month of October. The 31st came around and I literally crashed!! (No wonder I got a massive head cold). Three straight weekends filled with hikes, a skate jam, five year old birthday celebration, and Halloween has fueled me mentally and physically and has been the GREATEST distraction.

I've been asked at the gas station, parades, trick or treating, grocery stores... where are you at? When are you going to Dartmouth? Have you already been? Nothing has changed as far as the plan goes from the last BLOG entries. So.... here goes.

As we knew from the beginning, we would do two cycles (a cycle = on a week, on a week, off a week) of chemo with the goal of knocking back cancer that is there then PET and Dr. Meehan would plan the next steps. I've finished my first cycle, had my first chemo of cycle two this past Thursday, I have chemo again on Friday, and will have a PET next week. We'll post through the BLOG next steps after we know and have a moment to sit down. Everything is step by step. And each step gets planned when information is gathered. I know very initially we thought Dartmouth would be the end of October/beginning of November. But, there is ALOT that goes into this, most of which we have an idea but not details because they will come when needed. Most of which is behind the scenes right now with insurance, administration, and chemo, and .... how my body responds.

When I went to start my second cycle, my counts were too low, therefore needed to wait a week (not an uncommon thing). Counts being low means your red and white cells and platelets. Red cells carry oxygen (low count makes you fatigued). White cells fight infection and sickness (low count gives you little and no immune system making it easy to catch anything and hard to fight it off). Platlets are your clotting agent (low count could lead to internal bleeding). My platlets and red cells were high enough that transfusions were not needed. My white cells were low enough (like when I left the hospital from stem cell) that a couple of shots of nupegen where needed to boost me so I would be able to continue this past Thursday.
So why's this important for YOU to know? Well, because low counts don't show physically. I look good. I feel good. But, inside, I have little immune system (nuetropenic) kicking in about 10 days after chemo and lasting for about two weeks. No quorentine(?) needed, but we do become germaphobes in our house. My kids are pretty well trained at this point. But, When you come over, head to the bathroom and wash first. Then, wash often. Make a conscious effort for the kids to not share drinks and food. And, if we're doing a playdate, get together, or helping watch the kids and somebody has something brewing ..... let's reschedule. Kiddos are what spread stuff. By keeping my little guys healthy, that helps keep ME healthy.

Oh well, so much for brief. I'll try to update more often so I don't have to do a full recap. But it won't be more than once a week. Mostly because .... we're just plugging along with a normal, activity filled household life. And, also .... ignorance is bliss at times. If all you do is think about something, it becomes you or you become it. We just cross everything that for now, the chemo is doing what it's intended to do. And we'll get ready for the next phase when it gets here.

As always .... thank you for the continuous and deep love and support!
Pam and crew