Goodbye 2011.....Hello 2012

I know I've said it before and I will say it again. I CAN'T WAIT FOR 2011 TO BE OVER! This year has had very few good things in it. I did marry my best friend and couldn't be happier about that. My sister gave birth to my beautiful niece, and my cousin her baby girl Maylee. The bad somehow outweighs all of those good things. I was diagnosed with CANCER, Vinny was sick more than I can count on fingers and toes, Jason's aunt was diagnosed with a very severe rare type of CANCER and will soon be going through treatment as  well. My cousin Tommy is now in Heaven with his dad and many of our other friends and family. It still isn't real to me yet. I am just so ready for a new positive year with lots to look forward to!

This year has taught me to be a strong woman, lover and mother. I intend to try my hardest to be a much more positive person in 2012 and forever! I have a son who is progressing more now than he has in the past 3 years of his life! I can't wait until he and I are having nonsense conversations together! Although we aren't going on a big family vacation this year, Jason and I are going to take a mini getaway to Vegas to celebrate me KICKING CANCERS ASS! I can't wait! It is going to be such a great time just the 2 of us. I am also looking forward to job hunting after this cancer is gone and starting a new work chapter in my life. I'd love to get my name out there and do wedding planning/coordinating or possibly start my own daycare. I have the perfect place in mind. I'm looking forward to being the strong, warrior mama that everyone says I am. I plan to be the best wife to my husband and never look back!

Lots of great things to look forward to in 2012! Friends getting married and having children. We will be celebrating our 1st year together as a married couple! I CAN'T WAIT!! Vinny will be starting preschool in the Fall. Going to be CRAZY! but I know that he needs it and will do FANTASTIC!

SO LONG 2011, SO LONG GRIEF, SO LONG CANCER, SO LONG NEGATIVE PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS. HERE I COME 2012 I HOPE YOU ARE READY FOR THE NEW FEISTY, STRONG, WARRIOR,  MICHELE CZADO!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
peace
hope
love family

Treatment #2-DONE

Christmas was absolutely AMAZING! Vinny is so spoiled! Lots of toys and clothes. We are so blessed to have so many awesome people in our lives! My husband rocks and bought me a beautiful ROCK for Christmas. It is the birthstone of my daughter Chloe and it is GORGEOUS!!!

Treatment #2 was today and for the most part all went as planned. The bad- my WBC is a bit on the low side...not super low but low enough that now I have to pay attention to my surroundings and steer clear of anyone who is sick or anything like that...they were talking about delaying treatment for me but my dr decided to give me a shot in the back of the arm that helps boost WBC and then I was able to continue with treatment. I am so glad they did because staying on track is key with this treatment. 

A great friend wrote about me in her blog today and referred to me as a Warrior III :) 

She is so right! I am a warrior III. My mind is set to me kicking this cancers ass! Although it may not always be an easy battle I am completely prepared for whatever it has to throw at me! 

I am still feeling good today. A little tired but no nausea so far so that is GREAT! Hoping that these treatments just keep going this smooth :) 

THANK YOU AGAIN TO ALL OF YOU FOR SUPPORTING ME DURING THIS TIME! 

LOVE

PEACE

HOPE

FAMILY 

<3

Someone like me....

After yesterday I have never felt more positive and confident about this battle with CANCER. I met a young woman a few years older than me that went to school with Jason. She is currently a 5 year Hodgkin Lymphoma survivor! The amazing mother of 2 is now my inspiration and my hero. She beat its ass 5 years ago and is still a strong, healthy, beautiful mama and woman! I am very grateful for her kindness already and I haven't known her long. She has given me 2 wigs for if/when I lose my hair so that I am prepared! WIGS AREN'T CHEAP! I am so lucky to have her in my life now! Thank you Rebecca now and also for anything in the future! In case I don't get to thank you again!!!

It is so hard to believe that Christmas is just 2 days from now. We are well prepared for Vinny and the rest of the kiddos in our lives...but I still just can't believe how fast this year went. I am so glad it will be over soon. Vinny is gonna be so excited for his presents this year. I can't decide which one he'll love the best.

Preparing for my next chemo treatment on Dec 28th. I know it will go just as smooth as the first one did. GOOD NEWS-----all of my tumors have shrunk so small that I can't feel any of them above the skin. :) YAY!!!

Well that's all for now. I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A FANTASTIC NEW YEAR!!!

PEACE-LOVE-HOPE-FAMILY

Ready for 2012

I keep reading that everyone has had a tough 2011 and they are ready for 2012. I AM NOT ALONE I SEE! Other than marring my best friend, the birth of some pretty amazing babies in my circle of friends and family 2011 has been a shit show. I am so ready for a new year and a better year. It seems that the end of this year is turning to be so and hopefully the trend continues in 2 weeks and for the rest of 2012.

Chemo already seems to be working for me. A few of my small tumors that I could feel by hand are now not able to be felt. The big tumor on my neck that I had is now the size of a pea and continues to shrink. ALL AFTER ONLY 1 CHEMO TREATMENT! I am 5 days out and I still haven't lost any hair. I know that this can all change in a blink of an eye but the drs were telling me to be prepared for it to start right away since the chemo I am on is pretty strong.

Vinny had new ear tubes put in and his adenoids removed AND HE IS NOW PRETTY MUCH FULLY WALKING ON HIS OWN! He has made so much progress in the past week that he really seems like a whole different kiddo. His speech as become so clear and makes sense. His balance is amazing and over all he's just much happier. For the first time every on Saturday, he was actually playing with a truck and pushing it around and making truck noises. Normally he would just spin the wheels on the truck and stare at it in awe. I cried like a boob haha! But I was so damn excited and happy that my boy was making progress right before my eyes! Love this boy more than I love anything in the world!

Jason is having an amazing holiday season at work and it seems that he will win the cruise for sure this year. He is in first place and beating the closest person by over 10%. WAHOOOOOO. Although most of you know how fast that can change after what happened to us last year. However, they changed the contest rules because of that and its pretty much locked down now with Jason winning :).  Wahoo...hoping for the ok from the oncologist to take myself a mini vacation. I personally think Jason and I deserve it! haha. Of course I do.

For the first time in a long time I AM EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS!! Yes I was happy last year about it but this year is just going to be so much fun. Vinny is at the perfect  stage right now and he's going to have a blast! Can't wait to spend time with my family and close friends! They are what means most in life! I am so blessed to have the best there is!

Off to get dinner ready. Fish and Mac n cheese :) YUMMMM

not my house haha but a girl can wish right ;) lol.

Normal??

Normal? What is normal?
I haven't felt normal in years! Today is 2 days after my first treatment and oddly I feel normal. No nausea, no sickness, no anything out of sorts. It's kinda scary! I know that it's probably just fluke and I'm not getting my hopes up that it will all be this easy. BUT I MUST SAY IT IS A NICE START! I am so ready to kick this beasts ass! There isn't anything that will stop me!

Yesterday I went to target to get a new planner so I can keep track of all my appts/meds/treatments/etc. It was nice to get out but boy it did wear me out. I went up to bed at 9:20pm and last looked at the clock at 9:30pm. I slept until about 7:45am this morning. I HAVEN'T DONE THAT IN AGES! It felt SOOOO good!

Today, I ran some errands and then went to the mall to visit Jason and have lunch. It was really nice. My awesome hubby even bought me a few sweaters:) I <3 him! Now its home for the night...watching backyardagins with Vinny and hanging with the hubby.

Thanks for checking in :)

Treatment 1 under the belt!

Today at 9:00am when my name was called to walk into the treatment room I was totally fine. When I got to my area I HAD A TOTAL MELTDOWN! Now keep in mind I have been through hell and back in the last few weeks. My cousin who is like my brother passed away, my son had to undergo surgeries, and today I start Chemo. So all of those emotions that were all bottled up came out. FELT SO BAD FOR THOSE NURSES!!

So around 11am after all of the paper work and going over all of the side effects and what not, they started my IV for the ABVD treatment. I only had 3 of those 4  I had AVD. I didn't have the B because i need to have a pulmonary function test again because the last one I had was over 6 months ago. First I got premeds some Zofran and some benadryl. Anti nausea and then some medicine in case of allergic reaction and also to help me get comfortable and try to sleep.

The Benadryl hit me like a ton of bricks and within 15 minutes of having it I was in and out of cat naps. LOL. Not too bad though. I didn't mind. The whole time I was there wasn't bad. Here I am about 10 hours out from the start of treatment and the only side effect thus far is being sleepy. So I'M COMPLETELY FINE WITH THAT!!!! Hopefully this stays this way. I have some anti nausea meds here at home that I am praying continue to do the trick! I am about to take one in a few minutes and then head to bed.

I would just like to personally thank my awesome husband, Jason, for all of his support, love and help. Without you we all know that I wouldn't be getting this treatment today and I am so thankful for you! I want to thank my little duder, Vinny boogs, for being the most amazing child ever. I got in the car today after treatment and he said "mama, Love you!" ugh melts my heart!!! To my dad, YOU ARE THE MOST AMAZING FATHER ANY GIRL COULD EVER HAVE! I am so grateful that you did the things you did to make sure you could be my daddy! I love you! To my sisters and brother and sister in law, your support means the world to me. Although we don't always get along (what siblings always do?) I know that if I need you nothing would ever stand in your way to get here for me. FOR THAT I AM GRATEFUL! To my loving in-laws who would literally do ANYTHING for me and my family. I am so happy to have you in my life!

KEEP PRAYING AND POSITIVE THOUGHTS COMING MY WAY! 1 TREATMENT DOWN 7 MORE TO GO.....I GOT THIS!!!! :)

THANK YOU TO MY FANTASTIC FRIENDS! If I didn't have you to chat to in the 6 hours I was sitting at the treatment facility I would probably lose my damn mind!

I styled my hair tonight after my shower for the first time....I REALLY LOVE IT! :)

PEACE, LOVE, HOPE, FAMILY!

the appt/results I've been waiting for....

This weekend was nice. Busy, but nice. Took Vinny to a Christmas party on Saturday then got to spend some time with my sister and her beautiful family. It was so nice to just hang at home and spend some time with the family. After all, they are what means the absolute most to me. Without their love and support, who knows where I'd be today.

My oncology appt today was as good as can be expected. My cancer didn't spread (much) lol. I have 1 very small node that is now effected that was not effected 6 months ago at my last PETscan. All in all not too shabby if you ask me. This means that the cancer isn't spreading fast, and it should be very responsive to the treatment.

My treatment (ABVD chemo) starts THIS WEDS Dec 14th. I have will 1 treatment every other week for 4 months and then will have another PETscan. Depending on those results will determine where the treatment will go from there. My oncologist says I will not need radiation after the chemo. He was going to do just 3 cycles but he wants to make sure that my chances of it coming back are as slim as they can get....so we will go ahead and do a minimum of 4 cycles (equaling 8 total treatments because each cycle has 2 treatments). I have some nausea medicine to take and some pain killers also...I'M HOPING THAT IS ALL I WILL NEED to get thru this as quick and easy as possible.

I'm so ready to kick this cancer's ass but now I'm starting to get a little nervous. My first treatment will be about 5/6 hours. YIKES!!! Hope someone is on facebook to chat with me hahaha!! I will be aloud to have my cell and any other laptop/ipad devices that I choose.

Well I'm off to make my family dinner and spend some much needed down time with them. Until next time...

LOVE YOU ALL AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

FEEL GOOD DAY :)

We were released from CHP around 9am this morning and Vinny hasn't looked back since :) He is doing amazing. Talking and walking up a storm. Hasn't complained of pain once and is doing pretty good taking his medicine. Hopefully he'll sleep in tomorrow since we had such a bad night last night. Not bad because he was bad. Bad because our "room mates" were so rude and obnoxious ALL NIGHT LONG. At 4am they had all the lights on, tv blaring, and their son was running (literally) thru the room and all over the hospital screaming. UGH! SO GLAD WE ARE HOME!!!

My body scan today went well. Much faster than the last one (at least it seemed).  The tech asked how much treatment I have had because it seems to be working.....(meanwhile I haven't had ANY) So i'm not sure what that means. Maybe its not as bad as they thought???? IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE??? Guess I'll find out on Monday when I see my oncologist again. Hopefully, I'll be starting treatment on Wed the 14th...we'll see. 

Thats all for now, I'm about to go hang with my boys and watch the Penguins & the Steelers play tonight. 

GOODNIGHT!

A week out from starting treatment....HOPEFULLY

Today, Vinny had is surgery for his ear tubes and his adenoid removal. All went well. I didn't think I was at all stressing about this situation until it hit me yesterday when I was supposed to leave him for my body scan.  I started to panic about him having to stay at the hospital and about him being sedated. I rescheduled my appt for Thursday the 8th and did all I could to spend time with my little boy.

Surgery went great and he is recovering perfect. So needless to say...I was all panicked for nothing (haha nothing new here).  Now that Vinny is on his way to recovery and becoming a healthy boy for the first time in a very long time, I realize, it's time to start taking care of ME for once.

I am ready to kick this cancer's ass and there isn't anything that is gonna stop me now. If all goes well with my scan tomorrow I should be started my first round of ABVD chemotherapy. Not really looking forward to it but I gotta do what I gotta do. Vinny needs his mama and the only way I'm gonna be healthy enough for him is to do this treatment.

I'm not worried much about the treatment because I have faith that it is going to work fully and completely. However, I am scared shitless to have some of the side effects happen to me. So, please say a prayer and think about me.

Until next time....PEACE, LOVE HAPPINESS AND FAMILY <3