REMISSION!!!

I can't believe that the day has come when I can finally say that "I AM IN REMISION!" It is such a difficult and important milestone to reach at Stage 4 Melanoma and I feel blessed to be where I am today. Don't get me wrong--I know I have a LONG way to go--the rate of recurrence is very high, especially the first 3 years. With that said though, I also know that I need to enjoy where I am now and relish in the moment, even if it is short-lived. My wonderful doctor, Dr. Minor informed me that it is harder to get to remission at this stage than to stay in remission. That made me feel a little better.

He also told us that he feels very encouraged by the results that we have seen from the treatments and scans over the past year. I have responded very well, and all signs are pointing to hopefully a durable remission. I do have to mention that though I am considered "in remission", I am not technically considered "N.E.D." (no evidence of disease) because I do have one little spot still showing up on the CT in my right lung. However, my doctor is confident based on the fact that I have had negative PET scans for almost a year now that what is remaining is just scar tissue. WHEW!

I will continue to have scans every 3 months and will see my doctor then too. The other plan is to remain on Yervoy (Ipi) every 3 months as maintainence if my insurance will cover it. I feel good about that plan. I know that I'm going to have moments of high anxiety, especially leading up to the scans, but I am going to try my best to not stress about it so much and enjoy my life now.

Having Eric with me at this doctor's visit was especially memorable. Over the past year, Eric has stayed at home with the kids while I have traveled back and forth to SF for treatment, so this was the first time meeting my doctor. I am so grateful that he was there to hear that all-too-important news so we could share that joy and temporary relief together.

I have to give thanks to all who have helped me get to where I am today--my husband and children who keep me fighting, loving, and enjoying life to the fullest. To my parents who have supported me in so manys through this year, who have been at all my doctor's appointments, hospital stays, and scans. To my other family members who have encouraged and uplifted me, who have helped us with the kids amoungst other things. To my friends and church family who have rallied together to make sure that I had help with the house, the kids, and meals and of course, who have offered so much emotional support to me too. To my acupuncturist and hypnotherapist for helping me get through treatment, envision a positive future, and for always believing that I could do it too. But I can't leave out the most important person and that is GOD. I give full credit and thanks to my Heavenly Father for His hand in healing me. I know that the medicine and all the other things that I have done have worked because they work TOGETHER through His power, and ultimately, I know that it is HE who healed me.

I know that this journey will certainly have more "bumps" in the road, but I also know that I can get through anything after the last year. I accept that there is no cure for Melanoma yet, but I also have so much HOPE for the future and know that it is bright and that there WILL be a CURE someday. I figure if I can buy some time.. if "the beast" comes back..there will be more options, BETTER options. I will BEAT it again. Life is good if we choose to see that. I am indeed blessed, happy, and forever grateful.

CA trip Part 1

Our 2 1/2 week trip to my parents' house this summer started off with a bang--and I mean that in not the best way! The night we arrived, all of us got sick (minus Austin)! Thanks to Carson, we got his stomach bug and were down and out for 2 days! (Eric ended up getting it too while at home, and then Jen and Trish the following weekend!) Once we got over that, we kept busy with swimming in the neighbor's pool, hiking, boating, rock climbing, going to the circus, and having a girls day getting pedi's and lunch. While my sisters were in town, we had a baby shower for Jen at the house with some family members and friends. Jen looks so cute pregnant and I can't wait to meet my new niece! I love spending time with my sisters and wish we could do it more often!

We brought Tucker along with us, and he was in heaven in my parent's yard with all the room to run around, explore in the trees, chase balls, and his favorite activity was playing keep-away with Dakota (my parent's dog). The two dogs did GREAT together, it definitely made me want to get a second dog!

Here's some pics from the first week of our trip...

We took the kids to the circus and it was fun, but what's a circus without animals, especially an elephant?!

The kids were enthralled with the giant python. As you can see Carson wouldn't even look up for a picture.



We took the kids swimming to my parents' neighbors pool which is amazing. We went with my girlfriend, Jill and her kids. They had a blast on the slide and jumping off of the rocks!



The dog wash

Austin and Dakota, the kids loved cuddling her.

Boating with the family. Always a good time, even if it's the crappy Delta water.

Eric getting some sweet action on the slalom ski there.

Carson was a good flag boy!

Austin and Dad driving the boat.

My cute pregnant sis

Sunday family photo

T and I took the kids rock climbing one day. Carson enjoyed acting like a monkey as you can see.

Austin was a natural at rock climbing! Go figure.

We might be the biggest nerds ever. What face am I even making?!

One of my favorite pictures from the whole trip. The kids loved laying on the dogs! So sweet!

Jenni's baby shower

Perfect gift for baby from T, wouldn't you say?! She will for sure get dates with that one!

The blanket Trish made Jen-it was so beautiful and cozy!

My dad took the kids to Chuck E Cheese

We had a girls day and got pedicures and went to lunch...

Bay Area Melanoma Survivors

During our first week in CA, we had a backyard BBQ get-together with some of my melanoma friends in the Bay Area that I have met. They are all SURVIVORS-Sue, a 5- year survivor of Stage 4 Ocular Melanoma; Tina, a 5-year survivor of Stage 4 Melanoma; and Mike, a 2-year survivor of Stage 3. All of these friends and survivors are so IMPORTANT to me and have helped me tremendously through treatments (Tina and Sue completed the same treatment as I) and I think that by personally knowing survivors, people that have already beat the odds, it gives me more hope for an optimistic future. I feel so blessed to have these friends in my life. I absolutely know with a certainty that we were meant to cross paths!

We had a wonderful evening and enjoyed fantastic food, great conversation, and bonded over our stories of survival and triumph. It was particularly good for me to be surrounded by such positive energy because the next day I had scans!

Dinner in the backyard

Survivors-Sue, Tina, me, Mike

Emily and I (Mike's wife who is amazing)

Garden success!

This year our garden is spread out over 3 different gardens-some in our backyard, some in our neighbor's, and some in our friend's backyard. So far, we have herbs, green beans, lettuce, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, lettuce, swiss chard, radishes, and zucchini. Later in the summer we will get our tomatoes, peppers, melons, and onions. It's kind of crazy having it all spread out like that (we don't have the room to do it all in our yard), but it's so worth it. And the kids LOVE it. They eat everything we grow and take pride in it too. I think it's good to teach kids how to garden and to have them help water and weed it, and of course, harvest it! Can't wait to make homeade salsa in another month...YUM!

Only on HIS terms

After many unsuccessful attempts at potty training, Carson FINALLY decided to do it all on his own without any promptings. And what better way to do it then on our trip to UT! Yep, we're in Macey's grocery store and he says to me, "Mom, I have pee coming!" At first I didn't know if I should believe him, but he did it and that's all it took! Halleluah! Pooping, on the other hand, took a little more time (which he did while in CA later that month)...We're just glad he's finally potty trained and NO more diapers! :)

Relay for Life 2011...Safe In the Sun

Ok, in order to prevent picture overload here, I put together collages instead to tell the story of this incredible event that we were part of this year.

Our booth. There was no doubt what we were promoting-not just in our team name, Safe In the Sun, but by our slogan, "Don't roast like a marshmellow, wear S'MORE sunscreen!", in our tee-shirt statistics (that we wore on the back of our shirts), our sunscreen samples and skin cancer literature, and our video, ALL educating others on the dangers of UV exposure and the risk of melanoma. I think we did a phenomonal job, don't you think?! We pretty much killed it, in my opinion. CLICK ON COLLAGES TO BLOW UP.

Our freakin' awesome, rad, amazing, incredible team. Not everyone was there Friday night, so we don't have a picture of the WHOLE team, but we had so much fun! I can't believe how much support we had. It was freakin' awesome! (Yes, I like the word freakin' when I'm excited about something! ;)

More pictures of our teammates. We had so much fun and there was such good energy amoungst us!

Survivors lap to kick-off the event. The Grand Club (for those who raised over $1000personally). Doing laps around the track to show our support. The Luminaria ceremony to honor those who have passed from cancer and those still fighting and surviving.

HOPE for a CURE is what is all about. With an organization like the American Cancer Society, I have no doubt that we are one step closer to ending the global epidemic of cancer and creating more birthdays! It was an incredibly inspiring night and we can't wait to come back next year and do it again, even BETTER!

4th of July weekend

We headed to Logan for the holiday weekend and it was busy! It started with Eric's 15 year high school reunion (Eek-we are getting old! :). Fortunately for me, I knew many of his classmates from our college/USU days, so it was a reunion of sorts for me too. It was so much fun to see everyone, and there were many people there that Eric hadn't seen since before we got married or even early college days! Later Saturday we had a BBQ at Dave's house with some of the family and then headed to the Cruise-In to watch the cars. It was fun, but super-duper hot which was icky! Monday we went to the Hyrum parade, then boated, then did a little neighborhood block party with fireworks and treats. By Tuesday on our drive home, we were zonked! Good times with the fam dam!

The Cruise-In. The best part? Watching Carson's face and hearing him say over and over again, "Look at that fancy car!" His dreams came true that night (minus the sweltering heat which sucked)!

Of course, you can't celebrate the 4th of July without a good ole' parade! Highlights? Watching the kids practically run over each other to pick up candy and seeing the Air Bound truck/trailer (Brett in the drivers seat with Eth and Austin riding along) with McKenna and Maecee showing off their tricks!

Who doesn't love a little boating on the 4th of July?! We had a blast as we tubed, waterskiied, wakeboarded, and jumped off the infamous "Big Toe" at Hyrum Dam-a 25 ft or so cliff! Plus, Grandpa and Grandma brought us a little picnic lunch/dinner while we were there which was really fun too.

We did fireworks in Bret and Heather's neighborhood that night-the kids were crazy pyros and mesmorized by the show!