The Snow Family

It's official...I'm in remission!  It took a little while to confirm. After I finished chemo, I took a blood test (CA-125) and got a CT scan.  The cancer was gone, but there was a spot on my lung that my oncologist was a bit nervous about.  I visited my surgeon, who compared the scan with a previous one that we did right after surgery and he said there was nothing to worry about.  So, the plan from here is to do follow up visits every 3 months.  I believe we'll do a blood test every 3 months and a CT scan every 6 months for the next 2 years.  Ovarian cancer is a tough one to beat and it has a high rate of re-occurrence.  However, my situation looks good.  I'm grateful to know that we will be keeping a close eye on it and I feel good about where I'm at. I'm so grateful for the love and support that has been shown to me by my family, neighbors, friends, and church members.  The last 7 months have been made so much easier by the people aroun...

We really wanted to make sure that this summer was lots of fun and that it wasn't just about cancer and chemotherapy.  I was lucky in that I didn't have to work often and my schedule was very flexible. I felt good most of the time, so that meant we got to play! The kids had summer school during the first 6 weeks of summer.  This was pretty great because they only went to school from 8-12, four days per week.  I would pick them up at noon and then we would go do something for a couple of hours before going home.  Common activities included boating, swimming, bowling, miniature golfing, go-carting, going to the library, and holding taste tests to see who had the best onion rings.  That honor, by the way, goes to the Tailgater's Grill at Fat Cats.  In all fairness, we only tried about 4 places...we'll have to eat more places to be super sure. We weren't able to make our traditional summer trip to Missouri, which was a bummer, but we did have som...

I'm done with Chemo!!!  My last chemo treatment was Wednesday, August 23.  I will be doing some blood tests and a CT scan to see how things are looking and where we go from here.  I should have all my results next week. In the meantime, I'm well aware that I haven't been updating this blog as I should.  In my defense, we've been having a whole lot of fun this summer! More on that later... Let's start with some pictures from when I shaved my head.  I had expected to lose my hair w/in the first two weeks of chemo.  However, while I did lose a whole lot of hair, I never lost it all.  It came out in large clumps when I brushed or washed my hair.  The largest amounts of hair loss occurred a couple of days after each chemo treatment.  I cut my hair shorter and shorter over about 4 months and then it finally thinned to the point that I finally decided to shave it off. The head shaving party took place on June 24. I told Keira that she could gi...

I have some great news I want to share!  Last week marked the beginning of the 4th month of Chemo. Because I had passed the half-way point, a new blood test was taken to see where my cancer markers were.  This is done to make sure that the chemo is doing its job.  The cancer marker test for Ovarian Cancer is the CA-125 test.  A normal range for CA-125 is below 35.  When I was first diagnosed, my score was 668.  After surgery, right before I first round of chemo, my score had dropped to 194.  As of last week, my latest score is a whopping 32! I haven't actually talked to my oncologist yet...I just pulled this score from my lab report online. When I was in the hospital following surgery, an oncologist came to visit with me and told me that the best outcomes happen when the CA-125 test is in the normal range at the half-way point of chemo.  That is what I have been praying and hoping for and I'm so relieved to see that it has happened! I look for...

I'm remembering why I don't keep a blog....I'm horrible at updating it!  I do have some things to catch up on, though. First things first...I just finished my 9th Chemotherapy treatment, which means I only have 9 more to go.  Half-way through! I celebrated by coming home and taking a 2.5 hour nap.  I've never been able to do that right after Chemo because the steroids keep me so hopped up that I can't stop moving my legs to sleep.  Today was my lucky day. The first couple of weeks of Chemo were the hardest.  I was quite nauseous the first week (although several nausea pills kept me from throwing up) and developed mouth sores - two common side effects.  The nausea and mouth sores eased up the next few weeks, but I was extremely tired, shaky, dizzy, and weak.  I would try to accomplish something around the house and would find that I would tire very quickly, which was frustrating for me. As the weeks have gone by, I have found that it has gotten ea...