more balloon photos

The balloon chaser who follows the balloon to pick us up at the landing site took these photos of us in the balloon.  I thought they were so awesome I wanted to share!

Happy Easter everyone!  We are having a nice day here, filled with swimming and eating outside!  Loving the sunshine!

Hot Air Balloon ride

Well it took 2 days to get to Arizona!  Our first flight was so delayed on Tuesday that we would have missed our connection so we all went back home and tried again Wednesday and we made it.  Then got up at 3:30 this morning to get to the meeting place for the balloon ride.  We then took a bus to the launch site and watched them set up the balloon.  Here are some photos from the trip.  My favorite part was seeing a coyote chase after a jack rabbit when we got pretty close to the ground.  The highest we were was 2,500 feet up and the fastest we went was 20 mph.  Very awesome experience and so glad I was able to share it with my hubby and some random stranger who was also on the flight :)

 blowing up balloons

I was a little shocked to hear, after our great landing, which wasn't as bumpy as the pilot had alluded to, that this was his first upright landing in about 4 days!  Usually the basket tips on it's side and everyone is holding on not to get dumped out!!  So glad that wasn't our experience!

 The balloon after we landed in a farm field

 View of mountains from the balloon, and the moon

 other balloon we were following the whole trip, not as pretty as ours huh?

Just thought this was cool to see our shadow on the farm fields before we landed

Guess what I'm not doing today!?

So today would normally be a chemo day for me.  I get nauseas just thinking about it, and hearing the word "chemo", but alas, I am not driving to Boston today, I am packing!  I booked my balloon ride for Thursday, it's bright and early 5am, so you east coasters can think of me and bryan flying at 8am, I can't wait to share photos!

I was able to spend some time yesterday with a friend of mine who is going through a clinical trial for ovarian cancer.  Her trial seems very similar to the one I am interested in and is also done at Mass General.  It is just taking two different kind of drugs in pill form that are designed to stop cancer cell growth.  She seems to be doing well and I won't forget her words that gave me a feeling of relief.  She does have side effects from the drugs that aren't pleasant but she said "it does feel like a break from chemo."  And the good news is her trial shes on seems to be working!

We leave tomorrow and as Elly says, "we are on vacation for 14 days!"  very exciting!  and as Drew says, "we are going in an airplane way way up to see Nina in Arizona!"  I think since my mom was staying with us for so long they are extremely excited to see her.  My dad and his wife and kids and my brother and his girlfriend are also out in Tucson so we will get to see everyone!

I feel like I just finished getting over a cold and got another one.  I guess that's just how it goes, but these colds knock me out, I get so exhausted.  Hopefully I will be feeling better soon and the sun and fresh air will keep me from getting sick again while i'm away.  Here we come sunshine!

Clinical Trial

We had my appointment today with the lead clinical trial GI oncologist at Mass General.  Overall it was really encouraging.  She gave her opinion on the treatment regimen i'm on and said that it is what she would recommend I be on.  Then she had a trial that has started recently that might have an opening soon.  It would not be a type of chemo, it would be taking specific drugs to stop cancer cells from growing.  It is also a trial that is specifically for people who have cancers with KRAS mutations, which I have.  She didn't agree with my current oncologist in regard to waiting until this chemo stops working, she didn't see anything wrong with joining this trial while my chemo is still working if something opens up in a couple of months.

She put my name on the list and I don't want to get too excited but in a few months I could possibly be called to see if I qualify to participate.  There is a screening process that I'd have to pass with a series of tests.  Basically what I got out of this is, I don't necessarily have to be on chemo for the rest of my life, there are other options like this and that is very exciting to me.  Even if it didn't work, there are others out there and it would also mean a break from chemo regardless if it works, and that is very exciting to me!!

on a happier note

I am in the process of booking our hot air balloon ride for our Tucson trip, AND on an even more exciting note, I think the acupuncture that I've been trying is starting to work on my neuropathy!!  I have had 4 acupuncture treatments and haven't had too much success yet but just recently I started to get more feeling in my feet which have been numb on the bottom for just about a year now.  I was told if i didn't notice any improvement by the next treatment that it might not work, so I am very excited!

Feeling much better after an awful week, and I am super excited that I don't have to go back a week from today to get poisoned again!  So excited for my break and to feel good and see my family!

The Green Castle bucket

When I got home monday from boston and getting chemo, I was so nauseas I could barely make it to bed.  Bryan grabbed this bucket from the garage, a green bucket that is used to make sand castles in the summer with the kids.  I brought it upstairs and it is still sitting next to my bed (I can't seem to remember to bring it back in the garage every time I go downstairs).
 
When I was sick monday and was running to the bathroom it upset my daughter.  Daddy explained that my tummy wasn't feeling well and she burst into tears saying, "I know mommy doesn't feel good!"  Then the next day she was asking me why I had a sand castle bucket in my room?  "That doesn't belong there, mom," she said.   No, it doesn't, and so many things in my life right now don't belong where they are.  I don't belong in bed for a week every other week, but thats where I am.  It's so hard to explain these things to a 5 year old.  Bryan met someone at the conference who grew up with both of their parents having cancer, and she thought everyone's parents had cancer, it was just part of her life.  I don't think I want that for Elly, but if it feels normal and it makes things easier than she can believe what she needs to for now. 

I keep staring at that darn green bucket every time I try to rest in my room.  It daunts me, makes me think of being sick and I can't seem to get it out of my head.  This vacation will be such a good break from chemo and life here, we need a change.  There isn't much we can change but we can get out of here for a while and go to arizona and pretend things are normal and be in the sun!

OK time to go put that bucket back where it belongs, put away for to wait for summer!

ugh!

I ended sick to my stomach again last night, beginning to think throwing up on chemo day is not a stomach bug.  I think after being on the regimen for so long, my body is not handling it as well as it used to.  This is very unfortunate because I think since the chemo is working so well we don't have a plan to change it any time soon.

Still not feeling good today, so prayers are welcomed as usual!