I'm Done

Well I hope that all of  you had a wonderful Christmas.  I actually had a great Christmas.  I went in for my last treatment on the 21st and when I asked what my levels where and wether or not I would have to have the shot on the 22nd they told me that I didn't have too.  It has been the source we believe of alot of the pain that I have been experiencing.  I didn't have to have it and so I was mostly pain free for the Holiday.  I have now completed all of the Chemo treatments and I went in yesterday to check all of my levels and they were where they were suppose to be YEA!!  That means I am totally done with the Chemo process, no extra fluids or shots for me!  Next week I go in to discuss the next steps and we are moving on with this process.  I can't wait for it to all be over.  I know that I said I would be better at this and I promise to try and be better. 

I am starting school back up on Monday and I am excited to be back in the classroom again and to see the kids on the playground.  I hope that my legs and hands are working much bettter by then.  I am starting to getting feeling back in them I am just a little worried about being outside in the cold with them.  I guess I will have to bundle even more.  Good thing I have good winter gear.

I had an excellent Christmas, I received teh Willowtree Nativity pieces from Mom, Aunt Greta, and Brandon and I love it.  I haven't set it all up yet but I have taken pieces out to see them and I can't wait.  It is very interesting living limited space!  I also received some fun cartridges for my cricket and I can't wait to use them. 

Well I need to get lunch on for Brandon so I will sign off for now but i will kepp you posted on life and the happenings hear.  Love and Miss you all!

Treatment #6

Well family and friends I am taking a little time today to share with you have it is I am feeling lately.  It has been a very interesting road these last little while.  With treatment # 5 and now #6 I was given the second dose of a drug they call taxol.  That is exactly what it is taxing.  It is taking most of my energy and whipping it out.  I have been experiencing some perpherial neuropathy along with it that is making some tasks very hard, not undoable but very hard.  What it is like is having dead wait or a better way to describe it would probably be having your feet and hands a sleep and  you can't wake them up so you have to use them anyway.  I also have a continous ache throughout my lower legs that feel like I just ran a marathon and can't seem to get them to function.  For the most part though I am able to get a long with lots of patience from Brandon and his mom and I am still able to do most everything for myself.  I am still working on my good weeks and it is going pretty well considering we are in very cold weather.  I make sure I bundle really well and then I do as little running around,  as possible.  My boss is amazing to work for and he is very concerned with keeping me safe and healthy.  Well there you have it.  My progress report.  And it only took me 15 minutes to keep these fingers going.  I am glad I can still use my fingers and toes to function and that considering what it is I am facing Dr. Lawson still calls me a perfect patient.  I hope that you all find yourself having a wonderful Turkey day this week and know that I love and miss you all!
Sharon

Wigs

Well I guess these are a little late but I told Mom I would get them on here so here they are.  Which one do you like the most?

Short:

or

Shorter

Well it has been kind of fun being a blonde, I haven't quite decieded if they have more fun, I will have to keep you posted. 



Here is just one more to let you see how much fun I have with them:

Hope you like them!!  More later!!

Treatments

Well my family and friends, we have reached the half way point. I have finished my first 4 treatments of chemo.  I can say that I am glad that they are over and that we only have 4 more treatments left.  I will be starting my new regiment of chemo for the last 4 treatments next week.  I have heard that they are slightly different so hopefully they won't make me so sick.  Let's hope anyway.  I am so grateful for all of the love and supports that I have received from all of you and want you to know that it doesn't go unoticed.  I daily feel the love and support of my family and friends and most importantly from my Heavenly Father.  I know that he is real and feel him surround me everyday.  I have most recently felt him with me as I have struggled to know how to move forward.  It is hard to know just how much I will be feeling up to doing with the coming year with school and such so I  have used my knees more than usual lately.  Wish you all were here with me to celebrate my halfway point but I will eat some icecream for you all, at least one bite!!

Bald is Beautiful

Well I did it, I shaved my head! After my treatment monday I noticed that my hair was starting to come out more and more. It was very disheartening to discover that the one thing I really wasn't looking forward to was starting to happen. I knew it normally came between the 2nd and 3rd treatment session, I was hoping that my case would wait until the 3rd but apparently it had a different idea. I have had mixed emotions this week about what was happening. At first I thought I could handle the fact that every time I put my fingers in my hair that I would pull 30-50 strands out but by wednesday I was starting to really be beside myself about it. I tried to get Brandon and his mom Ann to shave it for me Wednesday night but they talked me into waiting just a few more days sstating that it still looked ok. But Thrursday brought even more hair into my brush and fingers and it was starting to be more than I could handle. I had been given a name of a fellow sister who had a hair salon that was willing to help those of us in this amazing group. Betty, the salon owner, was amazing! She was so positive and upbeat about what it was I was there for. She talked through everything, and she shared her story with Brandon and I as she preceeded to shave my head. She even let me shave a few strips that actually was really a little liberating. She helped me shape the wigs that I already had to fit me and my personality if you will and also helped me find another that was very fun. She truly made the part of all of this that was something I wasn't looking forward to not so scary and faceable. She truly is an angel in a world of dispair. She did this all at no charge to me. She is an Awesome cancer Survior giving back. I hope that I can follow in her foot steps.

Well as my mother told me, my head is very beautiful! I hope that you enjoy the journey with me.

Here are a few of the pics from my journey!

Even the back is  cute!

Here is my Mom wig!  What do you think do I look like my Mom?  Brandon thinks so! :)

Here is the fun and flirty wig!

Here is the new wig from my journey with Betty, she is going to try and find one that is even closer to my true hair color.  I totally love this hat, fun, flirty, and very snug!  Thanks Tonya!!

She told me that it is kinda fun wearing so many different types of wigs, maybe one day I will try a blonde wig, who knows?  Hope you have enjoyed the journey so far!

Isn't he the cutest guy ever!!! 

Thanks so much for being there every step of the way! 

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Living with Breast Cancer

Well as many of you know during this summer, July 16, 2009, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. I can truly say that I was only slightly shocked when they confirmed what I had kind of figured from an ultrasound earlier that week. You know working in a doctor's office has its downfalls. Anyway, I have decided to start this blog so that my friends and family can check in and see how things are going and see what else it is that Brandon and I are doing.

During the weeks leading up to my decision to have a mastectomy my mind was filled with a million questions but some how I was at peace for the tough decision a head. I knew that no matter what decision I made that the Lord would be there to help me through it. I am only sharing my thoughts and feelings about this is hopes to help others that may be going through or have to go through this. It is SCARY! It is TOUGH! and it truly SUCKS!!! Sorry mom I know you don't like that word, but it does. After my decision was made I felt at peace and knew that I would be ok and that no matter what I could make it through anything. Right after I was told about the cancer, I received a blessing that let me know that as long as I continued to keep praying and have faith that things would be ok. I knew that things would be hard and that it wouldn't be easy, but I have been given a purpose here on earth and it is not yet fullfilled. Well anyway I know that we are all sent here for a purpose and reason, mine is yet to be fullfilled according to my Heavenly Father.

It has been about a month and a half since my surgery and I was blessed to have my parents here for that, THANK YOU!!!! and I was able to travel to Utah for Alli's wedding, AWESOME!!! and the family reunion. I couldn't have asked for a better break right before my treatments start.

I have 8 sessions of chemo treatments. The treatments that they are giving to me are called duodense. They pretty much give me rat poision and then try to make me better again with daily shots the week after chemo. If you truly want the names of the drugs just let me know. Anyway, I go in every other week and set in a very comfortable chair and then I get to go home. I am pretty tired that week after and I truly feel like I have been hit like a freight train. I have heard it said that it get worse each time, but I think that if I try to do the same thing each time then I will just keep going the way I am and that will be that, after all It Is What It Is!

Well I have a lot of things to do and not a lot of time to do, until later!

Hat Party

Family and Friends

Wow! Who is this Handsome Fellow??

Well they always said that I had a nice shaped head!Do I have this one on right?

Thank you all so much! Love You!!

Well there have been many that have been waiting for this. So here it is....

Brandon and I met in Cedar City, Utah at Southern Utah University. We had several mutual friends, we just always seemed to be dating others. Well in the spring of '97 Brandon finally decided to make his move. He took me for a motorcycle ride and there we found that "Think Clots" would tie us together forever. After a few short weeks of dating, a girls choice dance was our actual first date. We decided to wait until school was finished for the year and my world traveling was finished. It was a very long enagement, but we made it through. We were married in the Manti Temple July 18, 1998.

We have loved our lives thus far together and are always excited to see what is around the next corner. We have had some fun adventures and have moved from one end of the state of Utah to the next. Brandon and I have moved over 20 times in our marriage thus far and are now living in Wasilla, Alaska. Where many of you probably remember I said I would never, never, never, never, never ever live. Those words have come back to haunt me many times over. I truly am learning to love it here and I am very grateful for the family and friends that love and support me here and far.