Going back in

This afternoon Dr.Laki called me with the results from the biopsy they did on the fluid from my scope on Monday. The results weren't really what I wanted to hear. The cells came back abnormal, so he wants to go in and look at the bladder closer and scrap the top of the bladder to see if any more abnormal cells show up.

I am going in tomorrow morning for this surgery and will be able to leave the same day. I hope I don't have to stay long because I was looking forward to going to to KC to watch the gymnastics tour tomorrow night.

Love,
Jeryka

Up then down.

Just want to say congratulations to our friends Kelli and Luke on their marriage this past weekend. We had a blast and wish you the best!

On Monday I had a scope done of my bladder with Dr. Laki. He said everything looked good and that the incision from the surgery healed up nicely. I will repeat the scope in three months.

Today I had my radiation appointment with Dr. Bell. He was very open with everything and didn't beat around the bush. He is concerned with my cancer and it coming back somewhere we wouldn't be able to cure. There isn't enough information out there on this type of cancer to know what the best plan of action is. When this cancer is found in the lungs they will usually follow up with radiation to the brain because the small cell carcinoma has been found to spread up to the brain.

I am not as worried about the long term effects from the radiation as I am about the cancer coming back and coming back some place else that we wouldn't be able to cure. As of right now we are going to do another MRI to see if anything pops up and Dr. Bell is going to be in contact with MD Anderson down in Texas to see if I need to go down there to talk with them in person. They may just want to talk with doctors and I over the phone since we have been in contact with them and  we have been following what they recommend.

I am just so frustrated because we don't have a definite answer on what to do and how to get rid of this. I thought I was in the clear when I finished my chemo and the scans came back clear. I guess in the back of my mind I knew I wouldn't be in the clear for a while but I was sure hoping it was true. I just don't like not knowing if or even when it may show back up.

Right now all we can do is hope and pray our decisions now are the best and that the cancer won't come back.

Love,
Jeryka

Update..

Yesterday was my doctor's appointment with Dr Koeneke to go over my scans and numbers for my labs. I am not going to lie....I was pretty nervous.

My scans came back clear and all my numbers were where they needed to be. So that was a big relief to hear. I am going to go see a physical therapist because of the nerve that got nicked during surgery. The only job the nerve has is pulling the leg in toward the body. My right leg just isn't as strong as it use to be and I have noticed when I lay on my right side I am not able to lift my right leg up off the ground. So I will go meet with the doctor on Friday to see what he recommends. I will also be meeting with a radiation doctor next week. With this type of cancer it sometimes will migrate up to the brain so they have talked about possibly doing radiation to the brain. I am hoping I can get out of doing this because of the long term effects. I am also going back in to see Dr. Laki to get another scope of the bladder to make sure there isn't anything in there that didn't show up on the CAT scan.  After these appointments I will be free from everything for 3 months when I go back in to do another scan and blood work.

Just wanted to update everyone on the good news I received yesterday. Now just hoping the scope comes back clear and that I don't need radiation. 

Love,
Jeryka

Bad taste

This past Saturday Kyle and I went up to De Soto to drop his dragster off so I can race it this coming weekend in St. Louis and while we were there I got to spend some time with my family. I hadn't seen my sister and her family since July 4th, which is a little too long. The whole family met at Jen and Jason's house for some hamburgers, hot dogs and college football.  It was nice to have the whole family together even if it was for just a little bit.

It is always nice to have a weekend home and get to relax. Racing season is about over but gymnastics season is about to start so my restful weekends are limited. Plus, I was getting really nervous about my CAT scan on Monday. I know everything is fine but I still think about the worse. I don't think I can go through any more chemo. I get anxiety when I just go in to get my blood work done and it makes me sick to my stomach thinking about sitting in that chair receiving treatment again.

I was not looking forward to drinking the bottle of barium Sunday night. I have heard so many people comment on how gross it taste, so I was dreading that. I took everyone's tips and put it in the refrigerator so it was cold when it was time to drink it. Once 10pm came around on Sunday, I tried to find anything and everything to do other than drink that stuff. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting but I wouldn't suggest drinking this stuff unless you have to.

Monday morning came around and I had to drink 1/2 of the second bottle before I went into my 7:15 appointment. This one went a little faster because I didn't mess around with the straw, I poured 1/2 of it into a solo cup and drank it from there. I was suppose to finish the rest of the bottle when I got there, but the nice lady didn't make me finish it. The scan lasted maybe 5 minutes but in that 5 minutes I had stuff pumped into me that made me feel like I was peeing myself and gave me a really bad taste in my mouth. Other than that everything went good. I won't know any results until I meet with my doctor on the 8th. 

I have been feeling really good the last couple of weeks. My appetite is back for the most part. I have days where food just doesn't settle well but it has gotten a lot better since I stopped treatment. My hair is starting to grow back, slowly but surely.  My new wig is nice, I have been wearing it everyday and it is nice not to have to do it in the mornings but I am ready to have my own hair back.

I will have an update for everyone after my doctors appointment on Monday. Hoping for good news!

Love,
Jeryka

New Hair

This wig is so much easier. The long one was heavy, hot and annoying. If I would have bought this one first I would have been rockin the wig more often.

Finally.....

I can finally be happy that my last round of chemo is over. Everyone kept asking me last week if I was happy and I can honestly say I was not. Last week was probably the worst round. I felt like crap all week and I couldn't do anything to make myself feel better. I felt like I slept a lot but it still felt like it wasn't enough.

Dad had come up and sat with me on my last 9 hour day in the chair. We both got a few naps in since we had gotten back late the night before from the division race in Earlville and were running on little sleep.

I was starting to go crazy because the only time I left the house was to go into chemo. I really wanted to go into work but I couldn't drag myself out of the house to do that. By Friday afternoon I was feeling a little better and since Kyle left Thursday night to go racing, I decided I had enough sitting around so I drove up to KC for the night. By Saturday I was feeling 100% better and was going to give racing a shot. I ended up going a few rounds Saturday night until the truck let me down. Once Sunday came around I was feeling back to normal and was able to start enjoying the accomplishment of making it through 4 rounds of chemo.

Today I went back to work to an out of control desk and many emails to answer and I couldn't have been happier. I was so excited to get back in the gym, to see everyone and to be able to coach this team of girls who have been so considerate of everything that has been going on.  They have worked hard while I have been in and out and we are ready for our season to start!

I just want to say it again, THANK YOU! Thank you for going through this journey with me and for being so supportive throughout the whole thing. I love each and everyone of you.

I will get my CAT scan on October 1st to make sure everything is gone and then I will meet with my doctor right after that. Right now the plan is to get scans and meet with the doctor every 3 months for at least a year. If that is all I have to do, I can handle that!

Love,
Jeryka

Ready for a new hair style

The title says it all. I don't know what it is but I have really been wanting my hair back recently. I envy every girl out there that can get up in the morning and just throw their hair into a pony tail. Don't get me wrong it is nice not having to worry about doing something with my hair in the mornings and just putting a hat on, but I am over wearing hats. I wear my wig every now and then but it drives me crazy, it is hot and itchy so I would just rather not wear it. I am now counting down the days until I can throw my hair up into a pony tail. I am just worried of what it will look like in the early stages of growth, maybe I will end up with a mullet or something cool like that.

I am writing this blog as we drive back up to Earlville, IA. My family and I were just there last weekend and returned home on Monday morning so I have became pretty familiar with this highway in a short amount of time. During the ride I have been reading Shawn Johnson's book, so as we drove through Des Moines I found Chow's Gymnastics on the map and tried to get Kyle to take a detour to see the gym but he wasn't sold on the idea.

Our pit area last weekend. The S11 and Batman had broken transmissions. Which we had to pull the transmission out of the truck and fix it twice. And we had to change motors in dad's car. All before we could leave Sunday night.

 
Tomorrow we will be finishing the race from Topeka and then we will start the second race of the weekend on Friday. This will probably be the last division race we will attend this year unless I go rounds at both races then I may take the truck the Noble, OK.

Today I had my check up with Dr. Koeneke since next week is my last chemo week. He was happy with all my numbers once again, my hemoglobin was a little low but he wasn't concerned about it. We discussed the plan after next week and lets say I can't wait for the next week to be over with. For the first month I will continue with weekly labs. After the month I will meet with Dr. Koeneke again to discuss my labs and I will also get another CAT scan of my chest and abdomen to make sure everything looks good there.We may also do a MRI of my brain because small cell carcinoma will sometimes migrate up there, so they want to make sure those little guys haven't found somewhere else to live. If everything looks good then I will go in for labs and scans every 3 months for at least a year. After that we will move to every 6 months and then move to just once a year.

Thank you to Mike Edwards for showing his support on his pro stock car.. It is an overwhelming feeling seeing these stickers on so many people's race cars.

That is it for now, I will update everyone next week sometime during my LAST round!

Love,
Jeryka