Monthly Archives: May 2011

Dave and I wanted to thank all of you for the wonderful well wishes and prayers you sent our way for today's tests. Unfortunately although we know we have the biggest support network known to man, we did not get the news we had hoped for.

The CT scan revealed that the tumors continue to grow. If we were trying to find the silver lining, it would be that they are not growing quite as quickly as before…however, they are growing quickly enough that we need to try another option soon.

We will be spending the next week or so figuring out what option is best…likely a treatment in Europe.

We are planning on still heading to Chicago tomorrow for Memorial Day weekend to spend some time with Dave's family and get our mind off of things.  Please enjoy the start to your summers and treasure every moment with family and friends.

We will write again once we have a plan. Much love,

Jen and Dave

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This past week has been tough for me. The chemo has given me fevers almost daily and I find that I feel good in the morning but by about 4PM, I am ready to call it a day. I get very flushed and need to take a nap or lie down for the rest of the day. All in all, it could be so much worse so I am relatively happy with these side effects.

The chemo seems to be pretty tough on my blood counts and blood markers this time around. Despite the fact that I am eating well, almost every nutritional marker (sodium, calcium, potassium) is low and my platelets are still very low. My doctor figures this is just the chemo doing its stuff so hopefully we will just keep an eye on it and it won’t get any worse.

I was able to get chemo this past Thursday which made me happy. I really don’t like to have to take weeks off. I also received my …

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It has been a week of highs and lows but mostly highs.   I had such a wonderful time on Monday speaking at the American Airlines Women in Aviation Conference about Living Fearlessly.  As soon as I get videos and pictures I will make sure to post. 

I also got to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert on Broadway with my two good friends, Alicia and Kat, who I traveled with to Australia 20 years ago (I can not believe it has been that long!)  The show was fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves great music, over-the-top costumes and drag queens!

Sandwiched in between those great events were lots of Dr's appointments and chemotherapy.  The good news is that my platelets and my liver function seems to be moving in the right direction.  We will feel better if we continue to see improvement.  Chemo has been very hard this week.  I find myself so physically exhausted at the end of the day.  I fall into the deepest sleep for …

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It’s been a long time since I’ve written about some of the amazing people I’ve met along this crazy, cancer journey. Well, today I couldn’t resist because I have a truly beautiful story to share.

Dean Baer is an extremely talented artist who combines Abstract and Impressionism styles and describes his artwork as “Expressionist”. Although I think his artwork is truly beautiful, I had no idea who Dean was until about 6 months ago.

A friend of mine who was opening an art gallery in Seattle shared my story with Dean and he said he was inspired to create a painting for me. In the meantime, he introduced himself to me on Facebook and we began to be friends, gaining inspiration from each other.

The other day, I received The Red Door, an amazingly, beautiful, meaningful painting that was created with me in mind. It’s amazing how Dean intuitively knew my favorite colors and how this painting would fit perfectly on a certain wall and complement our home’s décor so …

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