WoooooHooooo.

I want to start off by saying... I'm so glad that I started this blog. I have received such positive feedback. I wanted everyone to feel like they were able to share a little of this with us (the good and the bad ;). Sometimes I would laugh as I wrote a post because I am far from a writer. I am more of a talker ha. I have no problem talking to a room full of people but tell me to write something and it is bound to take me all night. My sister is normally my proof reader and the fabulous writer, she can tell the most amazing story on a piece of paper but me not so much. I swear it takes me hours to get across what I'm thinking in a paragraph. So thank you, for barring with me(and all my grammatical errors)! I'm actually liking this whole blog thing now!

Today was Donnie's final appointment with Dr. Forsythe. Donnie's mom is in Reno so I was able to leave the kids with her and go with him to the clinic. Dr. Forsythe said his blood work looks excellent and he has really taken to the treatment well. He looked in his throat one last time and said that the lump in his throat was completly gone.. Yippee!!! And he felt the lump on his neck and said that he really couldn't feel it anymore. He also felt all his other lymph-nodes, just to make sure none of them were swollen  and none were. I asked him if we were still coming back once a week for three weeks for chemo and he said no, he said he doesn't think Donnie needs it. I also asked if they were going to do a MRI or CT scan and he said no, he could tell by feeling his lymph-nodes and blood work. He said their is no use in doing tests that just put unnecessary radiation in his body when he can tell by blood work. Dr. Forsythe said he would consider him in remission if not complete remission. I almost didn't believe him, if I didn't trust him so much I wouldn't. He wants Donnie to continue IV treatments in Vegas for maybe another month or two (vitamin c drip, glutathione). Donnie also needs to receive Rituxin. Rituxin is used mainly on lymphoma patients. It is used as maintenance therapy. Its not chemotherapy and it has no side effects. He will do that once a week for 4 weeks and then again in 6 months. But he will be able to do it in Vegas at the hospital. Then we have another follow up with Dr. Forsythe in 6 weeks, where he will review recent blood work that he will get before going to see him. I don't think we could have heard better news today!

I just can't believe that one month ago he had full blown Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and now he gets to leave in two days without it. All of this displacement, all of this stress, all this money, all this traveling, all has paid off. To hear the doctor say he doesn't need any more chemo, almost brought tears to my eye. And that takes a lot for me :)I may be strong but this has been very trying. And there were times when I didn't know how I was keeping it all together. But man does it feel worth it now! Sometimes I feel like why is it going so easy for us? Why is it happening like they said it would? Im going to be completely honest and candid right now but there are times I feel like we don't deserve it. Like everything is just going so smooth and there are people that battle for years and still wind up dying. But then I remember that we made these decisions, we took a active role, we didn't take no for a answer. We caught it early and we acted immediately. We found what worked and not what some doctor said would. Donnie has been an amazing fighter. He has stuck to a diet that most people would consider impossible. He takes more vitamins then I can even imagine swallowing daily. There are times when I talk to the doctors at the clinic and the patients there when I feel like why doesn't everyone know that theres a place like this. A place where they actually are curing cancer. Where almost every person that goes there has traveled hundreds or miles just to get there. Most of the patients though are there because of trial and error. They are there because they did everything else and none of it worked. They wish they could go back in time,they would have chose this place first. But no one knows, doctors don't tell you about these new treatment and about healing the whole body and how it's possible to have quality of life while fighting cancer. I just feel so blessed that The Century Wellness Clinic was our first option and not our last resort. All of those prayers and positive thoughts from everyone have paid off! We are so grateful for everyone that has supported us and loved us and has gotten us through this. I most definitely think there would be another outcome if even one of the many variables were different!



-Lake Tahoe Below-

Lake Tahoe.

We decided to go up to Lake Tahoe over the weekend. It was so relaxing, we had the best time! Brody played on this playground right on the edge of the water for awhile and we just hung out and enjoyed the beauty. Then we walked around and found this little Log Cabin restaurant. It was more like a house then a restaurant but it was so good! We cant wait to go back. Donnie said it was the best sandwich he ever ate. And he is the sandwich connoisseur ;) We walked around for a bit and then headed back home. It only took us about 45 minutes which isn't too bad. We weren't going to come back on Sunday but we had nothing better to do and honestly when would we have the chance to back up there again. This time though we wanted to find a really good hiking path so we dove about 30 minutes past where we were the first day. We found the best trail right on the lake easy for Brody, it was perfect! We stopped by this place to eat before heading for home, Spoon. It was the craziest little place, It was another house but this one had like 3 tables in the whole place and you had to go up the stairs to the loft to eat. The waitress is also the cook and probably owner and probably everything else; maid, dishwasher, decorator ;) It was really a fun little place. And we were even so lucky to have both kids fall asleep on the way home! Here are a few pictures...



Poor Donnie.



Update.

Man, I am so bad at updates. I think it's so difficult for me because our iPad isn't compatible with blogger, so I have to go in the business center at the leasing office to post anything. Blehhh. Ok new topic.... Our apartment. Haha more complaining. We can not wait to be home. We are completely homesick. Apartment life is just hard to get use to. The people above us are by far the nosiest people on the planet. I swear they smoke 20 packs a day by how many times they go in and out of the sliding glass door. And to make them better, they pound on the floor when Mia cries! Uhhh what am I suppose to do?!? Put a mussel on her... She's a baby, that's teething and is in a place that she isn't use to. So frustrating. Plus we have ants that I can't get rid of. The list goes on and on. We actually all lay on the floor in the living room because we can't all fit on the couch. Ok ok I'm done bitching. I just feel so blessed for all the things that I get to come home to! We seriously are counting down the days till we get home.


On to Donnie... This is his last full week of treatment. He had his last chemo treatment today. He won't have another one for 2 and a half weeks. That's when he'll go back once a week for 3 weeks. As of now, his first time back will be on the 9th. He is going to fly out of Vegas in the morning go to treatment then fly back after. He was going to drive but it's just a pain, he would have to get a rooms and have someone come with him so they could drive him back after treatment. Flying is just a better option for him! His blood work has been really good! The doctor said it looks excellent. All of the markers that they look for with lymphoma are in normal/perfect range. The doctor said the reason for that could be because the cancer is localized and it hasn't spread anywhere... Which is such good news! I mean you can totally tell that whatever he is doing is working, because when you feel the lump you can barely find it. Last month it was probably the size of a golf ball and now it's about the size of a grape. They also said his immune system is excellent. So awesome. Donnie has been feeling pretty good. Tired on chemo days but able to do whatever he wants on the other days. We went to Lake Tahoe this weekend and he was perfectly healthy and energetic. Such a great time! I will make a post about that soon :) We are just so glad we made it to our final week.

City by the Bay.

So over the weekend we made a trip to San Francisco. We were getting sick of sitting in our apartment so we hit the road Saturday morning. Its only 3 hours from Reno so its not too bad of a drive. Its actually a really beautiful drive, so much to look at! Not like the gross drive to Reno ;) The kids were pretty good, Mia was up almost the whole time, even though we left around her nap time, but she was still a sweet little girl like always! When we crossed over the Bay Bridge and were able to see the whole city, it was so pretty. Not in like a natural beauty, but in like a urban sort of way. I don't know how to explain it, it was just neat! I mean I'm from a big city with huge buildings and lights and freeways but I felt this kind of rush. I guess this must be how other people feel when they first come to Vegas! There is just so much character and life in SF. The houses and the streets were definitely a sight to see. I have never seen streets that are at such an incline. It was amazing.



Taking a little break.





After we checked into our room we headed to Fisherman's Wharf. It was so fun there. It was really cold but there was so much to see that we were distracted! We took Brody to the aquarium, which he LOVED! Then we went out to the pier to see Alcatraz (next time we our taking the tour), then we ate at this great little seafood restaurant. Parking was a nightmare but we had such a blast! We drove around a little after we left the pier and I made Donnie find Lombard Street! Pictures do it no justice! And Downtown looked so much fun at night. All the little cafe's and lounges. Too bad we had children ;)



Lombard Street.





 





  



Alcatraz on left.





At least it tuned out cute!

The next day we woke up early, headed to breakfast and drove around for a good 2 hours just looking at everything. We drove through Chinatown haha. It was literally like we were in China. We were total tourist. Then we drove to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was bigger than I imagined it being. Brody loved driving over it. We of course paid another toll. You would think that California wouldn't we bankrupt with all the stupid tolls you have to pay!! Anyway.... We drove to the other side and stopped at the little parking lot where you can take pictures! We parked, we got out, we walked over to the perfect spot and I propped the kids up in the perfect spot with the bridge in the back and I go to snap the shot and my flippin camera dies!!! Are you kidding me?!? I drive all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge and I cant even take a picture. So I figured maybe if I can turn it on real quick and snap it immediately maybe I can get one. Luckily I got one! But its the one and only. I then figured well we have our phones so lets just get one of all of us. That one didn't turn out very well but at least I have proof that we were all there!!

 

 We drove back in to SF and went to Ghirardelli Square because we told Brody we would ride the trolley. He had so much fun! We took it downtown and ate and walked around then loaded back on and headed back. The trolley is a really cool thing if you live downtown, you just hop on whenever you see one and get off when you need too. We were very fascinated at the sort of lifestyle down there. It's completely different then the one we live! We arrived back and decided to get Brody an ice cream for the walk back to the car... He thoroughly enjoyed it :)

 

 

 

Heading back to Reno was something we did not want to do. We could have stayed there forever and never left, but unfortunately we had to. I think it was so hard to leave because we knew what we were coming back too. There were moments in our trip to San Francisco where we felt normal, where it was just us enjoying the moment and not thinking about treatments and being tired and money and our noisy apartment and Cancer. We felt rejuvenated. It was exactly what we needed. It was good for our mental health! That is until we got stuck on Donner Summit for 2 hours haha. I should just end on how wonderful it was, but that isn't real life! We hit a big snow storm coming back and we were literally stopped for 2 hours at 9 at night. Mia cried pretty much the whole drive home, which took almost 6 hours :) But we finally made it back to fabulous Reno at around 11. You know what though, that awful drive home was worth it for the amazing 2 days we had before that! We cant wait to go back (it's all Donnie can talk about) maybe next time with no kids ;)

 

 

FUN....















Happy Mother's Day!

Sorry for this late update. I actually wrote this before I wrote Brodys Last Day but I guess it never got posted. I'm still trying to navigate around this thing. Anyway here is the post.


I don't even know where to begin... We left on sunday, yes mother's day! I got to spend 8 wonderful hours in the car with my children, it was quite the treat ;) All kidding aside it actually wasn't that bad, Mia slept most of the time and Brody watched DVDs. They are better at traveling then I give them credit for. My mom followed us up in her car as well, which was a huge help. We made it to Reno about 4ish and headed straight to our rental apartment. (I now remember why I was so happy to move out of a apartment 5 years ago). Apartments are so dang noisy. But it's really nice and perfect for what we need right now.


Side story: this story is just kinda typical of my life :) So about a hour before getting to town my back was bothering me, so Donnie said he had some pain pills (he's been having really bad headaches). He said they were non narcotic and to take two, so I did. Well about 30 mins later I climbed in the back seat with Mia because she was starting to get crabby. I started to feel like I was getting motion sickeness from sitting in the back, which happens to me a lot. When we made it to the rental place I was coming out of my skin and I couldn't figure out why. Finally I figured out that it had to be the pills donnie gave me because by the time I made it into the leasing office I was as high as a kite. My mom kept telling me it sounded like I had cotton in my mouth. Cool, cotton in my mouth, just what I wanted to sound like. I'm sure the office lady thought I was a looney toon! She gave us the keys and we started to unpack, well my mom and Donnie started to unpack. It was so awful, I had so much to get done on our first night. I felt like those people you watch on intervention, where they are falling asleep during the interview. And the uncontrollable itching was enough to kill me. Seriously though, that was the worst experience, who would ever want to spend every day like that. I'm sure mine was some weird reaction but really. I was having hallucinations of cutting vegetables with Katy Perry. I just kept thinking Happy Mother's Day to me ;) Anyway, thank God for my mother because my children and husband probably would have went hungry with no clothes!


Back to the real story :) Donnie started treatment Monday morning, he had a really bad migraine that morning so they decided not to do chemo that day and do immune boost iv treatments instead because they didn't want to stress his body out more than it already was. The first treatment went really well, he has just been really tired. He had his first chemo treatment yesterday morning and that went really good too. His treatments normally take about 3 hours. I was able to sit with him for the first 2 because my mom was here to watch the kiddos but I'll be just dropping him off from now on. Which he is fine with, he just plays on his iPad and reads and stuff, it's really not too bad. Overall, he's tired and doesn't have much of a appetite, he's lost a good amount of weight but that probably due to his diet change. Other than that he's doing really good. Happy that treatment is finally started and excited for the end results. We are still trying to get settled and find our way around Reno. But so far so good! xoxo

Last Day.

Brody's last day of school was last thursday. It was a little weird because it was just a normal day for all the other kids, so I didnt want to make a big deal of it! I worked in his class that day. I just wanted to participate because I knew it would be the last day till next fall. It was such a fun day. He's getting so big! Some of those kids in that class just melt my heart (not naming any names ;) It's amazing how much they have all grown up this year. I was going to missing the Mother's Day tea they do for all the mommies. So Brody's teacher red and showed me a few things that Brody had done for me. He cracks me up. One of the things they do is called mystery mom, the kids have to give clues about their mom and they have to guess which mom it is. The clues he gave about me; she does the dishes all day, she like to go to the chocolate store and watch the news. This kid kills me. So sad I missed it! But there is always next year! I thought I would post a couple pictures of his last day!

*Donnie update below*

Off, Off and Away...

So we are off to Reno, we leave on Sunday for 3 weeks. We will be gone from May 8th till the 27th. Donnie will be doing Low Dose Chemo treatments; VP-16, a newer chemo drug used a lot for Lymphomas. He will also be doing Glathiutone (Glue-ta-thigh-own) IV treatments (helps keep the good cells alive while chemo kills the bad ones) twice a week along with the chemo. Then the other 3 days of the week he will be getting IV Homeopathic Immune Boosting treatments along with Chelation (key-lay-tion) treatments (helps get all of the toxins out of his blood). Haha sorry for all the side notes :) He will do these; 3 hours a day for the 3 weeks. Then after the 3 weeks he will have 1 week off, after the week he will then get treatment 1 time a week for 3 more weeks. Then another week off then 1 time a week for 3 more weeks and then he should be done! Pheeewww that’s a lot of weeks :) the Doctor is fully confident that he will be complete remission after that. Which is so amazing to hear! If 3 months is all that it will take, it will be so worth all of the traveling and money (none of this is covered by insurance, lovely, I know) and hard work it has taken.

We rented a 2 bedroom apartment about 3 miles from the clinic. It’s great because it’s corporate/medical housing so they charge by the day. It has all of the amenities of home. Which we need, especially with Donnie’s strict diet. He is on an organic only, no added sugar, no artificial anything meal plan. It’s going really well but it is a ton of work and an obscene amount of money. It’s a wonder why everyone doesn’t eat healthy. It takes me 45 minutes just to pack him lunch! But it definitely has made the whole family change our food lifestyle, and it’s probably the best thing to come out of this! We are taking the kids with us as well and making it sort of a "vacation" if you can call it that ;) The doctor said that he would not be sick like he normally would with traditional chemo treatments. So we will be able to hike and swim and take the kids to all the various places Reno has to offer. Which we are kind of excited about, weird to say, because we will be down there for cancer treatment. But I think it will be nice to just reconnect as a family and just enjoy the time together! We have various family and friends making some trips up to see us, which will be much needed. We are just making the best of this crappy situation. Both of our parents have been amazing, I just feel blessed to have so many great people in our lives helping us through all of this.

I have had several people ask if we are doing any sort of fundraiser or anything to help with our mounting medical bills and expenses in Reno. So I established a savings account at Wells Fargo in Donnie’s name! If you would like to donate to his medical fund you can make a deposit payable to Donald J McGurk, account # 3904451527. We so appreciate every ones continue support for our family during this difficult time. We are so grateful for all of the thoughts and prayers! I will continue to keep you updated on everything that is going on while in Reno!