Happy New Year everyone! Today I am in Gainesville for my second chemo infusion. I know that I am jumping a little ahead but I wanted to be sure that you all had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Remember to hold your family and friends a little closer and love the day you are living in!

Okay, back to the blog and getting you all caught up to today! I decided that Shands was the place that I needed to be for the best care plan. I would begin treatment the next week! I was scheduled to have 28 radiation treatments and would be on chemo Monday through Friday. The hardest part of this decision is that I will be four hour away from my family all week long. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing apartment to stay in less than five minutes from the clinic! Thanks Rachael, Connie and Wayne! :) I began treatment on July 29th. Scared to death I went in and realized that radiation did NOT hurt. The experience is so much like getting an X-ray for those of you who have had one... it just takes fifteen minutes! I completed the first three treatments and drove home to celebrate my 32nd birthday with family and friends that Saturday. I am so blessed!

For the next five weeks I would drive to Gainesville on Monday morning and have treatment during the week and drive back home on Friday to stay the weekend with Taylor and the girls! Sunday nights were so hard for me, because I knew I had to leave when I woke up. I was so upset to leave my babies! Mom and Lesley (one of my sisters) came down one week with the girls and spent the entire week with me! We had a ball! We stalked to UF football team until we were able to meet Tim Tebow! The girls were in Heaven!! They toured the stadium, campus, and Gainesville. Taylor came down and stayed as well. It is so great to have such a support team. Lauren would be starting third grade and Londyn would be starting her half day Pre Kindergarten classes on August 24th. Each night I would Skype the girls and Taylor to read them a bedtime story and tell them goodnight. One night Lauren shared that she wished she had two Mommies, one that could be here and one in Gainesville. She was upset because she would have orientation on a Thursday and she knew that was my day to be in Gainesville. So, being the Mommy that I am I drove home as fast as I could home after treatment on Thursday to surprise her at her orientation! I then went back down to Gainesville the next morning and back home after treatment. For the last two weeks I was in Gainesville, Rachael was back and in school. We had a ball as roomies. Dinner after ten at many of the Gainesville restaurants as well as MANY McDonald's nights! Makenzie surprised me the last week that I was there with dinner and an overnight visit! How awesome to have great friends!! Rach, Mak, and I stayed up until 3 talking, giggling, and reminiscing about the past. These girls are so much fun!

My last treatment was September 4th and I was counting down the days! I had great doctors and technicians the entire time I was there. They were so supportive of my needs for late Monday appointments and early Friday appointments. The biggest thing that I learned during this experience was that everyday that I went for treatment there was ALWAYS someone there that was worse off than I was. I would spend my fifteen minutes 'on the table' praying and thanking God for all of the blessings He had given me and beg for Him to watch over my family and friends.

At this point, I will wait to hear from Dr. Huang about when surgery will be scheduled. I think we should plan a trip!?