So Much Has Happened

Facebook, 02/24/2014 - Well Facebook, I know Abby Jones is certainly feeling the love. Many of you have messaged or inquired, so we decided it's best to be open and share what's going on…..we started the day like any other: Burped, Brushed our teeth, wiped Judd's butt, you know….the usual. We've ended the day with a breast cancer diagnosis in our home. Here's what we know…..

1. Surgery and treatment are ahead, no other specifics
2. Abs has a ton of support on her side.
3. Bruce Jenner likes facelifts.

We're going to huddle privately as a family to prepare. We will certainly share things along the way. In the meantime, shout out to troopers like Robby Strausser, Robert Villella, and Ryan Mellinger; each of whom have been in the trenches and battled serious health issues. Abs will follow their lead. We're all good. Here's a glimpse of Abby's afternoon…..

SO.MUCH.HAS HAPPENED.

A few weeks back we were sitting "in the pew" at Meadowbrook Church when the man, Pastor Tim Gilligan, said something that stood out….."So Much Has Happened". This powerful phrase was the focus of the morning and certainly something that spoke to us. In a nutshell, the point was that God sees us as his perfect, beautiful, amazing children…..We only see the part of us that has been blemished because "so much has happened". He sees our best. We struggle to see who we were before our bumps in the road. 

This year has been an absolute blur….a challenge….a struggle….a joy….a tough year that we're ready to be done with.

An AWESOME year nonetheless. 

I took this picture on the day Abs was diagnosed….I've loved it ever since. I picked Judd up early from school that day. We drove over to Abby's office and waited outside for her to get off work. In hindsight, it's mind-boggling that Abs went back to work after lunch on the day she was diagnosed. 

If this kid only knew the depths of his Mom's love. If this kid only knew how many days there were when his mom was feeling sick, yet she played like a toddler herself. If he only knew how his mom endured 54 hours of freezing cold ice caps so he would recognize her without needing a wig. He may not understand now, but one day he certainly will. 

So.Much.Has Happened…….We traveled to Mayo and to UF and to Moffitt. In the end, Moffitt was always the place for Abs to be. God led her to Dr. Lee, Dr. Sexton, Dr. Khan, and Dr. Toloza; plus all of the nurses and techs along the way. We're not exactly sure how many times, but she made the trip and checked in at Moffitt at least 15-20 times in the last six months (plus about another 15 at her local oncologist). For some reason she kept an armband memorial in her closet. 

So.Much.Has Happened…..I mean for goodness sakes, I know I made a few jokes about the guy, but did he really need to turn himself into a woman? 

My bad, Bruce

We've had a lot of ups and downs in the last 6 months. A couple things really standout….

"Downs" - The low moment over the last 6 months took place in a Wendy's Drive-thru. After some extensive discussions with Fertility specialists, Abs and I decided to go grab lunch and talk things over. Literally just minutes away from stroking a 5-figure check and "hedging our bet" on the possibility of having kids down the road; the phone rang and the results of the CT scan were back. That's when we heard about the kidney. That's when we heard about the spot on the lung. That's when Abby really really cried. That's when I finally didn't know what to say. That was truly the day things changed.

That was also the day our friends started a GoFundMe Account for us. The generosity of so many has helped us tremendously. "Thank You" seems so inadequate.

"Ups" - The ups came in mass numbers throughout the last 6 months. Instead of blabbing, here's a look….(a bunch of pictures are about to follow - scroll down if you wish to skip)

Dr. Dave - Abby's Personal Text Physician 

Keep fighting, Ryan!

Keep fighting, Robby!

Champion.

So.Much.Has Happened….and FINALLY our life is starting to find some normalcy in the last couple weeks. Abby's sisters, whom were a driving force in supporting Abs, have each resumed their normal life. Carrie has even moved back "home" to South Florida. She lived in Tampa just long enough for Abs to finish her final surgery. Her work was done…she was free to go. So glad she's back at the beach.

I'm also excited to share that Abby and I have been searching for houses in the last couple weeks. I've shared before that Abby and I moved into a rental DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY PARENTS. Our original plan was to live there a few months, catch our breath after selling our condo, and then find a new house. What a blessing that turned out to be. BUT, with all of the active treatments starting to be behind Abs, we're ready to get back on track and find the house we want to raise Judd in. Turns out, we have one more "Design" story for you…..

Abby talked last week about how more kids just may not be in the cards for us. We always wanted more kids. Back in the day we used to say we wanted FOUR. Then we had Judd and TWO would've been just fine. Oh well, we're content and so thankful that we even have ONE….Our man Judd.

Juddy's best friend is our buddy, Grantman. Big sister Olivia has taken Judd in too.

Born just three weeks ahead of Judd; Grant and him have been thick as thieves since their baby days. Back in May the house DIRECTLY NEXT DOOR to Grant and his family went on the market. Abby and I noticed, but given everything going on, it was a pipe dream at that point.

So we waited. And the house waited too.

It turns out the home was owned by a breast cancer survivor…..a woman we had never met, but a woman who knew Abby's story and was praying for her. In passing she told our friends that we should come see the house. Abby's surgery was on the horizon so we were still distracted with other things.

So we waited. And the house kept waiting too.

It turns out the house never sold. And so, with Abby's recovery behind her, we finally went and saw the house……love at first sight. And so, one Breast Cancer survivor is buying the home of another. Our son will not be an "only" child. His best bud will grow up in the house right next door.

It's hard to say that toddlers at such an early age can have a "Calling"….but Grant and Olivia, just ages 2 and 3, have already been given one. They are the siblings our son is unlikely to have. Can't wait to sit outside and watch them play on a daily basis.

(Some may have their theories and their science and their evidence that doubts faith. And certainly Abby and I are uber-flawed people. I, for one, am a Dumpster-fire of a human being, especially on the golf course or when the Gators are playing. But there is absolutely NOTHING that will dispute a house being sold by a Breast Cancer survivor….to a breast cancer survivor…..right next door to my son's best friend…..good luck convincing us that HE is not in control…..DESIGN)

So.Much.Has Happened….and yet we've managed to have a great time this year. Abby especially has managed to make the best of some lousy situations. She has also weathered the many storms thrown her way. We are hoping Abby is Cancer Free and will be for a long time. With the help of your prayers; we know HE will hear her army!

Who knows what the future holds? None of us do. But we're ready to turn the page and get back to our regularly scheduled programming.

It's time.

And so, to our four readers out there….This is the end of 29 and Gonna Be Fine.

Abby's 30th birthday is this week……

We are moving on.

We're also going to take Pastor Tim's advice and see ourselves as HE sees us…..as we were before So Much Happened.

Taken the weekend before the diagnosis.

As we said in our first post…..Thank you for joining our "Short, Bumpy Ride Ahead!"

With more love and appreciation than you could ever know!

-Abby, Judd, and Ross


P.S. God is good All the time……All the time God is Good!

THE END

2 Weeks Post Surgery

 Hola friends! Let me bring you up to date!

This surgery was a breeze!  I woke up without nausea—shout out to our friend, David Seal, who worked my surgery and hooked me up with some awesome Drugs. Anesthesia made me nauseous last time so we wanted to be sure we were prepared this time….it worked! If you remember, he was in my last surgery and he chose to be in my surgery again this time.  I guess I didn’t scare him off! Thanks David! I’m sure I’ll see you again!

When I woke up in recovery, the only thing I could feel was my leg incision. Soooo 2 weeks prior to surgery, I visited my dermatologist. I asked to have a spot on my left thigh removed because it bothered me.  It didn’t hurt; it was just annoying. I’ve had the spot for a few years now but it grew in size over the last year. My dermatologist saw it last year and said it was nothing; and then again this year said it was probably just something benign. BUT, given my genetic issue, she agreed to remove it and send it to pathology.  I was not worried about it at all. Well, fast-forward to the Thursday before my surgery and my dermatologist calls me and said surprisingly that the path had come back and they were calling it an atypical smooth muscle tumor.  Ugh, what the heck it that!? Is that muscle cancer….is it skin cancer…..is it cancer at all?! My derm did not know. Basically she said it could be on the cusp of smooth muscle cancer and the only treatment needed was to remove more tissue. We hung up the phone and she called my surgeon at Moffitt to discuss my pathology report and see if she would do the procedure while I was in surgery on the following Monday. Dr. Lee agreed, so that’s why I woke up from surgery feeling my leg throbbing a bit.

There goes my chances of being a Leg model

The week that followed surgery just consisted of me resting. My surgeon told me the less I did, the sooner the drains would come out. I wasn’t about to take that chance….I wanted them out! By Friday, I got out of the house and went to lunch with Ross and my brother in law. It took me about 15 minutes to decide what to wear in public that hid my drains and hid my flat chest. That was a difficult task but I managed. However, after that, I limited my outings because getting dressed was quite stressful.

My best friend, Mindi, came down from NY and relieved Ross of his nursing duties on Monday…. a week after my surgery. I cannot tell her enough how grateful we were to have her here. Mindi is so nurturing and caring. My dear friend was willing to do anything to help us out, even give me a foot rub! Now that’s what I call a TRUE friend! Nursing was definitely her calling. 

Just livin the dream

I’m so thankful for our lifelong friendship. Ross, Judd and I love you, Mindi! Thank you for the belly laughs you supplied, the inappropriate conversations we had, giving Juddy baths and making his lunch, being a couch potato with me, letting me listen to Linda (lol), thank you for driving me to Moffitt and cleaning up around the house. You made our life easier the days you were here. You are a jack-of-all-trades and a true gem to be around!

Sorry for the rant but I needed to give credit where credit was due!

Back to my story…

Last Wednesday, we went to Moffitt for my follow up with my surgeon. I got my drains out…YAY! What a relief that was. The final pathology wasn’t completely finished…..but my surgeon called the pathologist and got the needed info to share with me. My leg was all clear! There wasn’t anything left of the tumor in the tissue that was removed. So I guess we’ll never know what it was exactly. My breast margins were also clear. From a surgery standpoint…there is nothing else that would need to be removed. However, she said it was a little closer to the chest wall than she would have liked. It would have warranted a discussion about radiation, but given my genetic pre disposition, we have to avoid radiation. So not exactly perfect news, but it will have to be good enough! Also, my lymph nodes were CLEAR too! They removed a total of 3 nodes in surgery and none were cancerous! Praise God!

After I saw the surgeon, we saw my oncologist. Dr. Khan told me she was disappointed that the chemotherapy didn’t do more with my tumors. Usually you will see necrotic tissue around the tumors and I still had active cancerous lesions that could be seen during surgery. This tells her that my tumors rely more on estrogen.  I will begin taking the pill Tamoxifin now for potentially 10 years. My oncologist’s mission is to stop my estrogen supply and put me into menopause. That’s never what you want to hear as a young 29 year old who would love to have another child.  Dr. Khan told me that I am her patient and MY health is her main focus. I was not shocked by this news because it had been mentioned before, but it still stung just the same. Before we were told maybe 5 years down the road we could try again, but this time, she was more concrete that it would not be a wise health decision to become pregnant again and have that surge in hormones. Ross and I would have loved to make Judd a big brother, but God has other plans for us. Who knows what the future will hold, but at this moment, Ross and I are SO VERY THANKFUL God gave us our son before all of this happened…..we’re Content. He brings more joy to our lives then we would have ever prayed for, so why dwell on anything else?! We are blessed beyond measure!

This Friday I’ll head into my local oncology office and receive my 6^th round of Herceptin. I will have 11 more rounds to go which should end around next June. The reconstruction process will most likely start in January. I will not have another scan for about 6 months or so; but I will be seen every 3 months by my surgeon and Moffitt oncologist. 

Please trusty followers, keep my family in your prayers. We are ready for our big break and to continue the journey of being cancer free.  Pray for a cure!

THANK YOU!

Love,

Abby