My apologies! :(

Okay...so I realize it has been 12 days since my last post...unacceptable. Im sorry and I hope you are ready for this one because its going to be a LONG one...seeing as how we have gone to the University of Chicago four times now, and you haven't heard about any of them. :( So go grab some snacks (or lots of snacks if it were me) and a drink because here it goes...

Mom's 1st trip to the Univ:
--This is the only trip that I have not made. My mom went with Nick (Nichole's dad) for this one. She met with a couple doctors and I believe they went over what things would be like and took some blood. I apologize for not knowing alot about this trip, but I am pretty sure that not much happened on this one.

My mom and I's 1st trip to the Univ:
--WOW! That is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about this trip. Katie (one of my friends and my mom's other "daughter") came on this trip with us. Katie came over to my house around 5 I believe because we wanted to leave the house by 530. EARLY MORNING! :( Car was packed with everything we needed and the GPS was good to go on getting us there. :) So 530 rolled around and we were on the road. On this day we left early to spend some time in Chicago before her appointment and due to the weather...we had just had a snowstorm both in Peoria and Chicago. The roads were not terrible, but they were not good by ANY means. Mom was in the back seat having a heart attack the whole time over my driving. Everytime I would pass someone who was driving 30 when the speed limit is 55, she would FREAK OUT! :) I wouldn't do anything to hurt her...I just didn't want to take 6 hours to get to Chicago. Well we got to Joliet and decided it was time to stop for breakfast (even though I had already made a stop at McDonalds for round one...haha). For this trip we decided to stop at Cracker Barrel...what a lovely experience we had here. We ate breakfast and then we went outside and I decided to sit myself down in a CHILD size rocking chair. It looked sooo cute. Or so i thought at the time. Just watch for yourself and see what happened. :(

**For now I am experiencing difficulty on getting the video to load here, so you can go to this website if you want to see it**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4xmgOOhaC4


HA HA HA! NOT! Im sure plenty of you are getting a good laugh right now, but I could NOT believe that I got stuck in the chair and she didnt! HUGE shot to my ego! Oh well. Gotta love her. :) Well after breakfast we didnt have much further to go but the weather and car accidents everywhere did slow us down somewhat. On this trip we decided to go up and spend some time in Chicago so we went to the Museum of Science and Industry and then downtown to get some Garretts popcorn. :) What a good time driving in downtown Chicago during the lunch hour. After all of our fun we headed to the University of Chicago for our 1 pm appt.

This is where I will give you an idea of what we go through each time.) When we arrived at the Univ, we pulled up for valet parking right in front of the building...left the car and headed up to the 6th floor. We check her in and then head to some other area for bloodwork. After we got done with bloodwork this day, we headed back across to see the doctor. We waited for the doctor for a good while. Finally, we got finished there and headed downstairs so she could drink her "juice" (the CT scan drink) and have her scan done. After a couple hours, mom finally came out and we were free to go. By this point it was getting late and mom wasnt feeling too good. We stopped at Portillo's in Joliet for dinner. Mom wasnt going to eat anything since she wasnt feeling well, but decided to eat some of my food. Turned out to be quite the mistake. haha. We left and stopped to get gas and apparently while I was out pumping the gas, she PASSED SOME GAS in the car. All of a sudden i see Katie with her head out the window gagging. The lovely CT "juice"! :( My car now smelled SOOOOO bad that we ran back into the gas station and grabbed 2 cans of air freshener and sprayed mom and my car down when we got back in. However there was still a lack of oxygen in the car so we were driving with the windows down when it was like 15 degrees out. For the rest of the trip home Katie was ready with her hands on the triggers! haha
Lets just say we made it home but it was NOT a pleasant ride. :)

TRIP ONE TO THE UNIV COMPLETE!

Mom and I's 2nd trip to the Univ:
--Same as last time...get up at the crack of dawn, stop for breakfast along the way, get there and head upstairs. This time we were going for mom's first treatment, so they gave us a tour of the area where she would be getting her treatments. From now on whenever we come and its a treatment day,we will go upstairs and check in, head across the hall to get her vitals and have blood taken, and then go back out and wait for them to call her name for the shot. After we got the shot the first 2 times, we had to wait to see if there was going to be a reaction. It seems there was some sort of reaction but im not sure what it was from...take a look.





Pretty sure the shot did a little somethin to her face?!?! OOOOPS! Actually this is the only reaction she had (which is normal)...

This picture was taken the day after the shot was given. If you look closely the center area that is a darker red is where they actually inject the shot. It is risen above her skin because the fluid they inject is really thick. The area usually gets to be about as big as your hand spread out and gives off alot of heat and causes her pain whenever anything touches or rubs against it. Other than the pain she feels when they take her blood, give her the shot and wiggle the needle, and the pain afterwards if anything touches or rubs against her leg...shes pretty good.

This trip almost got us into some trouble. haha. We were back waiting for them to give her the shot and started taking pictures and laughing sooooo hard that everyone was staring at us...patients and nurses. I think they were all confused as to how we could be having fun and laughing while we are in a room full of dying people...one being her. Pretty sure they thought about kicking us out. haha. Just kidding. Our nurse loved us and was glad to see us enjoying ourselves at such a rough time.

So this trip to the Univ was over and we were headed back home to Peoria.

Mom and I's 3rd trip to the Univ:
--By this time we have started to get the hang of things...get up at the crack of dawn, head to Chicago, stop on the way for breakfast, get a treatment, and go home. However, this time it was Nichole's birthday and it was also the Tuesday after the SuperBowl that Denny's promised everyone in America a GrandSlam to from 6 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon. Well Nichole was coming with us this day and Katie was meeting us at Denny's for our 6AM breakfast before we hit the road. Unfortunately when we arrived at Denny's BEFORE 6AM, the line was already wayyy out the door and we knew we didnt have time for that...nor did we want to wait outside where it was below freezing! So we drove down the parking lot and enjoyed our breakfast with several other Denny's "rejects". :) Then we headed to Chicago and did the normal treatment. Afterwards, we decided to go to a mall and shop for a while since it was Nichole's birthday. We walked out with nothing from the biggest mall in Illinois. :( Oh well. Time to head home as all of us were drained and exhausted.

FINALLY...our 4th and most recent trip to the Univ:
--This was a trip which I thought had the potential to go pretty quick and get us home at a decent hour rather than like 9 or 10. I was wrong. :) We waited FOREVER this time to get her bloodwork and shot, but luckily we didnt have to wait afterwards. When we left, we stopped to get Garretts popcorn for me and then we got on the road. However, at the time it happened to be rush hour and we were in a stand still and getting nowhere! It was about 5 so we just decided to stop and eat now...in Bolingbrook. We pull into Bolingbrook and I hear mom say "Thats a pretty cool store." I am thinking it really IS going to be something kinda cool. NO! def not! IT WAS A GROCERY STORE! Go figure! Gotta love her obsessions and loves in life. haha. Anyways...we eat and then afterwards decide to make a QUICK stop at IKEA. This quick stop turned into an hour or hour and a half. HAHA. OOOPS! But by this time, it was wayyy past moms bedtime and she was ready to sleep so time to go home. This left me driving home through the light snow while she snores away right next to me! :)

Well I apologize that this was sooooo long but now you are up to date with our trips to Chicago. Heres what March is going to look like...

March 3rd: Treatment
March 10th: CT scan
March 17th: Treatment and doctors appointment with 2 diff doctors
March 24th: ONLY OFF WEEK IN MARCH :(
March 31st: Treatment

So, yes...as you can see...we have a full load in March. Then the first week in April we have an off week and I am going to Gulf Shores, AL with my grandma, and we are dropping Nichole and Mom off in Jasper, AL to visit with Judy. :) We have to have something to look forward to! :)

CONGRATULATIONS! If you made it to this point...you ACTUALLY do care...that or you are bored OUT OF YOUR MIND! :)

Its that time again...

Well I realize that I still have yet to update you on our first couple adventurous trips to Chicago for mom's treatment, but its coming. I promise. :)

But anyways...its that time again...me and mom leave for Chicago at 6 AM tomorrow morning. We have to be at the University by 10, so that should give us plenty of time...especially since the weather forecast has changed! :) It was supposed to rain and snow all day tomorrow, but now I think we should be good as long as we get home before it all hits tomorrow night. **Keeping my fingers crossed**

So tomorrows trip should go a little something like this...

-Get up at 5 and get ready
-Leave the house at 6
-Stop for breakfast somewhere along the way
-Be at the University by 10
-Meet with the doctor/physicians assistant
-Bloodwork
-Chemo shot
-And we get to leave...NO WAITING THIS TIME! :) **at least we hope**
-Stop somewhere for lunch/dinner
-Then headed back to Peoria

So there you are...our daily agenda for tomorrow. :) If you are reading this tomorrow and you get bored...send me (melissa) a text...ill probably be bored either sitting there or driving while mom sleeps some more! haha

A normal night at the Hammond household. :)

Haha...so okay speaking of mom's obessions...I have to tell you about tonight! Tonight Mom comes walking in the door calling for Nichole when she sees me sitting on the couch. She says "Oh, I didn't know YOUUU were here. I have some 'stuff' out in the car that I need help carrying in." I IMMEDIATELY know what it is! Any guesses?!?!? Yup...GROCERIES!!! The woman seriously NEVER stops! hahaha But oh well...I guess if it makes her happy, then GO FOR IT!



Now for part 2 of the night and her obsessions...dinner. Mom made pasta, broccoli, and salad for dinner tonight...sounds normal, right? Of course it is. :) That is...until she brings out the dishes that she is putting it in. Yes, I understand its the week of Valentines Day, but my mother would do this ANY day of the year! Heart shaped bowls for all the food!!! The serving 'spoons' are even heart shaped!!! Is that not ridiculous?!?!? hahaha. I took a picture because I wanted you to all witness this woman's obsession. I was NOT kidding! :)


So there you have it...a normal night at our house...Mom coming home with a car full of groceries, and then somehow making us realize that her obsession with hearts is never-ending and its getting worse! :)

New layout...

Wow...I cant believe I just did this but I picked a layout that I thought would be suiting for mom! HEARTS! The woman is OBSESSED!!!! And she keeps buying more of this crap...what are we guna do with all this heart crap when shes gone?!?! She even bought us kids heart jars/containers to put her ashes in after shes cremated! ISNT SHE RIDICULOUS?!?! Oh well...I still love her...hence the purple heart layout (for those of you that dont know...purple is not only the color for cancer in general but also for pancreatic cancer).

P.S. The Purple Stride is this May in Chicago on a Saturday! Hopefully we can get lots of people together this day to make it up to Chicago for the walk and to spend some time together and with this wonderful and amazing woman to celebrate her 2 years of fighting this terrible cancer! If you have questions about it, leave a comment and let me know. If you are interested in coming, let me know as well. I am thinking about designing shirts to be made for us all to wear in support of her! :) May isnt too far away so its probably something I should start getting on top of. Well its now 415 in the morning and I have to get up soon for the day so goodnight all! Or good morning. If mom were here, she would be up making coffee by now! hahaha

A couple added details...

Okay...its 3 in the morning and I cant sleep so I figured that I would continue where I left off last time...

I believe at this point I have given a VERY BRIEF summary of the past 2 years leaving out alot of the little things that we go through each and every day with mom. Back to 2 years ago prior to Mom finding out that she had cancer, she was cleaning 2-3 houses a day 5-6 days a week! CRAZY I KNOW! I cant even imagine cleaning one house once a week! hahaha. When she found out she had cancer and had to have surgery and be out of work for a couple months, she was not a happy camper...AT ALL! :( If anyone knows my mom, which most of you do...she constantly is doing something or going somewhere! So being out of work drove her insane. The first few weeks werent too bad because she was sooo sore and couldnt do anything or move much. Luckily grandma (my moms mom) came and stayed with us to help out around the house and make sure mom was following doctors orders and not doing anything. YEA RIGHT! My mom listen to what doctors tell her?!?! NOT! Anyways...having grandma around was a HUGE help especially with all 3 of us kids being in school...I mean...I still didnt have to do laundry, dishes were always done, home cooked meals EVERY night, pancakes at 1 in the morning :), the list goes on. :) In the meantime though, Mom started getting back to her usual self which means she was sick of having people around stuck up her @$$ (yes i said it because thats exactly how she would put it...haha), including GRANDMA! Oh the fun listening to a daughter complain about the things her mother does...haha. Dishes in the wrong place, cooking something wrong, doing the laundry wrong, stuff on the table, blah blah blah blah blah! haha Okay...well some of us appreciated Grandma being here! ;) Just kidding...i know mom did too even though she b*tched so much.

After the big surgery, mom was obviously stuck in the house not able to do much for a while so she learned how to crochet....this is when BIG YELLER was introduced to my life! :) Mom decided to start out by making me a yellow baby blanket....or so we all thought. haha. Mom worked on this blanket everyday for what seemed like hours a day. Finally I asked her how big she was going to make it and i grabbed the blanket and asked if that was going to be the length or width....she said width. Mind you...at this point it was probably 8-10 ft long! haha. Well...Big Yeller was eventually finished and its not even close to a baby blanket. It is a blanket big enough to fit an entire family underneath. I wish i was kidding but im NOT! haha To give you an idea of the size....we have a couch in our family room and across the room is a love seat...if you are sitting on the couch, you can share the blanket with someone sitting on the loveseat! :) But thats ok...its still my favorite blanket (even though it weighs about 15 pounds and I cant really take it much of anywhere because its soooo big!) Since Big Yeller, she has made a couple more blankets, scarves, and is currently working on my red and white striped Bradley blanket! :) Hopefully it doesnt turn out quite as big as Big Yeller! ;)

After getting past the few initial weeks of recovery after the big surgery, mom was still not able to go back to work cleaning houses, BUT she was able to do one of her all-time favorite things. GO GROCERY SHOPPING! Wow! I have never seen a woman, or person for that matter, go to the grocery store sooo many times in their life! My mother finds a way to go to AT LEAST one grocery store a day. I wish I was joking but im not. Having grandma here with us didnt help either. haha I honestly think these two women went to the grocery store more in a month than i have my entire life. The woman has gift cards for every grocery store in town. The cashiers probably know her on a first-name basis. Who knows...they are probably friends and know about each others lives! The only bonus to her going to the grocery store soooo much is that there is usually PLENTY of food around! (which is great for a fat kid like me who eats 24/7!) :)

Well finally after a couple months or so, mom was back out of the house and cleaning other peoples houses. But it was all different now. :( Before the cancer...Mom would get up at 5, full of energy, clean her houses, come home and make dinner, watch her shows, and we could talk and hang out for a while. Not anymore...Mom would still get up somewhat early...not as early as before...maybe like 630 or 7 now, clean houses, come home and MAYBE make dinner once or twice a week, and go to sleep. Her energy level was down the drain. Moms bedtime was now 7 or 8 if we were lucky. Some nights earlier. But can you blame her??? The woman was working non-stop just after going through cancer and having her insides all cut out of her! In addition to her energy level, the woman was and is now eating more pills than a 95 year old woman. For a while, her pills in the morning were enough to fill her up as a meal. YES, that many! Anytime she wants to eat for the rest of her life, she has to take pills. No more digesting her food on her own. :( Want some crackers, eat a pill. Want some fruit, eat a couple pills. Want a salad, eat 4 pills. Want Schooners, eat 6-8 pills!! Haha. That was before...now she is consuming twice the amount of pills that she was before. I believe just the other day she came home with her monthly supply of these pills. Wanna guess how many?!?! 600-800 pills! RIDICULOUS! Can you even imagine consuming that many pills EACH month? Plus food! Oh and while we are speaking of the lovely pills...theres NOTHING better than going out to eat with mom, getting to the restaurant, ordering your food, and realizing that mom has NO pills and cant eat with you! :( Its happened one too many times, so now us kids carry around moms pills with us! JUST INCASE!

BUT, other than the ridiculous amount of pills mom takes each day now, her energy level being gone (now she is ready for bed at 5-6 on weeknights, sometimes at 2 on the weekends), and constantly being sore and exhausted, not much has changed. She is still SAME OLD MOM. :) Still calls us kids our lovely names, still complains about everything, still cusses like a sailor, still likes to have fun with us kids, still enjoying going to the grocery store ALL the time, still finds a way to make us all laugh, still goes out and about, and still loves us all to pieces! :) :) :)

So...I think this gives you a little insight onto how some things have changed in our lives due to the cancer, but shes not letting it slow her down much. NO WAY!

Lets Go Back in Time...

Hello everyone...it's Melissa (Brenda's oldest daughter). I recently talked to Mom about creating a "website" to keep everyone updated on her fight against pancreatic cancer. Our hopes are that this will save her LOTS of time making phone calls and talking to people that she really wants to keep updated on a regular basis but can't due to her busy schedule and her lack of energy. I hope that this will be a way that all of us can get connected and stay connected throughout her journey. SO HERE IT GOES!

Okay, so I realize that it is February 5, 2009 and I am starting the blog today...but I feel like I should go back in time a little bit to sum up everything that we have been through in the last two years now. Yes, believe it or not...it has been two years since we got the shocking news that Mom had pancreatic cancer. ITS TRULY A MIRACLE THAT SHE IS STILL WITH US HERE TODAY! She's a fighter...we all know that for sure! haha

Okay...so back in December of 06, Mom started having some medical problems resulting in me taking her to the ER. Doctors scanned her brain and neck and found some vertebrae out of place, but other than that...she was good. Or so we thought. In February 07, she switched Cholesterol meds and noticed that her skin and the whites of her eyes were turning yellow....jaundice. She went to her doctor, who sent her out to OSF on Rt. 91, who sent her directly to the ER at OSF. This is when I got the phone call at school at Bradley. It was a Monday. I asked her if I should leave right away and come to the hospital, whether they were keeping her overnight, and what I should do. She told me not to leave (of course...she wanted us not to worry and go about our normal life), she told me they WERE going to be keeping her for a couple days to run some tests to see what was wrong, but of course that she was fine. I went to my last class and then I went home to get her stuff from the house, pick up my little sister Nichole who is now 15, and head back out to OSF. Thursday we found out the news...that it was what no person or family wants to hear a doctor say....CANCER! Not only was it cancer...but pancreatic cancer. I believe doctors gave two options at this point...6 months to live or operate. Of course, ITS OPERATION TIME! Doctors wanted to operate immediately so they scheduled an emergency surgery for the next day. Family all came in from St. Louis and we all began to pray and hope for the best. Friday morning, doctors were in and out of her room. I will never forget the doctor asking if he could do anything else and she replied "Turn around so I can check out your ass!" Of course....only MY mom would say something like this when she is getting ready to go in for the biggest surgery of her life. But she knew she needed to lighten the mood in the room and thats EXACTLY what it did. So what does the doctor do? Of course...he turns around, lifts his jacket and bends over a little bit. Everyone in the room cracks a grin and lets out some laughter. Who knew that we would all be laughing hours before this surgery. :) HOURS later, she is finally taken into surgery where they remove parts of several organs...pancreas, large intestine, small intestine, liver, stomach, and duodenum. I dont think I am missing any...all i know is that they took alot out of her! BUT....the surgery was a successs! They thought they got it all. They had planned on keeping her for at least 2 weeks in the hospital to recover, but I think we were out in less than a week and a half. She is STUBBORN and a quick healer. :) Personally, I think they were probably getting sick of all her b*tching. :) hahaha We definitely missed it at home!





While I'm here though and I have the chance, I just want to say thank you to EVERYONE who came out to the hospital to visit her before, during, and after the surgery. I want to thank everyone who sent cards to her, to us, to me. I want to thank everyone who sent monitary donations to us while she was in the hospital and not working afterwards during her recovery time and chemo. Being a single mom of three can't be easy to afford! (ESPECIALLY ME BECAUSE I EAT ENOUGH FOR AN ENTIRE BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM! haha...you dont believe me but ask my mom!) Thank you to all of Mom's customers who brought food for us. Thank you to Linda Bisping who sent me home one night with tons of food and the most amazing brownies ever! I dont forget these things. I LOVE YOU ALL!

After the big surgery, doctors chose to put her through 6 months of chemotherapy just as a precautionary and to lessen the chances of the cancer coming back and showing its ugly face again. Chemo actually went fairly well...well as good as it could go i guess. It was every Friday with the exception of one here and there. Obviously it made her extremely tired, but she never really got sick. EXCEPT FOR ONE TIME! She had chemo Friday and we left right after to head to St. Louis for our annual Lake of the Ozarks boating vacation. We were about a half mile away from Grandma's exit to her house and I was driving in the left lane going about 75 miles an hour when she screams pull over. I immediately get over and stop and she opens the door and pukes more than I have ever seen anyone puke. She closes the door and says shes good. Within the next mile to our grandmas house...I probably had to pull over at least 3 times for her to get sick again. Lets just say...it wasnt going to be too great of a week for her in the Ozarks. Especially since the average heat index that week was 115*. She spent most of her week inside watching TV, but she did manage to make it on the boat a couple times, even though she couldnt be in the sunlight or in the water! I dont know how she did it but she did!

Okay...so chemo ended and things were looking good. Still no cancer! Just LOTS of pills! LOTS OF PILLS! Everytime she wants to eat she gets to eat some pills too...since she cant digest her food on her own anymore! Check-ups every 3 months to see if it was back....April 25th 2008 is the day we were hoping to get new results (the day before my birthday). I asked mom and she didnt tell me much. Later on that summer...in July, she told us all that it was back. She really knew that day on April 25th but didnt want to ruin my birthday. WHAT A MOM! So August comes along...and its time for another surgery...this time its on her liver but its still pancreatic cancer. This surgery was a piece of cake compared to the last. Nurses were confused about her being in the ICU because she looked SOOOO good. hahaha My mom...lookin good?!?! JUST KIDDING! Anyways...this time she was out in like 3 days. Good thing for me because she expected McDonalds coffees every morning at like 6 AM with 8 cream and 8 sugar! That was NOT fun....BUT I DID IT! (See I can be a good daughter...AT TIMES! ;) This time doctors decided not to do chemo...I guess they figured she was good to go.

Okay...so its time for a check-up 3 months later. This makes it November 08. Cancer is back! :( AGAIN! By this time, I think all of us were starting to get a little discouraged...at least I was. And to top it all off...doctors say they cant do surgery this time. Theres "nothing" for them to do. THATS THE WORST THING WE COULD HEAR! Days passed, no new news was coming...we were going to doctors and asking them questions and they never had answers. They wouldnt tell us if chemo was an option. They just kept telling us surgery was not an option. They gave her a time frame...something we didnt want to hear...but we all knew would eventually come...6 months to a year. Wow! Alot to take in...I think we all took it really hard at first! I guess its hard to imagine being 22 and not having a mom anymore. I try not to think about it because we all know how stubborn she is and how much of a fighter she is. Shes not giving up so why should we?!?! :) Finally, we hear that there may be an option that will give us hope. The University of Chicago! She was accepted as part of a study at the University of Chicago where she will receive an injection in her right thigh every other Tuesday for as long as her body will allow. Yes...this means going to Chicago every other Tuesday! :( The drive is NOT exciting...spending 3 hours in the car on the way there, 3-5 hours at the University of Chicago, and then 3 hours driving home. ITS A LONGGG DAY! BUT...i get to spend it with my mom and all of her little sayings and actions make it all the worthwhile! haha (I will show you what i mean some other time.) In addition, if driving to Chicago every other Tuesday means that she will live longer...then lets go! I'll go every Tuesday! :)

Alright...well I am going to head out for now...Mom is home making dinner and I am heading out to work. Maybe I'll be back tonight to update you on how our first 3-4 trips to the University of Chicago went! Pretty good times!