Join Remission Possible!

As many of you know, Clark's mom, Melissa, has been fighting cancer for a couple of years now. She is such a fighter and she fights with a smile on. I admire her strength and outlook and she is an inspiration to anyone who knows her. I'm going to give you a little background of her cancer battle and I hope I got it all right. Clark doesn't really talk about his mom's cancer too much, so I could have some of the details wrong. But, I think I got most the facts right.

Her battle started about 3 years ago when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went into have her breasts removed (and she was kinda excited about getting some new ones), but they found out the cancer had spread beyond her breasts to her liver. She has been on the cancer roller coaster (ups and downs) since then.

She got a scan a couple of months ago that scared us all. Her cancer had moved to the lymph nodes of the pancreatic region, she had 9 spots on her liver, and two more enlarged lymph nodes between her aorta and vena cava. Not a good report at all. We were all really upset because her scans had been getting progressively better and had hoped for the cancer to be in remission. She did a more aggressive chemo and returned to the doctor last week.

Onto the good news- her most recent scan was much better! There was only one lesion on her liver and two of the enlarged lymph nodes had disappeared! YEAHHH!!!!! I am so happy the latest round of chemo worked and is kicking cancer's ass!

Melissa sent out an update today and this is a part of it (you can get a glimpse of her positive outlook):

"We all have to admit that the older you get the more your body tends to break down or just flat fall apart. So if you are out and about or just talking to your friends and someone should say to you, “Melissa Carroll sure has aged” or “Melissa Carroll sure has put on some weight” or even “Melissa Carroll looks so tired” you just need to agree. Since my last report I have turned 52, gained 5 pounds, gotten Clay married, and lost my daddy. I am also knee deep in Race for the Cure as one of the two Chairs for Teams again this year and getting ready for Clark’s wedding in June. So it is not really the last 11 months of IV chemo all to blame!!! I still love chemo! If I ever get off of it they are going to let me volunteer in the chemo room! How fun!!!" -From Melissa's Heath Report

Want to help kick cancer's ass? You should join Melissa's Race for the Cure team- Remission Possible. Her team has raised the most money, over $10,000, out of all the Race of the Cure teams in N.W. Arkansas. Simply go to http://www.komenozark.org/ and sign up for her team. If you don't want to do the "race" you can sleep in and support her too! (Let me know if you need help and I'll be happy to assist you).

Busy Mary

Ok, so it's been a while since my last post. Since then, I've traveled to Jackson, TN for Clark's brothers wedding, buried Clark's grandpa, and spent a lot of time with Clark's family. It's been a crazy emotional roller coaster- happy, sad, happy. I love Clark's family so much and love spending time with them. Clark's Aunt Anne was in town with her 4 daughters, so we went to dinner on Monday and spent a lot of time with them over the weekend. They are all SO sweet and so pretty. I can't wait to expand my cousin inventory! It was sad to go to the funeral Monday, but we all knew that Davies is in a much better place and so it was bitter sweet.

Onto other news- I have been working in the sales department at Lomanco. I like sales! The sales crew is a lot of fun and I enjoy being around them. The only downfall, I have to work 8-4:45 (when I was working in HR I worked 7-4). I guess it sucked being at work at 7, but it was nice getting off early. I like the 8-4:45 routine. I'm only scheduled to be in sales until the end of this week, but we'll see. I think they appreciate the help- they have someone out with a bad back.

We're planning Easter at my mom's. I am making a "surprise." I saw it in a magazine and thought it was the perfect thing to bring to an Easter feast. You take egg shells, empty out the egg, wash the shell, and fill the shell with egg salad. Cute huh! We'll see how it turns out. I haven't told anyone what I was bringing in case it turns out bad. Then I'll bring rolls.

Melissa Carroll (mom to be) gets the results of her cancer scans today. Please pray, keep your fingers crossed, do a hope dance, or do whatever you do when you need assistance from the higher beings. Her last scan wasn't good and we're hoping the chemo has been working. I'll try to keep you posted on the results.