I am done!

I know it's been a while...well it's been months, and I so apologize for that. It has been crazy! The most important things that have happened are this:
--I had a great Thanksgiving this year, and my chemo treatment got moved to black friday so that I could enjoy all the delicious food and family on Thursday. We hosted this year. My Aunt Gail, Uncle Jim, cousin Kennedy, Aunt Kara, Grandpa Trotter, Grandma Trotter, and Bailey and Fred were all in attendance. It was awesome! My aunt and uncle came with my mom and dad to chemo. Also my mom's birthday this year was over break so I got to have fun with that.
--I had my last choir concert ever! I also had a solo, the beginning of Sim Shalom.
--I had my last round of CHEMO!!! I felt the most nausea my last two rounds, but I also could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am so happy to be done. God truly blessed me! :)

 My mom and I had a wonderful day at the spa. Thank you people at Dad's work for the money to go out to the spa. We got mani-pedi's, a massage, and a facial.

 We were absolutely glowing afterwards.

 This is my Aunt Gail and Uncle Jim. Thanks for coming guys.

 Sylvia the sea lion (my cancer buddy) loves to wear hats with me.

 My friends Sarah and Becca surprised me by stopping by on my last chemo session. They brought me flowers and sprite. I have the best friends!!! I am blessed.

 My neighbors, the Dittmer's, sent me this. It is a dog made of flowers. Thanks guys!

 This is the team of nurses at the cancer center. I love my nurses, and they are all so great! 

 This is the ever wonderful Dr. Morgan. She has been so great, I can't even explain! God blessed me with a great oncologist. 

This is my bestie Sarah! We enjoyed our last choir concert on December 13th. This is us on the night of the concert.

Another Fun Weekend with Bailey and the Roommates

After hearing my good news on Thursday, I was totally excited for my weekend at Anderson University. The weekend of October 25-27 was AU's homecoming (thus the reason I went...well and I love seeing Bailey and the roommies). This was Bailey's first homecoming as an Alumni, so it was pretty exciting.

After school (and some Walmart shopping with my new, fast friend Brooklyn), I headed up to AU. Though it wasn't very far, this was my very first "road trip" alone, so it was quite the adventure for me. Once there I was surprised to see Bailey and Fred waiting for me. I was expecting them to be visiting their Goddaughter, but they decided to wait for me so I could come along. It was so cool to meet Skylar and she was such a cutie!

Bailey is so good with kids!

Look at all of the fun! I love being the photographer to capture these great moments.

Of course I had fun as well!

Fred is also good with kids...especially his Goddaughter. :)

After all of that fun, the three of us headed back to the house, and Fred left to give Faith, Khills, Bailey, and I some girl time. We tried to start a bonfire (not too much luck), we talked, and we watched Hocus Pocus. I love that movie because it is so fun! We sat and watched the whole movie while we shared our Jilly's cupcakes front the weekend before (and yes they were still delicious!)

Saturday Bailey and I went to the Alacritas' breakfast, and then we went to end part of the Booster's breakfast (my sister is a Booster Belle). We made it just in time to be serenaded. It was such a cool experience and really made me smile. After that we went to Mocha's and got some Butter Beers (no real liquor, but they were so good). Then it was off to the street fair!

At the street fair the three of us (Faith, Bailey, and I) visited some booths, got some cake pops (and I got a raven's nest...basically ice-cream and puppy chow!), and went to the Booster's booth to buy dunk tank tickets (to use later) and some merchandise (well they did...I couldn't :( ). After that the three of us went back inside to warm up before heading back out to use our dunk tank tickets on a specific person...Cameron Gamble. After Bailey took her turn at the booth, she and I got pictures in a free photo booth, caramel apples, and shared a meal of tomato soup and a grilled cheese. Needless to say I had a lot of fun at the street fair. Unfortunately Bailey had to go work, so we went back to the house. There I got to wait for more fun

Faith, Khills, and I all got a pizza for dinner; it was a fun pizza. Then we headed over to Reardon Auditorium (forgive my spelling if it's wrong) to get ready for Encore! Encore was great...good job Cameron, Faith, and Khills. Bailey made it for the last couple of songs, and then we all went to IHOP. The next day I went to Genesis church with Faith and Khills, and then I went to Khills' choir concert. It was a fun and full weekend.

Got some Good News

On October the 24th I went in for a PET/CT scan to see if I would need two or four more months of chemo. Now it just so happened that I was having some bad stomach pains this day, so they gave me fluids after the scan. This pushed into my school time enough that my mom and I decided to have another mom and I day; we went home and put on a movie. This is when I got the awesome call! I got a clear scan! This means just two more months of chemo to ensure that all of the micro-cancer bits have been attacked. This was one of the best calls I have ever gotten. God has truly blessed me. :)

We called my dad immediately of course, and he suggested that we celebrate at Skyline (my favorite place to eat!). Mom, Conner, and I went to Costco and Carnival Shoe Store while we waited for my dad.

Skyline is the best. In honor of my special announcement, they made our meals on the house!

After Skyline I went to Band Stadium night to share some more good news, and when I got home I treated myself to my Caramel Apple Jilly's cupcake from St. Louis. All in all a great night.

St. Louis

Thursday night we took off! Bailey as our driver, Faith the faithful co-pilot, and Khills and I in the back. We arrived late at Jen and Kumar's; my lovely cousin's who kindly shared their house with us.

Friday was a fun day! We slept in and then went to a local breakfast place that was pretty good. My favorite part of the day, though, was Eckert's Orchard. There was tasty, warm apple cider; lots of beautiful land; a haunted hay ride; cute animals to pet and feed; amusement rides (we didn't go on) and karaoke (we didn't sing); a lovely view of the St. Louis Skyline; and lots to buy (including peanut brittle for mom, caramel apples to go around, and a cute sign for Bailey to commemorate the awesome experience).

Bailey and her apple! It was tasty, too.

Just one of the cute animals I got to feed.

Saturday was a relaxing day. I stayed at Jen and Kumar's house and rested all day. We watched movies and ate Panera (or the St. Louis Bread Co. as I found they call it there). For dinner we met up with Bailey, Khills, and Faith at the Big Sky Cafe. The food was delicious! For desert we went for some Ted Drew's Frozen Custard. That was also very tasty. 

Kumar was kind enough to take the picture of us lovely ladies.

Sunday was another very fun and very full day! We started off the day with an even better breakfast than Friday. It was at another local joint, but it was so good. I would take it over IHOP! Next we got some Gus' Pretzels. We didn't eat them then, but when we did they were still just as delicious. After we got the pretzels we went to the St. Louis Zoo. There we saw fun animals, walked through cool nature, and  my sister got me a Build-a-Bear Sea Lion in the Build-a-Bear workshop they had in the zoo. I named her Sylvia, and she is my Chemo Companion. :) 

We loved the orangutan's, monkey's, and gorilla's a lot. They were a lot of fun!

When we saw this awesome guy, you can guess what we all said...Hump day! 

We also enjoyed the elephants. There were a lot there and I was lucky enough to get this beautiful shot.

After the Zoo we went to Jilly's Cupcake Bar and got some cupcakes to share (plus some two for just Bailey and I). Then we went to Union Station and got some fudge at the Fudgery. I got chocolate mint. After the Fudgery, we went back to Jen and Kumar's to drop off the pretzels and say good bye. It was a great weekend.

Round Four! New friends with me this time...

Though my fourth round landed in the middle of my Fall Break, I got to spend it with some new faces: my brother, Conner, and my sister's two roommates, Faith and Kristen (a.ka. Khills).

We played games and had tons of fun. Bailey was of course there!

Why so serious....

Oh they weren't!

Attractive aren't we!

 Bailey and I had fun taking pictures and making faces. I do love my sister!

My mom also came. She and my sister did spend most of the time out of the building because they were readying our chariot to St. Louis. What I mean is: Bailey got a new car, and my fall break fun was yet to come! A while back, Bailey had invited me to join her and her roommates on a fun trip to St. Louis. At the time the trip didn't interfere with my chemo schedule, but due to some unfortunate, and unforeseen changes, my schedule got moved back a week. Now I was not about to let this change affect my exciting trip, so I decided I would still go. 

Now back to the car. Bailey needed some signatures and what not for her new ride, so she and my mom did that while I hung with the roomies (Conner also found the car stuff more interesting...go figure, guys and cars). :)

After round 3...so much going on!

During our 3rd round of chemo doctor visit, we went to another appt. with Dr. Morgan because I had such a bad cough that would not go away.  She ordered fluids, heart rate checks for both sitting and walking, and also ordered my heart and pulmonary lung function tests to be done earlier than planned.  These tests are done after round 4 of chemo, but she was concerned about the effect that one of the chemo drugs was having on my lungs: the bleomycin. She prescribed a daily inhaler until the results of the test come back.  Here is me getting the MUGA, or heart test.

The PFT, or pulmonary function test, was the same one as before we started chemo...me breathing into a tube in certain patterns.

After the tests, we went home and watched a movie--just mom and I.

That was Friday. On Sunday morning, mom and I took off to go to Michigan to visit 2 colleges--it was our fall break!  We visited Spring Arbor University and also Albion College, both near my Aunt Gail and Uncle Jim. I liked Spring Arbor. While we were there, we stayed with Aunt Gail and Uncle Jim and were spoiled by her awesome cooking!  We also went out to breakfast at my family's most favorite breakfast spot: The Wooden Spoon. We actually met the president of the university while we were there.

The lovely blueberry pancake I got at The Wooden Spoon!

This is me at Spring Arbor. I loved the campus!

I also visited Mount Vernon Nazarene University on the Wednesday after the Albion visit on Tuesday.  I loved MVNU a lot as well. My decision for college is going to be hard!

Round 3 of chemo

Oct. 3rd was another chemo day--#3. Bailey came again.  I got to see my fish friend Bubbles.  Dr. Morgan added more meds for nausea...I have a ton of medication!  We hung out and played cards. Bailey gave me some fun gifts, too: oven mitt, towel, cupcake pans for large cupcakes and recipes.

After I rested at home, some flowers from Grandma and Grandpa arrived.

Drawing on Tables

My family had fun drawing on a chalk board table at a coffee house in Pendleton.

After breakfast, we spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa's house helping to put together a bed for Grandpa. I was able to rest, too, while people went shopping. We had a great dinner that Grandma made for all of us--including cousins Jerry and Donna who were there helping, too.

We came home to a nice surprise: our neighbors, the Dales, brought us Taylor Bakery cupcakes--yum!

Every Day's a Hat Day

Almost everyday after the shaving party has been a hat, scarf, or turban day. Thanks to my dad taking me to Figleaf, I was nicely prepared for my first day of school with no hair; I wore the lovely pink and tan scarf (as shown above and below).