Feb 28th

Hello All,

Jess had two IV chemos done Friday. They went well. She had thought that she may need blood since she had been feeling so blucky; it ended up being a little low but not enough to get any, so hopefully she will pick up soon. She asked the doctor about taking supplements but they don't want her taking anything to help her cells pickup because it helps the cancer cells too. Crazy huh? They aslo put in a call to Portland about the PEG chemo. The doctors in Medford do not want to give it to her anymore because the reactions keep getting worse. The last one sure had was really bad. Hopefully Portland will agree. I wonder if they will sub in another chemo for it? Hmm...well we will see. She doesn't have the two IV chemos again until the 8th so she is pretty excited. I will only write on here if something pops up or if I have soemthing to say :) lol. Love to all and thanks for checking on Jess. Please keep her in your prayers. Cindi

P.S. There is an amazing article about Jess in the March issue of the Cascade Horseman Magazine by Maureen Thomas. Read it if you have a chance :)

Feb 25th

Hello All,

Jess has been feeling more tired and achy everyday. She is thinking that she might actually need blood tomorrow because of how bad she has been feeling. She has been through a lot lately; so it wouldn't really surprise me. I hope that everything goes okay tomorrow, she sees her doctor, has chemo, and comes home. Wouldn't that be nice! She has to be in Medford tomorrow at 930 to get her blood drawn, see the doctor, and have two IV chemos, and then come home :) Please keep her in your prayers tonight and send her your strength! Thank you, Cindi xoxo

Feb 23rd

Hello to all,

Jess has been getting over the hives a little more each day, so that is good. Now she is having extreme body aches (which is better in my opinion), but she now has that to contend with. Tomorrow she goes in to get her picc dressing change, here in Klamath Falls. Friday morning she has to be in Medford at 930 am to get her blood drawn, then meets with the doctor, and has two different types of chemo. These two chemos did not seem to bother her last time, so hopefully she will have an easier weekend! Well, I am off for now. I will let you all know how she does on Friday or if anything else pops up...Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you all so much for caring!!

God Bless,
Cindi

Sun Feb 21st

Hello All,

Jess ended up in the ER in Medford Friday night. She just kept breaking out in hives, but at least she didn't have completely red skin, itchy eyes, and her tongue swelled earlier...They gave her more steroids and put her on a 4 hour dosage of Benadryl plus steroids in case it got any worse. I called and talked to her and she felt like they had it under control; she didn't think we needed to come over that night. Although, I didn't get any sleep worrying about her. When she came over to the house on Saturday morning I couldn't believe what she looked like. I have never seen anyone look like that. It wasn't just in her appearance it was in her eyes too. I had to hold myself back from crying. I could cry again just thinking about her. I swear that I thought I had made myself strong, but not seeing her like this. I know one thing that when she has to have this chemo again on days 20 and 21 both Pat and I are going to be with her. This was way too crazy of a reaction. She is looking a lot better today, but not as good as I would like. I am trying to keep her eating and drinking well, but it can be hard sometimes. She doesn't have chemo again until Friday, so she has a few days off. I really don't think that she could handle anymore sooner than that anyways. Please keep her in your prayers and send her positive energy.

Love to all,
Cindi

Friday Feb 19th

This is yesterdays post :)

Just wanted you all to know that Jess finally got her chemo today. They call about 945 this morning and expected her that are 1100?? I guess that they just don't know how far we live from Medford....They got over there about 100. They started to heavily medicate her so that she wouldn't have a reaction. It does seem like she is getting worse each time she has it. I called Jon about 230 and he said that she was doing well and sleeping heavily. Jess text me about 400 and said that they were heading this way. About 430 Jon called and said that they were headed back to the cancer center because Jess had thrown up and wasn't feeling well.

Pat and I waited anxiously to see what was going to happen and see if we needed to head over there. He called Jon about 6 and Jess answered. She got on the phone with me and told me that she ended up having a bad reaction. The nurse said she was getting ready to stick her with the epi pen! She had 3 doctors standing around her for 20 mins, watching her while they gave her more medicine. She said that she was scared! She said when she opened her eyes and they were unbelievably itch and she could only see yellow! She said that she started throwing up everywhere and down herself and couldn't stop. She didn't even feel it coming. Needless to say the doctors wanted her to stay the night so that if she had a problem she was already over there. Sooo...I will let you know how she is. I imagine I will be up half the night worrying about her. Please keep her in your prayers and send her your strength.

Love to all,
Cindi

Feb 17th

Good evening all,

Jess ended up getting sick a couple of times last night, but then she seemed okay. She said that she slept pretty well, that was good to hear. They headed over to the cancer cent to get her PEG chemo and she started the pre-meds. Then after a hour they told her that the chemo never made it down from Portland??? Well needless to say, they were a little upset since they stayed over there and had to drive back home today. I have no idea what was up with that, but now it is set up for Thursday at 11 am. Jess asked me if there was anyway that I could take her so I hurried up and got n the phone to DeAnn and Teresa to see if they could get it all arranged for me and they did. I am so glad because I love to be with her and when she wanted me to go I knew that I had to get it done :) We will be leaving here around 830 or 900. Hopefully we will get started around 11. I would imagine that we won't get out of there until around 3, but we shall see. I am off for the night. Please keep her in your prayers and send her your strength and positive energy.

Love to all,
Cindi

Feb 16th

Hi All,

Today went smoothly. I felt crazy all day until Jess called me to let me know how she did. She went in first to get her picc line dressing changed and then she went to the cancer center to meet with her doctor. Her doctor was out for the day, so she had a new one and wasn't too happy. "Why send her to someone new and they ask her a million questions??" Her doctor will be back tomorrow so I would have just let it go, but oh well I guess she got through it. Anyways she headed over to chemo and she ended up having two IV pushes of chemo, so it went quickly. Then she went to get her spinal. She told me that she was really scared. She was sweating and getting nauseous just thinking about the procedure. When she got there, the first thing she asked was who the doctor was. She told me if it was the previous doctor that hurt her she was just going to get up and walk out because she wasn't going through that again. I told her that I totally understood. She asked the assistant and was told that it was one of the good doctors she has had before. So she started to relax. When she got there, he asked her a bunch of questions and he kept her mind off of the procedure, so she didn't think about it as much and it put her at ease. I can't tell you how happy I was to hear this and hear her voice :) She is staying the night over there and getting an early start on her 3 shot chemo, about 11 am. They have her on steroids tonight to get her started and then they said she will have more steroids and Benadryl tomorrow during the procedure. Plus she has to stay at least two hours after she is done to be observed. It will be a long day for her. Please keep her in your prayers and I will let you know how she does tomorrow.

Love,
Cindi

Feb 15th

Hello Everyone,

Sorry that I haven't written lately, but there really hasn't been any changes. Except Jess catching a cold, which I was really worried about, but the doctor says as long as she does not have a fever then she is okay. We went up to Sky Lake today so Jess could get her blood drawn, that way Medford could check her counts and make sure that she is okay to have chemo tomorrow and Weds. She has been kind of weak off and on, so I was unsure whether or not she was going to be strong enough. But, they called and said that everything was a go for the next two days. I have to admit that Jess and I were bummed. We both know that she has to have it, but I don't know...it has been hard since Portland. I know that I have told you all this before but this is really bothering me. I was talking to Pat tonight and I had to catch myself from crying. I just hate it and I hate to see her have to go through this and I know she has to, but it is super hard. I have to be strong for her and I know that she is dreading it more than I am. I had better get my mind set right, so that I am good for the next couple of days. Sorry that I dumped that all on you, but I had to get it out, lol. She has two different IV chemo treatments tomorrow and then the spinal. Weds she has the three shot PEG chemo, that is the one she is allergic to, so please keep her in your prayers. She needs lots of strength and positive energy sent her way.

Love to all,
Cindi xoxoxo

Feb 12th

Well Jess has her good and bad days. They had told us to look for that, but it still bothers me to see her not feeling well. I am making sure that she is eating and drinking lots plus eating or drinking two yogurts a day. It is hard sometimes because she doesn't feel like it; and I am sure she is getting tired of it. But I told her that this is what she needs to be stronger to help herself get better. I don't know if I just don't have my mind around it yet...but the next chemo rounds coming up are bugging me...I think that I must have unconsciously wanted her to be finished after our trip to Portland last week...They haven't called us yet about it, so I told Jess even though we don't want to call, we need to see what is up. I am hoping that it will be on Monday so I can go since there isn't any school. I think that we have a big day the next week. I think the regiment is the PEG chemo (3 shots,what she is allergic to), the IV chemo, and the spinal!! :(

I will let you know as soon as I find out. Please keep her in your prayers.

Love to all,
Cindi

Feb 8th

Jess had an okay weekend. She is still recovering from last week, since it was a long week and the chemo from hell on Monday. She has been trying to get out and walk a few minutes every day; to get some exercise. I warned her to be careful to keep up her energy by eating and drinking right. She also said that she is still having some body aches. She has her first picc cleaning in Klamath tomorrow. There wasn't any sense in them driving to Medford to get it done; so we cancelled the appointment and made one here. We will see how that goes. At least she has this week off, so hopefully she can feel stronger by Monday. I will let you all go. Thanks so much for checking in. Please keep her in your prayers. God bless, Cindi

Feb 6th

Hi Everyone!

Just writing to let you all know that we made it home okay. Jess felt okay on the way. She just had some body aches and was tired; seems like a little reaction still to the chemo on Monday. So she slept a lot on the way. We stopped a few times to get out and stretch, but she didn't feel like it at some of the stops. I am trying to keep her drinking a lot, but sometimes it is like pulling teeth with her...lol. Hopefully now that she has a week off she will start feeling pretty good and she can feel more like her old self. She doesn't have anything now until Monday the 15th. Then she has a full plate again. I have a lot of catching up to do around the house since we were gone for 5 days; I will let you all go. Please keep her in your prayers.

Love to all!!
Cindi

PS. I had two people call me and wanted to know about the South Valley account, so here is the address. Thanks to everyone for their support and care. We couldn't have done all of the travel without your help! Oh and there is a Super Bowl square (I think that is what it is called, lol). I think you can win either 500 or 1000 and Jess and Jon get the other half. Last time I heard it was down at the cafe in Bonanza. So go out there or stop by and get a square. Thanks everyone!!

South Valley Bank and Trust
PO Box 5210
Attn Jessica Kelly-Unruh Fund
Klamath Falls, OR 97601

Feb 4th

Hey All,

We were all hoping for a cancer free diagnosis from the doctor today, but we didn't get it. What he did tell us though, is that she has had significant shrinkage of the cancer in her face. Which we are very happy to hear!! Of course, we are a little bummed, but how can you not be. We will all get into the mindset for the next two months of chemo. At least it is a lighter load. She has it once to twice a week, two spinals, and 2 treatments with 3 shots. It will be a tough, but easier than the last two months. He is giving her the next week off (thank goodness), then she will start on the following Monday with an IV chemo and spinal. We are still up in Portland tonight. I figured that after being up here this week and with all the stress, that we should get a good nights sleep before driving home.

Jess isn't feeling very well right now and is sound asleep in bed. She has had a belly ache and her muscles are sore. She has been through a lot in the past few days and I am sure that the stress hasn't helped. The doctor has mentioned that he might do radiation next time if he isn't happy with the results following the two months of (tough) chemo. Wow...anyhow the doctor has been happy so far with the results, so we will just take it one day at a time...I will let you know how she is doing tomorrow. Thank you so much for all the prayers and positive thoughts. Keep them up.

Love,
Cindi xoxoxo

Feb 3rd

Hi All from a Portland Hotel!

Jess had all of her scans done yesterday. It was a long and hard day for her. First, she was really tired and not feeling well from the chemo from the day before. Then she wasn't able to eat or drink because she was getting the scans done; it makes really hard for her and I hate to see her like that. We didn't get back until about 6 pm last night and we had gotten there about 1020 am. They wanted to give her blood yesterday but they couldn't fit it in her schedule. So instead of having today off we had to go back so she could get two units of blood; as long as it makes her feel better it doesn't bother me. That is what we are here for.

She woke up this morning feeling sick and in some pain, we were concerned and she wanted to get there quickly. They said her blood pressure was a little low, but they thought it would go up with her receiving blood. I went down to the cafe and got her a sandwich and fries, while she was getting blood, I knew that she was feeling better enough to eat :) It did not take them long to give her blood, so we got back to the hotel about 3 pm. It is nice because now she is napping before dinner. We have to be back at the hospital at 1130 am for blood tests and then 1 pm for the test results. I can't help it, but I am so nervous!! Please, please, keep up the prayers and I will let you know what the doctor says.

Love to all,
Cindi

Feb 2nd

Hi All,

Jess had a rough day in Medford yesterday; we had to be over there at 830 am for blood tests which came back very low. They wanted to give her blood and a shot to stimulate her bone marrow, but with us going to Portland they decided to hold off and just email her doctor up here and give him a heads up. About an hour later I got a call from them and they wanted to see u early this morning so they could check her. She got chemo yesterday and they gave her pre-meds (Benadryl in her IV and steroids). After IV chemo and the 3 shot chemo they made her stay for about an hour, so they could watch her to make sure she was okay.

We left there about 1230 and headed over to Rogue; which is where she gets her PICC dressing change, before we were to leave to Portland. As we were sitting there she stared to break out in hives and her throat started to get tight. They called the doctor and put meds in her. After they got her stabilized they called the doctor again, but they wouldn't let us leave Medford without going back over to the cancer center. They put her back in the chair and they started her on meds again. They wouldn't let us leave for about an hour, so they could keep an eye on her. By then her temperature was up a point and nothing freaks them out more than a high temp. Finally around 330 they were convinced that they had her stabilized for the trip to Portland.

Wow, what a long day, but I am glad that they watch over her so closely. She had a very uncomfortable trip to Portland, but we made it around 930 pm. We are off to the doctors and tests today. I will let you know how it goes.

Please keep her in your prayers this week.

Love to all, Cindi