November 2nd 2009

Can you believe it was  1 year yesterday that Jill married Bart?  Happy anniversary to them!!

As for our sweet lovable Jill, she is hanging in there.  Tuesday October 27th was going to be her 6th chemo treatment. When Jill spoke to her Oncologist and showed her the sores on her feet, hands and mouth they decided to go a different route with her Chemo. She was told the sores on her feet and hands could be permanent if they continued with the original Chemo.  Therefore they have changed her chemo. On a good note it is much more mild and on a bad note she has to go every Tuesday for the next 8 weeks.  Her blood levels have been great every treatment. Of course she has her hard, difficult days but she remains positive for the most part.

Please continue to keep Jill in your prayers as she starts  this next round of chemo.

October 5th 2009 update

Jill is officially half way done with this round of Chemo. She is staying strong as always. The last four treatments caused her to feel nauseous. Luckily there was a pill she could take to make it go away. These next four treatments will make her feel achy, fever and a metal taste in her mouth .

Which is worse? That is what she is asking herself.

Anne and myself (Mandi) are actually headed down there to see her on Thursday 10/08/09 to stay for the weekend and attend her fund raiser in Cincinnati. Looking forward to seeing Jills beautiful face. She  still has that amazing personality that makes me laugh every time I talk to her.

 

Thank you for all the love and support!

A powering poem I found

Well this Monday Sept. 28th Jill will be half way done with this round of Chemo. Her doctor told her the mass has gone down and the chemo seems to be working~which is great news! If all goes well Jill could possibly have her mastectomy by Christmas. So please keep praying her body continues to fight the cancer.

She is in such good spirits but of course she has her bad days and often questions “why me” but for the most part her attitude is unbelievable.

Im leaving you with this great poem I found……I thought it was pretty powerful

 

Cancer I did not give you the right,

To invade my body and take a bite.

This is my body and with all my might,

I will prevail with one hell of a fight.

To the cancer inside, I will battle and Kill.

For that is my body’s God given will.

To my cancer, these words I do send.

Your life is short and near the end.

 

Keep fighting Jill

 

Update September 9th 2009

    Hi everyone I wanted to make an entry about Jill seeing its been over two weeks since the last one. Jill received her second chemotherapy treatment on August 31st. This round  was a little more intence for her. She is much more sick and tired. It takes a lot out of her to do anything. Her hair started coming out and the brave soul  that she is, went into a salon and they shaved it for her. As most of you know how beautiful she is, she is even more beautiful now!

 

    Jill will be receiving her next treatment this Monday September 14th. I will make sure to update late next week on how she is doing.

 

    Thank you again for all the prayers, love and support!

Update on Jill – 8/19

Jill began chemo on Monday 8/17 at 9:30am. She will go through 16 weeks of treatment, with sessions occurring every other week, and each session lasting two hours. Sessions consist of a chemo called Adriamycin which is often referred to as Big Red or Red Devil.  It was administered using a syringe to pass the chemo through a port that was inserted in her chest. That was followed by a saline bag drip to keep her hydrated and finished with a final chemo drip. She had a follow-up shot yesterday to boost her white blood cell count, which will strengthen her body’s defense system and reduce her risk of infection. I found that  this page had some helpful information on the IV drip and the booster shot given after.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support thus far, and please keep Jill in your thoughts and prayers as she continues her battle. She is hanging in there–but she is extremely fatigued and needs your prayers.

August 12th 2009 update

First I have to start by saying Thank You all for the prayers, love and support each one of you have shown and given Jill. On 8/11 Jill met her surgeon and set up a date to have her Chemo port put in which will be 8/13 at 10:00am. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Today Jill met with her Oncologist to discuss when chemo will start and they have officially decided Monday 8/17 at 9:30am. She will be receiving Chemo for two hours every two weeks, for the next 16 weeks.

I plan to write more next week and let you all know how she is doing.

Thank you again for all the support you have given Jill.

Thank you!

Hi Everyone,

We want to thank you all for coming out last night to support Jill. It was an outstanding turnout, which is a true testament to the love we have for Jill. The fundraiser was a huge success, but we could not have done this without all of you. Just knowing how many people have showed their support–whether it be your posts to this site, prayers, monetary donations, silent auction and raffle donations and/or attending the fundraiser–means a tremendous amount to Jill and is what helps keep her strong. 

Love,

Amanda Napolitano

Anne Brown MacDonnel

Amie Bobinac

Emily Broooks

Update 8/4

Jill’s surgical biopsy results came back ductoral cancer and shewill meet with a surgeon next Tuesday 8/11.  Jill goes in for her MRI this morning at 11:00. I will update everyone as soon as possible.

Your comments

I forgot to mention, that Jill does not currently have internet access–but she should have it within the week. In the meantime I printed all of your comments and mailed them to her so that she can read them.

Treatment Begins Week of 8/3

Jill’s spirits are back up after a July 31 visit to a new doctor. After two weeks of bouncing around from doctor to doctor and it felt like nothing was happening, Jill is finally getting answers. Everyone’s prayers paid off, because on Friday 7/31 she received a phone call from a new doctor asking her to come in for a surgical biopsy. Apparently the original biopsy that they did came back inconclusive because they took tissue from the surface of her breast, when the mass is underneath her breast.

 

The results from the surgical biopsy will be in this week, at which time the doctor will be able to determine what type of cancer it is. They will also be able to confirm that it has not spread–the concern is it hitting the bone. So far, we know that the cancer is stage 3 and the tumor is 5cm. We also know that it’s spread into the chest muscles (it isn’t attached as we originally thought). The doctor told Jill that she is not waiting to confirm it’s cancer–she is waiting to confirm the type of cancer–but regardless chemotherapy needs to start near the end of this week.

 

The plan is 16 weeks of chemo every 2-3 weeks for four hour increments, then a double mastectomy followed by additional chemo to ensure they got all the cancer. The doctor said it will be about 9 months until Jill’s life goes back to normal.

 

The doctors told her that she will need to shave her head, because her hair will fall out after the first chemo treatment. Jill’s not afraid and she went to look at some wigs and said it helped her adjust to the thought of not having hair. The chemo is incredibly strong so a tube will be placed in her chest and the chest to administer the chemo through so that her veins do not collapse. Jill will have her own room with recliner and a DVD player when she goes to chemo, she can also take people with her. She laughed when she told me they call the chemo mixtures “cocktails”.  Jill is very comfortable with the new doctor she is working with. A social worker came over to Jill and Bart’s house and talked them through things so that they know what to expect.

 

Jill’s days of tanning are long gone. She has seen 6+ doctors in the past few weeks, and each one of them asked her if she tans. She said yes and they all said that going tanning is the worst thing a person could do. Jill asked the doctor on Friday if she thought that’s what caused the cancer, and the doctor said that she doesn’t know for sure, but she wouldn’t give a tanning package to her worst enemy.  While tanning isn’t necessarily the cause of Jill’s cancer–Jill hopes her story will help others realize the dangers associated with tanning and take care of themselves. I just read an artical on the dangers of tanning and compares tanning beds to mustard gas and arsenic.

 

I assumed that being the type of person Jill is, she l would want to share her story with everyone–but I wanted to confirm that with her before posting any updates. She said she expects me to post everything, and that she plans to keep a journal of her battle, and when this is done she wants to share her story with at high school students. I love this idea as much as I’m sure all of you do!

 

It’s strange how life works. Jill was put on this earth to do something huge. She has made a huge impact on all of our lives. We could all go on and on–but what about all the people who have never met her? Anyone who gets even a little bit of Jill in their lives can consider themselves extremely blessed. When someone is in trouble, Jill is the first person to come running. She has mastered the art of being a saint to her friends and family. Maybe she is just ready to tackle bigger fish and this is the story and the message that will help connect her with more people who can be touched by her. We all wish that Jill didn’t have to go through this–but she made it clear that if God told her she could get rid of the cancer and give it to one of her girlfriends she wouldn’t–she would say no, I got this because I’m strong and I can fight it. I’ll take this and beat it–don’t give it to any of my girlfriends. Typical Jill–completely selfless.

I will let everyone know as soon as Jill goes in for her MRI and the biopsy results this week. At that time we will also know exactly when she starts chemo so I will continue to make frequent updates now that her treatment will begin.

Jill thanks all of you for your thoughts and prayers.