Shana Bearden

11-23-08– Well it has been a little over a year since we found out that Shana had cancer. We are amazed at all that has occured during the last year. On Nov 2, 2007 Shana and I went to Harris Hospital because her stomach was growing so large. We were checked in that night and over the next few days we slowly became aware of the struggle that we faced. At first we thought that she had Ovarian cancer. While that is very bad, it was a well known and treatable cancer. In January of 2008 we spent a lot of time at MD Anderson hospital getting treated for Ovarian cancer. When the treatments did no good, a biopsy was taken and it proved to be mesothelioma of a type that MD Anderson didn’t even treat. I had my heart ripped out when one of our doctors simply told Shana that her cancer was untreatable and that she was terminal. I came to admire her strength and belief in God so much that I wanted to be a part of that and became baptized into the Catholic Church. I remember going to Baltimore Maryland and waiting for 15 hours in that waiting room for some word on how my love was doing. Maybe even worse were the endless days spent in intensive care and being there when Shana’s heart stopped and she went Code Blue. I just think of that time as a single day of many days duration. I remember when my kids arrived to help, how wonderful they were and how protective of Shana and Me they were. I most definantly remember nights when I would read Shana the comments of our friends on this blog and she would cry because she loved her friends so much. I remember one very bad night sitting up and reading the comments to her as people posted them and her urging me to continue reading them to her to block out the pain she was in. There were some nights that I am sure Shana would not have made it but for the outpouring of love from her friends and those who just found out about the blog. That first trip to Baltimore was tough on Shana and the kids. We barely made it on that one.
But we came home. Several more weeks of recuperation and staying around the house. We had wonderful friends who brought us meals from the Middle of November through Mid March without missing a day. Wow! When we went to Baltimore for the first time, a group of friends had pooled their travel miles and Marriott miles and we got a free ride to Baltimore and a free Residence Inn room for two weeks. That saved us thousands and made the time in Baltimore tolerable. Thanks to all of you for what you did.
Then we went back for a second operation on May 20, 2008. This surgery simply indicated that the cancer had spread and seemed inoperable. OUr surgeon told me to take Shana home and to expect to bury her within a few weeks. There was little medical hope she could survive more than a few days or weeks. Thank goodness Shana didn’t believe that!
We returned home and went to our chemo Doctor. This Doctor liked Shana and told her she could live if she wanted to. And she wanted to ….Badly. He started her on a chemo schedule that would stun a horse. For a while, Shana would get sick and be in bed for quite a while and then she began to tolerate the chemo better and with one major setback she has done extremely well with the chemo. Early on the doctor prescribed Urbetux, a chemical designed to turn off blood supply to the tumor, and it put Shana into shock and we had to take her to the emergency room from the chemo clinic by ambulance. That was very exciting.
However, since then Shana has fought back. She became tired of being stuck at home so she started driving again. She began shopping and insisted on cooking for us occasionally. She has rejoined Women’s Guild, her Bunko group and she has completely rebuilt most of our house. She has chemo every three weeks and is usually down for 3 or 4 days afterwards but she then gets up and gets busy again. She is quite a lady.
We had some good news a couple of months ago. A CT test showed that the inoperable tumor in her lower abdomin has shrunk to half its size. We go back in for a CT tomorrow and hopefully, we will hear similar good news. Our surgeon wants us to shrink the tumor by chemo as much as possible before we have another operation so the CT outcome is importent. Shana’s energy is very good and more than a few friends have asked me if we were pulling a prank about her being so sick. I wish we were. Her hair is growig back and she is trying to become a blond again but her hair does not take color well now. I can live with that.
We are going to have to change chemo soon as well. Shana is getting neuropathy from her current chemo and she has tingling in her feet and toes all the time now. We will just have to see what the Doctors prescribe.
So, we have had the longest year of our lives. We are closer now than ever and we have always been very very close. Our daily routines are a little less active than before but we are going ahead with living what life we have and we still look forward to the future. We are making plans for our grandchildre and ourselves. We have had a miracle in our lives that we even have this time and we are so thankful for our many many friends who we know personally and those who joined us on this blog during our worst times. On May 20,2008, when Shana was in for her second surgery, over 27,000 people logged into the blog that day to check on Shana. What a great group of people we know. I have to say that although many people have done so much for us during the last year, Janet Prochaska, Kathy Segreti and Diane Donohue and her girls have done more than any to make our current situation possible. Thanks to all of you and especially to Janet, Kathy and Diane. We love all of you.
So we now begin our second year of living with cancer. I can’t begin to guess what will happen this year. There are so may variables and the possibiliy of a crisis is always hovering above us but we will persevere and along the way try to help others who are simiarly situated. We have found that a number of our friends also have come down with cancer and when possible we have tried to help them as much as we could. At the end of the day, I am certain that while science, effort and caring have helped us keep SHana alive and thriving, it is really the large chorus of prayers on our behalf and the prayers for our friends that has caused God to look upon us kindly so far. Please keep up the prayers and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help others who suffer from cancer. We have to hang in there together.
Jim

I am so blessed to have so many angels on earth. One of them is Cecelia Bradley who is a high school friend of Aprils’. Last weekend she walked the Avon 3 Day in my honor. Not only did she take off Friday from work and give up her whole weekend to participate, she trained forever and raised money in order to participate in a 60 mile walk and camp out 3 nights! I am so proud of her and so very honored that she did this! I can never thank her enough. Only 25% finished the entire walk. Cecelia is a giving and generous young woman and is beautiful inside and out. April flew up for the weekend so that we could go to the closing ceremonies at SMU. What an inspiration it was to see all of the participants walk in followed by the support crew and then the survivors. It made you laugh and cry! We saw a couple of young husbands wearing pink bras on the outside of their T shirts. We also saw T shirts with a squirrel and “Nuts for boobs”, “Save the TaTas” and “Don’t let cancer steal 2nd base”. The total raised was in the neighborhood of 8 million dollars. What an accomplishment. Job well done Cecelia!!!!! I have the greatest admiration for you!

I can’t begin to say how much I appreciate everyone’s thoughts, support and prayers. I pray for you all every night. I am very blessed to have you all in my life. My husband, children and friends have been my rock while on this journey. I love you all. Keep praying - I still have a long way to go!

Shana