Happy New Years!!! o:)

Well, another year ends, and with it a ton of other endings too, like  the end of the "end of the world" stuffs,  and the end of alot of worry for those who really were not sure what to believe anymore. For me, it was a year of regain,   regaining alot of what I lost, and regain  more health. It was a year to finally hear "all-clear" from my doctors, a year to find out I am cancer free. It also is a year of confusion of what all I had as a whole,  how it all  fits together, and if it all was related or a harsh cruel coincidence of health issues. Either way,  Im taking back my life and running with it. I am calling the shots and looking forward to more happy days filled with  laughter and smiles.

I hope the best for all of you this coming year, and may it bring you all good health, more love and hope, and faith in "self" to keep going. I hope this year finds you all surrounded by friends and family and all the support from near and far to help you live out your life in full and with great success in goals and wishes. If 2012 was a doomsday year, then let 2013 be the year for success in health, prosperity, renewal, love, friendship, answered questions of health with cures, another birthday and the optimism to continue seeing more.

May all your goals and dreams come true this new year and may all the cures be found for all illnesses soon. 2012 had many great finds for cancer research, and I hope 2013 continues that pattern and I hope they get those findings in use soon to save more lives NOW.    Make this new year a year you all  ask more questions for yourself or loved ones living with cancer. Some questions can save lives, and it could be your own it saves if the answer is your doctor saying "lets order up a test to check something". That test could find a new protocol to treatment that can result with that one day when your doctor tells you that you are cancer free. I hope those of you living with cancer now  get told that this new year.

I know its politics that force the hold on such findings for years until they are "accepted" for use, but I suggest for an option program, done using waivers of full liability for some things that can help someone today.  I'm not a politically outspoken type, in fact I strongly dislike political talks as a whole, because it only feels to me as arguing over debating points of opinionated views, and that is just not my wish on how to live my life with happiness. I cast my vote privately and leave it at that, lol. I just felt it would or could not hurt to suggest the option idea for some things such as tests that would otherwise not harm anyone if it was wrong, since there are always second opinions to seek.  I have dear friends who get political with me in chats that I  force change of subject all the time, so that's what stemmed this explanation I think, lol.

Well,  my last post of 2012, and I hope it finds you all with smiles and good health. I want to thank you all for being a great inspiration for me to keep going, keep fighting, keep living and helping however I can. We are all a big team for healthy living, and more birthdays. I hope all the best come your way and this new year is filled with good news, better health, and more smiles.

Happy New Year everyone, may it be the best love filled year for us all.
For the last time  in 2012,  I now say...    "Bye for now"      *big new year hugs*    be safe and be well!

Love you all!    ~Jennifer Wolf  o:)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!!

Another Christmas celebrated with family and friends, and for me too,  another birthday!  Many ask if I get presents for each or one for both occasions. My answer is always,  it does not matter whether I get one or two, or none, because time spent with loved ones  is gift enough to me and that is one of the great wonders about Christmas time for me. I have been given a ton of gifts simply from my doctor saying a few words that included "all clear". I have been able to regain alot of my life back this past year, including walking without need of holding on to things, I feel better most of the time now, and I get "sick" much less now, meaning I am eating a lil better and keeping my weight at a more healthy level.

I am now treating AIH, Its another mess, but even that has shown some improvement from where it was when they upped my meds after docs decided to focus treatment on that rather than begin a chemo schedule to rid of such high risk of cancer returning or developing elsewhere. I am on watch now with blood tests every other week, and scans every few months. Chemo is still an option if relapse occurs of course, but that's in case, so for now I am staying optimistic about remaining cancer free. I am doing my best at living life to the fullest, and will continue so in 2013.

*laughs to self* 
The doomsday ppls were wrong!!, lol,  just had to say that,   we live,  we will continue to live, and I had no doubts we would see another day, lol. But Ill not say I was not prepared for a disaster, because I am, but then again,  I do live in California and I am well prepared for emergencies like a big earthquake, lol. That goes without saying here in Cali, lol. Sadly many ppl don't ever think ahead and never prepare things for "what-ifs". So the earth didn't go boom in a hail of fire, lol,   which I laugh at since they said that. I mean,  it isn't going poof by fire ppls!,  its gonna be glitter!,   geeze, lol  :P

Ok,    I got that out of my system,   lol.   Well,  my brother's b-day had come and passed,  he is now  older than he was, which was already old, lol.  I will  be 27 this Christmas, yay!,  then  comes  new years,   yay again!  I love this time of year, and I truly wish all the best to all of you. I hope for the best this coming year, and I pray for those families who had hard times this year and will now journey into the next year with remaining hurts.  To those I send my heartfelt hugs to.  May you all remain surrounded by love and keep the strength to find your smiles again (speaking mainly to the sandy disaster victims, both storm and school, and to those who lost loved ones to cancer and other means as well)

To all you reading this,  I hope you the best this holiday season, and may your hearts be filled with love and your life filled with happiness. Keep the hope that one day a cure for cancer is found.  Thank you for reading,  be well ,,,bye for now   *hugs*   o:)

Marry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!        o:)

Is My Cancer Different?

A question I have asked, and to be honest, I still don't have a full scope, "big picture" answer of all I had and survived but I made it through because I was a big part of my care team. I do know, asking this question does make a difference. When I asked, I had yet to discover there was a Facebook group with the very question as their name. For me the answer has been different, and now with an "all-clear" status, I still wonder what the true answer overall for me is now, knowing all I know now of what I now live with and have been treating. This group is one of the great resources that I feel many doctors, surgeons, nurses and every cancer patient should be part of. Every cancer case IS different, just as every treatment is different. To follow on one liver cancer case to see how it would turn out, would scare anyone. I know this to be true. I am one case of liver cancer. And my case is by far, very different, very rare as two doctors have told me on both ends of my journey.  I have shared posts from this group in my Facebook, and I do hope it reaches some people, who will share it with others, so that one day, this question will land on the lips of someone who is just diagnosed asking his or her doctor, and will remember hearing of this question in the past.  It just may be the question to trigger a lifesaving test, that otherwise the doc would wait on in favor of "lets see how things go from here". Perhaps this test may find something that will change a misdiagnosis, and find a more critical path to take to treat the patient who asked "Is my cancer different?".  When you think of all the little things that can change outcomes,  and think how "voicing" your concerns can push your oncology team to explore all possibilities of your case, it sure becomes a major contrast of the opposite thoughts of not saying anything at all,  being silent, never asking,  never getting that extra  minute of your doctors' time to think of what it can be, never  giving chance to spawn a thought in his or her mind, perhaps of another case sounding  similar to yours, triggering that inner voice the doc has that can create the decision to order that yet unknown critical test to eliminate any possibilities in search of all correct paths to properly treat your case.

I want you , the reader,  to take one minute, and think of a moment in your life, one instance in your life, where you later wished things would have evolved to a better result, and you know, now, that  had you  asked a question, or even said something to change that moment, things would have turned for the better.

Think of something close that fits this?
  ...  I know we all have at least one moment in our lives like that. And if you don't, then I honestly wish you continued success in having a perfect life, lol.  We all  wish  we had such a life, lol,  but the truth is,   we do have regrets, big ones, little ones, insignificant tiny ones, and most have got over the event and carried on, with life.

Now think about this scenario....
   ...you have been diagnosed with cancer, and the doc says its a common type, but you feel it don't fit what he says but you are so distraught from the news at the moment, you cant conjure the words to ask, but in the comfort of home you do a search on your diagnosis online, what you find are the many symptoms that don't exactly match yours, but you find that another type within the same category of your diagnosis has more similarity as all you been feeling. Now on follow up (or perhaps you call in to say "Im coming in to see my doctor now, fit me in, Im on my way!"), you choose to ask, if your diagnosis is  different to other common cancer diagnosis. Your doctor then asks you what made you ask, and you explain. With this explanation your doc orders another test, and that test finds something that was missed before, something that requires immediate treatment. Your doc later on says how lucky you are to have asked about your diagnosis and you have a good prognosis based on catching it just in time.       ...just in time.        Think about how things could have turned out had you stayed silent, and not asked.  It sure would not be another event in your life that you would simply get over and carry on from.

This site has many great resources and links to other resources to help inform everyone, patient, caregiver, the curious, and give tons of info that can help anyone find the right paths instead of freaking out uninformed and newly diagnosed (I was one).

     * Being informed
              is the first step
                    to fighting cancer! *


 That goes for anyone, even if you dont have it and luckily never do. Perhaps you will be  the one to know, help, love, or even be the caregiver for another who will go through cancer. You can make a difference.

Read, share, post, copy/paste to every email as a signature if you have to,  this link...http://ismycancerdifferent.com/

Here are more links for more info from the site directly that can help you, and/or to spread awareness:

5 Must-visit sites when your diagnosed with cancer

When diagnosed, as soon as possible, ASK THESE QUESTIONS

Share this with those you know who have just been diagnosed, share all the links too ;)

If you can, print and post this up, use your imagination to spread awareness! It can save a life! o:')

Thank you for reading and sharing,  *hugs* Be well.
    Bye for now!    ~Jenn  o:)

my little insight on the subject of "Caregiver burnout" , and how it can be avoided, along with the article my post was inspired by.

I read this article (link here and at bottom of this post) that spoke on ways to avoid burnout as a caregiver of cancer patients.  So I chose to share it on my FB timeline and here as well. It is a very big concerning subject and hit home for me in a big way. I hope this helps others as this can bring awareness to the needs of caregivers of all cases of illness assistance. Caregivers  need caregivers too!   They are lifesaving angels  in my eyes, and even angels need angels.      o:')

 Posted on my fb Nov 29th  2012...

 This is a very good article on the health of caregivers. I know how hard it has been for my best friend, I know how hard it could have been if she did not have the help of my older brother and many others who have helped her, help me. Physical health is very important for caregivers as is the social and mental health. Many times, I heard her crying in her room, many, many times, and most of those times were during times I could only wish I could simply get up, go 

to her room, and hug and hold her, tell her "its ok, I'm ok, things will be ok.....". I know her life changed just as much as mine has, a great sacrifice of all she knew as normal in her own life, to care for me. At one point I had to insist she return to work, because she was home, 24 hours a day, leaving only to go to the store during times my nurse came over. She was becoming paranoid and ironically, this occurred at a time I was feeling a little better after my last major surgery. She did return to work part time, and had me send her email texts every half hour, to be sure I was ok. To this day, I still send her emails twice a day when she is at work. Understanding of concerns caregivers have is of great importance, for it is only them loving us that they worry so deeply, and they need that love back in return in any way possible. So understanding even the crazy little things they need/ask, is the least anyone can do to show support for a caregiver.

Burnout is very easily done in even less extreme cases. I hope this article reaches all who are assisting, caring for, living with and watching over someone battling cancer, or any other illness requiring assistance for that matter. Caregiving is one of the most wonderful, selfless acts of love. They need just as much support as the one they care for too. If you know of anyone who is a caregiver of someone battling for their life, give support to them, even if its a hug, or to offer to grab something at the store while you are getting your own groceries too. Anything small can be a great help to caregivers as it can be that one small yet necessary thing they push themselves to do, that may bring them closer to a burnout. And that can be, by example of my observation of my best friend over these past four years, "caregivers becoming very sick" (overwhelming situations and extensive emotional hardship can weaken the immune system, allowing harsh flues and colds to overtake caregivers), "caregivers going thru emotional breakdown and/or crying throughout the night" (in the past, during times my results of tests/scans were not as good as hoped, or my loss of appetite and I could not eat, became too weak to go to the bathroom on my own, or falling too many times when I tried to go on my own, or me sleeping excessively or not at all due to pain, etc.).   ...

There is so much I could go on about my observations of what she went thru. I hate the few things that she had to deal with on top of everything else, and that was my stubborn choices, my own hard moments of coping, and mood swings. I know I was not the easiest person to be around many times, and I wish I was better able to cope better, but I know, much was from medications and fears and well, the deeply dark thoughts one can have in the absolute darkest hours of coping, or better described as failure of coping on my part. Drastic actions and stupid things that went on, ....... I just wish I was never sick at all to have made her deal with all that. But she got thru it and brought me thru it all.

Now Caregivers are not only those who physically assist the sick, but those who give emotional support, or simply talk, chat, spend time with someone who is needing to talk/chat during times of late hours, or times when the main caregiver is away at the store or at work. I can name many, many people who have fit such a role for me, some in even the greatest way of support thru love as well. I owe a great deal of my survival to them too, as they took over where my best friend went to sleep (or tried to), or went in to work, or to the store. Panic attacks don't have a schedule and the need to talk to someone can happen at any time, therefore, I consider many of my dearest friends online, as caregivers. Many times panic attacks were silent, unseen and unmentioned to those on the other side of online chats, and little do they know that they just saved me from a hard long sleepless night deep in fear brought on by otherwise unstoppable thoughts of every "what if" scenario of upcoming tests/scans, or the anxiety filled "wait" for the results afterwards.

I hope this post finds all in good health, and if you know of anyone who is going through a hard time while caring for someone, please do help if you can. Caregivers need as much support as those they care for.

Share this post to anyone you know who is caring for someone, and let them know they are not alone, and so very appreciated, no matter how things may seem/look, or sometimes seem as if the care is refused. Denial and coping is a hard deep dark place we go through at times in our battles, So caregivers take alot of circumstantial abuse in such difficult times.

Thank you for reading.  *big hugs to all*     ~Jennifer C. Wolf o:)

How to Avoid Caregiver Burnout: 7 Tips for Caregivers of Young Adult Cancer Patients and Survivors by Emily Drake on huffingtonpost.com