Not sure if you understand this statement but when you have cancer, every day you beat it is a victory. Your body is at constant war. Today, I pray for my dad’s body to not just win the battle but to win the war. I declare God is in control and He will take on the armor and destroy cancer in dad.

Though this post is mainly about my day… I wanted to tell you because of the activity that I did.

I had a girl day yesterday with my best friends. We went out to eat and then chilled at my house … talking, laughing and playing with Trinity (Jasmine’s little cutie – my adoptive niece). We also had a craft day and Jasmine taught us how to make key chains. Still working on mine! However, it was a blast. It was so nice to slow down (first time in weeks) to really enjoy some fun.

As you know, leukemia is represented by an orange color. Esophagus cancer is periwinkle (light blue). Out of all the colors Jasmine had, I knew what I wanted my key chain to be. I quickly picked orange and light blue (in honor of dad and I’s cancer colors). I can’t wait until I get it finished.

Having cancer changes a person. Before my family’s experience, I would have picked my favorite colors. Now, being a survivor and sharing my hope and faith, has become important to me.

“When times are tough and the news is dark, God can still show up and do something extraordinary that is a great testimony to His faithfulness” … said on Joel Osteen Ministries facebook site

In my soul and heart, I know God is healing dad. Sending positive vibes to all those who need an a little smile today!

Update: Say a prayer for my dad. He has not been feeling good the last couple days. He has been really nausea the last couple days. He also has been having hard time swallowing and his mouth is really dry. Today, he has a fever. Of course, all this is affects of the chemo/radiation. I have faith that these side effects just mean that God is using his treatments to destroy and kill every cancer cell in his body. As I say, if you are feeling the side effects, it just means the treatment is working! Can’t believe it has been two weeks since dad started treatment.

“As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.”

― Emmanuel Teney

Dennis saw Dr. Skinner today and so far things are going fine.  He will see Dr Skinner and the nutritionist every Mon.  till  his treatment is finished.  So far the only symptoms he has is a dry mouth.  Tomorrow will be one week since he started Radiation and Chemo.  Keep the prayers coming in.

Chemo buddies: Friday evening: The family was just finishing up dinner and watching some TV. I got up and looked at my dad. I said “hey chemo buddy, we got to go take our meds.” For the next month, after dinner, Dad and I will be taking our chemo pills together. So I went to my room and got mine. Dad went to the dinning room to get his. We both came back in the living room and took our meds. Of course, we had to give each other high fives. Team Cunningham… we are kicking cancer butt every day. 🙂

Chemo buddies: Daddy and Jennifer

I hope everyones afternoon is going well… I just want to write in real quick that Dad will not be having 33 IMRT radiation treatments. They added on the extra treatments just in case he needs the treatments just in case he has to cancel any. Dad’s radiation doctor assured us that he will only received 28 IMRT radiation treatments. As of right now, Dad’s last radiation treatment will be October 17, 2013 at 12:50pm.

Furthermore, he is now going to get his intravenous chemo done on Thursdays instead of Tuesdays. Reasoning is, Dad works a 4 10 hour shifts Sunday – Wednesday nights. So, he doesn’t have to take off work, we were able to get his intravenous chemo rescheduled to Thursdays.

As far as dad, he is hanging in there. The radiation treatment is making his mouth dry and so he is having to drink a lot more water.

Today is day two of dad’s treatment. Another thought… day two of this battle to fight cancer. Since he has cancer in the lymph nodes by his jaw, he has to wear this mask on his face during radiation. He said it is not very comfortable but he is dealing with it. Luckily, he only wears it during the actual treatment. When he came out of radiation today, he had these little lines (a pattern) of this mask on his face. He smiled when we made a comment on it. I have found that in life, we have to learn to find the bright side of life despite a few clouds. Find your rainbow in life and see all the beauty.

Yesterday, I went to do my blood work for my cancer (CML). Daddy had blood work for his cancer earlier in the day. So I told him we could have a contest on who gave more blood. I won! 🙂 They took three tubes from me and only one from dad. However, in the long term, daddy wins as I only get my blood taken every three months and dad gets blood taken every week while he is going through treatment. 🙂 So I guess we will have to share the honor together!

Hey everyone,

I just want to write in and let yall know exactly what the plan of attack is for Dad’s upcoming treatment. On September 10, 2013, he will start his chemo and radiation treatment at MD Anderson. We are praying that this is going to kill all of the cancer because each time a person goes in for radiation, even though it is in a different area than before it takes a long term toll on the body. So let’s kick butt again and make it the last time for chemo or radiation.

Re-cap:
Dad went to his 3 month check-up on August 19, 2013, in which he had another PET scan done. After the PET scan, he went to the doctors to hear the results. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the results we wanted to hear. The test showed that even though his original cancer was still totally clear (thank you Lord), Dad had a spot on his left lymph node up between his collar bone and his heart area. It also showed in an area up in his left side of his neck. Dad had a biopsy done in the lymph node and it came back cancer. So his radiologist is going to treat both areas and also treat two other areas in the neck that have lymph nodes because he feels they are probably cancer also.

Chemo:
This time the treatment is going to be a little different because it also deals with the jaw/neck area. Dad is going to have an intravenous chemo given to him once a week for 5 weeks. They are going to just put an IV in his arm instead of putting a port in since it will only be 1 time a week for 5 weeks. In addition, Dad will be given a couple different types of pills that also have chemo in them and he will take them once in the morning and once at night for 25 days only on the days that he has radiation. Dad’s intravenous chemo will be given to him at the MD Anderson – Clear Lake..

Radiation:
Dad is going to have a different type of radiation then last time. Last time, he had proton radiation but this time he is going to have IMRT radiation that stands for intensity modulated radiation therapy. This radiation will also be able to pinpoint the precise location of the cancer and beam straight to it taking less chance of hurting his spinal cord. Plus this type of radiation is used more on patients with neck and head areas. The doctor said his saliva gland will be affected so Dad will need to drink a lot of fluids to keep his mouth moist. They are planning on “33” IMRT radiation treatments, which will be at MD Anderson – Downtown.

“When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.”

― Patrick Overton

update on my dad: As you know he has cancer spots in the jaw and under the collar bone. He starts radiation on Tuesday. It will be 5 days a week and will last until end of October. He will also start his chemo treatments on Tuesday. He will have 3 different types of chemo. Two will be different types of pills. He will take them twice daily (five days a week). This will be taken the same days he does his radiation. The third chemo will be given once a week through an IV. This will last five weeks. Team Cunningham is ready to kick butt. Cancer… you have met your worst nightmare as we WILL destroy you. How do we know? God is our team leader and He is more powerful than you. God is our healer and savoir. Go Team Cunningham

Hey guys,

I just want to let you know that Team C will be signing up for Relay for Life soon. It never hurts to start the donation process early. 🙂 More details coming soon.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=60871

Friday, June 13, 2014, 6:00PM
Manvel High School
19601 Highway 6, Manvel, Texas

“Never say that you can’t do something, or that something seems impossible, or that something can’t be done, no matter how discouraging or harrowing it may be; human beings are limited only by what we allow ourselves to be limited by: our own minds. We are each the masters of our own reality; when we become self-aware to this: absolutely anything in the world is possible.”

― Mike Norton