Last 2008 Update from Michele...

With many hopes that 2009 brings happy news to Michele and her family...

"I am more excited for 2009 than I have ever been for any other New Year celebration! I am so excited to close out the trials of 2008 and welcome in what I hope will be a fresh, healthy and wonderful New Year in 2009.

As I reflect on all that went on in 2008 I am amazed at all the challenges we have all been faced with this year and how strong we are because of it! Yes, this was a challenging year for the Fowles family ... and some of us joke about the "Fowles Curse" because at times it has seemed like it's one thing after another. However, our faith and the support of all those around us has not only helped us get through this year, but we kicked butt this year!

Today I received my 2nd treatment. My first treatment was 3 weeks ago, 12/10. I am 90% sure at this point that I am getting the drug in this clinical trial, not the placebo. After my first treatment I got sick every three days and when I got sick on Christmas day I didn't completely recover from that. My stomach was still very upset this morning when I went in for my second treatment. When the nurse checked my abdomen today, the left side is very tender from the inflammation in my intestines and I wound up getting sick during my treatment this afternoon. In addition, I was flushed and achey during my infusion today which is another side effect. The nurse told me that based on what she is seeing, she thinks I am definitely getting the drug, which is bittersweet. Of course we were all hoping and praying that I would not be the placebo, however I am unfortunately experiencing one of the side effects that is at risk of becoming very serious and can result in hospitalization and potentially being dropped from the clinical trial. Because of this, I need to be very careful with what I eat and how far from home I go in case I do wind up needing to be hospitalized. At this point we are still hoping this won't happen. I am a bit concerned, but I trust that my doctors, nurses and I will all be proactive enough to prevent this from turning into anything serious.

Another update that is somewhat comical now that it's over is that my garage door is now fixed as of this afternoon! For those of you that don't know, my garage door opener broke three weeks ago today and I have gone through an unbelievable run around trying to get this darn thing fixed. I wound up having a new garage door opener installed today, but for that past three weeks I was manually opening and closing my garage door. For a while, this required me to get up onto a ladder to pull the garage door down and lock it. Well on Sunday 12/14 after celebrating Christmas at my father-in-law's house, I climbed up on the ladder in my dress coat and heals and pulled the door down, engaged the lock, and went flying backwards off the ladder. I wound up tearing a ligament in my ankle and chipping a bone in my foot. After an ER visit and a visit to the bone doc, I wobbled away with an air cast and a brace, but was able to avoid a cast and crutches since my life isn't exactly conducive to that at this point. Good news is I should be all healed by the end of January!

So, as we enter 2009, I may have a messed up foot and ankle, but I am cancer free and am now in the calendar year that I will be reunited with my husband! And that my friends is something to toast to!

Happy New Year! May God bless all of you and bring each of you the peace, love, health and joy that I plan on having in '09!
-Michele "

Doesn't it just give you the goosebumps??? :D