{NOTE: This was originally published on Vanessa’s CarePage. We are copying all those posts here to have her story in one place that all can access. We are back-dating the posts to match when she originally published the post there, and are marking the blog post here with Vanessa as the author, as these words that follow are her own.}

Posted Oct 9, 2011 12:07pm

Hello friends! So Jess had baby #3 two weeks ago on Sat Sep 24. His name is Leo V (and yes, the V is named after me!) He is super cute and has lots of really dark hair. He came very fast (Jason called mom to come watch the other 2 boys at 7:40 Sat night, then raced to the hospital with Jess, and Leo was born by 8:20!) I am so excited to have another nephew to play with and spoil! :)

And thank you to everyone who made it out to The SCAR Project last weekend! Both to see the exhibit or to volunteer! It was so nice to see such a good turnout! Did you all see the article about me that Lauren Bishop did for the Enquirer? USA Today picked it up and had it online!: http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/breastcancer/story/2011-09-30/SCAR-Project-shows-raw-reality-of-breast-cancer/50616200/1

So on to me… as you know I did 10 whole brain radiation treatments that finished up last week, so I am finished with all those. They made me very sick at first and needed to go in for fluids because of all the nausea and vomiting. But it got better towards the end.

Then last week Thurs I went in for surgery to have a port put in my head called an Ommaya Reservoir. They basically drill a hole in my skull, then implant a device under my skin that sits on top of my skull with a tube that goes down into my brain, so that when they use it to administer chemo, it goes directly to the spot that needs it. I learned that with regular chemo, the blood/brain barrier prevents the chemo from ever reaching your brain, so with this special port, they can make sure it gets to the right spot. So I think I will start this chemo next week , and I believe it is just a once-a-month treatment.

All in all I am feeling pretty good, just really tired and worn out from the crazy busy SCAR Project weekend and from surgery. The radiation made me lose my hair, but the chemo isn’t supposed to have many side effects, so hopefully it will start growing back soon.

So, last update I challenged you all to Live Sincerely. What are YOU doing to make this happen? I’d love to hear what changes or adjustments you have made in your life to truly Live Sincerely. :)