Liz is a Survivor

END OF CHEMO PARTY (:

2010-07-21T09:32:00.000-05:00

Today im doing my 3rd to the last chemo and started getting overwhelmed with where and how many people am i going to invite. So many people have been extremly suportive towards me and im afraid if i do it alone me and my mom will leave sombody out. Thats why if you have been walking through thi journey with me and would like to come to my party email me at lizardbyrd@yahoo.com (:

Update on Liz

2010-06-29T11:38:00.000-05:00

It looks like Kathy and Liz caught the infection just in time...her doctors believe it was going to turn into cellulitis (which was what she had the last time her leg was infected). She was treated in the hospital over the weekend and discharged, but is now back in the hospital to resume chemotherapy. Please pray for both of them as they stay in the hospital until Friday with this round of chemo. I can only imagine how sick they must be of being in the hospital! There will only be four more chemotherapy treatments after this round!!! Praise God!!

Pray for Liz

2010-06-26T19:43:00.002-05:00

McKenna here....updating Liz's blog. She is being admitted to the hospital right now because her wound from her surgery is infected again. Please pray with us that the infection goes away quickly. I'll keep you posted (unless Liz can find someone to hack her through the hospital's proxy system which keeps her from her blog's website for some weird reason).

She is down to the final FIVE chemo treatments and then she will be done with chemotherapy! She is working very hard in physical therapy and is able to bear weight on her leg, which is really exciting!!

jordyn lizards favorite cuzin

2010-06-02T11:56:00.002-05:00

Hey everybody!!! Its Jordyn, lizards favorite cuzin. As what i know she is doing perfectly fine... im glad!!! i am with her right now at her house visiting her with my very helpful grandma that takes care of liz mostly everyday. Liz has had 13 chemos and has 7 more to go. She should be done towards the end of July. She plans on starting school the same time as everyone else and she seems really excited about it! All she can talk about is going on her make a wish cruise. Im jealous i wanna go. (: Well liz is gonna curl my hair now so see ya later!

day with lizzard my love -juliaa.pelaezz( :

2010-03-21T02:03:00.000-05:00

hey hey hey,

its Julia here with Liz helpin her update this blogg thingy mabober! Well so far that i know Lizzard is doing great. shes going in on Monday to figure out what day she starts chemo again, but all in all lifes pretty good. Today she got to hangout with some pretty good friends at cassy's casa for cassy's "suprise" birthday party. It was pretty funn i have to say, and i think Lizz enjoyed being able to just kick back and relax with friend. Now Lizz-a-Byrd and i are looking through pictures about to start some scrap-booking and at the moment shes talking on the phone to Cole, Jiovany, and Cody.

well i think we should start scrap-booking now considering its 2 a.m!

love ya lizzard, juliaa.pelaezz( :

Pray for Liz

2010-03-09T11:18:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone,
I just got off the phone with Kathy (Liz's mom) and the surgeon is concerned that Liz's leg may be infected. They are admitting her to run labs and cultures and she will begin antibiotics and iv fluids. Kathy and Liz both asked me to update you all so you can pray that she does not have an infection and that if there is an infection it will respond quickly to the antibiotics. I'll keep you all posted. Thank you! McKenna

Popsicles & Pain

2010-02-27T22:51:00.001-06:00

Right now my friend Cassie and I are relaxing after a long day of rock band. She is spending the night and we are planning on going to church in the morning. My surgery went well as McKenna said in my last blog. The pain is manageable with the exceptions of a few tears every once in a while. (: Im absolutly OBSESSED with ICEE popsicles from SAMS. I eat so many a day, its unheathy haha but i could care less... It helps the pain (;

Surgery Complete!

2010-02-17T12:35:00.002-06:00

McKenna here. Just wanted to get a brief update out that Liz had her sugery this morning. It was bumped up from tomorrow to today. She is in recovery right now and the doctors think everything went well. This was a very extensive surgery, so continue to pray for Liz as she heals from this surgery. She will be resuming chemotherapy on March 4th. Thank you for your continued prayers for Liz!

SLUMBER PARTY!(:

2010-02-13T02:00:00.000-06:00

Im having my first sleepover at my friends house since the whole cancer thing started. Its my first night away from home or the hospital, haha. My mom was being so precautious about staying up too late, but i dont care because so far im having A LOT OF FUN! (: elise and i made a video to ymca.. pretty funny! while ceci sat on the phone. MUNSTER(: well im gonna get off to watch a movie.

p.s. I LOVE ELISE MY FUNYON SISTER FOR LIFE :D

Praising HIM!!

2010-02-05T11:53:00.001-06:00

This is McKenna, Liz's sister-in-law. Liz is in the hospital starting her final chemo round before surgery and the hospital doesn't let her into blogger to post blog posts for some reason. I think it has to do with "proxys?"

Anyway, there is wonderful news that just can't be wait to be shared! Liz met with the surgeon this morning and he has decided that she can have the limb salvage surgery and avoid amputation!! We are all so excited and thankful right now. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for Liz as she finishes this last round of chemo before surgery. She will resume chemo a couple weeks after her sugery. The surgery is scheduled for February 18th. Praising Him!!! ~McKenna

Okayyyyyyyy..

2010-02-04T00:50:00.000-06:00

I went in for chemo Friday after my AMAZING 3 week break. I was having a great time in my friends hospital room with my new cancer buddies Paige, Darling and Jonathan, when they came to get me for my dumb old scans. Me and my mom were worried because they were supposed to do them after my chemo. She talked to my nurse practitioner and she said that it will not make a difference. All of that went well as far as i know. So i got my chemo and was out Monday night. Tuesday i just sat at home pretty nauseated. Yesterday i got my last scan and ended up feeling good enough for church. Today im planning on going to my schools bball game and im so happy to finally see then play again (:

Everyday i miss my school more and more. If i felt good enough, i would be there all day EVERY day. The decision will be made next week about my surgery. Im very nervous...

Please pray that i will be able to control how nervous i am and keep trying to take this one day at a time.

Bad news,,,,,

2010-01-15T13:48:00.000-06:00

My grandpa has been very sick and in the hospital for a long time. I just found out he cant breath on his own and he was put on life support and they dont think he will make it through today.. Pray your hearts out for this man that means the world to so many people..PRAY.

Bad Chemo

2010-01-13T22:32:00.001-06:00

So last thursday i went in to get cisplaten and doxo and I'm not going to lie that was pretty horrible!!

I was nauseous the whole time and I couldn't sleep because..well you know hospitals.. :)

I came home from the hospital Sunday night and I still haven't fully recovered from that chemo I've been very tired and nauseous for the last couple days. Tommorrow I go in for my weekly checkup and im hoping everything goes good so I can come home and sleep after!!! :)

I'm going back in in 2 weeks for the other drug that I don't get so sick on :) There is a week in between before I get the same drug again. In the week in between I am getting scans done like I did in the beginning to find out my response to the chemo! sooooooo... in about a month I will find out what kind of surgery I will get, then there thinking towards the end of February I will have my surgery.

Right now I'm about to watch SUPERSTAR with one of my bestfriends Cassy because I've never seen that movie!

This weekend is going to be pretty boring because I'm going to be neutrapedic, but next week I should be feeling pretty normal I know im taking a couple of my best guy friends to church with me for the first time so that will be interesting!! :) :)

Keep praying!! I'm glad I have so many supportive friends and family :)

Today my grandma told me something that i really thought was interesting she said that childrens prayers are the most important. Keep that in mind :)

Blogging...........................

2010-01-04T01:30:00.000-06:00

YaY!! First chemo therapy cycle done!!!! I start again on Thursday. I have been feeling so good thanks to my amazing friends. They have been giving me the energy i need to have fun. Really i have just been spending tons of time with them and my brothers. So far i havent ever felt bad at all besides once when i had a pain below my chest. No worries the doctor said that its just a muscle. [ Amanda Loves Lizbeth ] <-- that was amanda!

So basically im doing really great and im sosososossoooooooooo gratful that i have such good friends and family to be with and help me feel halfway normal [:

E.R. !!

2009-12-12T23:54:00.001-06:00

I woke up Friday morning and i had a sore throat. Before all this cancer came up i would wake up with a sore throat like everyday so i thought nothing of it! I went to my school to hangout and take Cassy food and i felt totally fine all day! Then i went out to eat with my mommy and i started getting the chills. I also noticed that my teeth ached along with my head. Im dumb and think whatever i can handle it so i went to to my schools play " Little Shops of Horror." The whole time i had the chills and i was achy. So i left after the first half of the play and went straight home! I took my tempature and it said 99.5. My nurse told me i must come in if my temp. was 100.5 or higher. So my mom then told me that the thermometers that are under your arm you have to add a 1.0 to whatever it says.. so i said well let me take it again. So i did and it was 100.3. My mom called one of my doctors and said go ahead and come in. So we did and when we got there my temp. was 101.8. So they they took some blood then put medicine in me and made me wait about an hour to make sure i didnt have a bad reaction. I didnt so they let me go home. They said if i hadn't gone to the clinic Thurday, and my counts wern't so high they probably wouldn't let me go home. But they did :)

Healthy Me!

2009-12-10T23:59:00.001-06:00

So I went to my Monday checkup and my counts were back up! Then i went to see my surgeon <-- (spellcheck) and i got my big black cast thingy off! He said i can actually walk on it a little if i want. But just like a couple steps.... like to the potty :) He also said he perfers crutches over a wheelchair. On Wednesday i went to youth with a couple of my bestfriends and also saw a couple close friends there. It was really great to get out of the house since I've been cooped up forever. I also went wig shopping with my Grandma and sister-in-law Mckenna! Today I went to my Thursday checkup and body checkout from my doc and found out some pretty good news. Since my counts are back to normal so fast i dont have to go in for my checkup till next Thursaday when i start chemo again! Yeah i have bad news kinda sorta.. my hair started falling out Tuesday! Blahh im shedding like a dog :)
So right now im hanging out with one of my bestfriends Cassy and we are watching Up! I dont see how so many people think its sad?? Tommorrow Im going to take Cassy lunch and just hangout at my school for a couple of hours. Saturday im going Christmas shopping then to the movies with some of my bestfriends. Keep my grandpa and uncle in your prayers and add my moms close friends baby who was born this Friday with a hole in her diaphram. :) Love ya!

She's home!

2009-11-28T19:28:00.004-06:00

McKenna here...Liz got home yesterday (Friday) and has been pretty tired and having some nausea. She'll update when she's up to it, but she's doing a lot of sleeping right now. Some trivia knowledge for ya'll while you wait for her words...look up "Just Stand Up" in youtube to see why she picked this song for her blog. :)

Update from McKenna

2009-11-26T21:57:00.004-06:00

This is McKenna, Liz's favorite sister-in-law. :) She is not able to access the blog from the hospital due to internet security issues, so she asked if I'd pop in and let ya'll know what's been going on. She had an audiogram and PET scan on Monday and an echocardiogram on Tuesday. She was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday and began her chemo treatment around noon on Wednesday. So far, so good, with just a little bit of nausea. She hasn't had much of an appetite today, but was craving some flaming hot cheetos when I left the hospital tonight. They are giving her lots of good drugs to help with the side effects of the chemo drugs, but those have their own side effects, so she's pretty sleepy. She is being so positive and has such a great attitude. I know she's not excited about having to go through this, but I haven't heard one single complaint from her (and she's had plenty she could complain about!) The plan is to go home on Saturday and she will be home for two weeks, and then have three straight weeks of chemo.

She'll be updating her blog in her own words soon! Keep the prayers coming! She is very grateful for all of the prayers being said, the comments being left, the visitors stopping by, and the text messages sent. I am so proud to be a part of Team Liz! She has some pretty great people fighting this with her!
PS: The comments issue that some of you were having is resolved! Sorry about that! :)

Still a Shock

2009-11-20T15:27:00.001-06:00

Hello again! Well as planned, I got my chemo port put in on Wednesday. I did make it to church Wednesday :) On Thursday I met with my new doctor. She went over all the details with my parents while I visited with a 15 year old girl who is almost a survivor of ~~sarcoma~~ ! She is almost done with her journey, so keep Audrey in your prayers!

The plan for now is to start chemo this Tuesday. So what I learned from my new doctor is the layout of chemotherapy. I have to get two cycles. Thats about a 10 week thing. I will have breaks in between treatments so i can feel partly normal :) After those cycles, depending on how well the cancer reacts, will determine the type of surgery I have to get. I will either get a limb salvage or an ~~amputation.~~ After that, depending on how everything goes with the surgery and the first cycles of chemo, that will determine the length and intencity of the next chemotherapy cycles.
Monday I am getting a hearing test and a pet scan. Tuesday morning I'm getting my heart tested. Then I'm guessing I get my chemo. Please pray that the medicine will kick in fast and I won't throw up! Ughh thats the worst! They said to expect for me to be in the hospital for 3 to 4 days.
Well good news right now is my family is celebrating Thanksgiving on Sunday! Today I actually went to my schools lunch and got to see my amazing friends. I also got to visit with my boyfriend. I dont know how he does it but he is so understanding. I'm really trying to take life one day at a time. It difficult because I have a long life ahead of me. Still going into this I get more nervous everyday. I'm trying to stay positive and it helps so much to see how everyone is reading my blog and praying for me. Thank you SOOOOOO much! I think the best thing I'm going to get out of this whole journey is a way stronger relationship with God, family and friends! Keep me and Audrey in your prayers :)

The Start..

2009-11-17T10:46:00.000-06:00

So Friday November 13, I found out that the doctors were 99% sure that I have a cancerous tumor below my right knee. They believe I have what they call Sarcoma. So I had a surgical biopsy yesterday November 16, and they were right on! So they are going to send it off to a lab today and should get it back by the end of the week. So I am staying at the hospital tonight and I will get a chemotherapy port tomorrow during the day. So hopefully I will be attending church Wednesday night! They are expecting to start my chemotherapy next Monday.

Well, besides that, I have some pretty great news! They caught it super early. You couldn't just look at my knee and see somthing is wrong with it. Most people come in when it majorly sticks out. Oh, and the cancer has not spread to my lungs!! That's great news! I am also very young and EXTREMELY healthy.

So going into all of this, I am a little scared but mostly anxious. I know with all the great support I have been receiving, and the power of God with me at all times, at the end of this long journey I will be able to call myself a cancer survivor :)

Keep me in your prayers!