Its time to give up and move on, his father is gone, his mother is gone, there is nobody else left so leave sleeping dogs lie.

Wonder why the battery cables were not finger printed? Seems that would be a key indicator.

Don’t forget to come down to the Buffalo Bar in St. Joseph, MO this coming Saturday for a benefit fundraiser to help with our medical costs! The doors will open at 2 PM. There will be food, drinks, music and a silent and live auction. It will be a day full of fun and activities so plan to spend the day….or for a few hours to help out!

I want to add a couple more special thank you’s to my previous list…I did not mean to forget you! The first one is to Chet! Chet is Beth’s husband and is the man behind the scenes! He is always there to help Beth out in the endeavors she takes on and this one is no exception! He never asks for recognition and never seems to complain….at least I’ve never heard him! He has a huge heart and does what he can to help! He has been working very hard to secure some special items for the benefit auction that I’m sure will please everyone! Thank you Chet!! You are in my heart forever!

I would also like to thank Don Richardson. He has graciously agreed to be the auctioneer for the benefit! Don and his wife have both been very generous to Jim and I. They also spent an extremely cold April day overseeing an auction for us a couple of years ago. It had to have been the coldest April day on record and yet they spent many hours weathering the cold to help us then too! I apologize for that Hat…a moment of insanity….or perhaps the cold got to my brain!!! Thank you both for your kind hearts!

While neither Jim or I will be able to be there…please keep us in your hearts and prayers! Please know that we will be forever greatful for all your support…and hope to repay the kindness in the future! God Bless each of you!

Here it is Saturday…an​d almost gone at that. I’ve been terribly bored today! No company to help pass the time….makes me really miss being home! If all goes well though I should be home by July 4th! YIPPEE!!!

I​’ve been thinking of my family and friends a lot today….I have been so blessed! I want to thank my husband Jim for everything he does! He has taken on a huge burden with me being down here in Arizona and never complains…o​nly tells me to not worry about anything. He continues to keep his business going, working long hours some days. Then he goes home and takes care of the home stuff he can…mowing, gardening, taking care of the posies…I love my posies…., the house, my puppy Sasha, and everything else. Then he is also working on helping Beth and Tracy with what he can for the Benefit for next weekend since he won’t be able to be there. He never complains to me…only tells me not to worry about anything….t​hat he loves me. I love you, Jim, with all my heart and know I could not go through all this without you. You have been by my side since the day I found out Branson was missing and you have never given up on me! You are my strength, my rock, my everything!​

I want to thank my son, Phillip! I am so very proud of you! You have gone through so much and yet you continue to amaze me with your strength and determinati​on! You are the light of my life!

I want to thank Beth and Tracy for taking on this benefit for me that will be held next weekend….an​d opening their doors to the Buffalo Bar where it will be held. I can’t begin to know the hours they have spent on it so far, nor the added stress it has caused in their lives….but I appreciate every bit of it with all my heart. I value your friendship beyond what words can describe! I also want to thank the three bands that are giving up their time for it. Thank you to Borderline Country featuring Casey & Bruce, along with Scott Alan Perry and Erin Hatcher. I also want to thank everyone who has helped in any way to make this possible…I can’t begin to know all your names, but know that I do appreciate everything you are doing!

I want to thank my family….Mon​a, Terry, CL, Nikki, Tymrie, Randy, Paula, and Mama. They all pitched in when I left to come down here and planted my garden and posies, knowing how important it was to me to be able to have both. They have stepped in so many times since I’ve been down here in one way or another by helping Jim mow or weed eat the yard (all 3 acres of it!), weed the garden….and replant where needed…..ch​eck on my posies….and keep my bird feeders filled so my hummingbird​s don’t leave and go down to Randy’s!! They are all pitching in with the Benefit in one way or another….Th​ey are the greatest and I have been truly blessed to have such a close family! I LOVE YOU ALL so much and miss you very much. I just received a call from them….seems they are having a cookout….ha​ving a great time…all without me! Makes me want to pack my bags right now and head north! LOL!

I want to thank Linda….you have spent thousands of hours throughout the years keeping Branson’s website up to date. You have constantly found ways to keep his story in the public’s eye and in turn have helped many families like mine in the same manner. You have become a voice for us and have crossed barriers that we could never have dreamed could be crossed. You are a true inspiration and I love you!

I want to thank my extended family at United Way of Greater Kansas City! One could not ask for a better place to work! I thank you for all the cards…the emails…the flowers…and everything else! Each one brightens my day more than you can possibly imagine. I have never worked at a place that I enjoyed so much as I do there. God gave me a great blessing the day David hired me…..few people can truly say they enjoy not only what they do for a living, but also where they do it at….I can! I miss you all so much and can’t wait to be able to return!!

It​’s just been a day for reflection on my many blessings in life! Tomorrow, I’ll give another health lesson! LOL! I love and miss you all!

It’s Monday again! Time just has a way of flying by sometimes. Last week was great! Jim left as usual on Sunday and it was just Mama and me. It was great spending time with her. While I thoroughly enjoyed it, I think she was getting pretty bored…even though she said she wasn’t! Mama is very active and is use to working in her yard or garden when she doesn’t have things to do inside. Here there isn’t a whole lot to do outside. I came out one morning after my shower and found her washing the windows! And I don’t mean the insides!! She had one of them off the track and was cleaning the outside…but wasn’t able to get both sides to come off!!! If we were on the first floor I’m sure she would have been out there cleaning them all. She has a very difficult time not being busy….LOL!

We didn’t do a lot…mainly get up….go for our walk….fix breakfast….visit….go to my appointment … come home and eat …. take a siesta …. Visit …. sew or read …. and visit some more. I’m not the adventuring type so we didn’t go see the town. It was nice just spending time together….we don’t do that much anymore. I hadn’t realized how much I miss that. It also helped Mama to see where I’m staying … How I’m doing … and what I do here. I know she has been very worried and she left with a sense that I’m doing very good.

Jim came down again on Friday evening. We didn’t have any place particular to go this weekend, so we went to the farmer’s market and walked around for a while … stopped at a couple of garage sales …. Then we went in a store called the ‘Land of Aahhs’ that I drive by on the way to the clinic. The name fascinated me and I really wanted to check it out. It is like a consignment store and there were many things that made you say ‘Aaahhhh’! Some not so…but more like ‘WHAT is THAT’!! LOL! Very high end on some levels….and very ordinary on others. Unique is what I would call the store.

Jim and Mama left yesterday to go back home. It sure seems quiet here now. I guess I don’t have an excuse for writing updates now. With Mama here, I just didn’t feel right about spending time on the computer. It will be two weeks now before anyone comes down.

Jim is planning on staying home this coming weekend to help in any way he can for the benefit fundraiser my friends are giving on the 19th for me. He had already booked flights for the weekend of the fundraiser so he won’t be able to be there for that and wants to help as much as he can prior to it. If you have anything you would like to donate for the auction, please let me know! Anything for it would be appreciated!

One of my brothers told me about an article they heard about on the news recently about a new drug they are trying to get approved by the FDA called ipilimumab. Some of you may have heard the news story already. Too funny if you ask me….it works by blocking the T-cells that is one of the causes that keeps the immune system from working correctly. By blocking them then it causes the immune system to work better. It can have some serious side effects with it though and can even be fatal…but they believe that it is worth it even if there are some fatalities….because it is showing some very good signs of being affective with Melanoma cancer. Research is proving you MUST have a good immune system to survive it.

Then if that is true…why create a drug to do this? A drug that can cause more problems in other areas….so you can then take more drugs to fix that…..and then more….. Why not fix the problem in the first place….by building the system up and not covering up the problem by blocking how something should function. I do know the answer to that though….MONEY! The FDA nor the medical society can profit on ‘natural’ cures. They cannot put patents on ‘natural’ remedies. True, what I am doing is not really natural in the whole sense, but yet it is as they are only giving me natural remedies….vitamins, minerals, blood, oxygen, etc. They are giving them to me in high doses and intravenously, but they are of natural substances. No chemicals, no altered concoctions….nothing that will cause me ill effect later. Only things that build my system up….only things that build my immune system so it can fight naturally. Once it is built up, then it will continue to stay built as long as I take care of it.

All of it just makes me so angry….so many people suffering…..and for what expense? Jim got in the bills for my one day treatment that was done for my last focal radiation….just to give you an idea….it was over $70,000. That was only for about 5 hours. That wasn’t a cure for anything. That was only a re-active treatment to an illness. That was still leaving 2 places in my brain that would more than likely need to be treated down the road and wasn’t addressing anything that was in my body. What I am doing here does cost a bit more than that…but….I am getting 8 weeks worth of treatment here for that price! Here, they are addressing my entire body. True, there are no guarantees it will work…but then again, the radiation wasn’t either….it was only fixing one at a time….and new ones kept developing. With this, I am having very minimal side effects….with their method, who really knows the long term of it all…But, with this I have a much better chance of survival with a healthy mind and body and chance of complete recovery….with their method…well…like I said before…they had only given me 6 months. I can literally feel the difference with this treatment. The three tumors I had felt under my skin….they are much smaller…in fact I can barely feel one of them now….I can no longer feel it when I rub my hand over my skin….I have to actually press in to be able to feel it and then it is very small and difficult to find. I know it is working!

So why won’t insurance cover it? Because it can’t be approved by the FDA…because they can’t have a patent put on something considered ‘natural’….I ask why? MONEY….. If treatments like these actually cured cancer patients…and not just cancer but many illness, then there would be so much money lost to doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, etc…GRRRRR….I just get angry….!

I apologize for the tangent! I’ll be better with my updates again now! Until the next one….have a GREAT day! God Bless Each of YOU!!

Well..here it is Tuesday already! Time flys by….Jim and Mama got here around 7:30 Friday night. They were exhausted…I was exhausted…but so glad they were here! Jim had called Moses…the cab driver…before they left KC and he was at the airport to pick them up when they got into Pheonix. When they got here, Moses wasn’t even in his cab. He had picked them up in his personal car! He wasn’t working as he was on vacation, but didn’t tell Jim that when he called. What an incredible person!! Again, he wouldn’t take any money for the fare and even invited us to his house for supper. We had to take a rain check as I already had supper fixed here for them.

We got up Saturday and drove up to the Grand Canyon. I thought Sedona was a site to behold….I can tell you that the Grand Canyon doesn’t even begin to compare! I can not begin to describe it in words and our futile attempts of the pictures we took….although they are much better than the Sedona pictures….Jim brought down our good camera…..cannot begin to show the grandness of it all. It was absolutely breathtaking and beyond comprehension! I will post pictures on my facebook as I can post so many more there than I can here if you want to take a look.

If you have never been there, then it is one place I would definitely suggest you make a trip to see. We didn’t go to the area where the walkway goes out over the canyon, but instead took the drive up and around the canyon. There were many places to stop and look out over the canyon. I would say it was a 25 to 30 mile drive all together. We drove part of it on Saturday and then spent the night at Grand Canyon Village and got up Sunday and finished driving around. I could have stayed much longer and hopefully Jim and I will make another trip this way so we can. Would love to do some hiking and perhaps go to the bottom sometime.

Sunday after we got back, Moses invited us to have supper with him and his family. It seemed pretty bizzare that Jim’s cab driver really wanted to have us for supper…but we went. It was a very enjoyable evening. It started with us getting there and he had a home movie playing of a wedding from his country of one of his neices. Very interesting how they celebrate. It is a constant celebration and dancing for three days. We watched it until supper was ready and then ate. Their custom is for the husband to fix all the plates. Once he served the food, he said grace, and then we ate…he told stories of his coming to this country and how they came…the greatfulness his family has for this country….and how he believes in giving back to anyone he can. They were truly amazing people. It was a wonderful evening.

Yesterday, Jim went back home….Mama and I spent the day being very lazy! We watched Meg Ryan movies all day. Some I’ve seen, some I hadn’t. Still haven’t some as I would doze in and out all day! LOL! Such a lazy day! But it felt good.

Mama and I went out for our morning walk already and now getting some breakfast. Will be time soon to head out for my treatment. It’s been a wonderful weekend and I have to tell my wonderful husband THANK YOU! It was wonderful! I LOVE YOU!!!

Good Morning Everyone! Today is Friday and I’m so happy! My husband, Jim, will be here this evening again and he is bringing my Mama with him!! She will be staying with me this coming week! I can hardly wait….

I found out why I was having some ‘issues’ after my treatments again. They had double my dosage of the ‘liquid gold’. Wednesday I went in and told them how I had been feeling. While Paul was ‘hooking’ me up, Edna came in with the gold. Paul asked her if she used 5 and she said she used 10. He said that he was going to back it down again since I had some issues on Tuesday. I said not to waste it, that I would go ahead take it…way to expensive to waste! Paul asked if I was sure and I said…you bet! They went ahead and gave it to me and I only had mild fogginess with it on Wednesday and no problems again yesterday.

The doctor also came in yesterday before I got ’hooked’ up and wanted to look at my blood again before I got started. I went into his office…he pricked my finger….and….well this might be better told in a dialogue format….to the best of my recollection…

Doc: Your blood looks much better. See how it pools now and wants to run?

Me: So it is thinner now?

Doc: Yes…Last time it just bubbled up and wouldn’t run. This is how it should look.

Me: That’s a good sign then…

Doc:
(Puts the blood on the slide) See how it looks on the glass?

Me: Yes…it looks all watery though

Doc:
(Laughs) Yes…again that is how it is suppose to look

Me: Ok…another good sign!

Doc:
(Puts the blood under the microscope…Looks for a while…then comments) You aren’t normal..

Me:
(What does he mean I’m not normal!) Excuse Me???

Doc: You know you are not normal
. (He is still looking in the microscope)

Me:
(Now I’m thinking that he is referring to my whole journey with my cancer…that I was way too healthy so far to be having Stage IV cancer….so I go along with him) I have been told many times in the past that I wasn’t (I left out the part that my family has always said I wasn’t! LOL)

Doc: No…this isn’t normal. I have never seen anyone’s immune system kick in so fast and be working like yours is already. Look….
(He turns the monitor so I can see it too)

Looking on the screen, my red blood cells were moving very fluently. Two weeks ago, they were barely moving. Most were in a very defined circle….last time they were very irregular shaped. They now had a good solid membrane around them that showed a halo effect around half of each one….last time there was no halo effect and the outer edge was very thin. The white blood cells were almost three times the size of the red ones and looked like fireworks were going off in them….so much activity! Last time, they were barely bigger than the red cells and you could see very little activity. Between the cells there are black areas…these should be black…the last one showed that these black areas looked as if spider webs were running all through them….now…they were almost all black except for a couple of small areas that looked faded. Two weeks ago, you could see all kinds of what he calls food particles and candida moving in the black areas as well. This time, there was only small amounts of the food particles and very little candida that he could find. The pictures did look like night and day with each other. Before it looked as if many of the red blood cells had ‘exploded’, the edges looked very spiky and now they are good solid circles. My blood is definitely improving it’s quality and looks as if the immune system has kicked into high gear! He seems to be totally amazed!!

So I asked him what happens when the treatments are finished. How will my body keep the immune system they are building. He said that’s the beauty of it all. The body learns how to live with it’s environment. Once the system is built up, then it will know how to keep it there with only minimum maintenance from me. He said it didn’t get where it is at now overnight. It gradually deteriorated for one reason or another. But once it is strong again…it will know how to stay there….unless I really abuse it!

He told me that to survive Melanoma cancer you almost have to have a healthy immune system. It’s one of the few types of cancers that requires a healthy system to be able to truly fight it. He gave me several names of doctors who have done extensive research in the field, and found that until the immune system is very strong, the cancer can still spread to other areas. That is the nature of Melanoma. It is very unpredictable…can attack any area or organ….and is very random as to where it goes. It searches for weak areas….When the system becomes healthy, then it can’t spread any more….and with the correct treatment and a healthy immune system the areas currently there will die off and the body will flush them out normally…leaving you healthy.

So after all this exciting news….and finding out that he doesn’t think I’m normal either….geez…I think I am getting a complex!!….I asked him what he thought my prognosis was. He hesitated a moment and said he thought I would make it…but that it really wasn’t important what he thought….that it was what I thought. I said I did believe I would. He said that is what mattered….because if I didn’t believe, then my chances would not be very good….but from the evidence he is seeing….it all looks good!

I believe prayers and attitude are the primary healing forces here….that the treatments they are giving me are only the tools in which the prayers are working through. Please continue to keep my in your prayers…please continue to believe!

Can’t wait for Jim and Mama to get here!!!!

Had quite the thrill tonight! I’ve been walking a mile in the morning and in the evening. The drive around the complex where I am at is a little over ½ mile. I make two laps around it each time….next week hope to do three laps and keep working my way up. Tonight as I was nearing the finish line, I saw a bottle in the street so I picked it up and took it to the dumpsters. On my way back to my place, I came across a snake slithering across the street! Geezo, if my heart rate wasn’t up after the walk…it certainly was then! It wasn’t huge…only about 1 ½ feet long and ½ inch around….but definitely too big for me! A girl was coming out of her place when I screeched and when she found out what it was…she yelled! Too funny! She said she has never seen a snake around here…she gets on the phone and tries to contact maintenance…no luck…tries a couple of other numbers…still no luck….then another girl comes out….she tells her about it….and that one says…’no big deal…it’s just a snake! It’s time for them to start getting more active‘….I thought the first girl was going to lose it! So the snake is still slithering around and the first girl is just sure it is going to end up in her place! LOL!! I should be pretty safe since I’m on the second floor!

Treatments are going pretty good still. I am still having some issues with the ‘liquid gold’ they started with me last week. Yesterday I didn’t seem to have any after effects, but today, I needed to stop by Wal-Mart for a couple of things…go figure!…and before I left there I started feeling ‘strange’…..a bit disoriented again. I thought since I was ok yesterday, that I wouldn’t get anymore of them….wrong! They told me that these are normal reactions to the treatment…that depending on where the tumor/s are it can affect people in different ways. The disoriented feeling is usually felt by all. Some people may experience more drastic sensations…such as temporary vision loss or blurriness…temporary muscle weakness…etc. The episodes won’t usually last long, but a bit freaky none the less. It is caused from when the treatment is working on the cancer and causes some swelling. This is all a GOOD sign as far as the clinic is concerned as it lets them know it is working. Once the swelling occurs, then the bad cells within that area can be attacked much easier…killed…and flushed out of the system. So as freaky as it is…I say ‘bring it on’!!

The treatment I want to share with you today is the IV Phosphatidylcholine. I receive this one every other day. Phosphatidylcholine consists of essential phospholipids from soya that are specially formulated for intravenous administration. Phospholipids are extremely important components of cell membranes. The integrity of the cell membrane is critical to the proper functioning of the cell. As the cell ages the phospholipid composition of the membrane changes and the cell’s functions deteriorate and it loses its normal shape and elasticity. Eventually the cell dies and is destroyed by the immune system. Damage to the cell membrane, and thereby aging, is thought to be mediated by the actions of highly reactive chemicals referred to as free radicals. The damage caused by free radicals must be repaired in order to preserve normal cell function, and in order to do so, the cells need an abundant supply of the essential phospholipids phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholic acid. Lipostabil Phosphatidylcholine contains these important phospholipids and other essential nutrients that allow cells to repair damage and restore youthful function.

While Phosphatidylcholine is also referred to as lecithin the IV formula is again, much greater concentration than that which you can take orally. It has many purposes, but for me, along with the obvious uses, it is being used to help stimulate my nerve endings. They told me they take the longest to heal. Since my surgery over a year ago, many of you know that I still have problems with my left side. You could take a knife and cut me down the middle…everything on the left side has been effected. Whether it is from scar tissue from the surgery or damage to the nerves because of the surgery I don’t know. It has a very numb feeling…I can’t distinguish hot and cold…and can’t tell if I am walking on carpet or tile. I am already noticing improvement. My torso feels normal most of the time now as well as my arm to my elbow and my leg to my knee. It goes back to feeling numb when I get tired….but it is so strange to have normal feeling most of the time! They believe that I will get full feeling again!! What a true blessing that will be!!