tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33004337003301111432024-03-13T08:13:33.764-07:00Hope for Heddychickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300433700330111143.post-63477129655519954172012-03-21T07:29:00.003-07:002012-03-21T07:49:13.862-07:00Heather is with the Angels NowHi everyone,<br /><br />As most of you know already, our precious Heather passed away shortly after midnight on Monday morning, March 19th. She slipped away peacefully with our family and Chris beside her, holding her hands and telling her how much we all love her. For two years, Heather fought this torturous and relentless disease with grace and dignity and while there are no words to describe our heartbreak, we find some comfort in knowing that she is no longer suffering. <br /><br />We are overwhelmed by the tremendous outpouring of love we have received since her passing and want to assure you, there is no way we could get through this without all of your messages, stories, photos, flowers, gifts and support. Heather is no doubt smiling down on each and every one of us and feeling all your love from a beautiful and peaceful place. <br /><br />Memorial services for Heather will be held on Friday, March 30th at 10am at St. Michaels's Church at 469 North Street Greenwich, CT. There will be no wake or viewing hours in advance of this service. In lieu of gifts/flowers, please make a donation to either The Heather Hickey Fund via this website or The Bendheim Cancer Center at 77 Lafayette Place Greenwich, CT.<br /><br />With all the love in our hearts,<br />The Hickey Familychickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300433700330111143.post-21431495646781977762012-02-22T15:16:00.002-08:002012-02-25T14:14:15.361-08:00Update on HeatherHi everyone,<br />While it hasn't been long since our last update, a great deal has transpired in the last three weeks. I know there have been a lot of questions about Heddy's condition so I want to briefly let you all know what's going on.<br />After Heather's PET scan, we were told the chemo was not working as well as they hoped it would so she stopped receiving treatment in early February. She is now in hospice care at home with our family and Chris by her side. Our priority is to keep her as comfortable as we can.<br />We would like to thank you all for your love, prayers, donations and support; it means more than you know...<br />Courtneychickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300433700330111143.post-13821628738703317932012-02-12T09:19:00.000-08:002012-02-12T09:26:23.912-08:00Apology...Dear Family and Friends, <br />I want to send a quick email to apologize for not sending a note sooner, I will send a more thorough update as soon as possible. <br /><br />lots of love to all!!!!!<br /><br />-Heather<br />xoxoxchickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300433700330111143.post-53160336927130149812012-02-01T08:03:00.000-08:002012-02-01T08:30:26.817-08:00At long last... some good news!Hi everyone,<br /><br />It's Courtney, Heddy's sister, writing to give a brief update on this week's appointments. Heather is in the throes of a pretty brutal chemo round and doesn't feel up to typing but she wanted to make sure everyone got the news we received this week.<br /><br />We met with Heather's oncologist on Monday to discuss the results of her first follow up brain MRI since the gamma knife surgery. We had been told not to expect any drastic results (it can often take months to see changes) so we went in simply hoping not to get any more bad news. I am so excited to tell you all that ALL eleven brain tumors have "shrunken considerably" and there is no more swelling anywhere in her brain! Also, there were no new lesions seen on the scan! As you all know, it has been a rough couple months for Heather dealing with increasing pain and discomfort, pneumonia, side effects of various medications and what felt like constant bad news so this couldn't have come at a better time. <br /><br />As always, I speak on behalf of Heather and my family when I say THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for your constant support, words of encouragement, gifts, donations, prayers and positive energy. We will take every little bit of light we can get!<br /><br />Heddy was disconnected from her chemo today and will hopefully be feeling a little better from that with each new day. She will have a full body PET scan next week to see if the treatments are working to kill, or at least stabilize the progression of, the lesions in her body. We will keep you all updated. In the meantime, let's all hope this break in the clouds is the beginning of a new trend!<br /><br />Thanks for reading... <br />Lots of Love, <br />The Hickey Familychickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300433700330111143.post-238381733712207932012-01-17T15:04:00.000-08:002012-01-17T15:05:12.006-08:002012...Hello all, <br /><br />Well, I made it to 2012!! I can't say that it was an easy road getting here, but in any case, we made it. I have had many ups and downs over the past 2 months both emotionally and physically and i'm just hoping and praying to god that we've turned a corner and things can only be a downhill battle from here on in.... <br /><br />Quick update on my health condition... I went thru the Gamma Knife procedure (as most of you already know), at Yale on December 12th, and unfortunately I will not have final results about how the procedure worked until I meet with the physicist on 1/30/12.... The waiting is a bit of a drag, but I suppose it's best to let them take their time and really evaluate the results so I know exactly what I need to do next during the next round of treatment. More or less what the doctor told me is that the gamma knife procedure is the last option for radiation therapy to the head before they need to actually break open my skull and remove surgically the tumors that they CAN remove. There are 11 tumors in total, and 3 of them are too close to the center of my brain to operate on, so those would unfortunately need to just be "watched" for the remainder of time they are there and hope and pray that they grow at a slow speed which would give me more time... As for my overall health and well-being, it's been very very difficult. The chemo regimen they have me on this time is much more difficult this time than the last regimen, which has caught me completely off guard. I know this may sound odd, but I'm dying to get back to work. Any job will do at this point, I just desperately need some mental stimulation and I can even tell while I write these posts that my brain capacity is diminishing slowly. I've also become totally unmotivated which is incredibly frustrating to me. I can't even clean my room!!! <br />Unfortunately I hate to admit that I'm feeling terribly depressed these days. I don't even remember the holidays, i'm not allowed to drive anywhere or go anywhere on my own which is SOOOOOOO unbearably frustrating and I'm not sure how much longer I can handle it. Not to mention that I had to go back on the steroids for my headaches and so i've gained back the 35 pounds and look like a big bald strawberry yet again. <br />most of my life is basically spent in frustration, and all i do is continuously ask God "why me???" I don't understand why this is happening to me, BUT, I'm managing to keep my spirits up as often as possible. <br />I am trying to keep positive thoughts and attempt to keep my calendar filled with little activities or parties here and there so that I don't totallly lose my mind, because we are getting pretty close to that happenining. Needless to say, this is on-top of the insurance companies beating down my door complaining they don't have enough information regarding my "pre-existing condition", which is just another HUGE hassle. <br />SO, enough of my whining and complaining... I know there are people out there who are struggling much worse than I am and I shouldn't be such a crybaby. I know that with all of the love and support I'm receiving from all of you, its helping me to survive. I just hope I can get back to my normal life sooner, rather than later... <br /><br />As always, I have to thank my family... especially my mother for looking after me like a hawk every day, feeding me, driving me, spending time with me... it's nice to have her with me. I always have to thank and send love to Chris for always supporting me and putting up with my craziness and multiple personalities... I dont know how you do it, but I love you honey. Also, thank you SO much to Chris's mom for taking care of our beasts of dogs while I'm not physically able to... thanks Annette, love you. <br />Thank you to my sisters for their constant support and for always making me laugh, and to Dave & Dad for taking the time to come and visit and let me know they're thinking of me. it means a lot to me. <br /><br />My next doctor's appointment is not until next week which will be my next round of chemo, assuming my white blood cell count is high enough to move ahead which might be iffy because i have been suffering with this horrible pneumonia, so hopefully that will be all cleared up in a week, i don't want this treatment process to be held up any further. once i have any results from any doctors, i will be sure to share them. <br /><br />i appreciate all of the support i continue to receive from everyone out there, family, friends, acquaintances and strangers alike, it all really means a lot to me. Keep the prayers and encouragement coming because it helps me remember why I'm here fighting this insane and difficult fight to begin with. <br /><br />Will be in touch with more soon... <br />xoxo<br />Hchickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300433700330111143.post-71205650207644090532011-12-01T17:31:00.000-08:002011-12-01T17:40:32.413-08:00Better days are up ahead... We hope...Dear Family and Friends, <br /><br />Hello!! It's been about a month or so since I last posted an update on my condition and my apologies for not posting something sooner... it's been an incredibly rough time for me and my family and we're doing the best we can to get thru it. I have a tough time talking about everything that's going on, so that's why I'm going to keep this post short and just update everyone on what is going on with my medical condition and really try to keep the emotional stuff to a minimum... <br /><br />Please bare in mind that I did have radiation to my brain recently, so I'm a little braindead and forgetful so if my facts don't seem to add up, that's why. <br /><br />So I have since started the new chemotherapy treatment that is treating the cancer which has spread to my lungs and I found out yesterday that it has also resurfaced on the outerpart my liver. This new chemo has been incredibly difficult for me to handle. I had to miss a week because my white blood cell count got down so low(it was a 1.6 at it's lowest and the normal person should be above a 14). So, because my count was so low, i had to have a booster shot for 2 weeks in a row to get my counts back up so that it was safe for me to have the chemo. Yesterday my count was a 14 and I was able to go ahead with treatment. The side effects of this new chemo are NOT fun. The nausea is much worse, and I get a horrible runny nose while I'm being infused so I spend the 4 hours that I'm being treat blowing or rubbing my nose with a tissue. Not fun. <br /><br />In addition to having chemo this week, I had a few twists and turns and right hooks that I wasn't expecting. <br /><br />Today, I went in for my post radiation MRI to see how or if the brain radiation treatment worked and unfortunately, it did not. The tumors on my brain have not changed in size and in one or two cases, the tumors actually got bigger. Great news... In addition to that I have been suffering from extreme pain in my right thumb for some time now, and i just put it to the side because i was told that it was most likely tendinitis from texting too much, when in fact, it turned out to be another tumor that grew and broke my bone. So, that was fabulous news. Tomorrow I go and start a 5 day radiation therapy on the tumor and then they hope that the bone will simply repair itself once the tumor is gone. THEN, because of that obviously I'm concerned that there is the possibility that there is more tumor in my bone I mean, at this point why wouldn't there be?!! Nothing worse could possibly happen in my opinion. So, I'm going to have my right hip and shoulder x-rayed for safety purposes because they have been giving me great discomfort and my doctor wants to err on the side of caution and I guess I can't disagree with him. <br /><br />The next piece that is something that is weighing on my mind very much is the next steps for treating my brain.... The doctor gave me one option, and that is something that is called Radiosurgery. This would entail them drilling 4 holes in my head and attaching kind of like a Frankenstein type device to my head to hold it in place and then radiating the largest of the tumors or those that have not changed in size and are the ones that are causing swelling in my cerebellum and are of the biggest concern. This "surgery" will last about 7-8 hours in total IF it is done here in Greenwich... There is a possibility that I could do this procedure at Yale, so I have a consultation on December 12th to decide which is the best place to have the procedure. The procedure would be much shorter if I am able to do it at Yale, but we're not sure if they can get me in before the holidays. My doctor does not want me waiting that long. <br /><br />This all being said, I am still struggling with if I want to go ahead with this procedure at all. I asked the doctor what would happen if I don't go ahead with it and he said that my tumors will get bigger, my headaches will get worse, and eventually I will die. So, this is my last option... <br /><br />I hate to write such a morbid post but unfortunately, that's just the way things are right now. Of course you can imagine how much this is all weighing on my family and I feel horribly that I have to put them thru this especially during the holidays, but I'm so thankful to have them. And Chris as well, he's been such a rock and I couldn't ask for a better partner. I have to thank my mother for moving in and taking such good care of me. I don't think I would be able to keep up with all of my medications, bills, appts, etc... I wish I had the money to pay her but unfortunately, I lost my job and that's another stress that I can barely even begin to talk about... so I won't go there for now. <br /><br />I think that I've pretty much summed it up here and if you didn't already have a black cloud over your day, well you do now!! HAHA, just kidding. But I want to say that I appreciate everyone listening and reading my updates and continuing to follow my progress. Well, follow my condition anyway, I don't know how much progress there has been. <br /><br />I know I've been really bad about keeping in touch with people and I apologize for that, but please know that not one note, gift, facebook message, donation, or phone call has gone unnoticed. I think of all of you and YOU are what keeps me going and keep me thinking straight and that I CAN do this. I WILL do this. <br /><br />Please keep me and my family in your thoughts and prayers this holiday season, we could really really use it. Thank you to everyone for your continued support and love and prayers and I will post another update soon, and fingers crossed, there is better news in that update. <br /><br />Lots of love to everyone out there, thanks for everything. <br />xxoo<br />-H chickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300433700330111143.post-78552238650604607192011-10-16T08:27:00.000-07:002011-10-16T10:48:35.185-07:00Weekend updateDear friends and family,<br /><br />Happy Sunday! I am currently laying in bed scared to death to get up and move about because of the tiny mouse i saw creeping across the floor last night while watching 48 Hours Mystery. You'd think that nothing in the world could frighten me at this point, but the site of a tiny critter in my living room is horrifying, go figure. <br /><br />I have had a pretty relaxing weekend otherwise, still trying to get used to my medication schedule, eating schedule, and sleeping schedule all while having at least 5 people around me at all times. Yesterday I woke up from a nap listening to my mom and sister discussing my sleeping position and if they should wake me so i didn't get a headache (which they did). I know that it's only because they care and want me to be comfortable, but let me tell ya, when you have a cancer patient who is in deep restful sleep, you don't want to wake them for ANYthing in the world. I shouldn't complain though, my family has been more than amazing thru all of this and I have to be entirely grateful to them for everything they do and are doing. I guess I don't realize how tough this is on them as well, and I should be more considerate of their feelings. <br /><br />So, tomorrow I head into my first FULL week of radiation. I will be getting a major haircut either tomorrow or Tuesday in preparation of the big "fall out". My biggest fear is the loss of my eyebrows and lashes... I can't imagine what I will look like with botched brows, but I will make it work I suppose. There are a ton of clinics and lessons on how to fill in the missing spots, and of course working in cosmetics that also gives me a few tricks up my sleeve i think I will have to pull out at some point. Regardless, I think it will certainly be a learning experience!<br /><br />I will keep this update short and really I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm hanging in ok and that this upcoming week will be tough I'm sure, but I am feeling confident and in good spirits as I head into it. I will of course do my best to keep everyone updated on my progress as I make my way thru the week. <br /><br />As always, I want to thank everyone for their continued support and encouragement. The texts, Facebook messages, flowers, food drop offs, and of course donations to my fund have been unbelievable, and I'm seriously without words of appreciation for all of the support I've received. I apologize that I can't write back to each person who reaches out to me individually because I would if I could, so I just want everyone to know that without all of your support, I honestly don't think I would be staying so positive, and I would probably fall into some deep dark hole of depression, so that being said, I hope you understand the extent of my gratitude. <br /><br />So, to wrap it up, I just want to say thanks, very simply. I don't think I could ask for better or more support. Thanks most importantly to my family for staying by my side thru everything, and to my honey Chris for being the most patient and understanding person ever. Love you all. <br /><br />Thanks and I will post another update soon! <br />Xoxo<br />H<br /><br />P.S. Sawyer I miss you.... :(chickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300433700330111143.post-28914110312402362342011-10-11T18:38:00.000-07:002011-10-11T19:15:15.926-07:00Update on MRIDear all, <br /><br />I know that many of you have been sending texts and best wishes for the MRI I had this morning. I thought it was probably best if I shared the news with everyone now that I know and have a plan of action in place with my team of doctors. <br /><br />So, after having the 30 minute test I was informed by my nurse that it would be approximately 3 hours until I got the results back from the radiologists because they needed to do a 3D version in order to see all of the tumors there were. And, the number of tumors was quite alarming...<br /><br />The neuroseurgeon informed me that I have a total of 7 tumors on my brain. 3 ttumors the size of golfballs were located in the cerebellum (or back portion of the head), 2 are located on the frontal lobe, also both golf ball sized, and the last 2 are located in the center of my brain in a section that is in-operable. <br /><br />So for now I will remain in Greenwich Hospital getting IV steroid injections to reduce the swelling in and around my brain due to the tumors. Tomorrow I will meet with the Radiology Specialist doctor who will come up with a plan for radiation therapy that should start immediately. <br /><br />I want you all to know that even though this is quite possibly the worst news I could have ever gotten in my whole life, I'm keeping my spirits up and staying strong thanks in most part to all of the love and support I've received from each and every one of you. And I want to take a very moment to give a very special thanks to my friends Jill and Krista who took time out of their very busy schedules to throw me an amazing fundraiser, it was truly the best event ever, I love you guys. Also a big thanks to everyone who showed their support that night came out that night, friends and stangers, you're all amazing and I appreciate it more than you know. <br /><br />Finally, I want to thank my family for hopping on planes to be here by my side and hold my hand thru all of this. I don't know what I would do without you, honestly. <br /><br />And last but certainly not least, I have to thank my boyfriend Chris for never, ever leaving my side. For forcing me to come in and get the tests before it was too late, for always staying strong in front of me and never shedding a tear, and most of all for sleeping on the tiny cot in my hospital room every night. Thank you honey, I love you more than you know. <br /><br />So, to everyone out there thanks for the continued support and encouragement, and of course for all of the prayers... Keep them coming, they will be needed more than ever now. <br />I will post another update soon. <br />Xoxox<br />-Hchickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300433700330111143.post-200641020972645232011-10-10T16:47:00.001-07:002011-10-10T16:47:34.506-07:00Update on Heather 10.10.11Hi everyone,<br />It's Courtney writing with an update on Heather's condition as a lot has happened in the last few hours. Heather asked me to let everyone know so you can keep her in your thoughts and include her in your prayers tonight.<br />Heddy had been suffering from some pretty intense headaches for the last couple of weeks that became unbearable over this past weekend. Following her doctor's orders and her own gut instinct, she went in for a scan of her brain earlier today. Unfortunately, the scan revealed tumors in her brain which have been causing significant swelling and subsequent migraines. She was admitted into the medical oncology unit of Greenwich Hospital this afternoon and will remain there indefinitely. She will be on steroids overnight to reduce the swelling so they can get a better view of what's going on in her brain when she has an MRI tomorrow morning at 730am. Only after the MRI will they be able to determine how many tumors there are, what areas of the brain they are growing in and how large each of them are. Following that, her doctors will meet to put together her treatment plan which will most likely begin immediately. As I am sure you can imagine this is all pretty overwhelming for her but in typical Heddy fashion, she is smiling and laughing through all of it.<br />Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers - she needs all the love, hope and positive energy we can give her right now.<br />I'll post an update when we have more answers... thank you to everyone for all of your support.<br />Courtneychickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300433700330111143.post-56334910072022147472011-09-09T13:55:00.001-07:002011-09-13T15:53:51.537-07:00Hello!!Dear Family & Friends,<br /><br />Hello!! It's been a very long time since I posted to this site, in fact, I took the site down for a few months so that's why if maybe some of you have been looking for an update, you haven't been able to find it! I apologize for my going MIA there for a while, but I'm back and ready to share my latest news with everyone.. <br /><br />On October 7th of this year, it will be the 1 year anniversary of my surgery. It will be a bittersweet day for me because last year on that day I could say that I was cancer free... this year however, I cannot. <br /><br />I know that there has been some false info spreading around about my condition, the severity of it and what not. So I felt it was time for me to let everyone know the real story of what's goin on with me! I am sorry I haven't done it sooner... <br /><br />After a few blissful Big "C" free months went by, I had a scan in the end of May and my oncologist found some "areas of concern" in my left lung. She said that she wanted to wait and scan me again in 4 weeks before making any 100% diagnosis to me. <br /><br />4 weeks later I went back and sure enough, not only were the "areas of concern" still there, but now they had grown and multiplied into full blown metastases, or in laymen's terms, tumors that had spread from my originally diagnosed cancer. Of course it is a bit of a shock to me because I thought that I had beat this thing and I was moving on, but after reading and having more conversations with my oncologist and my internist, I understand that it's not abnormal for someone with Stage 4 Colon Cancer to see a recurrence within 12-18 months of the original diagnosis, and typically it either resurfaces in the liver, or it moves to the lung. So I guess I can say that I'm right on track with statistics! <br /><br />What is most unfortunate about my situation however, is that my tumors have strategically placed themselves across both the left and the right lungs, in such a way that it is impossible for them to remove them surgically. Now, most doctors and medical journals say that the only cure for cancer is surgery, and that chemo doesn't cure cancer it only shrinks the cells that are present at the time of treatment. This of course, is incredibly discouraging information for me because then that would mean the only hope for me anymore, is the chemotherapy. <br /><br />My Oncologist told me that the cancer is growing very slowly, I guess that's good, and that is normal for cancer cells spread to the lungs to grow at a slower rate. Her recommendation is that I begin chemotherapy immediately to prevent any more growth or spread of the disease, however, I have decided to wait, and have another scan on September 23rd to see how much more these little tumors have grown [right now they are only about a centimeter each in diameter, the largest is 2cms in diameter], and then I will decide when I want to start having treatment. <br /><br />As far as my life outside of this disease... well, it's been quite a busy 6 months... Courtney and Kevin got married in May and that was a fantastic event with all of our family there! I surprised even myself by being able to pull off a maid-of-honor speech in front of 200 guests. I am so happy for C&K and love them both and wish them all the love and happiness in the world. I have just started a new job in NYC with a large cosmetics company doing marketing and brand management again, so this is a very exciting new challenge for me. This is one of the main reasons why I am trying to hold off on starting my treatment because I really want to enjoy this success right now, because I'm not sure I will get it ever again. <br /> <br /><br />Thank you so much to my friend Jen for helping me to repost this site so I can continue to communicate with you all. Jen, you're the best, love ya! <br /><br />And thank you to everyone out there who continues to support, encourage and pray for me. I will need it now, more than before, as I attempt to battle and beat this disease a second time. I hope that I am able to keep my spirits up, but when you keep getting knocked down, it's not easy. Thanks to my family and most importantly to Chris, for always staying by my side. <br /><br />Love to all and I will update you all again soon, <br />xoxo<br />Hchickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3300433700330111143.post-83552701448343615022011-09-09T10:24:00.001-07:002011-09-09T10:39:49.581-07:00I'm Back!OK, my blog was out of whack for a bit there, but I'm back. I unfortunately had to start from scratch, so all previous posts are below in one ginormous post (with some glitches), but all posts going forward will resume as normal. Thanks for checking in...<br />xo<br />Heatherchickeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08081683495585298128noreply@blogger.com1