Ashley's Blog

Ew!

fredchick09 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:43:09 +0000

Ew, sooo yea, I smell really bad! HAHA! I need to go shower, I hope people still read this thing, not so they know I smell, but I try and say things that people would understand. READ THE BLOG PEOPLE!!!

Sorry everyone

fredchick09 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:29:22 +0000

Hey everyone, sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written to you, I almost forgot what my password was. But in the time that I have not written to you you’ve missed alot, first off, Vinny and I are done unfortunately, he found a new girlfriend which is b.s. because he was all ew relationships eww! soo, yea and it ended semi-messy that I don’t really want to talk about. I haven’t really talked to any of my friends from school and it makes me sad, and I don’t go back until Sunday that that sucks extra. A boy that I have ALWAYS had strong feelings for left for the Air Force Monday and he didn’t want to see me, it would’ve been nice if he told me that instead of me going to his house to say good bye and getting my heart put in a blender. I guess that really isn’t a lot of things that you’ve missed out on, I guess because of the toll it took on my mental well-being it seemed like a lot. So, I have to go fold laundry now, I shall write to you fine people tomorrow now that I remembered my password. Always, Ashley

Scholarship Citation Page

fredchick09 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:57:10 +0000

Works Cited

American Cancer Society. “Mesothelioma: Tests, Diagnosis and Treatmeants.” WebMD. N.p., 8 Sept. 2009. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. .

Amgen. “Treating Cancer with Chemotherapy.” Chemotherapy.com. N.p., 2008. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. .

Erstad, Shannon. “Radiation Therapy for Cancer.” WebMD. N.p., 2 Nov. 2007. Web. 18 Nov. 2009.

Tug for Tots

fredchick09 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:34:58 +0000

Happy dreary Sunday everyone. Today was a soroity fundraiser called “Tug for Tots” where teams of 5 pay $10 and go play tug of war. The team that I was on, the heaviest girl is like 140, so we were seen as the underdogs. But the last 2 teams to tug of war was my team and an upperclassman boy’s team, of course we lost but hey, second place for underdogs isn’t bad at all

James O’Conner Memorial Scholarship Post.

fredchick09 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:06:57 +0000

From experience, I know that any kind of cancer is devastating to any family who has a loved one diagnosed with this horrible and deadly disease. Four years ago, my grandfather was too diagnosed with a form of lung cancer, small cell carcinoma. The cancer first started in his lungs, and then spread to every cell in his body. The cancer was so bad that when he died, he was only able to donate his corneas to another deserving person. He was given six months to live, and like Mr. O’Conner, through faith, hope and the constant effort of finding ways to live another day, he made his life last two years; a year and a half longer than what they gave him. Of course, he went through the painful treatments of chemotherapy AND radiation, and spent a lot of his time weak and unable to do what he used to, including eating. And of course, it was extremely painful for us to watch the struggle; I cannot vouch for Mr. O’Conner’s family, but I can assume that they felt the same way watching the struggle of his last few hours, helpless and guilty that they could not stop the pain. I find it truly amazing, however, how hard he worked to outlive the time the doctors gave him, and it gives us an idea on how precious and worthy life is to fight for.

Mr. O’Conner was diagnosed with mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a deadly form a lung cancer that is most commonly cause from the exposure of asbestos. It is also a very uncommon form of cancer, and because of this, it is usually misdiagnosed. Some of the symptoms of this deadly cancer that doctors notice the most include: shortness of breath, fatigue, weight loss and abdominal pain. Luckily, there are many tests that doctors use to diagnose a patient with this deadly cancer, including: blood test, biopsies, and fluid and tissue sample tests. These fluid and tissue sample tests can be taken from the chest cavity, abdomen and the fluid around the heart, known as the pericardium. The most common treatments are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, or even a combination of all three. Chemotherapy is the use of chemicals to stop the cancer cells from growing. Chemotherapy is administered in many ways such as injected through a vein, injected into a body cavity or given orally by a pill form. The problem with chemotherapy, however is that the chemicals cannot tell the good and bad cells apart, so this usually kills many of the good cells also, which is why it is most common chemotherapy patients lose their hair. Another treatment option is radiation therapy. Radiation is a treatment that delivers high doses of radiation that destroys cancer cells, or tumors. Radiation is given in two possible ways, first, brachytherapy, is when the radiation material is injected into or close to the tumor. One of two things will then occur, one, doctors will either leave the radio-active material in place and in a couple of weeks it will lose it’s radioactivity, or two, they will remove it. The second form of radiation is external radiation. With external radiation a beam of radiation is pointed at the cancer cells to kill them. It is very important to shield the healthy cells so in order to avoid damaging the healthy cells, the cancer cell “spot”, so to speak, it marked by a tiny ink tattoo so the doctors know where to direct the treatment. Like chemotherapy, radiation side effects include weight and hair loss and fatigue. Also, depending on which region of the body is being treated, one might also experience painful swallowing, nausea, vomiting, and dry mouth just to name a few. A combination of these two treatments are most common amongst cancer patients with various forms of lung cancer. Unfortunately, if one has any type of lung cancer, surgery is virtually impossible due to the sensitive location and the danger of damaging the lungs.

Like Mr. O’Conner and my grandfather, I have learned that life is worth the constant battle, and when you are diagnosed with something like cancer, you learn that life is more valuable than anything you can imagine. If I were to be diagnosed with any kind of cancer right now, I do not know if I would be able to stay strong at first. I commend Mr. O’Conner on his constant effort and researching to stay alive. Hearing and seeing what certain treatments that are available for patients, I would be very skeptical of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. I would first look at the treatments and their side-effects. The teenage girl in me would say heck no to both of them, what girl would want to be caught without any hair? The survivor in me would do anything she could to live another day, even if it means going to school with no hair. Another thing that I would worry about is all of the chemicals being put into my body. I would ask if it was safe first of all, I would not want any unnecessary toxins in my body let alone if those toxins kill the small amount of healthy cells that I have. I would then ask what my possibility of surviving would be. And depending on what kind of cancer I had, I would ask what the chances were surgery would remove the cancer from my body. If the outlook was good on any or all of these options, I would absolutely do it as long as it meant living another day.

The way Mr. O’Conner and my grandfather fought for their lives during their hardest fight, makes every other problem in my life look like nothing. They showed me that no matter what problems I might be facing in my life is completely worth the battle of overcoming them to see your grandchild graduate from high school and be there in the front row of their wedding, certain things that my grandfather never got and never will have the opportunity to do, that I pray Mr. O’Conner was blessed enough to experience before his passing. They have both shown me that life is beautiful and worth every second, no matter how much pain you have to endure. No matter what, life and living, is worth it.

For More Information about Mesothelioma, Check out:

http://www.survivingmesothelioma.com/

Good Saturday!

fredchick09 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:48:21 +0000

Hey everyone, thought I’d write to you and let you know what’s up, my birthday was awesome, I’m not sure if I’ve said it, but, it was the most fun EVER! But nooow, I’m chilling out in my dorm watching Hercules with the roomie, and then I’m pretty sure Vinny’s coming up to visit in a little bit and I’m sooo excited because I miss him like crazy. Um, I have to do my homework for Monday sometime tomorrow. What sucks the most is that my medicine was increased so I’m really loopy soo, I’m gonna sleep for a little bit, so I’ll talk to you all soon!

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!!

fredchick09 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:47:43 +0000

Hello everyone! So today is a great day becaause, it’s my birthday, the best birthday ever…wanna know why? I’m offically 18!! It’s sooo cool. So tonight I’m having a pizza party with some of the best floor mates EVER, then this weekend I get to spend time with the best boyfriend ever! Oooooh, yea, it’s a good day

Need You Now

fredchick09 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:15:37 +0000

If you haven’t heard this song yet, then get with the program!

http://www.cmt.com/videos/lady-antebellum/438918/need-you-now.jhtml

College Life; Part 6

fredchick09 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:12:18 +0000

Sleeping in a residence hall, to sum it up; it sucks! It might not suck so bad in other halls, but in my hall, it is ridiculous! I mean, yeah, I understand having fun and laughing and making noise, but when it gets to about 11′o’clock, it’s not that great to hear the sound of girls running around and banging their chairs on the floor above you, but even worse when you can hear the out of control girls on the first floor screaming and singing, and worse yet, is when your next door neighbor likes to play music really loud, have her friends over, who I might add, are not quiet in the least bit, and be woken up around 3′o’clock in the morning, knocking on their door and BEGGING them to quiet down, you have class in the morning. So as you can see, sleeping in a dorm is hard work. Unfortunately, I still haven’t found a consistent solution. I’ve tried sleeping pills, pillows over the face, and even getting an RA to help calm them down, but I still wake up in the morning, exhausted and the only quiet time I have to sleep, is during the day, which sucks when you have shit to do! Soo, hopefully some of you loyal readers will comment and help not only me, but the rest of us dorm-dwellers sleep better at night. That concludes this College Life, check in later, and don’t forget to leave comments. Always, Ashley

Sorry.

fredchick09 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:02:41 +0000

Hey everyone, I know it’s been a long time since I’ve written you last, so I thought while I was doing nothing, I’d write to you fine people. Soooo, things seem to be going really good, I’ve been super busy with school and family and Rose…we’re back together now Umm, my birthday is on Thursday!!!! I’ll finally be 18!! It’ll be awesome because I won’t need my parents for everything. Let’s see what else, that’s pretty much it, even though life has been super busy, it’s all spinning so fast I can barely remember anything. So, I think I’m going to start writing the next College Life now, thanks for reading and keep checking out the blog!