November 2004 !

John & Jen 

5K Pan Can Walk 

Who would have guessed ? 

Here we are at Thanksgiving, one year to date from his diagnosis to survival! Things have been very busy in the Domschke household. John has just finished up another satisfying coaching season for girl’s volleyball at Bartlett High School. I am getting ready to send on a student teacher to the graduation podium. I will greatly miss Krystin Schambach. She will be a wonderful teacher. Riley has settled into kindergarten and is learning to read his sight words like go and in. Nicholas is beginning to speak. Sponge Bob and "Where did it go?" were phrases mumbled this weekend. No is the favorite word if you can believe it. Life is continuing normally, as normal as we can be considering the circumstances. Cancer is always at the back of our minds. But, every day is another day.  

So, let’s get to the good stuff, the medical information!! John received his CT scan results on October 14. There still has been no progression since his original diagnosis on Thanksgiving of 2003. Also, his CA-19 numbers have dropped from the original 4100 to 474. This is a test that is one indicator of how active the cancer is in the body. It did go up to 510 in the month of August. In September, the test was coded incorrectly for a CA-125. The nurses got a great kick out of this because it would mean that John had grown ovaries as a result of chemotherapy. Ha-Ha-Ha!! CA-125 if the cancer marker test for ovarian cancer. Needless to say, we did not have numbers for September.

 On October 17, John's family (Mom and Dad Domschke plus Brianna) and my family (Mom, Dad, and Brad Albrecht, Dan and Michelle Brunsvold, Tom and Tracy Eismon, Riley and Nicholas Domschke) participated in the Northern Illinois PanCan Walking for a Cure fundraiser. It was a 5K walk in Libertyville. It was a glorious day with good friends, for a great cause. The entire even raised over $120,000, topping last year's $87,000. WOW!! Thank you to all those people that donated funds like the Jazzercise group, family, and friends!! Let us know if you are interested in joining us next year for some good exercise.

 During this holiday season, we will be trying to set up an automatic email feature to alert people when there is something new to read. But, for the time, we will do the best we can.

 In summary, no progression!! His doctors are stunned and amazed!! We are blessed and grateful!! What a miracle!! Thanksgiving was a great big celebration!!

 So, with the holidays and friends gathering, we would like to say take it one day at a time -and every day is another day!! God bless us all! Making a Miracle!!

 Jennifer Domschke