February 2014

Crystal wrote something!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Written on February 5th @ 3:45pm

Can you believe we are in February?  It sure has gone by fast!  Hopefully you are all finding positive things about 2014!

I am hearing from you all, you want an update!  Thank you for all of the messages, kind words and I hope you enjoy this post!  I have not forgotten any of you…I just was not sure what to write?

We did ring in the New Year with a positive attitude on our end.  This last year when I spoke at the Dick Vitale’s Gala, they had an auction where we put a bid in on a dinner at Daniel Arthur’s in Cedar Rapids.  We won!  So, we chose to use the certificate New Year’s Eve Night!  By the way, the Gala is coming back this June 2014!

We did get the Mercy Touch Magazine.  We were so very excited and surprised to be on the cover.  It’s funny, when I run all of the CR Spirits posters/calendars.  I know everything that is going out and if I like it or not before anyone can see it. When you have no control, it’s a strange feeling but yet exciting.  It was fun to read the story through someone else’s eyes.  It is also a very good feeling to think that it opened at least one person’s eyes to this ugly form of cancer.  That it could have helped one person with another day of Hope.

Hope…is such a very powerful word.  It’s a gift from God.  If you don’t have Hope, what do you have?  What is life without it?  God filled me with Hope…I am so very lucky.

You know I found this necklace in Vegas with my mom.  It made me cry.  It was just that simple word.  Hope.  I wanted it so very bad but they were out of the color I wanted, it was only in gold.  I wanted silver.  I am going to find that necklace and where it proudly.

This brings me to my mother and our trip to Vegas.  For Christmas my family got a trip for my mother to go to Vegas and see Shania Twain.  The crazy thing is this trip was just for my mother and me.  Our first trip together, it was perfect.  I always think I am so very different from my mother but what I learned on this trip is we have more in common than I thought.

It was wonderful to see her laugh, smile and be carefree.  It made me want more trips with her.  I hope that my daughters see how important it is to make that time.  Life is so very busy.  Your children, your relationships, your career, your goals…it’s easy to forget that someone you love wants to share time with you.

Crystal had asked me, “Mom, what do you want to do in Vegas”?  I told her I just wanted Grandma to have the time of her life.  I want Grandma to know that feeling when you don’t want a trip to be over.  What had happened is I found peace from watching her, I found that feeling of wanting to do another thing with just my mom and I.  Oh whoever reads this…it doesn’t have to be Vegas…just a dinner but make the time.

I knew it was good…when two days later after our trip, I received a text from my mother stating…”I had the time of my life in Vegas even at age 63”.

Crystal has gone back to school.  She is finishing up her last semester at Kirkwood.  That first day was difficult for her because she was walking the halls during the same time as last year when she was feeling ill, then going back into those same classes.  She did break down in the class that she had to tell them she had to quit because she had cancer.  She said it was a very rough first couple of days.

It is hard for her to get up in the morning which is a very big change for her.  She also has a very hard time staying focused and remembering what is being said in class but so far she is hanging in there and plans to graduate in May.

Crystal looks beautiful.  Her attitude and strength you can see through her eyes.  She struggles with feeling tired, digesting her food and of course the worry of what happens in June.  But we keep setting goals.  Little goals but they are goals.

She is doing an amazing job at the Dance Studio.  She loves teaching, loves watching it grow and is constantly thinking what we are going to do next.  Yes, a younger me.  It’s that passion that hope, that love for life that keeps you going.

As far as the family goes….Rod is very busy with work, going to basketball games and lately lots of shoveling.  Courtney is very involved in school, plus in her free time she seems to be putting in more hours at work and dancing her first year on the Spirits can be very challenging.  Cassidy is feeling better however she does watch what she eats; she plays basketball and is getting very excited about golf.  And Calvin…the most beautiful dog in the world…he is fabulous!

Here is something from our Crystal!

I can’t believe it has been almost 1 year since I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. What a journey it has been. I go through my good days and my bad days. Now that I have been done with chemotherapy for about 3 months I am finally able to relax…or at least that is what I thought I was supposed to do. The hardest part of this whole journey was not being diagnosed, not the surgery, and not even the radiation or the chemotherapy. The worst part is after all that stuff. Of course it was sad and upsetting hearing the information about my cancer and being in pain through surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But when I was doing all those things since March of 2013 I was fighting for my life, I was staying positive so I could fight and win. My mind was occupied with other things. Now that I have won this battle I thought I was done fighting. What I have learned is I will never be done fighting; I will always have that worry about what if this nasty cancer comes back? Do I really have the strength to do that all over again? Those things run through my mind all the time. These last three months has been the most difficult. Anyone that has had cancer would get what I am saying. The hardest part is when you are done with the doctor visits, and the surgeries, and the chemotherapy. I didn’t believe them at first, but my doctors already told me this would be the hardest part.

Of course I am still the positive Crystal everyone knows…I just have my days like any other cancer patient would. To help me through these tough times I work out a lot, read, meditate, and plan goals for what I want in the future. I take very good care of myself and I do the things I want to do. I live every day to the fullest, because I don’t know what will happen in the future. God helps me through my tough days and I say “Thank You” to him a lot, because he deserves it. I was blessed with so many other things that I appreciate…why would I not thank him? And I am lucky that I don’t even have to go back to the Mayo Clinic till June. Hopefully till then God will watch over me and keep me healthy and safe till that check-up.

A few things that I am looking forward to in the next month is our Spirit Show on March 1! These are the things that make me excited for the future! If you are interested in coming to watch me, my students, and my Professional Team please let us know. It is going to be a night full of dancing and memories.

Thank you for being there for my family and me…Love, Crystal!

Here is Crystal’s Article in the Mercy Touch…