It’s 7am on a beautiful Thanksgiving morning. I’ve got so much to say that I have no clue how to get it all out.

It’s certainly a great day to reflect, give thanks and review what we are all blessed with.

Without question, our world is crazy. Everyone’s is these days. Four kids, their schedules, work, chemo, all of it. I think if we weren’t so happy it would be so overwhelming. For me, I’m in love with it all. So blessed to have the family I have. Blessed to get to watch the kids grow. Blessed to have the work opportunities. Blessed to come home each day to an incredible woman, partner and friend.

My thanksgiving post is absolutely possible because of my wife. Her love, loyalty and commitment to our family is just amazing. She embodies what this life is about. Tough, tender, smart, sexy – she is the complete package. I pray she continues to do so well with her treatments! She is the miracle!!

We all have so much to be thankful for, take the time, thank those folks.

Have a safe and wonderful day!!

OUT with the crap, IN with the new!

February 2, 2015. I got that date today. The date that I am going into the operating room and coming out with new boobs and no ovaries. Finally. The window is here. The surgeons will be working together so I don’t have to go under anesthesia too many times. Now, I just have to make it to that date. I have to get through this cold and flu season without any hiccups or hospital stays. So, no offense, but if you are sick…I will see you in the Spring.

Things have been pretty “normal” around here. Our life is like everyone else’s except I have chemotherapy every 3 weeks. It takes me down a notch for a day and then I am back in the game, all good. I just need to maintain this until my surgery. I completely embrace my life and the control that I have right now. Some people may think otherwise because I need to be on treatment for the rest of my life. But, truth be told, I am the captain of this ship and I am in complete control. I will never back down or give in to cancer. I KNOW that there is no cure for my cancer, but I truly believe that everyday I can do something to kill even just one cancer cell. I am not looking for a miracle cure, I am a realist. But, I will be damned if I am going to let Cancer run the show.

I’ve got so many new goals that I have made for myself and my family and I am very excited. Granted, they are not the same long term goals I once had but I have a lot to be grateful and thankful for this year and I intend on making this the best year yet.

I had to share this news, but I am tired now so I will post more detailed information in the next week about everything that is going down over here. Stay tuned for the details…

Everyone should have something to be thankful for and I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, I feel very blessed with all the thoughts and prayers and my family is extra thankful this year!

Love, Love, Love.
J

Well folks, it’s always great to post an entry when we have great results from the wife’s scans. So blessed to be typing this today. Amazing.

This battle has made me appreciate all the little things. Health, love, opportunity. Jess and I have found each other. A miracle I call it. God’s gift is what she is to me. Plain and simple. Poor Jess is screwed. Cancer and has a crazy SOB for a husband. I swear I don’t know what’s worse for her.

We sat at Beth Israel all day Monday. The day is so long. So brutal for Jess. Having to get poked and stabbed and praying the results are positive. Can you really imagine having to wait for a doctor to tell you the results? To tell you whether or not you’ll see your kids in 6 months, whether you can hold your husband, see you family and live your life? Maybe I’m lucky cuz I live so close to it every day. On the surface we have a very normal life. We work, focus on the calendar and the 2 million things the kids have. We pay bills. We fight and argue over date nights, quality time and all the rest of the usual bullshit.

Then I get locked in to the “results” and I know I’m so blessed to have Jess next to me. See, some of you reading this only know me. I’m the best, just ask me, but Jess is on another planet. She is everything a woman needs to be. Caring, tough, demanding, supportive. The whole package. I know she has to go through this, and she is exactly the type of stubborn SOB to change her diet, focus on the medical part, never letting it get her down. All of it. Oh and by the way, she raises two kids, 4.5 and 6, plus helps me with my two monkeys. Ya and cooks dinner every night, does all the laundry and keeps this guy happy as a pig in shit. Miracle woman is what she is.

I’m so thankful for all the messages, texts and positive thoughts everyone has sent. It means so much.

I usually post about the kids. Passing on that today. They’re all fine and happy and a complete pain in the butt and the reason we have no cash. But we wouldn’t change a damn thing about them.

My message today. Celebrate each day. Enjoy it. Love and play and work your ass off. Never know when it could change on a dime. Leip family, all 6 of us are blessed today and we will celebrate that.

Until next time..

Big Daddy Leip!!

“The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.” -Audrey Hepburn

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to raise awareness and show support during breast cancer awareness month. Everywhere I looked, I saw pink!

Here’s a quick snapshot of my recent scans:

Lungs – Bilateral pleural effusions are gone
Liver – no visible tumors
Kidneys – normal
Bones – No active tumors
Brain – no tumors
(I’ve got some issues going on with my heart, it’s chemo side effect related)

As you can imagine, this is just unbelievable right now. I have been on chemotherapy for over a year and busting my butt to make sure I take care of myself and my immune system to keep this bastard at bay. I’ve done it, I have succeeded and I still can’t believe it. I wish I could really make you understand how this feels. I didn’t have a very good prognosis last summer. Cancer had taken over my body. At that time, cancer had also taken over a good part of my mind. I found the strength inside of me that I didn’t even know existed and I fought so hard. I fought for my kids. I fought for my husband. I fought for my family. I fought for my friends. I fought for the people on the sidelines. I fought for everyone battling their own battle. I just kept fighting.

I’m not in the red right now.

I have hair on my head.

Now, I have Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer. I still have a tumor in my right breast, that is 4 cm smaller than it was originally. I have estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and HER2 positive cancer. I have a very aggressive cancer. I will never be cured and I will never beat it. But, what I have done in this past year, is a miracle. For every person reading this, I can’t thank you enough for all the love and support and especially all the prayers and positive thoughts. You have all made my miracle come true!

I meet with my oncologists on Monday to discuss things further. I was told yesterday that, most likely, I will not be having surgery anytime soon. The exact phrase was “it would be detrimental to my health”. This is because I still need treatment every 3 weeks to survive and if I were to miss a couple infusions because of surgery and recovery, things could go downhill very quickly. Given the chance, my cancer would spread like wildfire. Obviously, I will know more about what is going on after Monday. I am having chemo on Monday as well 🙂

I HAVE NEVER LET CANCER DEFINE ME AND I DON’T PLAN ON IT ANYTIME SOON.

I just wanted to give a quick update on my scans, I plan on writing more this week about everything else that has been going.

Thank you, I love you and be well!