DON'T CHANGE THAT CHANNEL......MORE TO COME

WE GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS

I was fortunate that my chemo sessions were scheduled when they were because I was able to do the Komen race and the following weekend the American Cancer Society's Making Strides against Breast Cancer walk.  This was another early wake up call for the boys and I am pleased to say that I guilted the teenager enough to wake up and come this time.  We got up early, got donuts on the way (bribe) and headed over to Kelly's house.  The Making Strides walk was downtown and Kelly lives downtown so we didn't have to deal with parking issues.  A few weeks before the walk, Kelly and I bought some pink shirts at craft store to decorate for the kids and her to wear. The t-shirt said on the front " I'm in the fight for Beth Foley because....." and on the back said different things.  Kelly's said "She is my dear friend" Kevin and Brady's said "she is my mom", but by far the best one was Abigail's it said "because she is my future mother-in-law", this just a little hope that Kelly and I have for Brady and Abby. (he he)

So bright eyed and ready for the walk!!!

After an input of donuts we left for our event.  Just like the week before it was a sea of pink and that feeling of being treated like a queen for having breast cancer.  We walked around a little before the walk started and I ran into my Oncology nurse Frenchy at the MD Anderson tent.  Eventually the walk started and along the route were lots of people cheering us on and handing out water. We were doing great for a long time, but then the kids started to get tired, but we told them to suck it up and carry on.









AND THE SAGA CONTINUES........

MANGE

This is a touchy subject for most women.  I knew eventually it would be a part of my life, however, I was surprised how well I handled it.  Before my first chemo I had my hair cut fairly short. I thought this would be the best way to prepare for the inevitable trauma of the loss of my hair.  As expected, on day 14, Thursday September 30, I started to shed just a quite a bit, it wasn't too bad so I didn't do anything drastic, I was holding out for the weekend because that Saturday we had plans to go out to dinner with Kelly, Jenn and Burak (Jenn's boyfriend) to my FAVORITE restaurant in the whole world, Enzo's. When Saturday morning came I was shedding like a dog and was very tempted to take it all off, but Pat discouraged me and said I should wait.  I wore a scarf to help keep it all from coming out around the house and got ready to go out.  Well, this is officially the last time I used hair product on my hair, I sprayed at least 3/4 of a can of hairspray on my hair to keep it on.  We went out to dinner with my friends. When Kelly, Jenn and I went to powder our noses I had fun freaking Kelly and Jenn out by pulling tufts of hair out of my head, like it was a crazy trick, it was actually quite humorous.

G.I. JANE

So now we come to a life changing moment..........the buzz!!! After a great night out with friends, Pat and I went home.  We hung out for a little while and had a little wine and then I got up the courage to ask him to help me buzz what was left of my hair.  My hair was rapidly becoming annoying and even painful as it was falling out so I was more than ready to take on a whole new look. Well, he didn't want to do it!!!!!!! Ooooh was I MAD.  I still don't know why he didn't want to, maybe because he had too much wine, maybe because he didn't want to take part in it..........so, I went to sleep.  The next morning I woke up with enough hair on my pillow to make a small dog so I decided to take matters into my own hands.  Brady volunteered to give me hand.  OH MY GOSH, that felt sooooo good!!!!! We took it down to almost nothing.  Later in the shower I had a good cry. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't really feel up to it, now I wish I did, c'est la vie!! The picture below is me at my second chemo, with my scarf on, no hair. :(

RUN FOREST, RUN

Nothing too exciting happened over the next few weeks, except that at that point I learned that chemo was going to whip my butt for about a week after each session and then I would be fine. October 17, 2010 has two special places in my heart. It was the day my oldest son became 15 (nearly a man now) and the day of the Susan G. Komen run for the cure.  I woke up at about 5:30 in the morning with the intentions of getting everyone up and ready to leave by about 6:30.  Here is a little info for all of you without teenagers yet.....teenagers to not want to be woken on weekends at 5:30 in the morning.  On to the husband who worked till 2am and didn't go to bed till about 4...... nope, nada, nothing, not gonna happen.  I must say I can always count on the little one, especially if I am crying.  I went in to wake Brady with tears in my eyes in the hopes that I was not going alone today and of course he came through for me.  I could have just bowed out and not gone at all, however, a friend from high school was running in the chip race in my name and I felt so touched, overwhelmed and honored that I was not going to miss this.  When we got to the event site I couldn't believe how many people there were, it was like a sea of Pepto Bismo, how was I going to find David in this!!???  I post on Facebook on my phone and waited for a response. I didn't intend on actually registering Brady and I for the event but did it anyway.  Eventually we found David and hung out with him till the event began.  Now I must say I was not in any way prepared for what happened next.  The event starts out with a short "Survivors" walk, maybe about 1000 feet and I did the walk fighting back tears the whole time.  Brady found a boy he goes to school with and decided he would run the race without me so away he went and I started out on my own.  Knowing that I could never catch up to Brady or David took a short cut and made my way backwards from the finish line.  Being a scrapbooker I needed pictures of David and Brady doing there part.  After I got my pictures I continued on the race (walk). 

I AM A ROCK STAR!!!!!!!!!

Along the race route there were singers, local new celebrities and cheerleaders. The words of encouragement were overwhelming and still it was hard to fight back the tears. As a survivor I was treated like a rock star.  As I made my way past the finish line I was given a special survivor medal, beads and a rose.  The supporting racers were also treated extremely well, they had drinks, food and fruit galore.

David Harmon, my friend from high school, placed 50 out 1,170 chip racers, very impressive with a time of 23:47. Brady didn't run the chip race, but he finished with a time of 39:50, I was very proud.

Brady and I right before the Survivors walk, I was fighting back the tears, so proud and happy that he was there with me, he is my rock.

 

 





Brady and I at the end of the race.









I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccccckkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!

In my last post, so very long ago, I mentioned several topics I wanted to touch on. I will start with a very interesting story.... Chemo Cat.

CHEMO CAT

On September 16, 2010 I had my first chemotherapy.  It was a combination of two drugs Adriamycin (aka The Red Devil) and Cytoxin.  Everything seem to go quite smoothly and I was pleased.  I even had a visit from Bessie a therapy dog at the cancer center. After a long day getting my chemo, labs and seeing my Oncologist I was quite exhausted and went home and crashed.  Zoey, the cat that belongs to Brady, was my little nurse the whole afternoon and night. Here is a recent picture of her, she doesn't say much, but is very sweet.

We all LOVE firefighters

I have a standing "joke" with my friends Kelly and Jenn that we are always happy to see the firefighters of Station One in Orlando.  We don't ever see them face to fact, just usually as they are passing by on their way to a call or to or from the station.  The thought is that they are firefighters, really cute and hot, well I guess they are, but I must say I am partial to Deputies myself.  The firefighters that I really like best though are the ones from the Pink Heals, Guardians of the Ribbon tour.  The day after my first chemo I was feeling great and Kelly and I met to go see the pink fire trucks in Winter Park.  Well, I had no idea how moving it would be and how compassionate and loving these guys were. They have several fire trucks that go to many states in the US to encourage and inspire women with or surivivors of breast cancer. You can actually sign the trucks with Sharpies and put messages of hope and support for those in the battle. It was such inspiration to see the trucks that I went again the next day with Brady and his friend Jared. Here is a link to there site and facebook page, http://pinkfiretrucks.org/,  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pink-Heals-Tour-Guardians-of-The-Ribbon/229440805236 ,please visit it to see the impact they make.  I have also posted below some pics of my visit.

The Pink Heals guys suggested that I sign the truck up high, so they insisted on helping me out.

METAL MOUTH AND MORE VINEGAR PEPPERS PLEASE!!

Within about a week of my first chemo, I developed the dreaded metal mouth.  Ironically, sour, salty and spicy things seem to taste the best to me.  Some of the best food I had during that time was Subs with LOTS of vinegar peppers.

Well folks this should get you started back into what has been my life for past few months.  More to come...