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1月31日 Babies Everywhere!Congratulations to all the new Mothers to be and all the to be Mothers again! Gillian, I couldn't be happier for you. You will make such an amazing, cool mom! Leanne, I'm guessing by your tagline on your MSN that your family is growing as well? Hannah will love having a little baby brother or sister. And speaking of Hannah, she's growing so much! I'll bet she keeps you running...
Well, just a note to say congrats. Marco and I are going tubing in St Mary's on Saturday with a bunch of people from work. It should be a blast. You don't even have to walk up the hills - you get towed! My kind of tubing. Oh, and we picked out the tile for the backsplash. I think Marco and his dad are doing it next week. Sometimes life is just Great if you let it be. 1月28日 It's a new yearWell, I haven't blogged in a while, not because I've had nothing to say (I always have something to say, lol ) but because I've just been too busy - read lazy - to sit down and actually do it. I have, however in the last week kind of taken stock of 2006 and made a list of highlights:
So, all in all, it really hasn't been a bad year. Christmas was good. I was spoiled as usual. I think I gained 10 pounds from all the Christmas dinners, but I guess that's what the gym at work is for. I also bought a pilates ball and skipping rope for at home to see if I could somehow work off some of it. I have yet to use the skipping rope and I could be on America's Funniest Home Videos trying to balance on the ball. I'll be like the woman on the commercial for Curves who ends up just bouncing on it. :) We went to Copps Coliseum on New Years Eve to see Blue Rodeo, and it turned out that it was actually a New Year's Eve party (I had just thought it would be a regular concert and if you paid the extra money you could stay after for a party). So that was a lot of fun. I bought Marco an Xbox for Christmas and Joanna and Ryan had a friend of theirs mod it so now we can play all the old school nintendo games on it. I've been back and forth between trying to beat Marco at Tetris and playing Super Mario World (the true reason that I haven't blogged comes out). We've decided that the kitchen needs a ceramic tile backsplash so that's the next project for the condo. Marco's dad is going to do all the work for us, we're just responsible for getting the tile. We may go today to look for it. My hair is SLOWLY growing back - it's about an inch long now - long enough that I can spike it with gel - so that the hairstyle of the day. I have a question and maybe Kristine can answer it - if she happens to read this. If you have cancer and they remove it (the lump) and you do the chemo and radiation, when people ask, do you say you "had" cancer or do you say you're in remission. If it's the latter, how long are you in remission for? The rest of your life, or just the next so many years? I don't like to say I'm in remission cause it sounds like it will come back. Just a mind set thing. I would rather say that I had it and it was removed. Anyway, that's about it. I get to babysit my little munchkin this afternoon. It's one of my favourite times of the week! Oh, by the way, Michael, if you're reading - hows your ankle? I hope it doesn't hurt too much, but I'm sure you'll be Waltzing soon! 12月17日 Poor Santa...It must be awful to be a Shopping Mall Santa. All these kids who are deathly afraid of you and their parents forcing them to not only sit on your knee, but then you're expected to be able to make them smile for a picture. There's a whole gallery dedicated to pictures of scared children with Santa here. I took Amanda to White Oaks on Friday and there were a couple of kids ahead of her that could be added to that site. Amanda still wasn't impressed but at least there were no tears or screaming.... 12月16日 Where does the time go?I know that I posted a comment to your blog, but Congratulations again, Karen and Bill!!!!! I couldn't be happier for you if I really were your mom!
Anneleike, I hope you're taking pics of your Christmas concert. I'm not sure that I know of anyone who is more suited to be in the occupation that they're in than you.
It's been forever since I posted last and for that I apologize. It's almost Christmas! I have done 27 of my 30 radiation treatments and am looking forward to being done for good!. My hair is starting to grow back - slowly - and so are my eyelashes, but the eyebrows are being stubborn, so I still have to draw them on. My skin, where they radiate, is taking a beating. Sure makes you understand how important sun screen is! I will be finished radiation exactly one year from when it was confirmed that I had cancer. It'll be great when it's all done. I'm so thankful that I have had friends and family, and Marco(he's a category all of his own) to help me through the whole thing. I will be so happy to not have doctors appts to go to.
On the up side, I finally finished having all my teeth fixed (something that I set out to do last October).
And Most importantly, we have a new IKEA kitchen! Marco and I decided that would be our Christmas present to each other. New cupboards, countertop, dishwasher and rangehood. A lot more cupboard space because we decided to have them go all the way to the ceiling.
I went to the Teletech Christmas party (sorry, "Holiday" party) with Marco and got to see a lot of people that I haven't seen in a very long time, which was really nice. Bill Hodder took pictures, and for anyone that wants to see them, they are here. We had our Christmas Party (and yes, it was called a "Christmas" Party) the weekend before. For those of you who don't know, the building where I work is actually an old house that has been gutted and turned into an office. What would have been the parlour is one office, the living room is another and so on... We have three floors so the Christmas party was like a big house party. Marco and I took Amanda because there was a Santa Claus with gifts, however, Amanda was not impressed. Suffice it to say that there are no happy Amanda pictures with Santa. In fact, I think there may be a photographer in the making. We had one that took family pictures (a gift from the company) and she was more interested in being on the "taking" side of the pictures.
Well, that's about it for now. I have put pictures of my new kitchen, an updated picture of myself (so you can see my hair - ignore the grey ones!) and ones of my favourite subject -Amanda.
62 days til Christmas Eve!!!Wow time really flies... So chemo is officially done and I'm just living through the after effects. This includes but is not limited to: swollen feet, ankles and calves (but Rachel assures me that I don't have cankles so that's a good thing I guess..), intense hot flashes, still missing some taste buds, short walks and stairs leave me breathless, and every muscle in me aches. But I just got out of a hot candlelit bath and am sitting in front of a fireplace in jammies and a fluffy pink robe (which will be gone with the first hot flash, lol) so life, at this moment isn't too bad.
Tomorrow I go for my tatoos (no butterflies) for radiation. By Christmas this will all be a memory. Hopefully I will have hair and tastebuds by then, I know that Thanksgiving dinner sucks when you can't taste anything!
I want to thank everyone who donated to my Walk for the Cure. I raised $1015. My bosses matched everything that was donated by people I work with, which was $800 so that gave me a total of $1815. Pretty amazing people that I work for and pretty amazing friends that I have. I will never take either for granted!
Speaking of work, I'm back to my old social planner self. We're having a pot luck lunch for Halloween, organized by guess who? I can't help myself, it's what makes me happiest. I'm also in charge of our Christmas charity where we bring books in to be donated to kids who have little to celebrate at Christmas. I like that too. Funny to be thinking of Christmas already but hey, only 2 months, 62 days til Christmas Eve!!!!
Marco and I are looking to do some renovations to the condo before Christmas - new coat of paint and new doors in the foyer, a new dishwasher, new taps in the kitchen etc. Something else I like to do
As for Halloween, I think I'm going out as Uncle Fester. With no hair, eyebrows or eyelashes, it's the perfect costume! What's the sense in being bald if you can't have fun with it?
Anyway, that's about it, What's going on in everyone else's life?
Oh, Randi, check your blog, I left you a message. 9月30日 Hooray, It's over!!!!Well, let's see.. the past 10 days... Marco's Birthday was the 23rd so we went to the Keg for dinner. Luckily I got my taste buds back just in time, or we weren't going....
Went to see Last Kiss on Wednesday night. If you saw and liked Garden State, you're likely going to like Last Kiss. It's not car chases and heists or gun fights... more just like life and making you see things from different angles.
Most importantly, LAST CHEMO YESTERDAY!!!!!! I know that I will probably still have a rough few days ahead of me, but it will be the last rough few days. The people where I work surprised me with flowers and a cake to celebrate and Marco took me to dinner at Moxy's last night. All in all it was a fine ending to this part of the journey. Now it's on to radiation in November (approx) and then hormone therapy for the next 5 years. But that's just a pill that you take once a day so I figure if I could remember to take birth control pills all those years ago I can remember to take this one.
Funniest thing yet... I don't know if I mentioned it but I get severe hot flashes now. Poor Marco wakes up to an open window and a fan pointed right at the bed. Oh, who am I kidding, he has to go to sleep to that too, lol. So I'm telling the dr this on Thursday and she runs a "hot flash clinic" out of the Cancer Clinic and wants me to be part of it. She also prescribes for me, get this, anti-depressants. Mandy, that I work with, and Rebecca (from teletech) are killing themselves laughing at the idea of me on anti depressants - Super Happy Karen!
Tomorrow is the Run for the Cure and I'm looking forward to doing the 5K. I'll be walking for the cure though, running may be a bit much after chemo yesterday. I want to thank everyone who donated to the cause. I really appreciate it. I'll be taking pictures and will post them on my Flicker site.
That's it for now... I'll post more tomorrow. 9月2日 It's Birthday time again!!!Happy Birthday to my favourite Munchkin!!!
I can't believe it's been a year already. 8月31日 so this is what a chemical wasteland tastes like....Well, about all I can say about this "new" chemo treatment is that it may be to my benefit in the long run but the short run SUCKS!!!!. Monday and Tuesday I could barely walk because of the sore ankles. Wednesday night my throat was so sore that Marco took me to Emerg at 3am where after 3 hours they told me I had thrush, gave me some medicine and sent me home. Friday after work my temp was up to almost 40 celcius and my throat was no better so I went back to the hospital, where they did bloodwork this time, found that my once high white blood cell count was down to 1 and admitted me for round the clock antibiotics and shots to make my bones create more white blood cells. So yeah, between the antibiotics, the liquid tylenol and the rinse to numb all the canker sores in my mouth and throat, I figure that must be what a chemical dumping ground must taste like. I have yet to regain my taste buds (since last Friday) and have lost 10 pounds cause it's not hard to stop eating when nothing tastes like it's supposed to. Not the way I wanted to lose weight. I'm willing to work at it, honest. I would just like KFC to taste like something other than paste. I hope now that they know that they have to give me the shots after the next treatment, that the next treatment is much easier. Oh well, I guess it could always be worse. I could have more than 2 treatments left.
Annelieke, are you going to be in the vicinity in the near future? I would love to get together before the school year starts and you're too busy. I would like to do a bowling night or something sometime between the end of September and the end of October if anyone is up for it. That's my brief albeit welcome break between chemo and radiation. Thanksgiving weekend is in there and my birthday is the 16th of October so we could do something one of those weekends if you want (and if you're able).
KP, talk to Marco about the books. He knows you emailed me. Kristine and KP, your nieces are adorable! Amanda is going to be a year old in 2 days - I can't believe how the time has gone by.
Anyway, that's about it for this neck of the woods. Thought I would leave you with a pic of my new hair! I figured this would be the only time I could go blonde without worrying about the roots lol. Turns out it looks more like Barbie... hahahah "I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world..." Hey, where's my pink corvette?
And yes Tim..... even you.... 8月20日 Oh yeah, I forgot - my shameless solicitationDid you know?
Breast Cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women.
In 2006, an estimated 22,200 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,300 will die of it. An estimated 160 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 45 will die of it. On average, 429 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every week. On average, 102 Canadian women will die of breast cancer every week. One in 9 women is expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime. One in 27 will die of it. My last chemo is on September 29th. On October 1, Marco and I are participating in the CIBC Run/Walk for the Cure. If you want to sponsor us, you can either see Marco at work or I have set up my name on the CIBC Walk for the Cure website
Here.
Anything, no matter how much or how little, will help. Although I haven't really had a hard time with this, there are many more who do. This is not something that I would wish on anyone and seeing as how I am a mother of two daughters and have a grandaughter as well, I want to know that everything that can possibly be done to find and prevent this disease from collecting any more victims is being done and I am willing to do my part. Long Post...Hey there, sorry I haven't posted for some time... So this is for KP who sent me an email to see how I was.
Lets see.. what's new. Chemo number #3 wasn't great - more nausea, more mouth sores, food tasted great until I swallowed it and then it tasted like sawdust. And I added heat stroke to the combo. My first missed day of work. Rachel is staying with Joanna for the month so we're kitty sitting. Not Marco's favourite thing to do, and it might not be so bad if the great orange monster knew how to behave. lol That's okay, Rachel moves into her own apartment on Elmwood Ave on September 1st so Leroy will be going home and I can get some sleep. Rachel starts Fanshawe soon and OSAP has been approved so she can go down to part time at Tim Hortons.
Amanda is growing like a weed and eating like a goldfish. If you don't cut off the food supply, she would eat until she exploded. Joanna and Ryan are fine and now that Amanda's daycare has been subsidized, that will be a lot off their minds. I can't believe how expensive daycare is. I'm glad I had family that was at home anyway when Jo and Rach were little.
Marco is finishing his last exams for Fanshawe and soon can take his CHRP designation. KP, I'm glad you're finally getting back to school. You're far too young to have a call centre career. But if you're going to be there, you may as well take advantage of the tuition reimbursement. That's how Marco got to where he is now.
I ran into one Mr. Michael Kuiack a couple of weeks ago. We look like twins with the bald thing going. He told me that he still keeps his beanie thing on his desk to remind him of days gone by. I keep checking your blog, Micheal, to see how the New York trip with your son went. I hope you had fun. Ever notice how you know you miss talking to someone, but you don't realize how much until you see them again. That was how it was when I ran into Micheal. Then it makes me realize how much I miss everyone that I used to see.
So anyway, after a not so great Chemo 3, I went to have my bloodwork done one Thursday (and it was better than ever) my oncologist told me that he wanted to change my treatment... My response - why? It turns out that the treatment that they are changing me to is even easier on the heart and it will reduce the chance of recurrance by another 23% at 5 years. So anything that reduces the chance of me ever going through this again and I'm in! So I took the new drugs on Friday, and no nausea, no sore throat, still have the heartburn and my taste buds make everything taste yucky. I can't taste salt much so I'm staying away from the salt shaker all together so I don't put too much on my food. The worst part is that I continue to gain weight, even though I'm not eating more than I always have. That part sucks. But I figure when this is all done, I will be able to lose it. Any tips from you guys that have lost so much will be greatly appreciated! The best part is only 2 more treatments and I'm done this part.
Anyway, that's about it... I put a new picture of Amanda on here so you guys can see what a cutie she is. Joanna has a new picture of herself with her new haircut on her Flickr site. It looks great!
7月23日 Same old, Same old....So, like everyone else, it seems, I haven't posted in a while. Mostly cause nothin's new. So here's the Cole's Notes version
that's about it for now.... later kids 7月7日 2 down 4 to go!I went to have blood taken yesterday to make sure that my counts were acceptable for having another chemo session today. Here are the stats:
White Blood Cell Count for an average woman is 4-11. Mine before the first chemo was 7.7 Yesterdays was 7.0
Hemoglobin (red cells) average woman 115-155 before first chemo 130 yesterday 129
Neutrophil count (which is what really matters - if it goes below 1.5 no chemo) normal 2-6 before chemo 3.4 yesterday 3.1
Platelets (which is what causes the clots that make it so you don't bleed to death) normal is 145-375 I don't know what mine were prior to chemo but yesterday they were 515...
End result: Chemo today. Moral of the story: Eat your protein foods - yogurt, cheese, milk, fish, eggs, peanut butter etc.. (notice I didn't mention green vegetables? lol)
Chemo went as well this time as it did last time but I need help in the Scrabble department. Marco beat me again! I think it's cause I'm missing 2 letters. That would probably make all the difference in the world as far as who gets shellacked! I emailed Hasbro toys to see if they would ship a new set of letters to Canada, cause their order form says US only and I'm not sure if that means the order form, or that they don't ship to Canada (which would be really stupid) but the haven't seen fit to respond as yet. Oh well, I guess that means another more strongly worded email. If the answer is no, then at least have the courtesy to send me a form email that says no. Even Verizon does that!
I stopped by Joanna's tonight to see if my bare head was going to freak out Amanda but true to the Harper/Leach form, it was all taken in stride and like Joanna, she was much more interested in my dangly earrings than anything... See Jo, she likes shiny things too so that makes it you, crows, cats and Amanda.
Anyway, that's about it. I am faithfully drinking my water and taking my anti nausea meds because it's supposed to be a great weekend weather-wise and I'm going to Angelo's tomorrow to pick up some treats... Treats to me are cold cuts, cheese and Angelos' cheese bread. And I plan on going to see Pirates of the Carribean this weekend.
Have fun kids.... Hair today.... Gone tomorrow....This week hasn't been the best - it started off great but in the middle of it, I got canker sores in my mouth which made it very difficult to eat, if not downright impossible. Meals consisted of mashed potatoes, pudding, ice cream and yogurt - somedays not even that. But it's all good now and I suspect that it was the fresh strawberries that caused it (something that I've never had problems with before, but at least I know not to eat them now). Then on Wednesday/Thursday, my hair started falling out in clumps... It didn't hurt or anything, just downright annoying to go to move hair away from your face and find our how far away from your face you can move it!
We went to White Oaks community centre to watch fireworks on Saturday night, which was fun. I think fireworks bring out the kid in all of us. Sunday I watched Amanda who absolutely loves being on the balcony, holding the iron railing and yelling at whoever happens to pass by. It's hilarious! Annelieke, I'm sorry that you didn't make it down on the weekend, I would have loved to see you. How was Lord of the Rings? (after rereading your blog, I realized it was the Ring you were seeing, not Lord of the Rings - I thought you meant the play in Toronto. I blame the chemo lol)
Sunday night I had had just about enough of the hair thing and not wanting to get to the point where I looked like I had mange, I had Marco shave it all off with clippers. Joanna had suggested to just go really short first so it wasn't so drastic, buy you know me... no such thing as baby steps - just jump right in. So Monday I didn't have to work so I cleaned the entire condo so I didn't have to look at long strands of hair anymore and I took shaving cream and a razor and went right down to the scalp. Well, they say that clothes don't make the man, I guess the same thing can be said about hair and women. I feel no different whatsoever; not even a little bit self concious and have actually forgotten to grab a hat a couple of times when I walked out the door. I went to work today and went all day inside without anything on my head. I also have a new shirt that says "too hot for hair". It and my bare noggin were a hit. It's great to have people in your life who are so supportive.
Anyway, that's about it for now - I get to go and do it all over again on Friday so wish me luck! I'll leave you with some before and after shots... Judging by them, I think the eyebrows will be next to go... I'll have to draw them on - maybe I'll make them match my moods - like they do in the cartoons! 6月21日 Bring on the Clearasil and the tums!Okay, here's the side effects of the week... I'm tired, my skin is breaking out, the sight and smell of food makes me not want to eat and I have heartburn ALL the time. If I didn't know it was physically impossible, I would think that my family was about to expand. Don't worry - that bridge has been burned and walls erected on the banks of either shore! lol. So it must be the chemo. I still have all my hair, for those keeping track; all of it that is except that which Marco pulls out trying to see if it's falling out yet. Hint: If I yell OW, it doesn't count as "falling" out.
Everything else is pretty much the same. Just thought I'd let whoever happened to check my site know that I'm still alive and kicking - just not kicking with nearly as much force right now.
Later kids... |
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