End of Week Update

HOLIDAY TIME
Happy 6th of July! I hope everyone had a happy, safe, and relaxing 4th. It was a beautiful day. Ruby and I went to the Country Club with friends for the annual lights on the lake party on the 3rd, it rained a bit, but we weathered through it and it ended up being a nice evening. I stayed up past my bedtime for the fireworks, but it was a special occasion and I think Andy would have let me if he was home.

Went to the parents on the 4th for swimming and a picnic. Here I am in the pool with my patriotic
do-rag on my head that my Dad got me.

We played monkey in the middle, pool style, with my niece and nephew for hours and I guess it wore me out cause I was tired when I was done with that.

WINNER OF KICKING BUTT CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCED
 So, it is time to reveal the winners of the kicking butt campaign and their prize. wait for it........ hold your pants............. the suspense is building, right?........
You all win! I can't pick just one picture, they are all great and the fact that you all took time out of your lives to think about me and take those pictures to cheer me up is too touching to choose just one, so congrats to all the winners, even the ones who are still thinking about their pictures, it is the thought that counts! So, for your prize, I am making a donation this Monday @ the Friends of Dave Pirro Golf Tournament.

I have volunteered the past 7 years at this tournament and I work the first hole. Each year at the first hole we collect money from the participants for a different charity and this year the charity is the Carol M. Baldwin Foundation. We will be "fighting like a girl" real hard to makes lots of money for this foundation. I have already had friends donate $1250 and I am adding $500 to that for you kick butters, so thanks for inspiring me and congratulations on supporting this foundation! pat yourself on your back for that.


SPECIAL SERVICES FOR CANCER PATIENTS
a friend sent me an email about this organization, I am putting it in here in hopes my breast friends still going through treatment will see it and might want to take advantage of these services.

ME - the real UPDATE

It is day 4 since treatment #6. I felt ok the first few days, no nausea and I didn't even take the meds! What I have now is fatigue and muscle aches and pains. The fatigue has been hanging around the last day or so, still able to do things, just slower, and taking more breaks. I actually got the Wii set up on the living room TV and Ruby and I played that for almost 3 hrs, I am a bad Mario Cart driver, but it was fun sitting there trying to get out of 12th place! My legs felt tired, like I had ran a big race or something, but last night in bed they were just aching from my hip down, so needless to say it was a restless night. They don't seem as bad when I am moving around this morning, but I am keeping an eye on it. Shelly gave me some cream for this sort of thing, so I may be breaking it out today.

Looking forward to the boys returning tomorrow. Laying low today, suppose to be a hot one. Stay hydrated,don't forget the sunscreen, and remember to

Chemotherapy Round #6, Taxol # 2

Chemotherapy Round #6, Taxol # 2

My Momma escorted me into chemo today as Andy is away at boyscout camp. Got there at 10am, left at 5pm, these taxol days are longer. Each time I go for chemo I have to have blood drawn to makes sure counts are good. then I have a nurse visit, then I have a doctor visit, then I finally get back to the infusion area where we wait abit more as the chemo drugs are not prepared until all those other visits are done and I am deemed "good to go." So Dr. Lemke told me I wasn't winning any awards with my hematocrit and red blood cells, but she'd take em.She said I looked great. No Side effects to report from first Taxol other than funny taste when drinking liquids the first week, mild joint pain, fatigue.

 Taxol - Smackxol- It's Resilience! 

So I feel pretty great and feel like my body is being pretty darn good to me and fighting this medicine like a super girl. I don't like how I have had a good appetite and have gained ten lbs and I don't like naps and going to bed early, but I think that and taking the PRN meds as prescribed have really helped minimize the side effects.The Propax nutrition supplements, the green smoothies, the Cambucha, and just going at it head on haven't hurt either. They were talking about resilience on the Today show today during chemo and they said resilience is a persons ability to overcome and tackle obstacles as they arise in their lives with a positive, just another thing to do attitude, so I guess I got alot of resilience. They also said resilience can be learned, so thanks mom & dad, teachers, friends, colleagues, and patients who have taught me, and the rest of you who feel you need more, stick around, I am sending it through the blogoshere to you!

I am not one for sitting still for long periods of time. I started upright in the chair, then I got the legs up, then I started slinking down in the chair, my mom thought I was going to slide right out. I was kept busy by sewing, paperwork, tabloids, and words with friends, still losing I think. Anyways, the sitting there that long is the worst part about chemo for me and this was the end of the day, see not always smiling and happy! 
And then I go and find research that says prolonged sitting kills you. It is like Rosanna Anna Danna use to say, If it's not one thing, it's another"

So, all went well, all is well, feeling good. Sorry I didn't blog much last week, but no news is good news. Working on boyscout stuff, a few fundraisers coming up I am helping with, and just doing normal stuff, at a slower pace, but doing it just the same. Also found time to hang at the lake and the pool with friends and family and just relaxed in the beautiful weather in our beautiful town.

No words of wisdom tonight, but this picture sums it up. Thanks to my cousin Barb for sending it early on, it continues to motivate me and remind me to use the shake weight every now and then! 

New Henna & short update

Shelly & Chloe did new Henna today poolside. All freehand, all amazing. Thank you ladies, just had to share.

 

SIDE EFFECTS:
Had a restlessness sleeping with the heat last night. Felt like I might be having some joint pain in my knees which also kept me awake a bit, even felt discomfort in my pelvis, weird, but not horrible, just uncomfortable. Woke up with a bad belly and have had it all day, think it is probably constipation. Still taking colace everyday to stay normal, along with lots of water and fruits and veggies, but not working today. Might just be the heat too, it is amazing how hot my head feels with no hair in the heat, you would think it would be cooler, but felt very hot today.

Another friend, Karen, posted this on facebook and it is a good reminder to me and us all. 

Thank you also Karen for the beautiful, handmade bracelet you sent, love it! 

That's right I had Chemo number five yesterday, only three more to go!  Yesterday was a bit of an apprehensive one for me as the treatment was a new drug and will be the first of the second round of four. I didn't even feel like wearing a wig and being my boisterous self. I wore my pretty pirate scarf and was calm and quiet. Didn't feel nervous, just knew with this being a new med with possible quick allergic reactions upon administration that I wanted to be a bit more serious and pay attention to what was going on in my body, so that is what I did. Mom was with me, Andy came for a bit. Had the normal blood draw before, WBC were back up to 11.3, so treatment was a go. Meet with medical student and the Doctor and had the vital signs done. It takes a good hour to get into treatment once there with all this pre work up.

So, once back in the treatment room I get compfy in my heated recliner and get Mom set up near by and the nurse comes in and hooks me up. I get about an hour of pre-meds for nausea first. Then she hooked me up to the Taxol, the new cancer med.It is used to treat breast cancer that has not improved or that has come back after other treatments. It is a antimicrotubule agent that works by stopping the growth and spread of cancer cells. I suppose this picture is what it looks like chemically, it's what came up when I googled it, I thought it was pretty in its own way.


Anyways, I also got hooked up to a blood pressure machine because a common side effect of this medication the first time is an allergic reaction in which I turn red, get itchy, and my blood pressure sky rockets, so I had a nurse in with me the whole first hour as that is when it usually happens. Well, I had none of that scary stuff and was busy playing words with friends with mom, who beat me twice, nice that she doesn't feel the need to let her daughter who has cancer and is getting a potentially deadly chemo pumped into win atleast one game! 
Felt fine all evening and had felt fine all day today. I do not need to get the Neulasta shot anymore as this one doesn't affect the WBC's the way the other meds did before, so that is one less trip to Syracuse.Potential less dangerous side effects of this med are fatigue, joint pain, and numbness and tingling in my extremities, nothing yet. Fingers crossed.

This is Kombucha with Chia seeds that my Maria has been supply me with. It is a power home remedy that i drink a little of each day. Kombucha is a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast made from a mushroom. It is believed to detoxify the body and energize the mind and it is believed to aid in cancer recovery and increase energy, maybe this is why I am doing well. It can't hurt and while it looks and sounds pretty funky, it isn't bad when drunk through a stray. It smells like vinegar mostly, but is tasty enough. Thanks Maria for helping me with the non traditional ways of healing. She is also doing massage and reiki with me, she is my spiritual godess!

Friday night I went out stag without Andy to the Vincent House Fundraiser. It helps raise money for city kids to go to Lourdes camp for the summer. It was at Dr. Kiltz house at sunset, this was our view, It was nice being out, I wore the fun wild burgundy wig everyone liked last post with a crochet creme dress, sorry to have to just describe it, but I forgot to take a picture. It was nice seeing people I haven't seen in awhile and you all are so kind and supportive and filling my head with  all this positive talk I am surprised my wig didn't pop off. I was a good girl and home by 9:30pm and in bed by 10pm, but it was hard leaving a party in full bloom!

Saturday we went out on the boat, just the four of us and it was a great day. Here are a few pics Ruby took of me and Andy, we braved the water and it was worth it, it was beautiful.

Andy and Rex worked the Father's Day pancake breakfast all morning with the boyscouts and then Andy wanted to do work in his workshop for the rest of the day. We ended Father's Day with our Dads at the Country Club Picnic, it again was a beautiful day to be lakeside and having someone else cook the meal! 

That brings us back to yesterday's treatment and me wacking it in the arse cause I still don't feel anything and actually feel pretty great! 

Everything sounds better in a British Accent! 

and the results are in for another week......

I didn't have any tears yesterday, some over the weekend just cause I was so tired and irritable, but yesterday it was all about the blood and there was alot of sweat with that temperature. I am telling you, removing the wig and having a bald head never felt so good as it did yesterday once i was in my air conditioned house!
So yesterday was blood draw day and the results were:
_________________ drum rolling in my head and should be in yours too_______________________

So, my number were not great, but I kinda knew that as I was way tired and had alot of nausea over the weekend, but they weren't bad enough for any interventions of infusions or the such. Just a  rest order from the Good Doctor Lemke and justification for Andy to be on my butt about resting, he is relentless.
A I went to a fundraiser meeting I am involved in and got texts from him and both kids when my curfew was nearing, my phone was making so much noise they told me to leave so they could get back to work.
How about pirate Sherie and Captain Blood? Sometimes when I go out without I wig, I just wear a bis scarf and arg... I am a piratess!

speaking of which, I am back on the fundraiser meeting, try and keep up with my roaming brain, I told you to go to :
http://www.rideforalive.org/site/TR/Events/General?px=1002081&pg=personal&fr_id=1030
and donate money to my virtual ride or my families team ride right? If not you should go visit this site. Maybe you may even want to participate in the ride, it is not a race, just a ride of celebration to raise money for cancer survivors to live more healthy after their cancer. A great, under served population and maybe a way to prevent re-occurances like mine. Please check out the site and do what you can or just come be part of the day, I will be there at 6am doing registration and I will have a spectacular wig on. There may be a few celebrities around too, other that me and all the other cancer survivors! July 14th, mark your calendars. I am not riding this year, but I did buy a bike and I am going to ride next year, watch for me around town, tooling around in my comfort bike in my fabulous wigs! Wanna see the two I have worn this week? I am getting some good feedback on them. I borrowed them both from the Queen of the Renaissance Faire, I am but a light shadow in her glow even in these wigs!
                    Monday

                                                                           Tuesday

Feeling pretty good this week so far despite the low counts, but nothing helps the counts more than a little hour and a half rock musical. Yup, went and saw Alter Boyz in Auburn and .......................................
LOVED IT. get your tickets now, it is so good and will lift your spirits and blood counts if so needed, I felt mine rising as I sat and listened and rocked out!  

I am a bit of a PR person today, but my point is it is good to get involved in things to help other people like fundraisers and it is good to get some arts in ya and heal through different means, music has always been important one for my healing. Get out side your self once and awhile, but  continue to ...........

Explore Quiet Days

I don't like to talk negative or say I am having a bad day, it is a judgement and short cut as to how I am feeling. To decrease judgement we should say what we really mean cause "bad" can be alot of things. So, today I was having a quiet day and we need those every once in awhile, at least I have found I do. I felt like Adele might have felt on the front of her two albums. I listened to Adele, I felt like it was an Adele day, and that was good. I stayed home, worked on things on the computer for boyscouts, Andy's work stuff, house stuff. I did it slow and took breaks, petted the dog, ate, was just quiet. no talking to anyone, just doing what needed to be done in no particular time. Then I got onto my email and saw this comment my dear friends left on the blog:

   
 Poem by the Janie & Vitaliy Darovskikh for ME!

Sherie; we love you in purple, and we love you in pink,

you would look good wearing the kitchen sink,

we love you in orange, and tomato and red, there is nothing that does not look good on your head!

We will see you in green, in silver and gold,

delight in your white, your black and your bold,

Hmmmmmm,

What more shall we say,of this amazing Gal Sherie today?

What fitting words that rhyme with the above?

"IT IS YOU THAT WE LOVE"

"It is you that we love"

Sherie R. It is YOU that we LOVE! 

I, of course ,cried when I read that and got side tracked on my wigs. I felt they needed to be all together, so I spent some time making a nice dispay upstairs and downstairs, cause I got so many now!

                                                                                                                                                                                               

You may or may not know, but one of my favorite Broadway Shows, made into a movie, is called Hedwig and the Angry Inch. It is a rock musical and it is about a lot, but the main character loves her wigs to help her transform herself into feeling a different way. One song "Wig in a box" was playing often today in my house. I was going to put the words in the blog, but I think you should just rent the movie, but the album, and watch/listen to some good stuff.

So, what else on a quiet day can turn things around into feeling different? 

Little Betty just turned Three and she sent this series of her kicking butt in for me and you gotta admit, this has a way of turning your mood around, she is doing it while listening to the Black Keys. Good taste Betty Boo!

Thanks Betty for a great entry. 

Well, I finished a puzzle, finished a book, had a great meal train delivery, and now it is time for early bed, cause I am really, really, tired today and that is after a 2 1/2 hr. nap today.

 Hasta La Vista Adriamycin. 

Week four chemo is the last of the first combinations of meds, one being the Adriamycin . I wore this red/orange wig because it looks like the medicine, don't ya think. I of course, I wore the sweater and all because that also complemented my hair color. Gotta keep them guessing at the ROC!

Accessing the Port
Some of you saw this picture on facebook. When they are accessing the port they don't like you to breath germ on it and try and keep it sterile as the line is going right into your vein, so they ask you to turn your head away or wear a mask. I usually turn my head, but wanted to watch the access this time, hence the pretty mask, that doesn't really go with my hair. We'll have to see if they make other colors for next time. I hate to clash colors. Reading that back you may ask what I mean by accessing the port. The port is left in and they clog it up with a blog clogger when I leave and then when I come back for treatment they give me a bood thinner to re open it. No biggy, just a syringe full of meds to open or close access to the vein depending on what we need.


The fourth treatment in general
So my numbers were back up and great before chemo, the WBC's were 12.8, again, better that the 4-10 that is normal, so that shows up the Neulasta shots on Tuesday are really revving up the bone marrow and doing what it should be doing in getting the WBC's & RBC's back on track for me.

My friend Shelly took me in this week, did not get a picture of her, darn it, but you can look her up on www.drooz.com if you want some beautiful artwork, she is tres talented and a very, very good friend! Andy came in after his meeting and things went as they always do. we were in and out in about 4 hours.

Special Visiotr

We did have a special visit from Beth Baldwin who spear heads her mom's foundation, The Carol Baldwin Find the Cure Foundation. Contact information on the picture. Beth was in to sit with a young 20 yr. old who was having her first treatment, she just met the girl and she was scared and she said that she would sit with her. The nurses told me she was there until 5pm with her. This is not something she probably wants out there, but it is the things she herself does personally for people. The organization is great at providing blankets for those newly diagnosed to helping other charities that are working towards a same cause. Not to mention the money they are giving to research to find a cure. A great family and a great organization. I will side bar the info on this blog for quicker contact too.

DAY 2 Neulasta Shot Back today with my Mom for the Neulasta shot. Feel good. Wore my funky Mackenzie Child hat that Jesse got me today. You can't even begin to see the funkiness of it in this picture, but it is funky!  Now I think you can start to see the funk of the hat on Dr. Bogart here, the head of Radiation Oncology, at Upstate, no one escapes me when they are walking through the halls of the hospital, so Doctors, Nurses, anyone I know, beware, you may be next for the hat or wig picture! Thanks Jeff for being a good sport. Dr. Bogart and I have know each other since college days, so he is probably a bit more tolerate of my antics!

Wig shopping on the fly

Headed to Dougherty's after, as the shot was quick and I want a few more wigs,I had a few ladies at the costume shop comment on my hat and we got into the reason for the hat and wigs.One was just finishing her battle with breast cancer and said she wishes she would have had more fun with wigs  & hats as I was.  I got three new ones, but you'll have to wait for those, they are fun. Here are my rejects.

I should have walked like an Egytpian, missed that one.l

  Love the furry hat, but too hot for summer

I am second guessing this one now seeing it in the picture, I knda like the rasta look on me. might have to make a trip back for this one.

Andy checking in, never a phone call away that man! 

Andy called by this time and said my mom better get me home, so we headed straight home and you can see I am resting while I blog. I promised a blog today and I must deliver to my people!

Walk/Race for Life

In closing, I want to thank Marie Bailey who walked for a cure last month and Kara Seeley who walked this weekend in my honor. I am honored you ladies took time out of your life to recognize me and all the others who are out there dealing with cancer. you are the people I am glad to have in my life and the ones making the difference. here is my illuminary at this past weekends walk!

She is always there for you whatever you need, except if there is a NASCAR race she has to attend, or an old car rally, but there all the other important times. I love my Mommy, thanks for being there through this all Mom!