Coolest Hair on a Doctor I've Ever Seen.

First off, There's no new cancer. The biopsy came back as complex hyperplasia which basically means overgrown cells/tissue. They "grade" it as four levels with the fourth being the one that definitely has cancer cells. I was graded to the Third level. And there is no evidence that this kind of thing progresses to Four. However, she highly recommends a full hysterectomy... YES!!!! I've never had a female doctor. Now I have the coolest black, female GYN oncologist you could ever hope to meet. At least I think she's black. She might not be. I sort of assumed. Her office staff is AMAZING. If you're in Las Vegas and you need a GYN oncologist I highly recommend Camille Falkner. Not only is she an impressive doctor she has the coolest hair I've ever seen. Think Kramer only with tiny tiny spiral curls. The front is gray, well, her hairline all the way around is gray. I will have to try and get a photo. My GYN recommended her because she felt our personalities would mesh well. I guess that's important for the doctor/patient relationship. After meeting Dr. Falkner I realized why I was sent there. Are you ready?? And this is how her office staff described her.... "She has a calming effect on people. If you're nervous, once she starts talking with you, you will calm right down" See what happened there? I guess I'm the overexitable, hyperactive, freak-out kind of patient who needs a calm doctor. Well, of course I am!!! While I was waiting to hear the results of the biopsy my brain had me with no cancer, all the way to only having 6 months to live. Yes, I appreciate the calm doctor! Surgery will happen in a couple of weeks. After everything is lined out and all the pre-op stuff is done. And I even get to be at the hospital that is closest to our house. Here we go... Keep the Faith

Why Can't a Woman be More Like a Man?

Well hello, all. I haven't written in so long. I figured no one wants to hear the boring details of cancer treatment recovery. The body has it's way of coping with being poisoned, stabbed, burned and medicated. And sometimes it fights back. Sometimes the treatment causes its very own problems. For instance Robin Roberts from Good Morning America developed blood cancer as a result of the chemotherapy to fight her breast cancer. This is always a concern. I've been having girlie part troubles for a while and the hormone blocking medication I take (Tamoxifen) causes some of it. A visit to my GYN confirmed that the thickening of the womb has happened. Most women my age have a lining that is 1/2 a centimeter. Mine is 5 centimeters. The concern is that there is endometrial cancer hiding in it. Of course, when I got home from the appointment the first thing I did was get online to see what this is all about. We won't really know much until the biopsy has been tested and possibly until after the hysterectomy. Yes. More waiting. I'm used to that. My husband is very funny. When he goes with me to doctor appointments there are always posters on the wall showing all sorts of diseases. Being the pretend hypochondriac that he is, he immediately assumes he has every disease shown. Visit the cardiologist...he suddenly has chest pain. You get the idea. During the biopsy appointment he looked around at the posters and breathed a sigh of relief. No imagined diseases here...he doesn't have the right parts! At that moment I thought, "Why can't a woman be more like a man??" We should know this week what the results are for endometrial cancer. Next week we will know the date of the surgery, but from what I hear it will be before March and I will be out of commission for at least 2 weeks. So....we live in Vegas and have an extra room...anyone wanna come play and hangout with me??? haha. I know you all are fighting your own difficult battles. That's what this life is all about. I'm so impressed with how many of you just dig in and give it your all. I get strength from all of you. Thank you for sharing your lives with me. I'll keep you posted and in the mean time... Keep the Faith.

Party over here-ah!!!

I was invited to a Breast Cancer Survivor Luncheon. My nurse navigator was the one who extended the invitation and she's great so I really wanted to go. I invited one of my new cancer friends to come along.

When I arrived I checked in at the desk and was given a pink card with my name on it...this will come up later. I was escorted to my chair by one of the many UNR students there as volunteers. Then I walked through the vendors booths and saw some GREAT merchandise. There was also stage with the band's instruments and a staircase that was right at the middle of the stage leading to the dancefloor.

As the event began they had all the survivors line up behind a curtain and the MC introduced us and read our names and our survivorship length of time from the pink card as we each walked out to the band playing this awesome music as the escorts helped us down the stairs. My nurse navigator and my friend and I were the last ones to walk down the stairs and we did it together. But I had a blast with it. I took each escort by the hand and the last one who was on the dance floor, I did a little spin. It was SO fun.

One HUGE party. We ate a great lunch and chatted with the ladies at our tables. Our table was a blast. One of the ladies was hilarious! When they were giving away the door prizes they said, "This ticket is for a painted rock" The lady at my table said, "Well, I hope I win that. You can never have enough of those!" We all just busted up.

So after we ate the band starting playing and my ears were so JOYFUL!!! I was at the second table from the stage and the band hit the first two notes and I said, NO WAY!!! It was all 80s Funk Music. Be still my heart. I flipped OUT!!! I was dancing in my seat singing along to all my favorite music. The lead singer looked at me and I smiled really big and sang along with him and we both were waving our arms and pointing at each other. I swear, the only thing missing was a guy on the dance floor saying, "Wooah, Wooah! Party over here!!" SO 80s.

A lovely black lady walked up behind me and said, "Child, you better get on that dance floor" haha. I told her I would but I'm still too wobbly on my feet to do that yet. OR BELIEVE ME I'D HAVE BEEN OUT THERE!!!


I'm telling ya, if there's anything that could have brought me back to life it's 80s funk music. I have wonderful memories of dancing to all of it at Ricks College and at dance places in Salt Lake in the early to mid-80s. I still know all the lyrics...and since my hair started growing back I have my 80s style-Pat-Benatar-spiked-hair. Well, maybe a cross between Pat Benatar and Joan Jett.

That was it. No boring speaker. (yes, I said that) Just a great lunch, fun prizes, and TONS of dancing. Wooah! Wooah! Party over here!!!

The name of the event is Keeping the Faith. It's named after a news reporter from Oakland named Faith. It is sponsored by the Revivals Health and Wellness Council. I thought it was appropriate to go since I my sign-off is "Keep the Faith"

I'm so going next year. Anyone want to join me??

Keep the Faith

Ninja Lymph Nodes

Does anyone know a good plastic surgeon??

It's time to really start looking at what my "options" are.

Last week I had my mastectomy surgery, or as my five year old puts it (skip if you are sensitive) I had my boob cut off. He wants to know if I get it back any time soon. Gosh, I hope not.

The surgery went well. I had a great team working on me. From the pre-op nurse to the General Surgery recovery floor nurses. With one exception but I'm not going to dwell on that. (my nurses were all great it was the anesthesiologist that was...less than cordial) My surgeon is hilarious. He talks twice as fast as you can listen, even when you aren't sedated, so his next-day visit in my hospital room was really funny. After I had general anesthesia, morphine and two pain pills he came and very quickly pointed at different spots with instructions for each area. I looked up at him and said, "Huh?" My nurse laughed and said she'd write everything down before I left.

When I woke up after surgery I noticed I wrapped VERY tightly with an Ace bandage. My right breast was practically touching my nose. (exaggeration) It really felt like a push-up ace bandage.

I have two drains still inserted on my left side about 6 inches below my armpit. It's like have an irritated sliver and no way to relieve it. It's just THERE. There's no comfort level for them, either. You can't sit a certain way or hold your arm a certain way to get any relief. My pain pills were making me sick and I thought at least one of the drains was going to be taken out yesterday at my follow-up appointment so I was just trying to power through. There's still too much fluid being drained so we're trying again for Monday. Knowing I had to wait that long I asked for different pains pills, he prescribed Percocet. They provided some much needed relief and much needed sleep.

He also told me a few details about my surgery. First, he couldn't find any of the tumor. This means the chemotherapy got rid of the entire thing. It was the size of a softball so that's saying a lot. He told me after the pathology was completed on the lymph nodes and the breast tissue that it was all cancer free. (yippee!!!) And the strangest thing he told me was that there was evidence in the nodes that I had previous bouts of cancer. There was scar tissue left behind. My good little ninja nodes had kicked those cancer cells' hineys at least twice before! He also put me on two antibiotics as there was evidence of an infection brewing. He said after chemo and being in a hospital with a bunch of sick people it's best to have that extra protection because I can't really fight off big infections right now. CLEARLY he didn't remember my ninja nodes, ok maybe they need some help.

I haven't had much appetite since the surgery so trying to find something that looks good and could taste good hasn't come together yet. I'm not allowed to "diet" to lose weight so I'm supposed to have high calorie foods to keep my body fed and happy so it can get better. Then he followed up with, "anything you can eat and keep down is good"

One last thing. My sweet friend Heidi K came to visit on Tuesday. She just got back from a month long trip to Zambia with the Mothers Without Borders group. Her stories will make you cry. She called me a little while after she left and offered to have her cleaning lady come help me with the house. Now, remember, we only moved in a month ago and there are half empty boxes all over the house. I haven't had the energy to get a lot done and I have even less now. So I told her I would love that and if she just could do the kitchen and bathrooms that would be great. Maria came yesterday at 2 and five hours later mopped her way out the front door. OH MY GOODNESS. I couldn't have accomplished in a month what she did in those 5 hours. She started with stripping the beds and did the entire house. She has an amazing talent for taking all the half empty boxes and organizing them in a manner that makes it look like you're going through them systematically. Which, of course, we are. So, if you are in need of a F A B U L O U S cleaning lady (and you live in Reno) let me know, I'll give you her number.

Well, it's time for another pain pill and I don't dare write while I'm under their influence.

I'm going to let my Ninja Nodes get some rest.

Keep the Faith

7/11 Free Slurpee Day....for some

It is true that an illness like cancer will test your faith. And just about every other emotion and thought you have. It does change your life, but mostly in ways you never imagined.

Personally, I've never been so sick and so blessed at the same time. One of my favorite blogs to read is "But Doctor I Hate Pink" (www.butdoctorihatepink.com). Ann describes side effects I'm too embarrassed to mention even though most cancer patients endure them. Truly, you don't want to know. She survived breast cancer and is now fighting liver cancer....ya, she's a fighter.

In the months I've been through chemotherapy and now heading into surgery, we have been abundantly cared for and loved by friends, family, church members, and total strangers. And I only tell you this because today I got to give back just a small portion of what was done for us. I debated telling this, and please understand I am not bragging. It just felt good to be able to give back.

Hannah needed an xray on her elbow that we thought she broke while we were moving. After the appointment and at the end of a very long day we stopped at a 7-11 for a free slurpee. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon. As I got out of the suburban with Ethan (5) I was approached by a young man who wanted to know if he could wash the windows on it in exchange for some food from the store. Not thinking I just said, "Oh, I think the windows are all right but thank you." Ethan and I went in and got our free slurpees. But I couldn't get that request out of my mind. It's different that he asked for food instead of money.

As we left the store he was still sitting on his bucket I asked if he had eaten anything that day. He said, "No". I told him to hang on, we'd get him somthing to eat. He looked surprised and told me thank you, that he had been yelled at all day. As I walked back in with him I told him to get whatever he wanted. (After all, how expensive can 7-11 get??) He ordered two steak tacquitos and I encouraged him to get something to drink and that he should at least get a cookie or some chips or an ice cream. He got an ice cream. While he was getting his food I noticed at least 20-25 more people come in the store for free slurpees and in the middle of all this noise I heard a little voice in my head start reciting the story of the Good Samaratin.

We walked out and he thanked me again. Said he was sorry. I told him not to be sorry and that in the last 8 months my family had been blessed so much by the many kindnesses from so many people that it felt right to do something for him. He smiled and sipped away at his drink.

Later tonight we got a call that Hannah's elbow is not broken....

Surgery is next week on the 19th. And I know that my family will be watched over and taken care of by family, friends, church members and total strangers, yet again.

Keep the Faith

Really, Keep the Faith

On June 3rd we received a letter from our property manager letting us know the owner was giving us 30 days notice to vacate the property. With an additional two weeks to clean and get the house ready for him to inspect it. The owner's timing couldn't have been better, or worse, depending on how you look at it.

My first reaction was it's going to be ok. He really gave us 45 days to go. I got on the computer almost immediately and starting looking for homes in our neighborhood and school districts. I found several and made appointments to go take a look...knowing full well none of them were going to work. But you have to put in due diligence. Damon and I drove around that evening looking at the homes and he decided he wanted to look around in our former neighborhood. We found a For Rent sign on one of the homes. I called immediately and left a message with the property manager so we could look at it. We set up a time to see it on Monday morning.

It really is the best house for our family.

But let me take you back to February 2010 when we reached the 18 month mark of unemployment for my husband. His field of expertise is aviation so you can imagine the scant availability of jobs, especially in Reno. He asked me to keep looking for jobs for myself as well (neither of us could find anything). I had a snotty attitude and got on a website (www.indeed.com) to look for jobs and I found one...for him. He hadn't seen the ad so he immediately applied for it and decided to wait two hours after sending his resume and called the number listed in the ad. The man who answered the phone said he'd received over 40 applications but Damon was the only one who called him. (Seriously???) He did two interviews over the phone and then didn't hear anything for a few days. Of course, we were on pins and needles waiting to hear.

A few weeks earlier I had signed up to help clean the kitchen in our church and the day had been delayed due to snow. My friend called and wanted to know if I was going. I thought, oh gosh, no, I don't think so and I hung up. Then I had this thought, "What if all that is left for Damon to get that job is for one of us to do some sort of service somewhere." So I called my friend back and said I'd meet her there. I think all of us ladies talked more than cleaned but it was a great two hours. I got home around 1pm and 20 minutes later Damon's phone rang and he was offered the job. No kidding.

Fast forward to this week. We've been waiting all week to find out if we got the house we had applied for. Early this afternoon I got a phone call from one of the leaders in our church's lady's auxiliary asking me to teach the lesson this coming Sunday. (It's on Developing Your Talents). I've really only been back to church for the last two weeks and didn't want to have to prepare and teach a lesson. I get very embarrassed with my chemo brain effects and can lose a train of thought so fast. I thought of all kinds of excuses. And told her no. When we hung up I immediately heard that VOICE say, "Don't you think I would help you?" We all have that still small voice and mine spoke loud and clear. So I called her back and told her I'd teach the lesson.

Ninety minutes later the new property manager called and let me know we got the house. Sound familiar??

Keep the Faith

How Good is the Remaining One?

We met with the surgeon this past week to find out what the options are. There really aren't any. He recommended a full mastectomy of the left side. I was hoping for a lumpectomy but he would have to remove too much tissue which would pretty much be a mastectomy anyway.

I didn't really hear much past the words "full mastectomy" so my husband had to repeat what was said. He had better questions than I did. Sometimes the brain goes blank when you get disappointing news.

Doctor tells me six months after radiation can start looking at reconstruction options. The plastic surgeon will match the other side. Ummm...I'd rather he did a better job than THAT! He'd have to be a pretty bad surgeon to MATCH that one. When things like that are mentioned my mind goes to the scene from Shallow Hal. He's asked if he'd rather date a girl with half a brain or one breast. He pauses and asks, "How good is the remaining breast?"

After sleeping on that news, I realized the next morning that I'm more upset about losing my hair, my eyelashes, and my fingernails than I am about losing a breast. We are such vain beings. Well, maybe it's just me.

My hair is growing back. It's still very short. Like a really short buzz cut. And the patches of gray look like bald spots. I've been told it comes back curly at first...but mine is growing straight out of my head. No curl. My mother used to tell me a poem when I was little...."There once was a girl, who had a curl, right in the middle of her forehead, When she was good, She was very very good, But when she was bad, She was horrid." So I guess if I don't have a curl I'm not horrid....??

I have six weeks to build up strength for the surgery. I've been walking 20 minutes a day. Which is really about all I can do. Amazing how fast you can get out of shape. Damon and I were up to 4 miles last summer. I'm lucky to go around the big block in my neighborhood. There is a tree on the Steamboat Trail. It's a very large pine tree and the only one like it. When we first started walking last year it was my goal to get to that tree. We passed it by 2 miles last year...it will be my goal to get there again.

I'm impatient to be over all of this. I want it done and out of the way so I can get back to my life.

Keep the Faith