December 2, 2014

I have an appointment with Dr Jones in about 2 hours.  I’m expecting everything to be fine considering I had a good report from Dr Barnhill last week and met with Dr Sullivan yesterday.  Dr Jones is my breast surgeon who does the ultra sounds and biopsies and did my mastectomy in 2013.  Dr Barnhill is my Oncologist and Dr. Sullivan is my surgeon who does my reconstruction surgeries. 

I have surgery on Thursday, 12/4, with Dr Sullivan.  He’ll be doing my reconstruction/revision surgery and removing my port.  I am currently marked up with blue ink and was sent home with a blue Magic Marker to make sure a few marks don’t fade away before Thursday.  As usual, I am looking forward to this surgery and hospital stay.  Right now I’m scheduled to be in one night but I’ll see if I can push for an extra night since I might never be back.

While waiting for my pre-op appointments I ran into a very frightened, nervous woman.  She was diagnosed about 2 weeks ago and was meeting with Dr Sullivan for the first time.  I tried everything I could to help her feel comfortable knowing that she was in The Best hands at the Best Hospital she could be at.  Luckily, I know she’ll realize this someday. I just wish I could have helped her realize it now,  before  her surgery.

I’m so thankful I’ve been able to remain positive throughout my breast cancer journey and hope I can continue to be positive.  I continue to be thankful for my family and friends who have encouraged me and supported me.  Things happen for a reason and while we might not understand the reasons or the timing, God has a plan and I’m thankful for that.

I’ve heard from a few of you regarding the You Night event in March.  The tickets are still $100 and the organizers ask for money now so they can begin organizing the event.  They are not a big organization with accounts full of money so the ticket sales help get the event going.  I am so excited about this event!  Everyone is meeting this Thursday to watch video from the October event where we kicked off NOLA Fashion Week.  Since I won’t be able to attend (stuck in a hospital bed under lots of pain meds) some of the women plan to visit me in the hospital.  Just the thought of them wanting to come by is good enough for me.  I barely know these women but we all support each other in any way we can!

Please let me know ASAP if you’re interested in getting tickets now for $100.  Tickets will still be available for $125 through the night of the event.  Again, they ask for the models/cancer survivor to sell 10 advance tickets each so the organizers have a budget to work with.  The ticket sales go towards the event and empowering the model/survivors.  The tickets include food, drinks, runway show and party. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Here’s the link to more info about the New Orleans event http://www.younightevents.com/#!new-orleans-2015/c1y3t  The picture of me… well… I did send them others but oh well!  And remember, if you send me a check for $100 you don’t have to pay the extra handling fee.

My moms car belongs in Louisiana!

Taking care of business.

Bobby and me on our anniversary.  

I'm going to be a runway model!

I just received the deadline for selling my 10 tickets to the fashion show that I'll be walking in as a Breast Cancer Survivor.  I haven't officially sold any tickets!  I know people want to go and I know how hard it is to fork out $100 right before Christmas for something that isn't happening for another 4 months.  

I mean, who knows where you'll be on March 24th, right? What about at the Board of Trade in New Orleans, celebrating your friends Triumphant Battle Against Breast Cancer! What about being with other friends and family at the Board of Trade in New Orleans celebrating your friends Two-Time-Triumphant Battle against Breast Cancer!!! 

Based on the smiles and excitement of the women who participated in the North Shore You Night event, this is  one amazing night. I'm so excited to be a part of it!

Tickets are $100 for a cocktail party from 5:30-10, including open bar, passed foods and desserts, raffle prizes and door prizes and a RUNWAY SHOW.  Corporate sponsorships are available also with packages ranging from $500-$20,000.

After December 4th the individual tickets go up to  $125. I'm trying to figure out away to purchase the tickets now and let you pay later so if you are interested please let me know ASAP. Or if you think your company would be interested in a sponsorship role let me know and I'll get you in touch with the right people.

I have my checkup with my Oncologist next week, a checkup with my Breast Surgeon the following week and my (hopefully) last surgery is December 4th.  They will be removing my port and doing some reconstruction to fix my left breast that was 'messed up' when I had the infection in July.  Please keep my in your thoughts and prayers.  

http://www.younightevents.com/#!new-orleans-2015/c1y3t

You Night New Orleans 2015

As I’ve mentioned before, I will be walking the runway at the You Night New Orleans 2015 on March 24^th, 2015.  I am really excited about this opportunity!  The women who put this together have done a really great thing to empower cancer survivors. 

The event will be at the Board of Trade in downtown New Orleans.  It is a cocktail party with an open bar and passed food and desserts

Here is the link with the event info: http://www.younightevents.com/#!ticketsandsponsors/c1hbz

You can order tickets through eventbrite but there is a processing fee.  If you order through me (by giving me a check for $100 this month) there is no processing fee.  There are also corporate sponsorship packages if you’re interested.

The link for info is: http://www.younightevents.com/#!ticketsandsponsors/c1hbz

This is the event info page if you don’t want to click on the link:

October In Review

Practicing my pose at the Windsor Court

 

Wow, October was a crazy month!  Lots of fun times with family and friends.  And now, 4 days into November I have a cold or sinus infection, or something and I think it’s a sign that I did too much. That’s ok, I wouldn’t change a thing!

 

To catch you up on a few of the events listed in my last post:
On October 2^nd I picked up a few copies of Inside New Orleans at the launch party at Saks 5^th Ave.  I’m even in a few pictures!  

Magazine cover



Group shot

 

 

On October 16^th I attended the NOLA 2015 You Night New Orleans Launch Party at Fulton Square.  This event was to introduce the 2015 New Orleans models for the March 24^th, 2015 YOUNIGHT Fashion Show.  This event is going to be soooo cool!  We wear 3 outfits from local boutiques, get our hair and makeup done and have formal practices where we’ll become trained models.  I’ve been asked to sell 10 tickets (which is one table) for the event.  The tickets are $100 each, if ordered through me.  I’d love to sell more than 10 tickets and show New Orleans how a Pacific Northwest girl can rock this!!!  I’m going to do a separate post about this.

 On October 17^th I picked up my friend Danielle at the airport and we ran home to get all fancied up for the Pink Gala at the Windsor Court Hotel.  I walked the runway at this event also, dressed in an expensive BCBG outfit.

Judy, me, Bobby and Danielle

my million dollar outfit

View from the patio







My friend Dawn and me



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dawn interviewed me for talkdatnola.com.  If you haven't watched the video yet you should!  My story is the 3rd story on Epsiode 3.

The local Race for the Cure was on October 25^th.  We were a little unorganized this year and I apologize to anyone looking for us at The Tree we meet at.  I couldn’t find it!  I promise to be more organized next year!

Today I am one month away from my (hopefully) final breast cancer related surgery.  Sometimes I forget that I had breast cancer.  For instance, when I fill out paper work and am asked about my health.  What do I say?  I guess it could give someone a good laugh if I say I’m in good health and then they find out the truth.  Or maybe I am in good health?  I don’t spend too much time thinking about this but sometimes I’m in shock of what I’ve gone through.

My Radiation Oncologist released me from his care although he assured me that he’s always available to me.  Besides, I have several other doctors I see on a regular basis so he’s confident I’m taking care of and doesn’t want to add another doctor appointment to my calendar.  This will be helpful when I go back to work!  My next appointment is with my Breast Surgeon on November 21^st when I expect to hear him say it is good to see me and he’ll see me again in 3 months.

I'm on the verge of one incredible month

As we're all aware, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. 

Now, October has a new-new meaning to me.  This October I am celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness month as a Survivor.  October 14^th marks my official One Year Survivor mark.  It’s kind of hard to believe that I’ve been cancer free for one year considering it’s only been 5 months since my last chemo, 2 months since my last cancer-related surgery and I still have at least 2 surgeries remaining.  But, technically, my cancer was surgically removed from my body on October 14^th, 2013.  I believe a celebration is in store (I love celebrations!!).

October 2^nd I’ll be attending the Launch Party for Inside New Orleans magazine at SAKS Fifth Avenue.  Along with 23 other survivors, I will be featured in the first edition of Inside New Orleans magazine that will be on newsstands October 1^st and delivered to 30,000 recipients in the area.    

October 16^th I will be attending the NOLA 2015 You Night New Orleans Launch Party.  A group of women put together an event on the North Shore in 2013 to honor and empower survivors.  Last year this event had 500-600 people.  This year, the North Shore event is October 9^th and the New Orleans event will be in March 2015.  I will be walking the runway at the You Night NOLA event in March.  The launch party on Oct 16^th is at Fulton Square, sponsored by Harrah’s Casino and open to the public. 

October 17^th is still Court’s Birthday but this year I, among other survivors, am being honored at The Pink Gala.  I will be walking the runway as a Survivor, styled by BCBG.   This event is put on by the New Orleans Living Magazine and Television. 

Our team is slowly growing for Race for the Cure on October 26^th.  There’s still time to sign up!  I think this is the right link:
http://neworleans.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/MTR_NewOrleansAffiliate?team_id=309538&pg=team&fr_id=4376

My appointment with my Oncologist a few weeks ago ended up being uneventful.  She seems to think things are going well for me and ok’d the removal of my port.  The plan is to remove it on December 4^th when I have another reconstruction procedure at the fancy hospital.  I almost had to get it removed sooner because when I went to get my port flushed there was something wrong with it.  Luckily we don’t need to use it anymore so no tests were done to find out what is wrong with it.  All the more reason to get it taken out.  Luckily it can wait until December and I don’t need another surgery.

Disclaimer: I am no model nor do I intend to become one.  (I mean, unless someone wanted to pay me lots of money, give me a uacht, give me a bigger house with a house keeper, chef, driver, dog walker… J  These events are honoring Survivors, I was not picked by looks or personality but I know I score high in both areas. Ha! 

Race for the Cure 2014

Race for the Cure is coming up and it'll be the 3^rd year for our team Kickin’ it Pink to participate. I just registered Micah and myself so our team is going strong with 2 participants :) If you plan to do the race and don’t have another team to sign up with please join our team! We don’t really do anything special but we could!

Tomorrow morning I have my 3 month checkup with my Oncologist, Dr Barnhill. I’m not expecting much excitement but I guess you never know. From what I understand, this is an appointment to discuss any new symptoms I have and to figure out what should be done about them. The only way we can tell that something is wrong is if I have a symptom that indicates further testing is needed.

As far as I can tell I don’t have any symptoms needing further testing. I will tell Dr Barnhill that I was having headaches but I think they were from clenching my jaw while I slept. My right wrist hurts but I think that’s from being on my phone too much (kind of embarrassing!) I had an appointment with my OB/GYN a few weeks ago and my test results were negative. I had my checkup with the surgeon who does the biopsies and he had no concerns. I’ve been seeing my surgeon who does my reconstruction surgeries on a regular basis since July 17^th and he doesn’t seem to have concerns besides how I’m healing from my surgeries. So I think I’m ok. I hope I’m ok. I'll let you know how the appointment goes.

Here’s the link to sign up for Race for the Cure which is Oct 25th:
http://neworleans.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/MTR_NewOrleansAffiliate?team_id=309538&pg=team&fr_id=4376
 

Our 2012 team

We have lots of fun!

2013 was a little colder

 

2012

Cristie will be missed this year

California Kickin' It Pink team members

 

Cancer gets an F- (F minus)

I emailed a friend to voice my frustration or disbelief, I’m not sure what it was, about having cancer twice, making it through chemo, radiation and multiple surgeries relatively smoothly.  I mean, yes, I had pain, anxiety, swelling, a punctured lung and hated all of it but for the most part things went as planned.  So when I had surgery on July 17^thand was in the hospital for 2 nights, admitted for 3 nights for IV antibiotics due to an infection a week later and then readmitted for a surgery to completely cut out the infection I said, “Can you believe it?  After all this I can’t heal from a surgery?”  That’s when Cate told me “Cancer gets an F-.” And I had to laugh, boy is she right.

I ended up being in the hospital for 3 nights to get the IV antibiotics.  I went back for my post op visit and the infection hadn’t really improved.  My surgeon said he thought the best plan was to take me back to the operating room to cut out the infection.  On Thursday, July 31^st, I went back to surgery and Dr. Sullivan complete cut out the infected area.  I stayed one night and then came home, with another drain and more pain meds.  The drain was removed a week later.  As of today all of my stitches have been removed and I think I’m in the clear.    

Here’s a little recap:

July 17 – surgery to reconstruct my breasts and remove the scar from the lumpectomy I had in October 2013.
July 24 – admitted for 4 days/3 nights of IV antibiotics.
July 31 – back to the O.R. to remove the infection.
August 7 – drain removed
August 18 - some stitches removed
August 25 - remaining stitches removed

Because of the complications I will have at least one more surgery, if not two.  My left breast is now quite a bit smaller and shaped differently from my right breast due to the procedure that cut out the infection.  You might think, well Kristyn nobody has perfect breasts so why not stop?  I’ll tell you why.  First of all, I’ve been through a lot and I think I deserve this.  Second, you might call them million dollar boobs but I’m pretty sure million dollar boobs are perfect!  I know there are other reasons and I also know I don’t need to explain myself so I’ll stop with this - all of these surgeries I’m having are because I was told, in Sept 2012 and Sept 2013, that I have Breast Cancer.

Sept 2014 is right around the corner so please say a prayer or make a wish for me that the cancer really is gone.  I have an appointment with my Oncologist on Sept 4^th.  I’m hoping she is ready for me to get my port-a-cath out.  Not that I’m bothered by having it in, it’s just that it’d be pretty significant to take it out.  No port means no more chemo.

This is my arm at one point during my hospital stays.  When I was admitted for IV antibiotics they used my port to give me the antibiotics but they had to draw blood from my arm.  My blood is hard to find!

Driving to the beach?

Surgery last week went well.  I ended up staying 2 nights, kind of by force on my part because I wanted an extra night in the hospital to be taken care of and to make sure I was ready.  I'm not sure it was 100% necessary but I'm glad I stayed because I felt 100% better the 2nd day.  I left the hospital with 2 drains, one from each breast, a prescription for pain pills and one for an antibiotic (which is standard) and felt pretty good.  I did nothing Saturday and Sunday except rest.  Monday I had one appointment to get my port flushed and went back home to rest.

Tuesday I went in for my post op visit because I wanted to get my drains removed.  Laura, the Physicians Assistant, removed my right drain but said my left breast was infected and needed to leave the left drain in until the infection was gone.  She prescribed a stronger antibiotic and said to check in Wednesday to see what the progress was.  I called in Wednesday morning and then sent her a picture of my breast.  I know it's ok to send pics of your breast to the Breast Center but I did feel kind of weird doing it!  She said it looked like my breast had improved but she wanted me to check in Thursday.  Well, at 5:06pm, Wednesday (you know, 6 minutes after they closed) I started to get nervous that my breast was worse than it was in the morning.  I sent pics (again, feeling weird) to my friend Jolie, who has recently started working at the St Charles Surgical Center, and she said I should call the Breast Center and see what they thought I should do.  Again, I sent pictures, this time to a man but still a doctor.  I felt even weirder!  He called me back, said he thought it was a skin infection and could wait til Thursday but that I'd need to be seen and probably admitted.

Thursday morning I received a call to come in at 10 and bring clothes for a 2-3 day hospital stay.  Luckily I was admitted to the St Charles Surgical Center where I had my surgery.  I was kind of worried I'd be admitted to the regular hospital, which would've been fine but I was very happy I wasn't.  So far I've been in for about 24 hours.  I've had several rounds of antibiotics and 2 rounds of steroids.  My infection is getting better but I'll be here another day, at least.  I feel fine, except for my breast.  I haven't had any other symptoms so we caught the infection early enough and I'll find out tomorrow morning if I'll be leaving or staying another day.

We are so thankful that my mom is here to help with everything.  What a relief!  Bobby went back to the fire house on Thursday, after his vacation, so it was great to not have to scramble to make plans for Micah and our dogs.  We are blessed in so many ways.  I watched a movie last night that almost made me cry and I'm pretty sure I have never cried at a movie.  The only reason the tears didn't fall last night was because I knew the nurses were coming in soon.  It was kind of a fluke that I watched the movie, my friend (who will remain nameless!) brought me some dvds including The Family Stone.  It's actually a good movie and I'm not mad she brought it but one of the characters ends up dying of Breast Cancer (HELLO I kind of relate to that!).  The tears wouldn't have been because she died of Breast Cancer.  The tears would've come because this movie made me realize/remember that I am so lucky, blessed and thankful that I have made it trough cancer, twice.  I am alive to see my son grow.  I am seeing Helena grow up.  I celebrated another birthday.  Bobby and I will celebrate another anniversary.    And I have so many more things to look forward to that I don't even know about!  

Getting ready to head home from the hospital on Saturday. 

I thought it'd be fun to get 'Bobby' but 'Buddy' is good.  Micah is My Buddy and I'd love to share a coke with him.  My mom brings him to visit but it's not the same as him waking me up and then spending mornings and evenings with him.

So, my mom sends me pictures. Last night Micah got in his truck with his hat on and his alligator and was driving to the beach.

Summertime!

After a few painful months dealing with Lymphedema swelling in my left arm and breast, actually the entire left side of my body, the swelling is under control. I saw a Lymphedema therapist weekly for about 12 weeks. After my last appointment I hugged her and I'm not really a big hugger (except with Micah!). Mary and I talked about everything while she worked her magic with lymphatic drainage massage.

Tomorrow is my Stage 2 - With a Twist reconstruction surgery. I had my first surgery last February, the double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. And another surgery in May to make everything symmetrical. Normally this would be it for reconstruction surgeries but, lucky me, I had a recurrence and then a lumpectomy to remove the second tumor. The lumpectomy left a scar 3-4 inches long on my left breast. I also have skin discoloration on my breast from radiation. Some might ask if I can deal with the scar and skin discoloration and I absolutely can. BUT! I don't have to! Women (and men) who have breast cancer are finding that they have options after treatment and don't have to be disfigured just because they had cancer. Some women have a double mastectomy and are left with scars on a flat chest where they used to have breasts. Some women have to have their nipples removed, can you imagine? But my hospital has this tattoo artist named Vinnie who flies in to do 3D nipple tattoos. My nipples were not removed.  However, they were moved in one of my surgeries and will probably be moved again. This is CRAZY stuff! It's also crazy to think that I have boobs but they aren't really boobs. So I don't think about it much:) I would show my scars, my "boobs" and my fake belly button to anyone because I think it's fascinating. But I'm not going to lift my shirt in public or without you asking so if you're interested just let me know. No pics on here either because this is not an x-rated blog!

Anyway... Pre-op today and surgery tomorrow. I'm not sure what exactly is being done but I'll find out today. I also don't know my expected recovery time or any risks associated with the surgery, not necessarily medical risks but the need for additional surgeries. I still have my port which requires monthly flushing by a nurse at the cancer center and will require surgery to remove. At this point I do not have an expected return to work date and I'm trying not to plan because I have no idea what is going to happen!

On a non-cancer related note, Bobby, Helena, Micah and I went on vacation last week to Vero Beach, Florida. My good friend Erin invited us to join her family at the Driftwood Inn for their Week 27 vacation. We had a great time! Erin's family has timeshares at the Driftwood Inn during Week 27 and has been going for years (I think like 35 years!). How nice to be included and treated like family when we arrived! We drove 11.5 hours across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida to the East Coast/Atlantic Ocean and arrived on Saturday. To save money we stayed with Erin in her room for the first 2 nights and then moved to our humongous 1 bedroom/2 bath/full kitchen/balcony/closet-that-could've-been-Micah's-room room. All of us in Erin's room was a little cramped and I'm positive Erin was ready for her space back :) We spent 7 nights on the beach, in the pools, walking all over the resort (which luckily isn't that big), up stairs, down stairs and hanging out with a very welcoming and fun family.



chillin on the way to Vero Beach

Helena providing entertainment on the drive



Micah's Spider Man kite up in the sky

I think she was practicing












Bobby, Micah and Helena kayaking with some of our new friends/family.
For those of you who know me well, you know I don't like to put forth much energy on vacation. Luckily Bobby knows me well and didn't even ask if I wanted to go kayaking.

Huge fan of the pool!




not a huge fan of the sand

The Atlantic Ocean

 

East Coast sand

We spent quite a bit of time in these chairs.

 

Heading home

It's been awhile

I’ve started and even finished some entries but never actually saved them and I really don’t know why but here it is.  I’m going to start, finish, save and send today. 

 

I am done with chemo.  I’ve been done for awhile, honestly I don’t remember my last chemo date but even on my last day we didn’t know it was my last day which is a little upsetting.  I didn’t get the end-of-chemo celebration L and I wanted it!  I think I’ve said this before but this time around things seemed to be treated as more of a routine type thing and it was far from routine.  No one should have to go through cancer once let alone twice.  The chemo treatment itself was easier on me but I still HAD chemo AND radiation AND 2 surgeries so far, 2 biopsies AND a gazillion doctor appointments.  Anyway, I’m done with chemo and I suppose that’s the important thing. 

 

The swelling I had in my arm and breast has gone down a lot.  I can wear my wedding rings and watch and I’m not in constant pain.  The therapy helps and I continue to go once a week right now.  I also started wearing a ‘normal’ bra last weekend.  Yippee right?  For those of you who have to wear one every day you’d think I’d be happy to not wear one but I kind of need one.  Kind of, and kind of not since I had my reconstruction surgery last year.  Anyway, wearing a bra is one step closer to getting back to ‘normal.’  Obviously I use the term normal lightly and it will never mean the same thing it used to.

I have an upcoming surgery that is scheduled for July 17^th.  I hesitated about the date and would like to go a little later but the next opening is August 15^th and I’m not sure I want to wait that long.  This surgery is the one I was supposed to have last November but got postponed because of my recurrence.  It’s another reconstruction surgery with Dr Sullivan at the fancy hospital.  Dr Sullivan said it’s Stage 2 with a twist.  Part of the surgery will be removing the lumpectomy scar which I think is pretty cool!

I still have my port in and I’m not sure when I’ll get it out.  My Oncologist said to leave it in for awhile.  Sweet, does that mean I might do more chemo? Does she expect another recurrence?  Ugh, I try not to figure some things out.

I have friends; friends’ husbands, wives or parents and kids; people I don’t know but find out about who are dealing with cancer and I feel so bad.  I pray for you and them.  I can’t imagine a child with cancer.  I can’t imagine Bobby dealing with this or Micah or Helena or my mom or anyone!  Please be diligent and get things checked if you think something is off.  Don’t worry if it’s nothing, wouldn’t that be better than if it were something?! 

Tomorrow is my 39^th birthday.  Holy cow!  39!  I made it!  And I plan to make many more so consider yourself warned that I will continue to remind you. 

 

I guess I haven't taken many pictures lately so here it is, make fun all you want!

 

I'm taking a break!

I had an appointment with Dr Barnhill yesterday to see if I’d be doing another chemo and she said she’s still thinking I’m done but…  I also got an MRI yesterday because of pain I’ve been having, probably associated with the swelling in my arm and breast.  When I go back to Dr Barnhill in 2 weeks we’ll know for sure if I’m done with chemo. For now, I’m taking a break from Chemo.

I requested something, anything, to be done a few weeks ago when I was having serious pain from the swelling and lymphedema.  Dr Barnhill ordered an MRI but for whatever reason it was never scheduled so yesterday the nurse made sure to get it scheduled.  The MRI was scheduled for 5:30pm last night at a different hospital.  No big deal – I’ve been to this hospital before for other people and I’m not afraid of hospitals.  However, the experience could have been better.  The people were nice, the facility is fine but my arm was beat up!  They needed to find a vein for the contrast IV.   Person One could not see a vein but tried to get one, unsuccessfully.  Person Two could not see a vein but tried to get one, unsuccessfully.  Person Three was from the IV team and found one with no problem.  She’s had 30 years of experience with IV’s.  But during the MRI (which was very uncomfortable) I started to feel a cold sensation in my arm and just figured it was the dye going into my arm.  If you’ve had any type of contrast MRI or CT scan you know the feeling, although it’s usually warm.  When the MRI was done I looked at my arm and the contrast dye was dripping from my arm along with blood.  Oops I guess Person Three didn’t do as good as we thought.  Luckily, apparently, the dye is not harmful and I don’t have any bruising from any of the needle sticks.  But I’m ok and we’ll get the results soon.

I think I’ve determined the pain I was having in my arm, chest, ribs and abdomen is from lymphedema in my breast, not my arm.  Ok, maybe both my breast and arm and maybe my new therapist determined it but whatever!  I think we’ve found some treatment that will work.  When I took 3 pain pills within 4 hours (don’t scold me!!) that did NOTHING for the pain my mom suggested maybe I was taking the wrong medication.  So I tried an extra strength Ibuprofen and almost immediately felt relief.  My new therapist, Mary, also did a lymphatic drainage massage (very, very light massage to get the lymphatic fluid moving) which seemed to help.  I have 5 appointments with Mary in the next few weeks and I’m about to call her and ask her to call me if she has cancellations.  Her office is 3-4 blocks away and I can be there in 5 minutes and I think her therapy is helping.

Last Thursday was the fundraiser at Bayou Beer Garden.  People from work came (thanks for coming, it was great to see you all!), the United Fire Fighters Association made dirty rice; a retired chief from the Jefferson Parish Fire Department made hot dogs, chili and gumbo; my friend Meghan made red beans and rice; Bobby made potato salad; and my mom made her version of Swedish bread.  There were lots of raffle and silent auction items, grab bags and door prizes.  And I think we all had a good time.  I hate that these fundraisers are for me although I’m glad they’re not for any of you because that’d mean you were sick and I don’t want that either!  I am forever grateful to all of my friends and family who have supported me in any way through this time in my life.  And although this may sound morbid (and selfish?) it’s wonderful to see how loved I am BEFORE my funeral, which I think/hope is a long ways away.  I’ll try not to get a big head :)

  

I’m including some pictures of jazz fest, which I did get to go to but it was soooo different from other years - I missed a few days, I left early one day and went later than normal other days, used SPF 45 instead of SPF 15, wore wide brimmed hats and I took it much easier than in the past.  Two friends visited for jazz fest and I spent as much time as I could with them but I didn’t go out with them because I just couldn’t do it :(  My friend Erin came to spend time with me and help out with the fundraiser.  We had a great time but again, it was much different from other visits.  No matter what we did the day before I rested the next day.  And the plans we made rarely happened because I was just too tired.  When I’m out and about I try really hard to ‘Be There’ but when I’m home I’m taking it easy.   

While I might be done with Chemo I’m not going back to work yet.  I need to get my lymphedema under control and I have a few more surgeries. I also need to get my stamina back.  It’s hard for me to wait but I need to be healthy!

Nikki and Angie going to Jazz Fest without me :(

Helena passing time by making something in the sand for Robin Thicke

Wide brim hat - fancy!

Possibly//hopefully my last day of chemo.  With Missy, my favorite chemo nurse.

Ahh, the love. It's so cute!

Working at his computer, headphones and all.

Micah and his buddy Portland

Fanning ourselves with my Mother's Day Fan made by Micah

What a difference a day or two makes.  I decided to not put my sleeve on yesterday because it made the swelling and pain worse on Monday.  Today I can actually see my knuckles.  I still have pain but I'm starting to wonder if it's due to radiation side effects still occurring, chemo side effects and the white blood cell shot I got on Friday.  I'm wondering and hoping because lymphedema is a dreaded illness.  I won't say I'm off the hook though, I had swelling a month ago and it went down then the swelling came back.  And lymphedema is a risk I'll have for the rest of my life because I had lymph nodes removed.  Monday was definitely a bad day for me and I thank everyone for your prayers and concern.  

I have a check up with my Radiation Oncologist today and I’m going to badger him with questions about radiation side effects and how long they’re going to last.  I’ve been having pain in my left breast since I had my biopsy in February, which is probably normal because of all the treatment I’ve had but I want to make sure it’s normal and not something that needs to be addressed.  Unfortunately I’ve heard the side effects can last years.

  

I haven’t really provided updates on my chemo treatments in a few weeks.  My blood counts were good for my Day 1 treatment on April 3^rd.  For my Day 8 treatment my counts were low, really really low but Dr Barnhill decided to give me a dose dense treatment (I’m assuming dose dense means less of the drugs) and then Friday I went for the dreaded white blood cell shot.  I’ll see Dr Barnhill again on April 24^th for Day 1 treatment again, as long as my counts are ok again.  I’m going to ask about her plan for future treatments since that will be the beginning of my 4^th cycle.

Lastly, it is hard for me to ask for help because everyone has been so helpful already and it is all appreciated.  If you haven’t seen or heard, my friends, family, United Fire Fighters Association and the Bayou Beer Garden are holding another fundraiser for me.  There’s a suggested donation amount of $15 – if you can’t pay that (or don’t want to) I’d still love if you could make it!  I enjoy silent auctions and the chance to bid on cool items and I LOVE seeing friends and family.  If you, or someone you know wants to donate an item or if you have questions you can email me and I’ll put you in contact with the right person (ksmoore2211@yahoo.com).  

Despite a swollen, aching hand I am still able to laugh with my friends! 

swollen hand w/sleeve - no knuckles.

This guy makes me happy too!