Pics of Cathy

Cathy, Dan and Danny

Playing in the Rain

Although living in Texas now, Cathy is originally from Chicago. This is a picture of her there from her last visit.

Cathy and Danny at a Sox game.

Migraines...

..and sleeplessness.

I was out running errands yesterday and started getting a headache. I was hoping to finish what I was doing before it really hit. I was not so lucky. I hadn't eaten, so I thought that may help. One the way home I stopped at Burger King. However the smell made me feel worse. I did have some of that migraine medicine in the car that the dr gave me, I took that. You are supposed to take it when the headache starts, so I waited a little too long. I was not sure I was going to make it home without throwing up. Somehow I did. Thankfully. That headache did finally fade, but didn't go away totally until about 8 last night. I ended up taking some Excedrin Migraine also. Then....I couldn't sleep. That always makes for a fun night. At least we didn't have to get up for school today.

So, a little tired today, but no headache.

Yuk, Yuk, Yuk

I am so damn sick of this weather. Sunshine and warmth, where are you?? I have seen tons of robins--where is Spring?? The girls even called me into Jenna's room the other day to show me the 20 or so robins in our front yard! I really hope it warms up for the girls next week, they will be on Spring Break.

I am not feeling the greatest today. Not sure if I am trying to catch something, or if I ate something that got to me last night. I guess it doesn't much matter-either way, I'm not feeling well.

I had a follow up conference call with Pasha and Christine today. It was basically just to talk to me more one on one--get my "story" to make a better match. They did ask that I post about the POC on the BB to help get the word out.

One more day until the girls are off for a week. I need to go get their Easter basket stuff. Shouldn't really take that long as I don't plan on getting alot of stuff.

Robin Watch....

It is that time of year again, time to start looking for robins, and hoping Spring isn't far behind. Last year I saw the first robin on March 6th. This year was a little later, March 13th. This has been one long, cold winter. I will be so glad when it is gone.
I have been watching for the robins for awhile now, hoping for the end of this winter. Nothing. Dad had 12 in his yard the first weekend in March. While in Indy I saw one on the bush as I was walking out to brush snow off the car. (These don't count, as they weren't in my yard.) But nothing here. Then as I was cleaning house Thursday, I happened to glance out the window and there he was, in our front yard. Since of course, I have seen several more. YEAH!!!!

On another note, I had my appt with the cardiologist yesterday. I went in prepared for her to yell at me for not doing more to lose weight. I was wrong. She mentioned the 5 lbs I did lose, then told me that it is not unusual for breast cancer patients to gain weight. She asked if we talked about exercise last time. I told her that we did. She told me that when I do start working out, I will not build muscle as fast as I used to. Another lovely gift of cancer--in particular the adraimycin I had during chemo. This can stay in your body for 2 years. And is in every part of my body. Lovely! I asked her if that could lead to fatigue--she said yes, definitely. Another thing that can lead to the fatigue is the leaky valve in my heart. (By the way, my heart looked the same, it hasn't gotten worse, and she is confident that this will reverse itself once I am finished with the herceptin.) Cancer, the gift that keeps on giving--NOT! Thanks alot! She said that for her, she felt about 85% back to normal about 6 months after finishing the herceptin. One year later, she was back to her former self. So, Next April I will be back to my former self (will I recognize me?? LOL). In Oct. hopefully I will be close. Something to look forward to. Of course, she doesn't talk about this stuff at the one appt that John went to. Then she had to talk about weight and exercise, and what I should be doing in those areas to avoid a recurrence.
We also talked about ports. I want mine out ASAP after the last herceptin. The chemo nurses had said Dr. S likes to keep them in for 6 months to a year usually. No freakin way. I hate this thing, it will have served it's purpose--out it goes. It is tipping sideways, uncomfortable at times, and getting a little harder to access. IF I ever need one again (and I am going on the thought that I won't) then, they can put it back in. This one would probably be flipped around backwards by then. It also pinches my nerves at times. It needs to come out. Dr. B (cardiologist) said she got hers out right away. And understands where I am coming from. She felt how it is tipping too.

Still have a few surgeries in my future. I have to get these ovaries out. Of course, first I have to find a new ob/gyn. Then I do believe I am going to have the other Dr. S (plastic surgeon) fix my boobs. She did a great job at making them look natural. Problem is, that I don't want them to look natural. She had said if I decided to get them fixed she could probably just tighten up the pocket. I really want to do that. After all I had to go through, I want good boobs. Ones I don't have to wear a bra with. I feel like I have to now. The tanks with the built in bras, I don't think I will be happy with the way they look on this summer. I am going to wait until Fall though. I don't want to miss out on any swimming time this year. I also have to get this port out. I don't know if that is counted as a surgery though, as I have heard that it can be done in the office.
The fun never ends!

Oops, Forgot Something Again.

While I was driving to Indy this past weekend, one of the best all time songs came on, "It's a Great Day to be Alive" by Travis Tritt. The words are at the end of this post. It is just a great belt it out loud song, that just happens to have great lyrics also. I had a feeling when I heard that on the way there that it would be a good weekend.

It's a Great Day to Be Alive

I got rice cooking in the microwave
Got a three day beard I don't plan to shave
And it's a goofy thing but I just gotta say
Hey, I'm doing alright
Yeah I think I'll make me some homemade soup
Feelin' pretty good and that's the truth It's neither drink nor drug induced
No, I'm just doin' alright

And it's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shinin' when I close my eyes
There's some hard times in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good?

It's been fifteen years since I left home
Said good luck to every seed I'd sown
Give it my best and then I left it alone
Oh I hope they're doin' alright
Now I look in the mirror and what do I see?
A lone wolf there starin' back at me
Long in the tooth but harmless as can be
Lord, I guess he's doin' alright

And it's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shinin' when I close my eyes
There's some hard times in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good?

Sometimes its lonely
Sometimes its only me and The shadows that fill this room
Sometimes I'm fallin', desperately callin'
Howlin' at the moon

Well I might go get me a new tatoo or
Take my old Harley for a three day cruise
Might even grow me a fu man chu

And it's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shinin' when I close my eyes
There's some hard times in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good?

And it's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shinin' when I close my eyes
There's some hard times in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good?

Training...

This past weekend I made the trip to Indianapolis for Point of Contact Training for the YSC . This is training to learn how to take phone calls from ladies that contact the YSC. Haley had asked "why does it take two days to learn how to take a phone call". I have to admit I was wondering the same thing. But there is actually a lot to this learning to listen. How to word things, and making sure that you give just enough information about you that you connect with the caller, but not so much that you take over the phone call.
The training was run by a couple of wonderful ladies-Christine Benjamin and Pasha Hogan. I must admit, Christine intimidated me a little at first, although I quickly got over that. Pasha I was immediately comfortable with-she seems to share many thoughts/ ideas that I have.
Unfortunately there was a lot of role playing. This I don't like at all. I understand the idea behind it. It does help some I guess. However, it is completely different than a real call. For one thing, you aren't at home in a comfortable environment (which they did say also). For another, you have distractions and people listening to you. And lastly, even though I had just met these women Saturday-I still had a sense of them. Where when I make one of these calls, the other person will be a completely blank slate.
I went down Friday night. Earlier than originally intended. I was wanting to get there before it snowed too much. The ride down was great. Went by faster than expected. Of course the 70mph speed limit helped that! Then about 20 miles out (and 2 minutes after John had called) I hit the snow. It was snowing pretty hard and blowing. I had a hard time finding the hotel --they didn't have a big sign like I thought they would. I also was paying attention to all the drivers around me. When I finally got there I was so glad. And I have to say I was impressed. At the advice of the Indy ladies, I pricelined the hotel. I had never done this before. I didn't like the idea of not knowing which hotel it was, and you can't cancel once it is set. But, any hotel I checked into was $100 a night and you lost the first night if you cancelled, so I gave it a try. Per their advice, I put in three star-and the area, my price was $35 a night. It rejected that and said I had to go up at least $9 to try again. So I did. I got the room for $44 a night. $108 total-tax and everything. I was pretty happy about that. It would be staying at the DoubleTree. Then I get there and it is a two room suite (living room, bed room). Very nice room. I will definitely be using Priceline again.
There was another lady from the Chicago area going. Her name is Laura. Haley keeps calling her Laura from Auroura. We stayed separate Friday night, but shared a room on Saturday. We got along great, very comfortable with each other.
The Indy ladies hosting the training were great. Everything was wonderful. You know when you go to an area where they all know each other, you are worried if they will accept you or if you will feel like an outsider. No problem with this what so ever. I am hoping to keep in touch with these ladies and possibly go to a couple of their events.
Sunday I was starting to get a migraine. I took the new medicine the dr prescribed, and thankfully it worked. (Thankfully I remembered to put some in my purse too!) I wish I could do away with these migraines altogether.
Alex from the YSC was also there. She is the one who will be matching the caller with a volunteer. She is soooo sweet. She had a baby post bc and he was there with her-man is he a cutie!! The biggest eyes!!
This weekend--no travel plans. The girls and I are going to a few high school musicals. Braidwood and Wilmington always do it on the same weekend. Braidwood is doing "Once Upon a Mattress" and Wilmington "Jekyll and Hyde". No travel plans though. It was a nice break, but I like to be home.

Flavor Flav, Lions and Sleepy Time..

I forgot to mention a couple of things about Vegas. In 15 years of going there, we have never seen anyone famous. The lady next to me on the flight out had even asked me that. Well, I guess we can't say that anymore. While waiting for our car at the Planet Hollywood Resort, there were some ladies all excited and getting their picture taken with someone. I looked down the counter and mentioned to John that that must be someone famous. He looked down and said "yeah, it's Flavor Flav". I looked again, and sure enough he had the big clock hanging around his neck. John mentioned something about how we should get our picture taken with him. But neither of us really wanted to bother someone while they are out being "normal". And honestly, I'm not a fan. If it had been someone I really liked, I may have had to bother them. Of course if Flavor didn't want to be recognized, he could always take that huge clock off his neck. So maybe he wants to be seen. He was driving himself (this surprised me for some reason). He had a Monte Carlo, I think John said it was a late 90's model-sparkly blue. Not just metallic, it was sparkly.
The other thing I forgot to mention was that the MGM now has a lion habitat inside. I found this on my way to the Tropicana on Sunday. It is pretty cool. They have glass tunnels for you to walk through the habitat, allowing you to get closer. I couldn't get a good pic-with flash, didn't work, and without I was getting my reflection back in the window. So I took some video. I can always snag a photo off of that.
Tuesday, our first day back, I had a Herceptin appt. I was already tired, and crashed while getting my infusion. Then came home and took a nap that afternoon. I am so tired of being tired. Two more to go, then hopefully my body adjusts back to normal.