Camp Good Days and Special Times

I had a great day with some of my favorite girlies in the world today:) First Alexandra and I met Jill, Leanne and Natalie for lunch, then we did a little shopping, and then we volunteered for my favorite charity, Camp Good Days and Special Times, accepting donations at Eastview Mall in exchange for a kazoo or two. Leanne's kids and my kids have spent a week at "cancer camp" for the past few summers, and it is. bar none, the best week of their summer every year.  Their goal is to give the kids a week free of thinking about cancer, while at the same time providing a safe place to talk about their experiences if they need it.  They've made great friends and pranked them, too! Plus it gives Will and I a kid-free week, so we can escape just the 2 of us to Cape Cod, or the Adirondacks or wherever.  We are ever grateful to this wonderful organization, so a couple hours hawking kazoos? You bet! Look for the table every weekend til Christmas outside of JCPenney.

My week off chemo last week was fabulous, went to Florida for the holiday, now back to work and school tomorrow, back to chemo this Friday for my last treatment. Woohoo!!:)

Chemo #8, Cycle 3

Almost done! :) Just one more treatment to go in this, my hopefully last, round.  The plan is to take next week off for Thanksgiving (I hope cancer respects our time out for a holiday!), then back Dec 2 for the final treatment in this cycle and then on to the PET scan to see how I'm doing.

My chemo buddies this week were my mom and Mindy. Thanks for keeping me company!!  Ann Marie is all signed up for my final treatment, the final fairy:) I'm looking forward to the snacks already!!

My numbers at least look good, my Cancer antigen has now gone from (high of 1233 pre chemo) then 513 and now down to 126! And my CEA is down from (high of 73 before chemo) then 30 and now down to 10.1 :) woohooo! Both of those numbers had been climbing steadily since February of 2011, and are now back to early 2011 lows.  Makes me very happy - i hope the PET scan bears out my optimism and I'll be saying an extra special prayer of thanks for medicine and chemotherapy this thanksgiving.

I've been thinking a lot lately about statistics...I am one lucky girl when you look at the numbers.  Some stats say that the 5 year survival rate for stage IV initial diagnosis is 5%.  5 percent.  And I'm at year 4 now, not planning on going anywhere anytime soon!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I'll be counting my blessings.

Chemo #7, Cycle 3

Friday was my most recent chemo treatment, and I also had my regular infusion of Zometa and a painful shot of Lupron just for fun:) Plus, because my leg is still hurting, I had an X-ray with negative results :) and because my left foot is grotesquely swollen (no pic included, i decided i couldn't offend you that much!) I had a doppler ultrasound of my leg to make sure no blood clots, also, thankfully, negative.  Apparently, lots of people swell up as a reaction to chemo, plus the lovely steroids, and I've been lucky enough to avoid this side effect til now.  Leanne thinks i should get an echocardiogram just to make sure my heart hasn't been damaged by the chemo, which could also cause the swelling I'm experiencing...I'm hoping to wake up tomorrow morning and have it resolved:) This morning, I was finally able to try on my new boots to make sure they fit before it swelled up again, which made me very happy!!

ShellyB was my chemo fairy this week, and she and Will kept me company for the very long day we spent at Strong.  She brought me pumpkin seeds and chocolate dusted almonds - she knows the way to my heart:) She also knows the way to my funny bone - no one makes Will or me laugh like she does:) Love you!! XOXO

Human Touch Intitiative Fundraiser

Me and the boy:)

HTI playing cards and drinking weird beer to raise $$

Last Friday, Will and I went to a fundraiser for HTI, a fantastic organization that provides free and low cost massage therapy for cancer patients - how cool is that?! I've been the grateful recipient of these services, and I've just become more involved by volunteering and fundraising as well.  Great group of people, and it feels good to be able to help fund other people's massage as well.  Our friend Cheryl even stepped it up a notch by buying me a gift certificate for a massage; part of the $$ went to me and my achin' bones, and part of it went to fund someone else in need of relief, all for the regular price of a massage.  Thanks, Cheryl!! Awesome:) If you know anyone with cancer who might benefit from massage, please direct them to www.humantouchinitiative.org.

Angels

Angels:)

Do I look like Valerie Bertinelli?!

Hats just weren't enough for Gillies! So, we decided to join her craziness for core team this week. Bald is beautiful.  Wigs are sweaty and itchy. Mine was off before the meeting started, but Bambi (Gillies) and Col stuck it out for the whole hour. My heroes:) XOXO

Chemo free Friday:)

:)

So, my gorgeous friends (above) took me out for a movie and dinner last night to celebrate my week off chemo, and it was a wild and crazy time! Gillies went all out with her party city blonde wig find, and with Kathy, Colleen and I, went to see "Anonymous" which was confusing, and then to Benucci's for fabulous chatting and food.  Thanks for the distraction, my friends,  I had a marvelous time!! xoxo