September 26, 2008 - Artwork and Chia Pets

Here's a caution only for those who don't want to see my scar, my radiation markings and my hair sproutage: Don't look!

Since I'm not totally bald anymore, and I actually have some hair coming in, I'll show my head, but only from the back. I have to have a way to deny it was me, should the need arise. It sort of resembles a Chia Pet, don'tcha think?

I went to radiation this morning to get my 22nd of 33 treatments, and they did a simulation that will support my final five treatments. They call it my 'boost'. The doc came in today and drew a nice, pretty kidney bean shaped line around my scar. This is where they'll focus for the last five treatments. Since this nice artwork was added to the existing x's, I just had to show it to you. I can actually wash them off on October 13th after my final treatment. Yes. I can shower. I just can't scrub them.

Celebrate for me on October 14th, OK?

You can see where it's starting to get pink, and you can see my scar in the middle of the pretty circle. I couldn't go much lower with the bathing suit top, as I have some pride. :-)

Later gators. Gotta run. Have a groovy weekend! I'm doing my Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on Sunday morning. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
- Sandy

September 19, 2008 - Radiation Schmadiation

Life is good. I'm halfway through radiation. Yay!!! However, the daily grind is getting old quickly. I feel a little tingly (kind of a stinging feeling), and I'm tired (big surprise), but other than that all is well.

I'm still working full time, but I wish I had some 'me' time during my treatment period.

My b-day yesterday kinda stunk. Parker had a fever, so I kept him home from school. Karla was in pain, so I kept her home from work and took her to the doc. She's fine, but my car was acting up, so I took it to the dealership. $600 later, it's running well.

Fortunately my sweet family decided to surprise me with a beach party last Saturday, so I can't really complain too much about my birthDAY going sour. How they ever pulled off a surprise like that without me knowing is a .... well ... a surprise! :-) It was great! I thought my son in law was bringing the boys for a day at the beach, so I insisted they go ahead of us, and I stayed home and made sandwiches, snacks, and packed an ice chest. I was so tired from all of the prep that I couldn't wait to get to the beach to read my book and fall asleep. I was surprised to see Brandy (from Palmdale) leaning against the wall when I walked up to the sand. Surprise! We had a blast.

School was 'just ok.' My photography instructor doesn't really have a good teaching plan.... he has one of those approaches where he goes lightning fast through a Photoshop task so no one can possibly keep up, and then he spends the next 40 minutes going from student to student to walk each one through the exercise. Ugh. I guess I'll have to do most of my learning via the Internet.

September 12, 2008 - California Peach

First things first -- Happy Birthday to Jennifer and to Debbie. Enjoy YOUR special day!!!

Well, I'm not a cue-ball head anymore. With my new hair sprouts, my head resembles something closer to a peach. At dinner the other night, Cassie told me I had a 5-o'clock "headow".

I've had twelve radiation treatments so far. I've passed the 1/3 mark! Woo hoo! Still no unbearable side effects. Pray it stays that way. My body is strong enough to do my normal activities -- working, walking, laundry, etc., but doing anything above normal is quite a feat. I laid on the floor on my tummy with my knees bent, and I tried to pull on my feet. OMG! Just touching my feet was really painful. That wasn't my normal workout pain. It was definitely an indicator that my body has been through quite a bit. I remember being in dance class years ago and pulling on my feet like that and rocking on my stomach, wondering why everyone in the room couldn't do that. It was so easy. Ha! Not so much anymore. I guess I need a yoga class.

Hugs and blessings,

Sandy

September 7, 2008 - Watched StandUp2Cancer

Hi there friends and family. I'm not sure if you watched Stand Up 2 Cancer on Friday night. I was invited to an old friend's house to watch it. Out of the 8 women there, 4 were cancer survivors. It was a great bonding experience. Stand Up 2 Cancer was an incredibly moving show. It just killed me watching the kids fighting cancer. You know, when I was diagnosed, I could at least question things like....did I eat too much red meat? Did I not eat enough natural foods? Too many acidic foods over the years? Too much exposure to pollution, chemicals at work, etc? It could've been anything. But when a child gets cancer, it's really a mystery to me. The story of the child who "just wanted to be 5" cut right through my heart. Of course, God has a plan for everyone, so we just have to continue to fight and trust in Him that the reasons will surface in one way or another.

If you haven't yet donated to Stand Up 2 Cancer, you can do it in just a couple of minutes on this website: https://www.standup2cancer.org/donate_splash.asp. Hopefully there will be a cure as a result of everyone's donations.

If you are in Orange County and want your donation to go specifically to help Orange County women, you can donate to the Orange County Chapter of the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure. The proceeds go to provide breast cancer prevention through free mammograms, etc. I'll be walking for this cause on September 28, 2008. The link to my personal donation page is: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=271499&lis=1&kntae271499=EBA332BDC41947508F28CE702462A84B&supId=228307733.
Thanks to everyone who has graciously donated to these or any other cause that's near and dear to your heart.

As for my fight, I'm doing fine. I feel a lot of fatigue in my legs lately and I have no eyelashes, but my hair is sprouting. If you look REALLY close, you can see it!!! Yay! Radiation goes until mid-October. So far, no really obvious signs of problems there. It's more the daily reminder that I'm fighting this thing that bothers me (cuz I have to go 5 days per week). Overall, things are pretty darn tolerable.

Thanks for reading my blog. It means a lot to me that you care enough to seek out my progress during my treatments.

Love to you all,

Sandy

September 3, 2008 - Three Eyelashes

No one would ever think to name their eyelashes....... Unless they had only THREE! I'm not actually going to name them, but I should. Darn it!

I managed to keep most of my eyelashes throughout my chemo treatments, and now that chemo is over a month behind me, I've lost nearly all of them. Sniffle sniffle.

So now, I have to do neither my hair, nor my make up. I'm ready to go in a snap!

I've had five radiation treatments so far. I've had no side effects, except for tiredness. Who actually knows if that's from the radiation? My toes and hands are still numb, and I have a lot of fatigue in my legs. I know those things are lingering from the chemo treatments.

Parker started school today. Summer is officially over. It's back to the winter routine for the entire family!