Monday, November 13, 2000
We had fun with dad and Patrick on Friday night. Patrick was quite funny - when I greeted him at the door, he said, "You've got hair!" like he had thought that I was going to be bald for the rest of my life. While dad and Rick were downloading free software for him and setting it up, Patrick and I watched "Iron Chef". Although it was not as good an episode as the one I watched with him before (where Iron Chef Chen made the fish guts ice cream!), we enjoyed it. Saturday morning, they were off at the break of dawn with the "new" computer.Saturday evening, Rick and I went on a hayride with our church. There were 2 wagons full of people, and we were in the front wagon along with the pastor and his wife, and a bunch of other people. On the way back, after roasting marshmallows and making S'mores, the pastor (I am not making this up) convinced the teenaged boys in our wagon to throw the leftover marshmallows at the folks in the other wagon. Sunday morning, his wife told us that there were still marshmallows left after the ride was over, so the pastor drove by the house of one of the members and pelted it with the remaining sweets. Also on Sunday morning, several people who rode in the back wagon were trying to get us to tell them who was throwing the marshmallows. We just smiled and said they'd never believe us if we told them.
After church, Rick and I went shopping for the ingredients for Tomato Florentine soup, with the goal of making it low fat, low sodium and still tasty. In the evening, we made the soup together, and it was, indeed tasty. I enjoy cooking with Rick, and since we really both need this diet, I hope he'll keep working with me on this kind of thing.
Most of the rest of the weekend I either worked or napped. I did spend some time with a Domeboro soak on the still-red areas of my breast, and it really improved how the skin looks and feels. I wish I'd had the energy to do that again yesterday. Maybe tonight.
Today we are going to go and sit with Rick's sister-in-law while his brother has surgery for colon cancer. The surgeon is going to do the least invasive surgical option to begin with - all of the pre-surgical tests came back very positive, showing no sign of spread. Then they will look at the pathology report to determine if Gary needs more radical surgery or some adjuvent treatment, such as chemotherapy or radiation. I've done a little reading on colon cancer, and it's a whole different ballgame from breast cancer. I think it's safe to say, however, that having it sucks.
posted by Karen Weber Monday, November 13, 2000
Tuesday, November 14, 2000
Breast Cancer Patients' Rights
posted by Karen Weber Tuesday, November 14, 2000
Wednesday, November 15, 2000
We talked to Chris last night. Gary got home just fine and is still in good spirits. They are anxiously awaiting the pathology report. This is such a difficult time.I got a delivery from Godiva Chocolates today - my college buddy, Terri, sending her congratulations on the completion of treatment. Big kisses coming your way, Terri. I'll try to call you Thursday.
I spent several hours last night typing my little fingers off as host for the Friends in Need Chat-a-Thon to raise money for breast cancer research. If you have had breast cancer, or know someone who has, drop in to the chat-a-thon. It's going on for several more days. If you don't want to chat, there is information on that page about how you contribute directly to breast cancer research efforts. Even the smallest donation counts. Remember, the vast ocean is made up of tiny drops of water! You don't have to be the ocean, you can just be one drop and still make an impact.
Study Links Humor, Healthy Hearts
I've posted the week 9 hair pictures. Sorry for the delay in getting that up. Do look, because there is a definite change this week! I've also posted a copy of the testimony I gave in church a few weeks ago on How to Maintain your Joy in the Midst of Challenging Times. If you click on the Inspire button to your left, you'll see my testimony listed on that page.
posted by Karen Weber Wednesday, November 15, 2000
Thursday, November 16, 2000
I'm now starting the 2nd week post-radiation. I weighed and measured myself today. Over the first week, I lost 4 pounds and 2 inches (bust, waist, hips). I haven't really started "dieting" yet, but we are changing over to a vegetarian diet + fish. We shall make an exception on Thanksgiving, of course!Today is the first recording session for the survivor song. I'm very excited. Channel 12 will have a crew out there filming, and so I've taken the extreme step of wearing hose. Gasp! Those of you in cooler climes may not think that extreme, but it is a rarity in Phoenix, and practically extinct in my personal wardrobe. I'm wearing the new outfit I bought on the last day of radiation therapy. It is bright and fun. I'm going to try to remember to take my camera so that I can talk someone into snapping some pictures of me.
posted by Karen Weber Thursday, November 16, 2000
Friday, November 17, 2000
OnHealth: New Answer for Tamoxifen Problem - using an IUD to inhibit abnormal growth of the endometrium in women using tamoxifen.I took a long walk today - down to Walgreen's to pick up a prescription. I think it's about a mile. I didn't walk fast, I just strolled. My heart rate stayed between 110 and 120, so that's better than I had been doing. I have some sore muscles, especially in my back. I've been such a slug this year, it's going to take me awhile to get back into any kind of shape to do even a simple thing like walking down the block to the store. Sigh! I've spent the rest of the day in the recliner, working on my laptop. I'm totally pooped. I'm about to go take a nice nap.
posted by Karen Weber Friday, November 17, 2000
Saturday, November 18, 2000
Today the worship band is meeting to learn a bunch of new music for the upcoming year. I had been hoping to catch up with some things (like paying bills!), but my chemobrain had forgotten all about this. I hope I'll come home with enough energy to spare to get some bills paid.Oh, oh, oh! I wore a bra all day yesterday without vigilon or aquaphor lotion! It's just a little red right at the crease, but so much better! The skin is healing so nicely.
If you look over to the buttons on the left, you'll see that I've been a busy little beaver over the last couple of nights. I've pulled a lot of the helpful links I've found all onto one page. Just click the "Links" button.
Well, the pizza/singing party today was fun! Not many people showed up, but we had lots of fun learning new music. I got home in time for my nap, then slept through the timer and didn't wake up for a couple hours. Since then, I've had a pretty good case of cotton brain.
I forgot to mention that we talked with Gary this morning. The surgeon called them last night with the pathology results. The tumor had invaded the wall of the colon, so it's not quite as good a prognosis as we had hoped for. If there had been no invasion, surgery would have been the end of it. Now, the staging of the tumor is unclear because there is no information on lymph node status. I'm not exactly sure why that is - the PDQ for rectal cancer says nodes should be taken when doing a wedge excision, but in this case, they weren't. So Gary and Chris will have some hard decisions to make about what happens next. They could still choose to end treatment at the surgery. Or, they could choose to have further surgery, but this will apparently mean a colostomy. The most likely option is to do chemotherapy and radiation. We are praying hard!
posted by Karen Weber Saturday, November 18, 2000