H'ween

Got an email from a nearby restaurant that kids ate free if they showed up in their costumes, and adults got 20% off. sold! we came back from eating and promptly went trickortreating for about an hour. I had the overflow bag, which soon contained DD1's wig and jacket, as it got a bit hot tonight. Much different from my days of trick or treating in the Midwest, where most times the neighbors couldn't tell what your costume was, because you had a coat on over it.
The trend in our neighborhood is to sit out in your front yard, and hand out candy. A lot of people just congregate, so the kids will get candy from three or four households at one stop.
Here are some pics. DD1 did her own makeup, which prompted DH to say she looked more like Dee Snider of Twisted Sister than Hannah Montana....

A(nother) Crappy Morning

Woke up ~ 6:30, and saw that Bella had pooped on the carpet. OK, grab a kleenex, pick up the poop and go to the guest bathroom, as the other one is occupied. DD2 had apparently forgotten to flush last night, so I flush the toilet. And it overflows. Yay!
I get all that cleaned up, and go in to see that Bella has taken some cat poop out of the litter box. Double yay!
Normal morning other than that, girls to school, work out, eat a salad.
But! DH has finally acceded to our need for new flooring, so I'm going to Home Depot today to order it!

Why Am I Awake?

ChemoGirl, you say,
you got up at 4:30 a.m., why are you still awake at 11:30 p.m.?
Because I am STUPID.
I'm cutting way down on the sodas, as they are basically liquid candy, and evil. So, I get caffeine headaches. (Which my overactive imagination immediately assumes is brain cancer.) So, tonight when I got home, I had a cup of Mountain Dew to take away the headache.
Yep. Mountain Dew. That highly caffeinated beverage. The headache went away, but now I am AWAKE. I slept for about an hour, after I watched the results show of Dancing With The Stars (and, oh my GOSH I can't blv who got eliminated!), but now I Am Awake.

The Rest of Tuesday

Went to the gym for the first time in about a month. It felt good to exercise again!
Picked up DD2 for her Dr appt. She'd been complaining of a sore ear for the past few days. Doc said the ear drum looked fine, but it looked like swimmer's ear or something.
We went to eat at a Chinese buffet, DD2's choice. I had mainly veggies. She had that famous Chinese dish, mac and cheese. And pizza. I put some broccoli and squash on her plate and made her eat them.
Dropped her back at school, came home and actually did some writing! I'm supposed to speak at chapel in December at DD2's school, so I wrote a sketch to take up some of the time I'm supposed to talk, and forwarded it to the drama teacher at DD2's school.
Baked potatoes and roasted veggies for supper.

Later

So, I closed my eyes for a few minutes....and woke up 15 minutes b4 DD2's school started. Dang it. Got DD2's backpack all together, and forgot to put it in the van.
DD1 missed the bus. So I drove her to school and then dropped off the back pack.

Monday

Spent the morning tidying up and doing stuff around the house. Lunch, errands, picked up DD2, more errands, picked up DD1, went to dentist to get DD1's molars sealed. It was much more successful this time, as a) they let me come back with her, and b) Dr. Satchell, who is very patient and gentle, explained everything to her so she didn't freak out.
Came home, put a king ranch casserole in the oven, and made my pumpkin pie from scratch. It turned out pretty well, at least warm from the oven. I'll have to see how it tastes after having been refrigerated overnight.
Went to Brownies, came home ~8 p.m., just really tired. Went to bed around 9:15. Woke up at 4:15.

Sunday

With the pie recipe, you have to put the baked pie pulp in a strainer overnight to let it drain. i did so, warning DH what is was and not to touch it. I, however, did not warn DD1, who decided the pulp was spaghetti and dumped it out. sigh.

This afternoon, we went to a pumpkin patch with Robin and her kids. These pumpkin patch people are making money hands over fist. $3 admission per head. What do you get for this $12? The opportunity to take pictures of your kids amidst the pumpkins. And, of course, the opportunity to buy pumpkins. They have a train ride, a hay rack ride, and giant inflatables, all of which you can ride. For two additional dollars per head per ride.
Admission: $12
6 ride tickets: $12
Pumpkin and a few gourds: $12
Total time spent at the pumpkin patch: about a hour

Saturday

DH was out of town all week, so today we went shopping together with DD2. DD1 was at a Girl Scout function.
Had lunch at Le Petit Paris, which had The Best Soup. It was a curry soup with chicken, potatoes and carrots. Yum! Curry has turmeric, which has anti-cancer properties, so double yum!
Now I am making pumpkin pies from scratch. I've never had a pumpkin pie that wasn't made from the canned filling, and my friend Rosebud very kindly supplied me with a recipe. She lives in Michigan, so she can't come over and show me how....
I'll let u know how it comes out.

Friday

Went to DD1's book fair, where she spent her $5 on surprise! a Hannah Montana poster. Then brought DD2 lunch (blech) Burger King. Went to the Container Store, as I need to tidy up DH's man cave, and put some of the detritus in boxes.
DD2's school had homecoming last night, and all the k'garteners were supposed to be on the field when the football players came on the field, waving banner and pompms. DD2 declared she Did Not Like Sports and Did Not Like Cheering. So, needless to say, we didn't go to the homecoming game. We went to a Fall Festival instead.
I would post pics of the Fall Festival, but I forgot my camera. The DDs Could Not Believe I forgot my camera.
We got there, and I bought a cupcake from the Bake Shop right away, while the getting was good. I lurked around the silent auction, and bid on a few things, but didn't see anything I had to have.

Thursday

I've known for a month that I had a meeting to get ready for at church today. So when did I start getting ready for it? Last night. After ten.
Then, I was POSITIVE I had a copy of On Golden Pond -- i wanted to show a clip from it during the meeting to maybe use at the next marriage event we're planning. I didn't even go to look for On Golden Pond in the DVDs till midnight. Was it there? No.
So, I looked at W'mart and Target today b4 the meeting started. They didn't have it. So I went to Blockbuster and rented it.
The meeting started at 10 am and had to end at noon as a couple of the pastors had another meeting at noon. Did we have time to watch the clip? No.
Had lunch with Anne, then went to Penney's to do some early Christmas shopping. They must have heard I was coming, cuz they were putting up the wreaths. Seriously. In OCTOBER. So, I used my $10 coupons on a gift for one of the MILs, and then on a dress for me to wear to DH's Christmas party -- it is gray, to match my hair.
I'm going to go rest.

The Pumpkin Patch

Unbewiivable

The Serbian food was quite tasty! don't ask me any of the names of anything, tho. after lunch, we went to the Phoenician Market, which features stuff like an olive bar, 7 different kinds of feta cheese, halal meats, and so on. My favorite was "cabbage ecstasy," which are two words i would have never put together....
came home, picked up the girls from school, and went to the dentist so DD1 could get her teeth sealed. unfortunately, the hygenist would not let me back there with DD1, and did not take the time to explain to DD1 what was going to happen, so DD1 freaked out. by the time they finally called me back there, she was too freaked out for them to do anything, so we left.
i don't think we'll want to see that hygenist again, tho.
we went to the pumpkin patch next, where DD1 got a pumpkin, DD2 got a gourd, and i got some pumpkin bread, and we were all happy.

today, i volunteered at the book fair at DD1's school, which was fun. some of these kids would pick out 4 books and then hand me a dollar, so i had to explain the concept of price to them. the concept of taxes was an unfamiliar one as well. i got to pick out a free book for volunteering!

Came home, and was doing my bible study, when my friend Melinda came by. she had just been at GameStop, and they had 3 Wiis left. So, i got right in my car and went down there and got the last one. this will be our big Christmas gift this year. a wii is a game system, but instead of sitting and playing a game, it's more active. it comes with 5 sports games. i'd looked at them on ebay, and one seller said he'd lost 10 lbs since getting his Wii.
i had been going to get a backyard trampoline, but the girls wouldn't be able to jump on it much in the cold weather. this way, even if it's cold outside, they can still play some games and get some exercise at the same time.
we took DD2 to gymnastics after school, then the girls got haircuts, and then we went to see "The Game Plan," which DD2 declared was the best movie she had ever seen.

Another Boring Update

Ate some mexican food last night that did not agree with me. There's nothing I hate worse than arguing with mexican food.
fell asleep watching Dancing With The Stars. Woke up, rewound it, and fell asleep at the same place.
The alarm woke me at 6:15. I turned the radio on and went back to bed for a few minutes. unfortunately, the radio was tuned to the local public radio station. And it's fundraising time. There's nothing that will put me to sleep faster than people asking for money...

I'm going to eat Serbian food today with Dragana. I told her as long as goat wasn't featured on the plate, that sounded fine.

Man, I Wish My Life Was More Interesting

Did stuff around the house today. Had lunch with DD1, then brought snacks to DD2's class -- pudding and carrots, per DD2's request. Seemed an odd combination, but she was happy.

Today

Rather than a blow-by-blow of my life, this blog is intended to tell you only the funny and/or interesting elements.
That being said, not much funny or interesting happened today. I did discover to my chagrin that Barton Springs Grill, a nearby restaurant with outdoor seating and a chopped salad I adored, closed down.
And we went to the secondhand store to get DD1 her Halloween costume, as, like every other little girl I know, she is going to be Hannah Montana this year. If you don't know who HM is, and you hand out candy at Halloween, trust me, you'll be seeing lots of little girls with long blond wigs on this year.
DD1 was supposed to go to GAs tonight, a girls group that teaches girls about missions and missionaries, but I was too tired.
I hope I get my energy back soon.

Friday and Saturday

I spent the morning working on my BC scrapbook so I could show it to DD2's classmates. So much so that I forgot to drop off her lunch. She ended up eating some pizza, but I still felt terrible when I realized I'd forgotten -- about 8 p.m.
The reading went fine. I brought along a wig and some of my chemo hats for the kids to wear. The wig was a big hit -- a lot of the boys wanted to try it on.
In the early evening, the girls and i went to a bday party, where Silly String was the big hit. We left around 7, as that seems to be the time I (still) get tired. I hope in a few weeks I can get my energy back.
Today, DD2 and I went to a craft show. Before I left, DH and I had the following conversation:

Me: OK, I'm leaving for the craft show!
DH: Don't spend too much.
Me: Oh, I'm just going to look.
DH: (snorts) Right.

Well, they had some fabulous stuff, so I did end up buying some stuff:

• big ole earrings to offset my short hair
• nuts
• a denim shirt with fall fabric insets
• a CD of Christian music
• 2 hair bows for the DDs
• a fall table runner for the kitchen table

I'd told DD2 she could spend $5, so she looked all over for a stuffed animal that was $5 or less. Finally found one that's really a dog toy, but she's happy with it. She is determined not to share it with Bella TMSM.

We bbq'd outside today, as the weather is fabulous here in SE Texas. The whole process reminded me of something my friend Danielle sent me about how men think barbecueing is such a treat, as it "saves" the women so much time.

Whatever

So the puppy is supposed to be kept quiet for ten days after her surgery. Apparently, she didn't get the memo, as she is running after the cats just as much as before.
I volunteered at DD2's school yesterday morning, then went to see "Jane Austen Book Club," which was ok. Then I went on a bootless inquisition to find a book called "Sammy's Mommy Has Cancer". I'm reading to DD2's class today, and i wanted to read a book to them to explain why i have really, really short hair.
I just sat down at the kitchen table to eat some whole wheat toast. Puppy wanted up on my lap. OK, I pick her up and set her on my lap. She immediately starts lapping up the butter on my toast.

Did We Have Fun On Our Vacation?

Why, yes we did!

Calendar Girl

I found out last week that the DDs and I made the 2008 Hope & Inspiration calendar. Apparently I am Mrs. May. :D
The photographer called this morning to see if I wanted any copies. I told her I would ask around to see if anyone wanted one, and I'd just place one big order. The calendars are $16.24 apiece. Let me know in the next couple of days if you would like one.

Tuesday

was just a nice quiet day. I got the girls off the school, looked at prices of new digital cameras in case the one I dropped in the pool never recovers, did my bible study, rested, and went through clutter.

Ahem

So last night I'm going thru the mountain of mail that accumulated while we were gone, and I get the Explanation of Benefits from my insurance company. They are not covering the rads. August was $47,000.
Now, I am not freaking out because the rads were at the same place where I had my lumpectomy in February, and I never got a bill for that, nor for the bloodwork I had done before each chemo. DH still wants me to check it out, though, as I would probably have to go back to work for a couple of years at least to pay the bill.

The Weekend

I arranged for rads to be at 7:30 a.m. so we could get on the road. Had to run a few quick errands before we could take off, one of which was dropping off the house key to Deanna so she could check on the kitties. She was at the bus stop chatting with some other moms when I drove up to her house, one of which excused herself and ran to her house and came back with a t-shirt for me that says, "Save The Ta-Tas" in glittery letters. It is just fabulous.

Of course, DD1 wanted to know what ta-tas were, and we had to explain that it was slang, and probably not a good idea if she used that particular word. I could just see her going to school and saying that her mom had had cancer in her ta-tas.

Saturday, we drove into Boerne for some shopping and German food. It was pretty crowded, as there was an antique car rally going on in town, so there were all these extra booths set up. I got a new purse, a pitcher from Poland for my collection, and some little pottery bowls. The girls each got a Webkinz, and DH got a shirt that looked like it had flames on it and some peach salsa.
DH swears he heard this particular bit of dialogue from a couple of old guys as I passed by:

Old Guy 1: (looking at my coiffure) I'd kill my wife if she did that.
OG 2: What? Get cancer?

Sunday, we stayed at the Ranch all day. It was very restful for DH and me, as we read most of the day. The girls spent most of the day at the water park or the pool. I took several pictures of them in the wave pool, and slipped at one point and dropped the camera in the water. :{ I don't know if the camera's going to work again, but I did download the pics on the memory card onto a CD at Walgreen's today, so that's good.

Monday, we checked out of the Ranch, and drove to Fredericksburg, which has a fabulous downtown shopping area -- lots of cool shops. We parked on Main, and DH said, "Where do you want to start?" I looked up and saw a scrapbooking store two doors down and made a beeline. I found lots of fabulous things there that I couldn't live without. During the course of the morning, DH bought a shirt, and some jumping beans. We ate some German food for lunch, and bought some pastries for the road, and then headed home.

Got home a few hours later and picked up Bella the Money Sucking Machine from the vet, where we'd had her spayed on Friday and then boarded for the rest of the time we were gone. Vet wants us to keep her quiet for the next week. Fat chance. Not when there's so many kitties to chase....

We're Back!

We went out of town for a 4 day family vacation to the hill country of Texas to celebrate the end of my cancer treatment. It was fun and relaxing.
Friday, we went to Austin and had lunch at Chuy's with my friend Cindy, and then we went and played at Zilker park for a while. Then we drove to Bandera, to the Flying L Ranch. They have a water park, horseback riding, supervised kids' activities, ping pong, horseshoes, nightly Western entertainment....
I'll write more in the morning, just wanted to check in with y'all as I hadn't posted in a few days.

love,
Cancer-Free Girl

Today's The Day!

Eight months to the day after I heard those words, "The tumor was cancerous," I finish my cancer treatments!

Later Wednesday

Pick up DD2 from school, go home, DD1 gets home, go to gymnastics for DD2, pay for van repairs, test drive a Charger (i KNOW, but it's what DH wants), pick up DH at bus stop, go back to dealership to get van, Luby's for supper as it is Kids Eat Free night.
When the whole family can eat for $13, this is a good thing.

The girls really liked riding in the Charger. Wanted to know if we could buy it today.

Wednesday

I woke up at the exact time DD2 was supposed to be at school. Sigh.

Took Bella TPM to the vet for 2 things:
1. to be weighed so they would know how much heartworm medicine to give her
2. to see if she was in heat, as she's been acting a bit weird

By the time we left the vet, she had been weighed, and examined, and diagnosed with a skin condition probably due to food allergies. So, $111 later, we leave with Bambi-and-potato dog food and treats, and some allergy meds.

Take Bella The Money Sucking Machine home, and then take the van in to the dealer for its 50K check-up. Of course, all of the brakes need to be replaced. Sigh.

Snapper Jack's for lunch, then, as DH keeps making little grumbly remarks about wanting a new car, on to the Toyota dealership to test drive an Avalon. Salesman is very enamoured with all of the safety features of the car, and mentions most of them twice.

Tuesday Evening

The DDs and I went to the toy store, so they could compile their Christmas list. Do i have to mention I got writer's cramp in the process?
i went to the toy store last week because they had a sale on DVDs and board games. so i virtuously did some early Christmas shopping. I don't have to tell you that the DDs did not put any of the games and DVDs I had purchased on their lists.
Stayed up too late, to the point I was falling asleep sitting up.

Tuesday Afternoon

After rads, DD2 and I went to Rice Village to have lunch with Bettye, a BC sister who was in town for tx at MD Anderson. We ate at Two Rows, which unfortunately interpreted "medium well" to mean "burnt and dry". Other than that, tho, it was a fun lunch. I'll post a pic in a little while. She goes back home to Mississippi on Monday after her last rads.

Tuesday

DD1 went back to school today. DD2 is still contagious, so she's home with me.

I don't know if I've told you, but DD2 is going to be Treeko (a Pokemon) for Halloween.

DD1, like every other 7 to 10 YO girl out there, is going to be Hannah Montana.

I plan on dressing up as Sinead O'Connor.

This Afternoon

Went to the dr, who didn't even bother to swab DD2's throat, just looked at it and gave us a rx. Went to the grocery store, and shopped while they filled the rx. We were out of milk and juice and lots of stuff, if the final bill is any indication. Apparently Funyons was something we really, really needed.

I'd called the rads ofc from DD2's dr's waiting room, to ask them if i could come in later. They told me the computer was down anyway, so come in at 1 p.m.

So, home, put groceries away, ate lunch, and then to rads. I made DD2 wear a medical mask while we were there, as cancer patients tend to have compromised immune systems anyway. She thought she was cool -- "paging Dr. Booboo."

These last 5 rads are what they call boosts, where instead of zapping the whole breast, they just target where the cancer was. So the treatment itself only takes ~ 5 minutes. They were a little disconcerted to find that the purple semi-circle they'd drawn on me A WEEK AGO was gone, but they dealt with it.

One of the rads techs said she went to the Komen Walk for the Cure on Saturday, and said there were so many people there, it took 90 minutes to walk 3 miles. She said she was exhausted afterwards and came home and took a three-hour nap. So, it's a good thing I bailed Saturday. I would never have been able to make it.

Monday With Children

DD1 has the day off, and DD2 still has a fever. So here we are, the three of us, none of us feeling that hot. Well, except DD2, with the fever and all.
So, I'll get to go to the doctor AGAIN. I should have just asked for 2 prescriptions when we were there on Friday, to save time.

Sunday

Went to church with DD1. DD2 is now sporting a fever, so she stayed home with DH.
Went to lunch at Souper Salad, then to Michael's to decorate pumpkins. DD1 decorated hers like a garden gnome {her description -- i don't know how anyone knows what a garden gnome looks like...], and i decorated mine like Pierrot. He ended up looking more like Mo from the 3 Stooges, tho....
Then went to a CAbi party in the neighborhood -- really nice clothes sold as an at-home business. i bought a shirt. i'm not a really fashionable dresser these days == i keep thinking one of you is going to nominate me for What Not To Wear, as I go around wearing Mike's shirts these days as they are nice and loose and don't irritate my burned skin. Comfy. Not fashionable.

5 more rads to go!

Fatigue

Here's the count:
DD1 - strep throat
DH -- allergies, congestion, not being able to breathe well
Me -- fatigue and burned skin from rads
DD2 - just fine!

This morning, DD1 and I were supposed to go walk in the Family Walk for the Komen Race For the Cure. This would have necessitated driving downtown, fighting traffic and the other thousands of people there for the races. I was not up to the challenge, so I emailed my team leader and told her to go on without us.

I basically watched TV and slept this morning, as did DH. The girls napped, watched a movie, and drew pictures.

DD2 and I went to a bday party for a little 3 YO friend of ours this afternoon. His first gift was this remote control bulldozer thing. His parents had the hardest time tearing him away from that so he could open his other gifts. It was a Big Hit. The cake was from RJ Goodies, so even tho i'd told myself i'd just have two bites, i devoured the whole piece of cake.

The skin where the rads hit is peeling. I think it's safe to say this is the first time that the skin over that particular part of my body has ever had anything like a sunburn....

Whoops, There It Is

Just got back from the dr. DD1 has strep.

The irony about today, is that the rads ofc called and postponed rads until Monday, so today would have been my first day since May when I would have been alone, feeling good, and with no medical appointments....

So Tired

I'm tired from the rads, of course, and then DD1 woke me up 2x during the night with a sore throat. Woke up at 4 a.m., did the dishes, and then surfed the web for a while.
DD1 is running a fever, so I'm keeping her home from school.

The Rest of Thursday

Had an onc appt, and by God's grace, my friend Carrie was having her 2nd chemo tx at the same time, so I went in and sat with her and chatted till the onc was ready to see me.

I'm going to have a BRCA blood test, which will tell if I have the genetic predisposition for ovarian and breast cancer. There are three possible results of the test: 1. I have the BRCA1 gene mutation. 2. I have the BRCA2 gene mutation. 3. I don't have either.

We want #3. Not #1. Test results have shown that women with the BRCA1 gene mutation have a lower survivability rate than the other two. And those who carry either gene mutation have a higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

Oh, Rats!

So, I'm taking the trash to the curb this morning, and there, large as life, lying on the driveway, is this big ole honkin' DEAD RAT. Better dead than alive, but still! I was so skeeved out that I walked two doors down and asked my neighbor Tom to come get it for me. Yes, I am a competent 45 YO college graduate, but I still didn't feel up to getting any closer to that rat than I had to.

My skin really feels sunburned today. I'm glad rads is almost over! 5 more rads tx to go!

Viva the Cancer Posse!

I got together today with two fabulous women, both of whom live near me and have been dx'd with BC. We sat at a nearby tea room, and talked and laughed for over 2 hours. It was so much fun. I had heard of their dx from mutual friends and emailed them, asking if they wanted to be part of a Cancer Posse that I was forming. More than a support group, just a gathering of young(ish) Christian women who've heard those words: "You have breast cancer," so we can talk and laugh and ask advice and vent and whatever.

Rads today took a bit longer than usual, because they're adding boosts to the area where the cancer was. But! Only 7 more treatments! Yahoo!

Monday

Had to see the rads onc after my rads today. He drew a big purple semi-circle covering 1/2 of my left breast. With a sharpie. I'm not supposed to sweat (workout) for the next week and a half, because they are doing boosts or something, and concentrating on that part of the breast where the cancer was, so the big purple semi-circle is supposed to stay on there.
I can't tell you how attractive I feel, knowing there's a big purple semi-circle semi-permanently drawn on me....