New Look

Rachel gave my blog a new look! Post a comment and tell me what you think!

and so it begins

Spent a pretty quiet beginning of the week, movies with Rachel on Saturday (Jane Eyre) Sunday night dinner at our house, movies with Bert on Monday (Rambo). Two Completely different movies that's for sure. Wednesday I went in and had tests in the morning, to get ready for the outpatient surgery to put the medical port in that afternoon. It might have just been outpatient, but it kicked my butt. Twilight anaesthesia it might be, but still pretty powerful stuff. But, then we were still on the way home when the pain meds started wearing off, and that was no fun. They had warned me that they were moving my neck muscles out of the way for the procedure, and it would be sore afterwards, but I think they underplayed it. I walked in the house, took two pain pills and slept the rest of the night in Bert's recliner. Woke up just long enough to take another pill and climb into bed. Thursday, back to the Doctors where I got my first medications. Nice facility, nice nurses, over all better treatment than I was used to at the clinic in Virginia. We had lunch on the way home, and then I was home and out for the count again! Climbed into bed at 3, slept til 9. Watched a couple TV shows, and back to bed. I think I will not be taking any more of those pain pills!

Feeling better today, and the sun came out, so that helps! Hope it was only because of the surgery, and not the medications that I was thrown for a loop. I have all next week "off" so am headed to Virginia on the red-eye Sunday night.

We have a schedule!

Next Wednesday I will go in for another bunch of tests, and then a quick out-patient surgery to put in a medi-port. This will be a device placed under the skin in my right chest, with a small silicone disk in the center, where they will stick all future needles. There is a catheter that runs from the port into a blood vessel, delivering drugs right into the blood stream. This means that to deliver the Herceptin and chemo if we need it later, then they do not need to use my arms, which have the worst, tiny, uncooperative veins in the universe. So that is good. Then Thursday I will go back in for the first dose of Herceptin, and the shot of Fulvestrant, and I will be a cancer killing machine! Then I will have two weeks before I go back again, and then will be going in every Thursday for a month after that to either get a shot, or an Herceptin dose. Yeah for a schedule!

New Office and New Haircut!

Guest blogger, Michal, here!

PVA West got a makeover, and mom got a new haircut!

Here is the office before....dreaming of being yellow and gray!

And here is it after!

New storage and organizers, a new set up, some great pics (featuring a member boat...well, sail... a WA state ferry, and a super cute Kenley!)


Having brilliant thoughts already....

Signs of forward movement are sometimes hard to see!

Another week of waiting for the drain to be removed, another week of disappointment on that front. That little bugger is just as busy draining today as it was a week ago. So annoying!

My oncologist last week said "don't worry, we will stay busy during this time" so he ordered a MUGA test, which tests the efficiency of my heart muscle. The good news, passed with flying colors. They do this test because some cancer drugs are hard on the heart, and they want a baseline. I also cut all my hair off, which was actually kind of fun. The stylist asked "getting ready for summer?". My response, "yeah, thats it!" Much better than answering "some jerk doctor is going to make it fall out so I thought I would cut it short"! Its much easier and Bert really likes it.

We also finished the office remake last week (and I think I have finally found where Michal stashed all my papers and projects). The lamp has a shade, some pictures got up on the walls, and it is looking good and feels great to work in. Today, there is even a bit of sunshine outside the window, which is so much better than that rain that fell all week, interrupted only by the thunder and lighting!

Yesterday, the oncologist changed his tune. Enough waiting, he says he can't wait any longer for the drain, and we are going to start things happening. Interesting that he says not only does he not like to give the chemo while I am still technically healing, but he also thinks that the drugs, if given, would find their way to the fluid in the site and drain right back out. So, he is going in a different path, using target-specific drugs, which are not chemo and don't have the side effects of chemo. So, I am starting today on Aromasin, which is a pill I will take daily. Then next week I will have a medi-port put in, and that will allow me to start getting a Herceptin dose every three weeks. In addition to those two, I will also get a shot of Fulvestrant every month. All of these will work together, we hope (!!) to stop the growth of any tumors, since the tumors I had are estrogen receptive, and these drugs combined will make sure I don't make any estrogen and will kill off the cells that live off estrogen. I am sitting right now waiting for the doctor's office to call me with an appointment for the placement of the medi-port and then we will have a schedule!!!!!

After a month of these three drugs, they plan to run all the diagnostic tests again (bone scan, lung scan, etc.) and make sure there is nothing bad there. If they see anything, then we will probably switch to a chemo regime, but right now there is a chance that I won't have to do chemo. Don't want to get excited, had that rug pulled out from under us once already, so will see. I am glad we are getting going, but it actually feels a little odd to not be bringing the big bad drugs to the party, taking a pill somehow feels too easy. Told Dr. Gadi it feels like bringing a softball to a baseball game, but he assures me that softballs win games too! And, we still have the hardball in the dugout if we need it!

My other challange this week has been trying to find some clothes to wear. I have made a couple shopping expeditions and had some successes and some miserable failures. I clearly have a terrible eye for what will not draw the eye right to my very flat chest. Bert says he is going to submit my name to the "what not to wear" tv show, and see if Stacy and Clinton will come and help me!

Meanwhile, my fabulous co-workers Jen and Karen have organized themselves into a team to walk the Avon 2-day in April. Yesterday, they started fund raising, and my PVA family donated some $1400 in less than 8 hours to the cause! I am kind of embarrassed and extremely honored at the same time, and slightly appalled that they are going to inflict all those blisters on themselves in my honor. Their team name is the BG's! If you want to help them out, because they still have a ways to go in their fundraising, visit their team web page at info.avonfoundation.org/TR/Walk/WashingtonDC?team_id97001&pg=teamandfr_id=2010. You can see their picture there too, they look so cute!!!!

Other than that, I am trying to work, although my concentration is shit. Enjoying day light savings time. Had a great visit with sister Lucy last week, went to a Propeller Club meeting in Seattle yesterday, and have visited with a lot of friends AND Kenley allowed me to be her babysitter last Saturday, so it was a good week. KK and I had a great time drawing at the easel and playing with the boats in the bath.

Rainy Wednesday here in Seattle

Decided a week ago, that the staff was getting too comfortable without me around, and it was time to go back to work.

So, on the 27th, I took the red-eye to Dayton, OH, where my friends had a driver pick me up (thanks to Capt. Kerry) and drive me to Cincinatti. I was expecting a hard time from TSA about the 3 oz. fluid containers I was wearing, but they didn't even notice. I also had my nuclear medicine letter with me, showing I had an excuse for being radioactive, and was disappointed on that count, too. No alarms, no nothing, very boring.

On Monday I attended a licensing meeting with the Coast Guard, Tuesday thru Thursday attend the Inland Waterways meeting, and Thursday thru Saturday met all of our staff at the same hotel for our annual staff retreat. Last years staff retreat (which I arranged!) was at a fabulous small inn with a wine tasting in Hermann, MO. This year we worked in a small crappy room at the Hyatt Hotel. Definitely not the same.

Did not travel with my lap top, and it did not work out quite the way I expected. I had not been in a hotel in a long time that charged by the minute to use the business center. So, just decided to relax and not do mail and blogging, so this update has taken a bit. I took it pretty easy all the way around, napping each day, skipped the award's ceremony and the factory tour that was part of the conference. Jen and I tried for a bit of retail therapy on Thursday, but to no avail. Nothing we liked at Macy's and nothing we could afford at Saks! Yikes, that place is spendy! The dress we liked was $1200 and it was just a nice summer dress. Apparently, the lack of retail therapy caused me to come down with the flu on Saturday, because I felt lousy all day. When we finished the meeting at noon, my friend Mary drove me back to the airport in Dayton, so we had a nice visit on the drive up. Got checked in (again, no one cared or noticed about the 3 oz containers I was wearing) got on my plane and then....ground hold in Chicago for snow, where my connection was. So, sat on the runway in Dayton for 2 hours, missed my connection in Chicago at 5 PM by about 5 minutes. How do you get one of those flights where they hold the plane for you? Did get on the 9 PM: first class seat, no snow, de-ice and we were off. Bert had to come to the airport at 1130 to pick me up. Good thing I have a private car service! It felt soooo good to climb into my bed here at home, after a long week, and I slept good. So good that Bert came in next to tell me it was noon! I managed to get up and dressed by the time the kids came over for dinner, but it was close. didn't feel very perky all day, shaking off the last of that bad bug.

Monday went to work in my new office here at home. It is looking good, but still a few loose ends. Hanging photos mostly. Will try to get a photo and post it. We also went down to the doctors, and they pulled the number 2 drain! one down, one to go. We had some lunch while we were there, and did a bit of shopping to try to figure out what flat girls where. Looked at a lot of things, were successful with one white blouse. Hmmmm. Had to come home and take a nap. Weather is conducive for napping: rainy, grey. Today the wind blew, almost kept me awake!

Tuesday Bert cooked up a feast, and our friends the Waterhouse's came over and had a nice dinner at our house. Crab salad and beef stew. yum. Today our friend Ginny came over after work, and we again had a nice catch up and dinner.

Tomorrow I have my first all day meeting since surgery. Wish me luck I don't doze off during the meeting.

What is it about plastic surgeons?

Crappy day....started out OK, not too much snow on the ground, drove to Seattle with Michal and Bert for a nice lunch at Aqua Verde (where Michal and Jason had their rehearsal dinner), arrived at the UW hospital right on time...to wait...and wait...and wait. We were just about to leave after 1 hour waiting in the waiting room when they said, oh no, he is back from his emergency, come back. So then, we go and sit in the little exam room and wait some more. At 2:30, I had Bert go tell them we were leaving, and then the Dr. comes in and says, sorry, I have been sitting in my office, no one told me you were here! Really? He actually seems like a very nice guy, but I was too irritated, and too worried about missing my other appt. and too worried that it was going to be snow shitty traffic on the way home. So, we said see ya in 4 months or so, and we will see if we go back there or not. My track record with lying lousy surgeons definitely affected my patience! Then , went to the appt. where I was supposed to get the #2 drain removed, and the damn thing was full! so, that appt. was a bust too, they didn't do a thing. I was so mad, came home and took a nap! Hopefully, tomorrow will be better, if there isn't too much snow to make my appts in Seattle! Egads.

Blog update

So, I have not made an entry here for a long time. Silly me, thinking we were done with the blog and didn't need it any more as a communication tool. Ha! That will teach me.

As a quick tale, to bring everyone up to speed, I received a new, third if you can believe it, cancer diagnosis the first week of February. I was with a group of my favorite guys in Pittsburgh when I got the call, working on a project. After calling Bert and the girls, we finished the meeting and they took me for the usual conciliatory martini (or two or three, ok, maybe four...) Thats what friends are for!

Bert went to work finding us a new medical team in Seattle, and we selected the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, were everyone and everything we need, just about, is in one building in Seattle. I kept working in Virginia while Bert got all the priliminary information taken care of. On the 4th of February, I flew into Seattle and met with the new team. Oncologist, surgeon, radiation specialist, all at the same time. It was a long day but we felt fully informated and ready to move forward by the end of the day. We decided that I would have a mastectomy on the next available day the surgeon had, February 10.

You used to hear people talk about drive-by mastectomies, I had a fly-in one. Arrive from our convention about 9 pm on the 9th, Bert and I went out and had a next dinner before I had to start fasting, went home and got a quick nights sleep, and were at the hospital at 6 am the next morning.

Surgery was at 2, and I was back in my own nice private room by about 5 PM. (I think that was it, I was pretty sleepy...) Mr. Lefty has been donated to scientific research. They also completed a biopsy of my lymph nodes during the surgery and found that the cancer was in those as well, so they were removed. I now have to have my blood pressure taken in my ankle which is pretty interesting.

I was pretty sleepy and the team wanted to make sure the surgical drains that are installed were working well, so they asked me to stay overnight. I didnt' really argue, but I am always a fan of getting the heck out of those hospitals as soon as possible. Rachel, Michal and my friend Lisa kept me company, and even Baby Kenley came to say hello, although she was not a fan of the hoses and tubes, and basically was having none of it, so she didn't stay long. She did make me a very nice get well card, though.

So, Friday I went home, and my at-home team has been doing a great job of taking care of me. Resting and being feed good food has been the prescription for feeling better. Friends have stopped by to help recuperation, bringing more yummy food. I was getting up and getting out for a walk and a bit of a work-out, but the Dr. put a stop to that at my follow up appt. So, haven't been out much, until the drains come out. Apparently, exercise makes the drains fill up. And, here I was trying to be so good!

Last Friday, my Mom and sister Cathie came for a previously planned visit to celebrate our common birthday. We had a lot of gabbing and visiting, and a quick outing to Nordstrom's of course for some birthday (and Kenley...) shopping. But, we didn't make it much farther than that. Yesterday, a nice birthday lunch at Michal and Jason's favorite neighborhood restaurant that just reopened after burning down. Everything is shiny new now! Then Cathie and Mom flew home.

Today, Michal and Bert are working on my birthday gift while I sit and type: a makeover of my home office, with new paint, furniture and Michal and Rachel creative touches. I can't wait to see it all finished.

Tomorrow, plastic surgeon appointment. Thursday, diagnotics all day at the SCCA building.

And here it is Fall

A whole season gone by, and I really don't know where it went. No, I guess I do. It went to a great wedding, a beautiful baby and a bunch of trips back on forth on airplanes.

July was spent getting ready for all that excitement. Projects, shopping, and of course working to get caught up before vacation. On 30 July Bert and I headed to Seattle. Michal and Jason had a perfect wedding, and it was great fun too!

After a quick trip home for a few days of work (emphasis on few!) and a visit to the Doctors for my drugs, I flew back to Seattle again to await the arrival of the Princess! After a stubborn delay, Kenley arrived on the 28th of August, a beautiful perfect little girl.

I am sure everyone reading this knows all this by now, no new news!

I finally tore myself away from the perfect baby and the beautiful Mommy and Auntie Michal and flew home on the 10th of September. And since then, I guess I have been making up for the time away ever since. I have been to Yorktown, Va; Martinsburg, WV; Providence RI and Harvard, MA all in the last 2 weeks. whew!

In the midst of all that, I realized I passed the one year mark since my last diagnosis.

Had a great time at our niece's wedding and snuck off for the afternoon before the wedding to Concord and Lexington, for a great dose of US history. It was a beautiful day in Massachusetts, and it was so nice to have time to hang out with Theresa, Lucy, Josie and Elie.

Bert and I are excited to have Steve and Gail here, living near by. Although, we have all been so busy we haven't really seen each other, except in Massachusetts! Before Steve even arrived, we had roped him into being a river helper for Casting for Recovery.

This weekend is the retreat for Casting for Recovery. We will take 14 ladies out to the woods to teach them how to fish and have a big girl fest! Bert and Steve will be out to help the ladies fish on Sunday, our river day.

Next week I will be in NY all week, with member meetings and PVA board meeting. A few more weeks of insanity, and then it should slow down!

Happy Independence Day

The days are flying by!

We are still waiting for summer here in the East. It is no long monsoon season, so it has gotten a little better, but an article in the Post two weeks ago read "Seattle called, they want their weather back". Since I had just returned from Seattle where we enjoyed a beautiful weekend for Rachel's graduation, I didn't think that was very funny! Today it didn't actually rain, but it was overcast and 68 degrees! On the fifth of July!

Seems like I have been busier than ever. I have been doing some volunteering, I got together with a couple buddies and established an alumni group here in DC for graduates from Cal Maritime (crazy, I know!) I found out a branch of my gym has an awesome pool so I have been going there and sometimes I get some work done at the office. Plus I have been trying to get to some of the outdoor events that are everywhere here in the summer: concerts, festivals and even made it to the twilight polo match that I have wanted to get to for a couple years. Even made it to Clara Barton's house! Bert has been out West for the last 3 weeks, fishing up a storm, so I have been on my own, and I haven't been spending much time at home.

Last week my coworker Jen and I traveled to visit some members. We went to Chicago, IL and LeClaire, Iowa. We spent two days sailing from LeClaire to Dubuque. We had a great time, learned a ton about the Mississippi River, and even more about Mayflies. We had the luck (?) to see a massive hatch of these bugs. We saw trees that had so many of these Mayflies that the weight of the bugs broke the branches off the trees! We swept, hosed, and used blowers to try to get them off. They tell me when they get really bad, they have to use a snowplow on Interstate 80 to remove the dead bugs. They only live for 24 hours, and the good news is they don't bite or sting! I was supposed to get home Thursday night, but due to storms I got stranded in NYC overnight. Spent a lovely evening in Flushing NY and finally got home at noon on Friday. That was a bummer because it was a holiday for us. Since it was cloudy and cool anyway, I went to the office when I got in.

Yesterday I started the day at the Aquatic Gardens and took some fun photos. It was nice in the morning, sunshine and everything!
And then I went to the Mall for the fireworks. Since it was just me, even though I got there long after the crowd settled in, I managed to wiggle up to my favorite spot to hear the music and be right under the rockets! The camera phone doesn't do them justice!

Hope you all had a great holiday too.

wow!

How could it be 2 months since I have posted anything? At first is was because I had seen almost everyoon that reads this, but now even my trip to Seattle/Portland was a month ago! So, as you can tell, I am feeling fine, because I have not held still long enough to post anthing. Since I got back from the west coast, I made a quick trip to Cape Cod for a meeting, and since then have not been anywhere for work, which is weird enough. But, I will fix that, as I am off for Savannah on Tuesday. Bert and I had a weekend get away to Wayneboro, VA, for a flyfishing show. Mostly work has been really busy, I wrote a new security plan for my members, and getting it approved and then implementing it has kept me hopping. When not working I have been in the garden trying to keep up with the crazy growth of everything after the 3 inches of rain we have had since the first of May. Some amazing thunder storms too! It looks great out there, the deer have had so much to eat that they have left my hostas alone for once. I have been learning to use my blackberry and I have also been knitting for our little Peanut, both of which keep me from opening up my laptop and home in the evening, so then I dont check in with my blog. I know, excuses, excuses. Enjoyed a low key Mother's day, enjoying brunch with some friends in Occaquan. Bert had to work, so we ended up sitting on the deck outside the restuarant, since it is right on the Occaquan River.

As for health, things are going good. I went to see the Doc when I got home from out West, and she said I don't even have to come in and see her until July. I told her I won't know what to do with my free time! I keep on going to the chemo lab to reveive one drug now, Herceptin, but there are no side effects, not like chemo, so it is no big deal. I went and got a heart scan and a bone scan 2 weeks ago, and they said both look good, with no damage from the chemo. I even have a little fuzz on my hair again, even though I stand in front of the mirror and stare wistfully at my face, wishing for lashes and eyebrows! I got desperate today and did some research on the internet: 60 to 90 days to grow back lashes it says, so I guess I will be wistful for a while longer.

So, trying to get out and about, during the nice weather we have had, before it gets too awful hot. Won't be long now, we have already had a 92 degree weekend, when Ann Marie was here. We have had pretty good visitors, with Ann Marie and David (although that was a little too exciting, you can ask David about that!) and Steve Wid is here for work 2 weeks a month now. And now we find out that we will have family here too, as Gail and Steve are being transferred here in September. We are excited for the company!! But, that doesn't mean the rest of you can't come visit too! Hint hint!

March 22

Its been a long two weeks since the last post. And is it a good thing that that was my last round of chemo. Its predictable that it was the worst one, because we know the effect is cumulative, but this was a rough one, or else I am losing the ability to ignore it. I even had to take 3 days of sick leave, probably more than I have taken the last 3 months (except of course those spa days I had in December while I laid around the hospital). I came home from work on Wedn. after my chemo on Monday, and took a 2 hour nap, then I got up at 8 pm, back to bed at midnight, and slept until 2 pm the next day! Friday and Saturday were still crappy, sleeping most of the time. Then Sunday and Monday I wasn't sleeping, but had all those text book side effects: nausea, etc. Ick. All these doses, never had this reaction. Got back to myself a little bit in time to go on a road trip with my co-worker Jen. We were in Yorktown on Wednesday at a trainging class, and then Thursday we were on the Eastern shore at CG Industry day. Yesterday it was a nice spring day, and I woke up feeling much better, and starting to be my own self. Worked in the garden, and that was nice. Today, Bert had the day off too, so we broke out our bikes and headed to the mall. We didn't ride long, I didn't want to get 5 miles from the car and decide I didn't have the energy to get back, so we parked just south of the Thomas Jefferson memorial, and then rode around Potomac Park. The Cherry Blossom Festival starts next Saturday, and the trees are going to be beautiful and right on schedule, I think. There was just a pink blush today, but you can see how awesome they will be. Actually my first time to visit TJ, had not been there before, believe it or not. Always go to FDR, never TJ. The bike ride went well, I got back to the car in good shape and we rode a couple miles all together. I did come home and take a nap, but nothing wrong with that. I blamed the fresh air!

Another busy week, off to Boston for a Tuesday meeting and Seattle for a Wednesday meeting, and home on Thursday. Whew!

Spring has sprung here!

Well, clearly I have been too busy again, because I am behind in my posting.

I got my 5th round of chemo on the 13th, and the next week felt pretty poopy. Drug myself out on the holiday to go to the Smithsonian with our friend Wid and Bert, but was tired and had no appetite the rest of the week.

We had a no-notice adventure at the end of the week, however. It started on the 18th, when I found out our friends had rented a house for a week at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and invited us to come join them for the weekend. It seemed like a crazy idea until I found out that it was going to snow again in DC, so Friday night we jumped in the car and away we went. Stayed in Kitty Hawk Friday night, and got up Saturday morning to go to the Wright Brothers memorial, where Bert got invited to play with the model Wright Flyer with the docent. He was pretty excited! We had just been to the Smithsonian on Monday and saw the real plane, so it was fun to go to Kitty Hawk and see the spot. And all in the same week. Then we went to see the lighthouse. The rest of the weekend was lazy: sitting in the hot tub and eating good food and had a little birthday celebration with my friends. Bert tried to do a little fishing, and I went for a walk on the beach, but it was pretty cold and windy. We did sit and watch porpoise out the window, and the sun shone the whole time, so what could be better, knowing we were missing a grey, wet weekend at home. We took Monday off, and had a nice drive home.

Wednesday the 25th I was in Long Island for a meeting, flew up and flew back at the end of the day. And, of course, celebrated my birthday on Thursday. I nice gift from my girls, and Bert had found a new Belgium restaurant in Alexandria, and we had a really nice dinner there. Then John and Jen took me out for lunch the next day to celebrate, so I managed to stretch the celebration into almost a whole week!

Sunday, March 1st I was scheduled to fly to Nashville. I woke that morning to my phone ringing at 8 am. Delta airlines, never good. Found out they had cancelled my 5 pm flight, and rescheduled it for 5 pm Monday. Since my meeting started at noon on Monday, knew that wasn't going to work, so thru clothes into my suitcase, and headed for the airport. After a couple hours of running between terminals, and sweet talking every agent at 3 airlines, I got them to put me on a flight at 3 pm, and arrived in Nashville after the snow there had stopped and before it started in DC. Got home Wednesday night to see the 6 inches on the ground that I had missed! Man, that worked out good. By Thursday it was 55 degrees, and by Saturday, 75! Thursday night I had to drive up to New Jersey for a meeting at Statue Cruises. It was a beautiful day, and the meeting was held in the historic train station in Jersey City, owned by the national Parks Service and restore to serve as the departure point for cruises to the Statue and Ellis island. A beautiful view, even though it is the back of Lady Liberty.

I enjoyed a nice weekend of 70+ degree weather, and everyone is fooling ourselves that spring has arrived. I am certain we will still get spanked for enjoying it, but it was a great weekend. I got a little gardening done, and got invited to a party at the neighbors on Sunday! Yea! Real neighbors, not an empty house owned by the bank next door any more.

Today I sit at the infusion lab getting my LAST dose of chemo! Hurray for me. I will still have to come every three weeks to get my super drug, Herceptin, but it has no side effects, so I will get hair and my energy back and not loose my taste buds any more! Yeah!

happy day after Valentines Day to all!

Thanks to everyone who sent all the nice Valentines Cards and emails. I am afraid was I not so on the ball as all of you, and am lucky I remembered my husband! We have been living pretty quietly around here, and it seems when I am not at work, I am stretched out on the sofa. I have made a point of calling a couple friends and doing dinner since I had not really done that since before December. Too dang cold to get excited about much of anything else. Every time we try, the weather is just too cold. Had a a couple days last week that jumped to the 70's, but of course those were work days, so no one took advantage of them, but we wish they were back! I did a business trip to Williamsburg and it was warm driving down, but dropping by the time I got there, and snowing when I got up in the morning. I did enjoy a nice drive from there over to the Shenandoah Valley, snow covered but sunny, where we had our annual staff retreat. We stay at this little 1740 inn, and usually enjoy a walk to the river while we are there, but this year it was 9 degrees when we got up, and all we did was work. Told you we have been boring.

5th round of chemo this Thursday, only one more to go. Seems like the fatigue gets me a little earlier each round now, and lasts a little longer. Bert and I went up to Annapolis this morning, and went to a Fly tieing show. I had plans to do some touring in Annapolis while we were there, but after the show, we went and had a nice lunch, and I was done, ready for a nap. Bert bought us a cute box of cupcakes, and we headed home. One of these days we will actually go tour the capitol in Annapolis, since we have yet to do that. Such a cute little town, with so much history. Today our friend Steve Wid is here for a visit, and tomorrow we hope to do some touring, maybe a quick trip to Charlottesville.

So, again, feeling OK other than slow, and some annoying little side effects that are always different. A royal case of hives this week that laid me low, mostly because I didn't want to be seen with big red splotches on my face! But, hope to be feeling myself again by the end of April, just in time for a trip Seattle bound!

Good week, but I am sick of winter!

Trying not to complain about the cold, because some of you have had it much worse than us, but damn, it is time for a break. After the freezing inauguration, which Bert and I watch from the comfort of our cozy restaurant, we got a tease on Friday, it was a fabulous 55 when I came home from work, but now it was right back to 24 yesterday and this morning, and when the wind blows, whooey! Kept me in the house yesterday doing chores, and I am loosing enthusiasm for a planned trip downtown this afternoon too! Its a shame because it looks sunny and pretty out, but not! Doctor week last week too, saw the Oncologist on Wednesday and then Chemo of Thursday. No problems this week, went back to work after finishing chemo at 1 pm, and even made it to the gym three times last week. Lots of big projects at work right now, so been putting in some extra hours around the doctor's appts. So, feeling good, other than the cold toes!

Happy 3 day weekend

Well, as you can tell, I got busy again. After the new year started, the office was buzzing getting ready for our convention. I was saving up my energy for the work-fest that is the convention. Flew to San Francisco on the 5th, and worked 12-hour days every day until the 12th. Managed to see a bunch of family in spite of the full days. Nice Friday night dinner in SF with my Mom and Sis, and they joined me Saturday morning for a nice brunch cruise on SF bay. The weather was amazing there, and the air was crystal clear when we were out on the boat. Nice escapism for all of us that have been living in a deep freeze. Lucy and Josie came and took me to dinner and I even got to see cousin Marianne, which was a complete surprise. Our convention was a huge success, but when we got home, we all agreed that we felt like we had a bad hangover!

And was I sorry to leave behind that sunny 75 degree weather. It wasn't too bad when I got home (32!) but by Friday it was down to 9. I had a meeting at one of our operators down on the Potomac, and it was BITTER out on their dock. Our meeting was a 7 AM. Wow. Saturday we got up, dressed and out early and went to the mall at Tyson's Corner, becuase it was the warmest thing we could think of to do. Every family in the area seemed to have the same idea, there were kids everywhere. We have now warmed back up to 32 again, but the cold kept me away from the inaugeral concert yesterday afternoon. I listened to it on the radio, and was very disappointed that I did not go. But between the 1 mile walk to get there, and the cold weather, it is easy to talk yourself into other activites. I will be watching the inaugeration from someplace warm tomorrow too!

This afternoon Bert and I are going to volunteer at an event in DC to pack goodie bags for military folks overseas. Part of the new Prez's volunteer initiative. The DC Mayor called for 15,000 people to come to the stadium for this project, and claim we will be working in a heated tent, so we are going to go and see if we can help.

Went to see the surgeon for my last visit on Friday. She cleared me for full activity, and I don't have to go back. I celebrated by going back to the gym yesterday. The 25 minutes that I used to think nothing of on the elliptical kicked my butt, so I will have to get working on that, but then I went for a swim, which felt great. Not much stamina there either, swam about 500 yards, but it felt good, and I was happy to have pretty good arm motion. I won't be doing a crawl, front or back, for a while, that was a bit too much.

Gotta go put on six layers of clothes to go outside!

Happy New Year!

Well, what a busy two weeks and a great holiday we have had!

Rachel decided not to go home after I got home from the hospital, so we got to have her around for a nice long stay. She managed to visit some friends here in DC, and helped me get ready for the holiday, and we even made it to work a couple of days. I continued to get IV antibiotic until the 16th, when they determined that I was all better, and we were done with the daily trip to the doctors office. On the 18th, the surgeon got rid of the last drain, and I was 100% and ready to go on vacation, the only condition that she gave me was not to drive all the way to Massachusetts. No problem there. Rachel left for NYC on Thursday, hoping to find Michael and spend some time with some friends in the big city. United airlines managed to get Michael to NY only 24 hours late, and he and Rae headed to the Kings for a couple days. Bert and I left on Sunday morning. It was cold, and we had had freezing rain overnight, but the roads were clear and we had a good drive to Connecticut, after a slight detour to my Dad's home town, and a drive by of my grandparents house when I was a kid. Amazing that I drove right to it.

Monday morning was cold, 11 degrees, but again the sun was out, and we were all on our way. I know you NW'ers are all saying to yourself "11 degrees, big deal" since you have us WAY beat on shitty weather, since we haven't even had snow on the ground here yet in DC.

We stopped in Essex, CT for lunch at a fabulous place some friends had taken me last year for lunch. The Griswold Inn has been providing meals and operated as an Inn for some 300 years, and has the best collection of American maritime art on the walls. Very cool place. We arrived at Cape Cod at the end of the day, and instantly fell in love with our house we had chosen. It was perfect for our holiday, and Bert took us out first thing Tuesday morning and we got a perfect little Christmas tree (or two!) and got them decorated and the stocking hung, and we were ready! We just needed Michal and Jason!

We went on Tuesday night and had a great dinner with Michael's grandparents. We really enjoyed visiting with them.

Christmas Eve we went into Boston for a visit to Quincy Market and the Boston back bay, and then off to the airport, where Alaska Air managed better than United, since Michal and Jason arrived only a couple hours late. Then we went back downtown where we found Meghan (our other adopted daughter) for a nice dinner at a restaurant on the historic Long Wharf in Boston. The restaurant was located in the warehouse where John Hancock had his office. Very cool, and not a bad dinner either!

Christmas Day was great fun, with the 7 of us together, and then joined by Bert's brother Chris and his family, and a visit from Michael's Grandparents again, we had a full house and a very festive day. The weather was dry, sunny and cold, but we did all go for a walk on the beach, but we didn't stay long!

Friday we drove to the end of the cape to Provincetown, and Saturday, in spite of the fact that it had now started raining, and Meghan had to go home to NY, we toured Boston and had a great day. Sunday we decided to be lazy, partly because Michael had to leave to go to his parents, so the boys spent the day watching football and girls snuck out for a little therapy shopping (it had been days!) and then Chris and gang returned, and we had a lobster dinner par excellance!

That dinner was so good we wish we had gotten lobster every night!

Monday we were up and out early and headed to NYC. Arrived in the late afternoon, and by the end of the day we had walked our little feeties of and seen a ton of stuff, in spite of the fact that the city was a mad house and full of tourists. 2 1/2 hour wait to go up the Empire State building, so needless to say we had to save that for another trip. Bert and I dropped the kids off at Meg's in Brooklyn at 11:30 and then we headed for New Jersey, since I had to be back to go to the doctor's the next day. We just drove long enough to be sure we were out of traffic Tuesday morning. So, now I am back in the routine, labs Tuesday afternoon, and chemo yesterday.

But as you can tell by everything we have done lately, I am feeling dang good. It was great to feel good on our trip, and missing my dose of chemo because of the surgery was the silver lining of the horrible start to the month, since I had no weird chemo side effects during our trip.

Hope you all had as great a holiday as we did!

Sunday at home

See what happens...the minute I am not trapped in a hospital, I start getting busy and forget to blog!

It has been a great 4 days home. I am getting a little tired of driving to the doctor's office every day, but I am not complaining! Beats the alternative. So, I get up every morning and drive to the office, get a 30 minute IV, let the nurse poke me and see if things look better, and then I am out again. Went to the surgeons on Friday, and she is happy with progress. Will see her again tomorrow and hope she will pull a hose or two out. Maybe.

Rachel has decided not to go home, since she was coming back on the 18th for the holiday anyway. So she has been my partner in crime all week. She and Bert put up some outdoor decorations for me while I was at my Saturday appt. so that was nice. Our little house looks cute with Christmas lights around the garage and front windows. We were looking pretty humbug around here, except for what Bert and Rae have done. She and I managed to get a couple errands done this week so that we have something for us to open Christmas morning. I still have to come home most days and take a little nap, but generally I am feeling pretty good and getting back to myself. Going to try to do a 1/2 day at the office tomorrow, will see if I make it!

Home again!

Thanks to Rachel, the doctors released Beth yesterday evening and she is thrilled to be in her own bed again. You'll recognize this picture as they assumed the position. With continuing treatment, she is making good progress on the infection.

-Bert

Jail break!

One by one, the five doctors have come by and signed off to let me go home. After the whole cardio uproar yesterday, today I woke up to have the technician standing over my bed. At 7:30 am I was already down stairs getting an EKG and doppler scan of my heart. I could see the little flaps flapping and the muscle working, but I couldn't tell if it was doing good or doing bad, so quit watching. But then the cardio guy came and said my heart muscle was beautiful and perfect, and that that little "incident" after surgery was because I was dehydrated. Duh! So, we are sitting waiting for the surgeon, who is the last one, and then we are outta here! Good thing we stayed, because the beautiful roses that Bert had ordered for delivery yesterday for our anniversary finally arrived, as well as the cutest Christmas arrangement from Mary and Alan B. Will post pictures as soon as we get home, which we hope is SOON!