Mom's Update
12 hours later and she is home! This is Kendall by the way, reporting on behalf of my mom. She wanted to make sure you all had an appropriate update...not one written while she is still coming off the anesthesia (which I might add is awesome!).
What a day today was, but it was wonderful having everyone there for it.  Dad (Joe), Christian and I took her in at 7:15am to sign papers, then off to her needle marking at Moores.  We then got to ride in a sweet golf cart back over to the hospital for her die injection at radiology for some imagining.  There, Nana, Cameron, and Danielle were able to meet up with us.  This was when the waiting game started and the shifts began.  We each were able to spend some time with her before the procedure in the pre-op room.  The anesthesiologist had to put a block injection into her back...4 times...and she said the last two were terrible! She said she pictured a long BBQ pronged fork poking into her back YIKES!  She's one tough cookie though considering she had about 4 other good pokes along the way before that.  We were able to all come in right before they took her back for a quick prayer.  Such a blessing they allowed us in to do this!
Procedure News
Here comes the GOOD NEWS: Nothing was found in her lymph nodes during the lumpectomy biopsy.  How do you like those fancy words?! So this means the surgery went as planned and no further steps had to be taken.  The tumor was taken out successfully. The surgeon called about 2 hours later to let us know how well she did and how PLEASED she was with the results.  Praise the Lord.
Blessings
Last night my mom was able to swing into church before heading home.  She said when she walked in she felt and overwhelming sense of peace from the Holy Spirit.  It was so welcoming and calming.  What a gift. Today's blessings are for mom's health and a successful surgery!  She is such a strong woman (as we know) inside and out.  To watch her go through all of that today was an act of bravery and courage.  I am beyond blessed to call her mom and have her as an example in my life.  Mary (mother Mary that is) was definitely with her and the operating crew today.  We couldn't be happier with her outcome.  Another blessing for her today was that we didn't take any funny recordings of her after the procedure! HA! We were threatened to not film or torment her because in her words "I am a revengeful person!".  So we just enjoyed the post anesthesia Beth to ourselves :)
Prayers
After waking up my mom said "God is awesome all the time, and all the time God is awesome".  I couldn't agree more with that! As always, prayer warriors keep up those prayers for an easy and smooth recovery.  I ask that you pray for good results from the biopsy, there is still more we need to find out.  These next few weeks are going to be tricky with everyone having to be at work and her home alone.  I pray that she stays positive and can continue to lean on God for his strength.  Thank you to all of you who have her in your prayers.
Love,
Kendall

Count Down

First of all Merry Christmas. I hope you all had a lovely time and that you were all surrounded by loved ones and happiness!  I certainly made the most of my time off from chemo! It was such a gift to have the timing play out that I would have the month of December off. I was able to work and even more importantly, really enjoy and soak in this blessed holiday!

All 3 kids were home and that is such a great feeling. I think that would be my definition of peace. Knowing that all 3 of my "babies" are safely under my roof sleeping...I go to bed with a smile on my face and in my heart! 

Even though I was in the middle of enjoying the season I still had to go for a few appointments. I had my labs done, my port flushed and got all checked out and approved by the anesthesia office. I brought Kendall along to be my second set of ears for the instructions. 

I worked today and I will do the same tomorrow. It is good to keep my mind busy so I don't dwell on the upcoming surgery Wednesday. I am supposed to check in at 7:15 and there is a bunch of stuff they do to me first. I get some sort of needle place in the tumor area, they direct it through an ultra sound. Then I go to radiology to get dye injected in me. After that it is upstairs to meet with Dr Wallace and get prepped for surgery. I guess it takes about 3 hours for the surgery itself. I won't know if I am coming home or not until afterwards. If I needed my lymph nodes out then I will have to stay over. Kendall will post on the blog that night so you will all know what is going on. I feel pretty calm, I have handed it all over to God and I try to not worry myself with things I cannot control. 

Blessings

Yes, Christmas was certainly a blessing. Having the kids here, having time off to feel good and pretty darn normal was incredible. The gifts for our Mexico family were delivered by Julianne from Build a Miracle and I received an awesome photo montage on Facebook from the mother, Cecilia. They all looked so happy and I cannot wait to be able to go down there and visit with them and to hold their new baby Clairita!

Our gift wrapping party is always a
highlight for me!

We surrounded their tree with gifts

Our other adopted family's gift drop off went great as well. Although poor Danielle got delayed in Aspen and missed it, everything else went smoothly. We share this with our "other family" the Brillantes'. We all shop and then gather on the night of the 23rd. After stuffing ourselves with pizza we get around to having a gift wrapping extravaganza! The next morning on the 24th we headed down to Chula Vista to the house. We were let in by a friend while the family was taken out to breakfast. They had such a humble, clean house and you could feel the love in it. The mom had sight words around for the kids to help with reading and there were photos lovingly displayed of their dad/husband that they just lost a little over a month ago. We were so happy to see that they had a Christmas tree and we quickly started bringing in the gifts to stuff their stockings and fill their little living room. When we were done we gathered in a circle and held hands while we said a prayer for them all, it has become a tradition that we do before we leave. I have been sent some photos and a few short videos of them when they returned home. I will always treasure the sound of the 7 year old when he first saw it all. First he said, "this can't be possible" and then he ran around with his arms extended as if he were trying to soak it all in. The laughter that came out of him was complete joy...I tear up when I hear it and have it in my memory bank so deeply that I can hear it in my head without even playing the video! I hope that we were able to bring them all some much needed joy! I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate this blessed holiday! I thank you all that contributed to making it all be able to happen!

Prayers

Okay, let's get down to it...I humbly ask that you all pray that my surgery goes well and that I don't have to have lymph nodes taken out. Not only do I want to come home Wednesday night, more importantly it would be great that the cancer did not spread to them. I could really use some good news! Of course if they remove a lot it opens other cans of worms as well, lymphedema (swelling) would be one of them. I would also like to ask all of you to start praying that I will get a good report on January 11th and 12th. I will get pathology results on the 11th from the surgeon but on the 12th the oncologist will tell me what that actually means for me and the game plan. I would love to hear that the tumor was either without cancer (best case scenario) or that it was so minuscule that I will not need more chemo! Please my prayer warriors, let those prayers fly! You are all such a blessing to me and I appreciate you all for reading my ramblings and for your prayers.

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

Test Results and More Info

Tired of test but thankful for
great medical care!

Since I blogged last I went and saw my oncologist, Dr Parker, and also got a mammogram and ultra sound. First of all Dr Parker said there are still way too many variables to discuss additional chemo or get myself convinced that I will have it. Until the pathology reports come back there is no need to get my head all wrapped around that (my wording). I will get those results from Dr Wallace when I see her on the 11th but then see Dr Parker on the 12th to discuss what those results mean for me and my plan after surgery. Even if there is still some disease in there it doesn't necessarily mean more chemo. Dr Parker just got back from a national conference and says that this may not be the coarse for me. One thing I know for sure is that I will have radiation 5 times a week for 6 weeks. I think my car will learn to drive itself there with that many trips!!! ;o)

Next, I went in for a mammogram and ultra sound. Afterward the very nice radiologist came in and gave me some very promising news...finally my turn for some promising news!  Woo-hoo! He said that originally my tumor measured 2.2-2.5cm. The recent MRI measured it at 1.9cm and he now gets a measurement of less than 1cm!  I know I am not comparing apples to apples with the means of measurement but I like this news and I going with it! It has filled my heart with hope and it feels great! I have gotten twinges of pain in the tumor area ever since starting chemo and I truly feel it is the tumor shrinking, I am still getting those twinges and just know it is all still working along with God's touch! I have 2 weeks from today for my surgery so let's keep those prayers flowing that it will keep shrinking and DIE!!!  Be gone with you cancer...I am done with you!  ;o) 

Blessings

I have been so filled with joy being able to shop for our 2 adopted families. I know I only mentioned one last time but we also have our family down in Mexico that Tease sponsored and built a home for. It is the tradition for the home sponsors to go down and visit their families at Christmas time and bring some gifts for them. Although I am unable to travel down there right now I couldn't possibly skip sending some gifts their way along with my love and show of support. This is all possible with thanks to my incredible prayer group in Scripps. They knew that nothing brings me more joy than doing things for other people and they generously made this possible and worry free for me with their support and generosity. They are all involved with Build a Miracle and were well aware of this tradition. What a lovely distraction for me to be able to go out and shop for our Mexico family and without the worry of the financial burden. They are all true angels in my life and I love and thank them all!

Our other family I mentioned last time is through Little Tommy and KYXY. We have been doing this for quite a few years now. The parents met while working for TSA, they married and had 4 beautiful children. They wanted the mom to be able to stay home with the kids so she stopped working and dad picked up a second job. They were only in their 30s with 4 children ages 7 and under when last month the father suffered a heart attack. He survived a few days but after no hope, had to be removed from life support and passed away on November 16th. We take care of the families every year with our dear friends the Brillantes family. We never meet our family nor them us. We secretly work with their letter writer to gather info and then on Christmas Eve morning (the best way I could ever think to spend my birthday) we go to the house and set everything up while they are away! I now know what it feels like to be Santa! I asked my wonderful clients to forgo Christmas gifts or tips for me and to just donate to "the cause". They have been so generous and again the burden has been eased so I can shop without guilt of spending money when my income has been cut so much during this time. I am so blessed to have my life filled with so many generous people!

I have heard from many of you as to how you can help this family. I appreciate and welcome any and all help. I think the best thing you can do would be to buy them a gift card. I would love to give the mom gift cards to help her in the coming months. She shops at Target, Sprouts and Walmart for groceries and clothes for the kids. She loves The Gap and gets gas at Arco and Chevron. Any of these or anywhere else would be wonderful! If you are looking to help someone out this time of year and want to do this it would be FANTASTIC!!! I just need them by the 23rd please.

Keep up those prayers my prayer warriors and I pray for all of you as well. You are true friends and I thank you for your prayers, support and encouragement. I hope you are all enjoying this blessed season! XOXO

Here are some photos of things that have been going on in my life. 

You find the strangest things when shopping.
Danielle says it is the Caitlyn Jenner doll!

Getting back to my walks.
This is my thug look!

Had my wonderful salon family over
for dinner and fun!

We got to go see my "other son"
in concert and even had a lovely
visit afterward. SO wonderful
seeing him and his mom (aka my friend)
Leila!

The Decision...

Today certainly held an awful lot of information! Joe was out of town so my dear friend Alicia came with me (and it was even her birthday today!). She is great at asking intelligent questions and absorbing information so I knew she was a great choice. We met with my surgeon, Dr Ann Wallace, to go over my MRI results and to discuss my surgery options. 

MRI - if you remember, my last MRI that was between my Taxol and AC treatments didn't show really any reduction in the size of my tumor. Well last Monday's MRI only shows that it shrunk about 1/2 of it's original size.  Now the "my cup is half empty" attitude is sad because that probably means more chemo for me. We won't know for sure until after surgery and pathology reports are back but I need to realize that there is a very good chance that I am facing more chemo. The "my cup is half full" attitude says yippee, at least the chemo did something and I can hope that it has killed any possible rogue cells any where else. And hey, 1/2 is better than nothing at all!  I cannot let my mind even start thinking about the chemo...I truly feel like I am not going to be able to drag myself in there again and first things first...I need to get myself ready for my surgery that is right around the corner!

Surgery - Well, I said that I was keeping my mind and heart open to be directed to the right decision and let me tell you...when you do that you just never know where it will lead you. I was absolutely 100% sure that I was going in today to talk my doctor into a bi-lateral mastectomy. Dr Wallace was absolutely amazing with us. She spent at least an hour in there and just sat in a chair talking with us and gave us her undivided attention. She spoke with great compassion and I have the utmost confidence in her advice. Here are the key points from that conversation and why I have decided to have a lumpectomy.

• Having a bi-lateral or uni-lateral mastectomy (that is done properly) is like recovering from a amputation. It throws the body into a massive recovery mode that compromises the immune system and everything else. It could also compromise my body's ability to fight any possible cancer cells elsewhere
• Of course my recovery time would be longer and that would postpone me starting chemo and radiation
• I could possibly never be back to 100% as far as my ability to do what I do for a living again
• I wanted a mastectomy because I was worried about getting breast cancer again. I was trying to avoid a cancer I may never get when the important thing for me to do is to fight the cancer I have right now. The best way to do that is to give my body a fighting chance and that is to go with a lumpectomy
• She explained that she would lose sleep over my decision of a mastectomy because she knows that is not the right path for me and my care

Dr Wallace is the head of breast surgery at UCSD and I am beyond blessed to be under her care and that of my oncologist, Barbara Parker, who is the head of oncology there. I have to trust in them and their advice. 

So that's about it for today. I am not going to lie, I am a bit sad and disappointed that my tumor didn't disappear and that I didn't get some miraculous news today. Just more lessons and messages from God are waiting for me I guess. The journey continues...

Blessings (some times they are mixed blessings)

So I am sure most of you have heard about Jimmy Carter's success with his cancer. He has been receiving immune therapy and his cancer has disappeared. Well, awhile back I found out about a clinical trial for triple negative breast cancer patients that involves an immunization. I have been communicating with the immunologist that is doing the research and in order to be considered for his study, I have to have disease left in my tumor at the time of surgery. I honestly feel this type of treatment is the way of the future with curing cancer and even though my news today was not what I had hoped it to be at least it puts me closer to maybe being able to receive this immunization. I know there are no guarantees with me getting into the study but this makes it a possibility for me.  I am just trying to find a silver lining in all of this. 

Prayers

I know so many of you like me to be specific with my prayer requests about my recovery. It is hard for me to come up with that right now. My mind is just spinning out of control with all of the information today. I will just leave it up to all of you for now if that okay. 

I would however like to ask all of you to pray for the family we have adopted for Christmas. They sadly just lost the father/husband to a heart attack last month so it is just the mom and 4 kids ages 7 and under. I can't even begin to imagine the sorrow they must all be experiencing and I hope that we can bring them some unexpected joy this Christmas. 

May you all be enjoying this blessed season!

Goodbye Kool-Aide!

Yesterday I finished my 4th and final A/C treatment (which Danielle has loving termed Kool-Aide since the A part of the AC is red...it is called the Red Devil and we did not like that!!!). That completes 16 rounds of chemo for me and now I begin the waiting and growing stronger period for surgery (Dec 30). Isn't it awesome that I get the month of December off from treatments!!!  

A day full of surprises and love...We started the morning, before even leaving the house, by the kids (including Christian of course) and Joe giving me a surprise. They gave me a beautiful diamond ring and card with so many incredible sentiments. I am told this ring is "part one" for me completing part one of all of this! I have a few more waiting for me. What a loving thing to do and my heart is so touched by it...I am a very blessed women to have such an incredible family!

Then I had a beautiful necklace waiting on my doorstep from my dear friend Deana. I feel like I can share this now, I didn't want to say anything because I know she gets embarrassed but too bad. Deana has had a gift waiting on my porch every single morning when I leave for my treatments...yes, all 16 trips! Each one had so much thought and creativity to them and they made my day each and every time. I could feel her arms wrapped around me in love and I felt like she was with me every trip! I am so touched by her kindness and friendship.

Treatment time...SO, I had the whole gang with me for this last visit! The kids started out with me for our early morning start and then Joe and Josie (Joe's mom) came to join the gang...there were 7 of us, lovingly crammed into the treatment room! They were so accommodating to us and we even got a nice window seat. I even got one of my favorite nurses Nakia!  Danielle had a fun little surprise for me, she made her own "IV bag" to hang on the pole along side my meds! The nurses got such a kick out of it. The time went by so fast. The kids and I played Crazy Eights (having to use the animal sounds of the animals on the cards) and then a few fun rounds of Old Maid (we have all learned we have terrible poker faces with this). The time flew by so fast and next thing I knew I was DONE!

ALL DONE!

Celebratory Lunch...Afterwards we all met my brother John and sister in law Kathleen at Cucina Enoteca in Del Mar for lunch to celebrate. We had so many fun tapas and lots of great visiting and catching up. No matter how much time you get it is never enough. They live in Arizon so I don't get to see them as much as I would like to. They were extremely kind and surprised us by treating us all to this yummy lunch. My only regret beside it not being enough time was that I forgot to take a photo with them...argh! Take my word for it, they looked wonderful! Loved this time together.

Blessings

Gosh, I could make this list so long if I go back to the beginning on June 9 but I will keep it pared down to the last few days for you. Thanksgiving was wonderful. We normally open our home up to friends that don't have family in town but with my need for low exposure to germs we decided to keep it simple and just be our little family of 7. I would say we wanted to make it a quiet day but with this bunch it never is...I love that about us! ;o) Such a blessing to look around my table and see the faces of my little family and feel the love we all have for each other. They have all been so great and supportive through this and trust me when I say I haven't made it easy all the time. 

My Scripps Prayer Group...SO another surprise I got yesterday was from my Scripps Prayer Group. My dear friend Janet brought me a box of cards from some of the wonderful ladies in our group. I saved them and brought them to my last treatment to read while I was there. Much to my surprise they were each filled with money and gift cards to help me with what they all know I love best...to be able to reach out and help someone else! They could not have thought of a better gift for me! They know I will want to bring Christmas to the family Tease built a home for down in Mexico and they also know our family adopts a family on our side of the border every year. Of course with me not working much these last few months and won't be able to at all after surgery for awhile they wanted to take the pressure off for reaching out to these families. They know my heart so well and they have huge hearts of gold themselves. I hope I can find the words to express my gratitude to them all for this and I CAN'T WAIT TO GO SHOPPING FOR THESE FAMILIES!!! Yippee, shopping spree time! 

So many of my dear friends have been such blessings the last few months and I hope you know what every text message, card in the mail, prayers, words of encouragement, surprises dropped off, rosaries being said, FB message, meals and anything else I am forgetting at this moment have meant to me and how much strength and hope you have given me. This is a long journey that is about 1/2 way done now and between all of you and the Grace of God I am sitting here typing my thanks and feeling so hopeful for complete healing and purification of my body. I ask to live a long life here to make myself worthy of all of these blessings.

Prayers

You all tell me you like when I specify my prayer requests so here you go...

• Dec 9 Alicia Gelaro will be accompanying me on my consultation with my surgeon. Please pray that I will decide what God is pointing me to (at this moment I am being directed to a bi-lateral mastectomy) and that my doctor will be behind me 100% when I explain my reasons why.
• Please pray that this last round of AC will obliterate any possible remaining cancer cells in my body and that I will be NED (no evidence of disease) on Dec 30!
• Please pray for the 2 families that we are taking care of this December. We have our family in Mexico, the Perez family that Tease built the house for.  Our family here in the US lost the young father just this last Nov 16 to a heart attack leaving a wife and 4 kids 7 and under. We hope to bring them some joy and support by having strangers they will never meet bring them some help.

May you all have a blessed time preparing for your holidays and I will keep you posted, especially after December 9th to let you know the game plan. To be continued...

Danielle took a break and went jogging and
made an appearance outside my window seat!

 Danielle always finds a way to make treatments entertaining!

Danielle's idea of an IV!

Uno Mas!

Alex decided to be the
Wolverine for #3

Yup, one more to go for my rounds of AC!!!  My #3 visit was extremely entertaining. I had Danielle and Cameron with me. At one point I asked for some saltine crackers (they help with the nausea) and they got the great idea to keep me busy watching them have a contest as to who could eat 6 crackers in less than 1 minute. I have it on video but will spare you the gory details. Cam completed the task and as for Danielle? Let's just say it involved a nearby trash can and it wasn't pretty! It was certainly entertaining! Afterwards we went to La Jolla and had lunch at The Cottage and then some beach time for my Rosary. We had some beautiful peaceful time together and I will cherish it always.

#3 good to go!

Then off to Escondido because Danielle was picking up her new leased car to drive home! It was probably not the restful day I needed but I certainly slept well last night! Joe has been gone all week and comes home tomorrow and I hate to tell him how well I slept alone in the bed! lol

My last AC treatment will be the day after Thanksgiving. That means I will feel pretty good on Thanksgiving and should be able to enjoy the meal BUT it also means that my after treatment nausea will keep me from enjoying my favorite part..LEFTOVERS!! I am sure I will still choke some down, just in small increments! Confession, I love cold stuffing!!

Blessings

This whole thing has been and continues to be such a journey for me. Finding out so much about myself, about life, deepening my faith and relationship with God. As with all journeys, new horizons and discoveries come along the way. I have reached a spot right now that I have been getting into talking with God verses always praying and definitely not praying as many "written" prayers but prayers of my own. So many "written" prayers seem to focus on dying and right now I am trying to stay strong and fight to live. To trust in Him and have faith in His healing. I know God's Will will be done but I do believe it is my job to believe that through Him all things are possible and that we must ask to be able to receive. I feel like through this time the "old Beth" is coming back to life (hopefully just the good parts of old Beth). I feel like I am dealing with things better and being able to find more peace with things. I also feel like I am not just trying to get through a day but live it...and to its fullest with so much more gratitude. I have some huge decisions ahead of me and I am just letting God take it all for now. I know that He is pointing me in the right direction along this path and on December 9th when I meet with the surgeon one last time I have faith that the right decision will be made...and I will have peace with it. So many of you have let me know that you really like it when I get specific about what I would like you to pray for. With that in mind, I ask for continued prayers that my tumor/s will be NED (no evidence of disease) at the time of surgery. And I pray to see God's clear signs about my surgery decision. I also would love for you to pray for my surgeon that she too will be directed by God with what is best for me. Thank you my prayer warriors, I truly feel all of your prayers!

I love this picture of Cam coming out of the cave with the sea lion behind him in the opening

 Beautiful day in La Jolla with these two, I am so blessed!

Danielle and her new ride!

Another Week Off!

A sight for sore eyes!

I am trying to make the most of my time off now that the treatments are every other week. I am still working but there is plenty of time to get out and have some fun. The big news is Cameron is home! He flew in last Tuesday night and it sure is great to have him here. He has really grown into a wonderful, loving man and I couldn't be more proud. It looks like he will be staying through February to be able to play a role in a play up in the LA area. I will post more info as soon as contracts are signed and I have permission! 

So I was told I would start seeing a pattern of my good days and bad days after treatment and boy have I ever! I get the infusion on Thursdays and by Friday afternoon it starts for me. First the nausea and bad taste in my mouth start up. It is like having morning sickness 24/7. Its not like it comes in waves...it just stays from Friday afternoon until Wednesday! After that it slowly goes away and by Monday of the following week it's pretty much gone...just in time to go back Thursday and start over again! I have learned that I have to eat small meals/snacks 5 to 6 times a day so I don't get myself too full. The other part is the head game. I guess between the AC and the steroids this is expected. The depression and bad thoughts creep in and are VERY hard to control on those tough days as well. Getting out and not staying home feeling sorry for myself helps a lot but I need to be extra careful with germs right now. In fact I have a little cold right now that I think Cameron was kind enough to share with me.

Surgery

I still have not made a final decision on my surgery. Lumpectomy verses mastectomy! The doctors want to do a lumpectomy and heaven knows I would rather recover from that but I want to make the right decision for down the road. No matter what I decide it does not help my survival from my current triple negative, removing my breasts will not help me if there are rogue cells in my body. I see 2 parts to this decision though. Of course what I just said is part one of that but part two is that I DON'T WANT TO GET BREAST CANCER AGAIN!!! I feel like I have known since I was in my 20s that it was a matter of time that this would happen and if I leave all that tissue there then it is just a matter of time until it happens again. I just don't know what to do and will be meeting again with the surgeon to discuss it one more time. Please continue to pray that God gives me good questions and that the doctor gives me good answers and of course that He makes my path clear as to what I am supposed to decide. 

Going, Going, Gone...

So they were right, the AC pretty much finishes off the whole "hair falling out thing!" I only have a few measly little wisps of hair on my head which Cameron keeps offering to buzz off for me. I am sure I will let him do it at some point but right now what I have helps keep my head warm at night. It is also a whole lot easier to pick up and throw away hair that is 4" long than the nubs of buzzed hair! We will see...not sure I am ready to look like Telly Savalas yet! Along with the hair loss means that my eyebrows and eyelashes are slowly disappearing. That makes me sad, you don't realize how much they help until they are gone. The eyebrows are a much easier fix since you really can't do anything about the lashes. I feel like I look sleepy without them or like I've been crying. It is so hard to not feel like your body is slowly disintegrating from all of this. From skin changes, digestive things, hair, and many things I will spare you the details of. It certainly is very humbling to say the least.

Well, I will post again at some point after next Thursday. I will have both Danielle and Cameron there this time and I hope Moores is prepared for that! Frick and Frack will definitely make it interesting for us all! ;o)  Thanks for your prayers and for taking the time to share the journey with me!

 Wendy and I grabbed coffee bobas and headed to the zoo. Look at this great shot she captured of the giraffe spitting water!









It was a week for "old" friends (and I mean that I have known them a long time...not a comment about their ages!). Some of my dear old high school friends went on a brewery tasting crawl in honor of Greg's birthday and I was able to meet up on their last stop at Intergalactic. It was great to be with them of course and fun to check out a Westview grads' place. Alex Van Horne, that went to school with Kendall, opened it up and I am told the beer is awesome...you should check it out!
Joe and I went to the Carlsbad street fair and I ran into my favorite roommate Bonnie (okay, I only had one roommate but she was clearly my favorite!). We lived together when we worked at Disneyland and it was so great to see her!

Good thing Christian never gets cold! Hee-hee

Lastly, a little Halloween fun for y'all! I helped create Kendall and Christian's mermaid and merman outfits. Kendall did an amazing job on their makeup by using a fine net to paint over, to create a scale effect. They attended Adam Lambert's Ghost Town Halloween Party up in LA with Danielle and her boyfriend Casey. They all had a blast and there are more photos on both girl's Facebook pages.

Danielle did the saloon girl thing to stay with
Adam's Ghost Town theme. Her gun and holster
are gold of course! 

AC #2 ... Check!

Jan was a blast and wanted to
rock her #2!

More "Koolaide" go get it
AC!

Yup, AC #2 is officially done and I will go back today for my Neulasta injection. It boosts my blood counts since the AC does a number on them. My nurse was explaining that before these most people either ended up with a hospital stay in between or blood transfusions. She said about the time they'd get their counts back up it would be time for yet another treatment. Yikes...I am happy to go get my injection! It can cause some bone pain because it goes in and stimulates the bone marrow production but last time I got it I didn't have any that I really noticed...where some wood to knock on!

FaceTime with
Cam and Jill

I finished my cats!

Unfortunately Danielle ended up with the flu and was unable to come down. ;o( Fortunately Lucia was able to keep me company in her place! Joe took me there and stayed a bit and then Lucia overlapped and was there for the rest and a yummy lunch at Seasons 52.  

Blessings and the Cammie Boy is Coming Home!

A big blessing this last week was truly turning this surgery decision over to God. I pray for Him to give me the right questions, give the doctors the right answers and for me to see clearly where He guides me from there. I would love for the doctors to not just consider stats and percentages for me but to really be open to a deeper direction in the decision. I will see if I have the nerve to ask them that! ;o)

Yippee, Cam is flying in this Tuesday! He is here for an indefinite amount of time. He is going to play it all by ear and by heart, he just really wanted to be closer to home during this time and we are all happy to have him coming out here. The holidays wouldn't have been the same without him.

Wishing you all a fun and Happy Halloween! 

Just had to share my cute card from my
adorable great-niece...her "Ant" Beth loves
 her dearly!

My Week Off...

Wow, it sure was wonderful to have this last week off with no treatments! I needed the time to recover since I did something stupid. I absolutely hate taking steroids and on these 4 treatments I get them intravenously on the treatment day and then I take them the next 3 days twice a day. Well...instead of taking 1 pill twice a day I took 2! By Sunday I felt like caca and thought it was the AC I got on Thursday. I even got super dizzy and felt like I was going to pass out at the walk on Sunday. Then Sunday night the lightbulb went off and I figured it all out and had to confess my stupidity to my super intelligent, perfect doctor that probably makes no mistakes. She was super sweet about it and said it would work it's way out of my system. It tore my stomach up and I am still paying for it. 

One problem with my stomach is that my mouth wants stuff my stomach can't handle and I need to learn to so no to my mouth's desires! They said AC would be a lot like when I was pregnant. I feel generally queazy most of the time and I have the strangest cravings...like Jack in the Box tacos! Seriously? Learned my lesson on that one! OUCH!!! Other than that I handled the AC extremely well and Dr Parker said I should do well with the other 3! 

Fun Stuff and New Hair!

Lucia and I after lunch at Jakes

I took this pic of a seagull that
was walking on the awning
above us at Jakes. I loved how
the feet are colored and the body
is just a shadow!

What have I done with this week off you ask? Besides seeing some clients, which I LOVE being at work and being with the girls there, I was able to spend time with some friends and Joe on my days off. First my friend Catie and I had a fun day of running around and then my buddy Lucia (aka Nina to my kids) had a day together. I have known Lucia since elementary school and she is Cam's Godmother.

Do I look cute or what!?

She had a little surprise in store for me. My dear, sweet, loving, generous high school friends all pitched in and bought me my "dream wig" that I had decided was just too expensive and was going to do without!  Yup...I have some new hair everyone! Let me tell you, it feels and looks just like my hair did! Up to now I have really dreaded looking in the mirror and have felt extremely self conscious. I thought I was self conscious as a teen but this takes the cake. This disease robs so much from you and it is hard to feel pretty and feel "normal". As soon as I put this on (and trust me, I did it in the car while Lucia was driving because I couldn't wait another minute) I just couldn't stop looking at myself in the mirror. I wore it today to the Safari Park with Joe and even pinned part of it back. It felt incredible to feel my hair blowing in the wind on the tram tour and feel like everyone around me would know I had a wig on. Wow, freedom! I cannot express my gratitude enough for this gift and I love you all so dearly for doing this for me. Thank you Lucia & Mark, Melodie & Greg, Tom & Chris, Tommy & Donna, Kyle & Stephanie! XOXO

The tigers really cooperated today!
They were AMAZING!

Fun time with Joe at the Safari Park

Keep the Prayers Flying!

Please keep those prayers coming my prayer warriors! Please pray that I continue to respond well to the last 3 treatments and PLEASE pray for God to make my path clear on my surgery decision. It's either lumpectomy or bilateral mastectomy and I am so confused that I have had to hand it all over to God and I am just waiting for my path to become clear on it. Of course I will do my part and meet again with both doctors and go over my growing list of questions. Looks like surgery may on on December 30th now so that is cool!  I love you all and thank you for all of your prayers, I feel them and I am so thankful for each and everyone of you. I am so blessed to be surrounded by so much love and so much prayer! This Thursday will be treatment #2 and Danielle will be down so I am excited to see her! 

Proud Madre

Okay, quick bragging moment. I cannot believe everything Cameron fits in! Between working at The Mill in New York, a large advertising firm, he is still going on auditions, finding time for his lovely girlfriend Jill, and playing volleyball! His team travelled to Philly to play in a tournament and they took first place! Can't wait to get him here on November 3rd! Here is the medal and pic of the team...go Cammie! (Cam is second one on the right back row #7)

The Walk was a Success!

Well the Making Strides walk today was a huge success for the "We Can Do It" team thanks to everyone that came out to join us and to everyone that donated to the cause. We were able to hit our $1000 goal and that was really cool! Thank you so much to everyone that donated! 

The walk was in Balboa Park and the place was packed with people all with one cause in mind...put an end to breast cancer. AMEN!! There were some pretty funny shirts, lots of funny wigs, boas and tons of pink. Even for someone like me that hates pink it was pretty cool to see it all there for such a good reason.

I was not feeling up to doing the 4 mile walk today but Joni hung back with me and we did some rosary time while we waited and then joined the gang to cross the finish line. My heart is so full with joy with all of the friends and family that were able to come and make it such a special and memorable day. Thank you...I love you all! Here are some fun pics from today:

The whole gang before the walk.
Check out those muscle!

Kendall, Heather and Christian

Prayer group buddies! I love them!

Me and my sweet Deanna!

The big start!

They did it!

The fun selfie they sent me! Thanks Adam!

FaceTime with my Awesome Teens at Church

So tonight was a first for me, I have taught confirmation for many years but I have never done it virtually before! Thanks to my awesome small group of kids and my totally great Core Team leaders because they did not give up on me when my need to stay away from germs kept me from being there in person tonight. They managed to set up a FaceTime session and not only did I get to work with them on their lesson but I got to see all of their wonderful faces and smiles! This is such a special group of kids and I am so blessed to share this faith journey with them as they prepare for their Confirmation. They sent me a great selfie and then I was able to screen shot them during our talk tonight. Sure do love this kids so much! Soul feeding day and evening for sure. Many Blessings!

Best teens EVER!! (I am in the bottom right)

One Last Photo

Kendall and Christian are big time into CrossFit and their gym out in Poway did a Breast Cancer Workout so in keeping with the pink theme I thought I would share this as well! 

Brand X Poway CrossFit