Surgery scheduled

I met with the surgeon today and will have my operation on April 13th. This will be to remove the area that contains some potentially cancerous cells in my other breast. The week before I will have pre-op blood and EKG done.

Turkeys galore...

  

The turkeys have come back...Gobble Gobble

  

My truck sits in my garage with the exact mileage of 100,000 miles....

  

100,000 miles!!

It's the little things in life that can get you excited. My truck rolled over 100,000 miles tonight. In fact, Tim and I took the long way home from soccer just to have that happen. And as I pulled into the driveway it happened! We were joking that it would be so cool if that were to happen. I had to run into the house and get the camera. As Barry recently said to me, I tell it all in my blog....

Happy Birthday, truck... May I get 100,000 more miles out of you.

A restful weekend

This weekend has been very restful for me. Yesterday I volunteered for about an hour at the school sorting out a fundraiser product. Tim and I did some raking of the flower beds before noon. And then the snow flurries came for the majority of the day. Temps only in the 30s. Not the typical spring day. I took advantage of this cold weather and napped for about 2 hours. Mmmm, I love my naps. In the evening we ate shopping and out to dinner.

After mass today I attended a eucharstic minister meeting. It was a gathering of 4 new ministers (I was one of them) and the existing ministers. Only took a short while. While on Long Island I had done this at the church and just recently I had thought of doing it once again. I'm looking forward to this opportunity. Have to admit that I was not able to take a nap today. No time to.

Hard to believe that Monday is upon us again. This weekend certainly did go by fast.

Minor complication

I was awaken early this morning but the feel of something wet on my pajama top. Went to the bathroom and saw that it was blood coming from the breast that had the biopsies about 3 weeks ago. Cleaned up and put bandaid on it. Then went back for my last hour of sleep.

I went to work and made a couple of phone calls to have it checked out. I knew I needed it to be looked at when I took a peek under the bandaid and it continued to bleed.

End result: Did see the radiologist who did the biopsies and she told me that it was a hematoma, collection of blood. I had noticed the bump there but had nothing to compare it to. She did drain the blood by pressing on it. Am glad I took care of that. She taped me back up. Said it could happen again but now I know what to expect.

Am so thankful for Dr. G (my oncologist) who I called. He contacted the radiologist as I did not know how to contact her. I was able to go directly to the hospital where she met me immediately. Upon leaving she gave me her direct telephone number.

Not sure how this will play out on Tuesday. This is my next appt. with surgeon. He originally wanted the area healed a bit before surgery. Oh well.....at least I'm in no rush.

PS. Yes, I will be doing my first Relay for Life walk next month. Am hoping that Barry will join me in the survivors' walk. It's a powerful and moving event.

Go away you raccons...

We enjoyed seeing and feeding the turkeys in our back yard, but have stopped for awhile. It seems that as soon as it got dark we were being visited by two raccoons. And we don't need those nasty critters hanging around the house and under the deck. Right after it got dark, they would be in the back yard and even climbing into the bird feeder. So for awhile, the birds and turkeys are not being fed by us. So far it is working. Have not seen the 'coons last night or tonight. I sure do miss seeing the turkeys.

Congrats to Mel Jr

I'm still here, just have nothing much to report these past couple of days. Just wanted you to know where I have been. Guess no news is good news.

Just got good news at 10:30 p.m. Our friend Mel Jr. has been signed to play with Buffalo Bills! Congratulations!!

Check out buffalobills.com

Fowler Signs

The Bills continue to be active players in free agency. On Tuesday, Buffalo officially signed quarterback Craig Nall and offensive lineman Melvin Fowler. In addition, running back Maurice Morris and defensive tackle Monsanto Pope were in town to meet with GM Marv Levy and Head Coach Dick Jauron. Morris has been the back-up to Shaun Alexander in Seattle while Pope started 21 games in four years for the Broncos.

Sundays are a day of rest

And this proved to be the case for both Tim and I.

As soon as Barry went back to work today, Tim and I took what turned out to be a 2 1/2 hr. nap (Dad would disagree and say that was NO nap!) Tim is becoming like me... I've always said, "I love my weekend naps."

Barry's gone back to work today. Am sure he'll feel the effects of this after the shift is over. But I do think being with others and having other things to think about will be good for him.

Friends..

Do you know what the definition of a friend or friendship is? Let me quickly explain it to you.

A friend spends hours organizing and getting together other couples to go out to dinner with us. And it is these other friends who join us in going out to dinner. Hard to explain in words what has happened this past couple of days. Becky suggested we needed to go out to dinner, and she spent many phone calls (back and forth) with our other frinds organizing this evening. We are now headed out to dinner with what started as 2 families and has nicely grown to 4 families. Now this is friendship! Thanks to everyone and of course the Beckster....

9:30 p.m.
Home from a great gathering of friends. The service lacked speed, but the food and friendship was so nice. I think we were a group of 16. That speaks a lot of how many friends we have here. Once again, thank you.

Happy St. Patricks Day

At work today there was a dessert sale for Relay for Life events. And boy, there was so much good stuff to buy. Brought home some cupcakes for the boys (wink, I'll probably eat them all!)

We went out to dinner to Red Lobster. Today was just a day of good food. And we're also going out to dinner tomorrow with our friends. Looking forward to that. Will be first time in a long time that Barry's been out with our friends. Think it was back in the fall.

That's it for now.

PS. Special thanks to a new friend, Brittany on posting a comment. If you ever want me to sum up my past year I would be happy to. Every day is a blessing and I'm quite thankful for the support we have. This blog is good therapy for me.

St. Patty's day dinner.

When I walked in the house tonight from work, Barry had dinner all cooked for us. What a treat. He had cooked corned beef in the pressure cooker. And served it with the following recipe: mashed potato, mixed in 1/2 head of cooked cabbage, stick of butter and sour cream, (oh yes, the leftover pulp of carrots from his healthy carrot drink he made was also mixed in). Hard to describe this Irish recipe, but boy was it delicious.
It was our early St. Patty's day dinner. Made better because I didn't have to cook it.

A special thank you for my family and friends who have sent me money towards next month's American Cancer Society Relay for Life walk that Tim will be walking in. I do appreciate your kindness.

Happy Anniversary to Me.

One year survivor and still counting.

Attitude has so much to do with living. Being strong from and for others also are key elemenets of this thing called living. Getting strength from people who've been where I'm going, and being strong so you can also be an example for others. Jody put it just fine.

THANKS.

Both of us saw doctors today. I met with surgeon and will go back in 2 weeks to see him again. The breast is too bruised from the recent biopsies, and needs to be healed before he does surgery. Told me that I will be having a mammogram the day of the surgery, radioligist will insert some kind of wire into area and then off to operating room for me. Won't be seeing my buddy Chris as this will be done at hospital.

Barry will be returning to work next week. The discomfort is still there but he never complains. Only tells me how it is when I ask him how he's feeling. Perhaps being back to the work environment will benefit him. Before you know it, it will be time for another round of chemo..

Tomorrow is my one year anniversary since being diagnosed with cancer. My how time flies..

Lightning in area so not bloggin' much tonight. 60 degrees outside. Cold temps coming.

Barry had checkup in a.m. and I have surgeon appt. p.m.

Adios as my sister would say..

Barry's feeling a bit better today.

After I took a nice 2 hr. nap today (yes, Dad- 2 hrs.) I did a little raking and picked up sticks in the yard. Temps were low 70.s and I couldn't resist. Actually worked up a sweat. Didn't even need a jacket.

Just took roaster out of oven. That'll be our dinner. Wish it was fried shrimp from Golden Boy on the Cape, but that can't be...

Email from a Survivor

This is an email I got today from a survivor I met at a Relay for Life walk last year. And we've communicated via email through the past months. This is what surviving is all about:

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I've been reading your blog all along since we met last June.
I just wanted to let you know in Dec. '05 I was once again diagnosed with cancer. I went back to Pittsburg for my treatments. I have stage 4 cancer. I'm taking one day at a time. I still go to work everyday. I understand why Barry does it. We do what we have to.
I will be in a Relay for Life somewhere this year. Just depends when and were they are and how I'm feeling. Once again I say to everyone...Life is good!


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I know she wouldn't mind me posting this. It's all about taking one day at a time, and being thankful for that day! Again, you need a good support system to help you with the bumpy ride.

I have an appt. on Tuesday p.m. with my surgeon. Have already picked up medical records from hospital.

Doing my taxes tonight so not much blog....

Flowers delivered

A highlight of my day was when I was told that I had something to pick up at the main desk. And that usually means flowers. When I saw the beautful flowers I couldn't imagine who they were from. They were in a very nice glass vase, a mixture of nice spring colors. They were from a "bosom buddy" of mine, a fellow breast cancer survivor Aileen. Let me repeat myself, I've met so many wonderful people this past year! Thanks, Aileen.

Well, my doctor has left two more messages for my surgeon. No return call though. Think perhaps I'll have him look into a surgeon at the hospital he is affiliated with. I don't like waiting around.

That's it for today. As they say, a good day.