Yay Team!!

Today was our race. But before I get to that, I'll give an update since it's been quite awhile since my last post. We all went to Madison last weekend for the Badger football game. Olivia went to the game with Matt and Carina and I went to the zoo.

Yesterday we went to the apple orchard and did some picking and went for a hay ride.

Finally, today was the Race for The Cure. Thank you to everyone who signed up to participate and to those who donated. Your time and generosity are greatly appreciated. Here is a picture of those that made it by 8:30 for the picture. We actually were missing my mother and father in law and my brother and sister in law!

Brother and sister in law, nephew, my mom, my co-worker Emily, and my mother and father in law.....

Olivia walked for awhile (or is she marching her way through this?)....

Our family at the finish. My goal when I was diagnosed in March was to be a team captain and run in the race. Mission accomplished. My time was 33 minutes.

Other news.....This week Tuesday my port comes out. I'm a little nervous about that because it's just a local anesthetic and the scar from when they put it in is about one inch long. The good news is I won't feel terrible for the following three days - so really I guess this is a piece of cake.

Olivia's First Day of School

I'm all ready for my first day....
Everyone get in line....bye Mom and Dad!! Mrs. Zeimet is taking us to our classroom...
I love school! "Grandma, can I go again tomorrow?"

Three Happy Ladies

DONE!!!

I hope you are all enjoying your long weekend (at least those of you that live in the US). I'm feeling good and so very happy to be done with my treatments. Although this is not all over yet, I feel like the hardest part is done now. I can't thank everyone enough for their kindness and good wishes. I think I'm one of the luckiest people around to have such great family and friends supporting me through this. Now I just need to feel good enough to have some wine and life will be just perfect!

To all of you that signed up for the Race for the Cure - thank you. I'll send an e-mail out and keep you informed on the shirt pick-up. I'd also like to try and do a team picture!

Olivia's first day of school is Tuesday. I'll be sure to post some pictures. She's really excited. I'm not sure at what age that ends, but is sure is great now.

Until later....

Last call!

Hi Everyone,
Two things to mention. First, don't forget to sign up for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure if you want to be part of our team. The LAST DAY for team registration is this Friday - the 31st. I will be picking up the shirts for the team. I'll be sending team members an e-mail with details on the shirts and hopefully we can meet somewhere before the race and do a team picture.

Second, as many of you know, this Thursday is my last treatment. I'm soooo excited! YIPPIE!!!!

Next time I'm posting I'll be on the road to hair!!! (well, after a couple weeks anyway)

Only one more.....

Yesterday was treatment #5. Not as bad as the first one, but worse than the last. I can't even begin to say how happy I am about this almost being over. I can't imagine those that have to go through treatment after treatment hoping for shrinking tumors with no real end in sight. I sure hope that I will never be in that position.


The Dr. said that three weeks after my last treatment they'll have me back in for a blood draw to see how my counts are. Then, if they are OK, we can schedule the medi-port to be removed.

After that it's back to the plastic surgeon.


As far as the plan with the oncologist after that, it seems there are no magical blood tests and they don't do any sort of scans. It's monitoring some blood counts to be sure that the treatment didn't wreck anything, then it's just me letting them know if something doesn't seem right. He is going to work with radiology and the Breast Care Center to determine what type of imaging screening will be done.


The hardest thing is going to be to try not to think about a recurrence all the time. Hearing the statistics about recurrence is scary. It seems my chances in 10 years are 3%. When you talk about something like a recurrence, 3% seems like a huge number. When you think about it in terms of a lottery drawing, they seem low. It's all the perspective. I think it's best just to take it a day at time. I will not be consumed with worry.


I also want to remind everyone the deadline for on-line registration for the Race for the Cure is August 30th! Thank you to those who have already signed up and to those that have donated!!

Hi Everyone,
We had a great weekend. Contrary to a couple of the comments posted, my 5th treatment is actually on the 9th. This also happens to be our 10th wedding anniversary. Needless to say we are going out to dinner on Tuesday night instead of Thursday. I've now managed to have all sorts of things going on during some significant dates. My surgery was on my friend Amy's birthday, my first chemo treatment was on my Dad's birthday, and the 5th is on our anniversary.

We went to State Fair on Friday with the girls. Here are a couple pictures - the two of them with the Grand Champion Goose (how exciting is that??) and Matt and Carina going down the Giant Slide. Olivia said she will go down next year. Perfect.

Olivia and Carina are quite the swimmers. Here are some pictures from Saturday.

Finally, today was the Brewer baseball game. We had a great time and there was a lot of effort put in by a group of people at work to put the event together. Matt informed them the were part of history - one of the worst losses in Brewer history. They were winning while we were there though. Man, was it ever hot. We lasted until the middle of the 7th inning. Then it was time to hit the road.

I hope you all have a great week. Oh, I almost forgot - I went running today for the first time since before my surgery - so early April. Although I've been doing other things, this I found out that I am definitely not in running shape. My legs let me know what pretty clearly along with my sky-high heart rate at a normal jog. So, since I know you all are planning on signing up for the Race for The Cure and just haven't yet - I highly recommend a little preparation.

Happy training!!