Friday 5/27/11
How does a SuperMonkey say Thank You?
So today was a very special day - the school year is winding down and expected to end soon. As I embark on the next portion of my treatment (surgery) I have been thinking a lot about all the people who have helped me through chemo and in that crowd is a special group of 5th graders Ms Stephanie Robledo's class at Ridgecrest Elementary. I asked Ms Robledo if it is ok if I visit her 5th grade class to personally thank them for making me a very special book. She asked her principal and they agreed to let me come for a visit. I had purchased pink silicone bands that say "Fight Like a Girl" with boxing gloves and a ribbon on them.
Matt accompanied me and we went to personally thank the students for their inspiring actions and words. I honestly think that as adults we don't always behave the best or say the right things but children have an amazing ability to make things very simple and clear. Their words of bravery and courage meant a great deal and helped motivate me in those extremely difficult moments. It seemed these students really understood what I needed and I am sure that had a great deal to do with Ms Robledo's strong desire to teach her students the importance of communication skills.
Long and short I showed up and spoke to the students about how their bravery and their words helped me be brave during this challenging time. I told them that I was diagnosed with cancer and it is scary. I explained a little about what cancer is. I also told them that my chemo treatment came with a long list of side effects including but not limited to: weight gain, exhaustion, weaker immunity and hair loss to name a few. But none of those things received as much of a reaction as the loss of taste buds. I explained the fact that the cells that divide the fastest are the ones that are most effected (I am pretty sure they heard blah, blah, blah). But then when I said, "I couldn't taste my favorite foods ... not even ice cream" They all gasped and their chins hit the floor. We had an interaction about favorite foods and if you can't taste them what does it taste like the answer is "nothing if you are lucky and medicine if you are unlucky". What does nothing or tastelessness taste like, this was a hard question. I threw it back out to them .. what can you think of that tastes like nothing? The answer - Cornflakes ... and yeah I have to agree that when I couldn't taste food it all tasted like cornflakes, sometimes crunchy and sometimes not crunchy. Despite the fact that I moved on and covered a lot of topics - showing them my port and talking about all sorts of things they still kept coming back to food and they asked if my taste-buds had returned - and the good news is that they have. They were all relieved to hear that. :)
The students were great and when I was done I explained that I had a gift for them - the fight like a girl bands and while I thought the boys would say they didn't want to wear pink bracelets - no one said anything like that. We took a picture together and I told the students they were all "Super Friends" that I have been lucky enough to make during this journey.
Picture of me with the class sporting their new bands below. In case you were wondering Yes I am making a "SuperMonkey Muscle".
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| Me talking to the class |
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| SuperMonkey with Super Friends |
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| Me outside of the Elementary School |
In case any of you are wondering where I purchased the bands I found this super cool store online called The Pink Ribbon Shop and it is an awesome store I highly recommend checking it out.
Link to the store: http://www.pinkribbonshop.com/
Link to the breast cancer bands: http://www.pinkribbonshop.com/breast-cancer-bands.aspx
Thursday 5/26/11
Surgery Prep Underway
Late this afternoon I went to the hospital for my Pre-Operative Tests - I will be having my surgery at Methodist Hospital in Houston and their Pre-Operative Center is a nice new building. The waiting room has public computers with internet - so you can be on the computer while you wait - a very nice facility. This visit was full of all sorts of strange, repetitive questions -- what is your condition, what medications are you on, etc. Suddenly the nurse asked if I could move my neck / head freely from side to side (which I could) and asked if I have ever been told my airways are constricted - to which I answered no. This of course peaked my curiosity and I asked her why she was asking so many questions about my neck the cancer is in my breast. She said - it's because we intubate you during surgery. In all honesty prior to this I hadn't thought of details such as intubation or no intubation. She then said it was the easiest and safest way to conduct the surgery. I have to say that this news caught me a little off guard. I didn't know this would be done or required during surgery - but at this point I am learning to expect the unexpected - I am experiencing all sorts of firsts.
The rest of the testing was blood draw, urine sample, EKG and chest X-Ray. As I understand it from my plastic surgeon the concern is infection - the tissue expanders are very sensitive and if you currently have an infection in your body your tissue expanders will get infected. If they don't call me back I am clear of any infection. Either way the next 2 weeks until my surgery I should be aware of where I go and who I interact with because any type of illness requires immediate treatment prior to surgery. No pictures to share this time - Matt didn't join me for this visit so I will have to remember to ask others to take a picture of me at future visits Matt doesn't attend.
Wednesday 5/25/11
Matt returned from New Mexico late this evening. He has been gone since Monday and I missed him. It’s always good to have him back home.
Sunday 5/22/11
Today was another Track Day for Matt. Matt and I now have the track day prep down to a science, we arrived and unloaded the gear and our friends Mark and Stephanie arrived shortly thereafter. So everyone was ready to go and Matt and Mark spent the day in and out of class and on the track. Stephanie and Mark’s children spent the am getting oriented to the track, the facilities and the schedule.
Matt seems to be getting pretty comfortable with the bike and the track atmosphere. It was nice having Stephanie and Mark's children there today - this made the day go by a lot quicker. And while the day started with very tolerable weather it did heat up!! I don't know the exact high reached today - but I think "hot" pretty much sums it up.
Today MotoHouston also had a BBQ at the track and had a pretty large turn out. The morning started with a Lamborghini parked behind our pit area -- very nice car and pictured below. But as the day progressed and the tracked filled up with spectators and motorcycles the expensive cars multiplied. Lambo was followed by a Ferrari and the Ferrari was followed by a Maserati. Now Matt and Mark had to negotiate between 1 million dollars worth of cars to re-enter our pit area with each trip out to the track. While sitting in our area discussing how hot the day was we saw mirages appearing and disappearing in the form of half dressed women, OMG they were all hanging around the expensive automobiles. While I have heard of such mirages, I have never witnessed them first hand and seeing it on a day as hot as today made me wonder what else might appear. These women could smell the money and they were circling just as sharks circle their prey in the ocean. It was sheer entertainment!!
A couple of pictures below to show the spirits of the day (overall very positive).
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| Mark with his KickAss Hat |
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| Stephanie posing for the camera |
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| Matt and I |
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| Matt in front of the exotic cars |
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| Lambo in the early am before the crowds arrived |
On a much more inspiring note:
I have told my story to almost everyone I interact with on a regular basis at work about my diagnosis and treatment. I have to say that everyone has been so supportive and encouraging. One of my co-workers Megan in San Francisco told me that today she was running a half marathon and that she read in a book a while back about an idea to run with beads each representing a person you know. You think of them during their mile and draw strength and motivation from thinking of them. She told me earlier in the week that one of her beads represented me. I would be mile 12 - represented with a pink bead. I must say that this was a super awesome idea and I felt so good all day Sunday thinking that I was helping Megan in her half marathon and ever since hearing about this I am still moved by the idea and Megan's actions. You should know that Megan did very well during this event (her second half marathon). Megan - I am glad you kicked butt during the Half Marathon - SuperMonkey Style! Picture of Megan's beads below.
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| Megan's Beads (mine is the pink one on the far right) |
Saturday 5/21/11
Today was a big day - it was the Iron Man in The Woodlands, Texas - which is north of Houston. I have only seen IronMan competitions on television - so of course I had to go to see it in real life to show support for our friends. For those of you who don't know the IronMan is a Triathlon consisting of 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. Having competed in endurance races I can tell you that a race of this magnitude allows you plenty of opportunity for self-reflection. I have never competed in an IronMan but I have a tremendous amount of respect for all athletes who tackle this beast. This was a very special course in that we were able to see the runners while they ran their marathon in 3 loops. We were lucky enough to see most of the people we were there to support run past us 3 times. We arrived early enough to see the professionals run - it was pretty amazing to see how fast they were running given their full day of competition.
Just for a little perspective I thought I would include the top performers / times.
First place male finished the entire race in 8 hrs, 8 min, 20 seconds and the first place female finished the entire race in 8 hrs, 57 min, 51 seconds.
There are lots of inspiring stories in this competition from the blind competitors who compete while tethered to another athlete to the current Vice President of marketing and development for ironman - who has successfully fought thyroid cancer, stage 3 lymphoma and had back surgery all within the last decade.
All competitors are "heroic" the amount of training and dedication invested in showing up for the race is remarkable. But as I stood there - watching this incredible race with all types of competitors I couldn't help but think about how lucky I am. Lucky because I really do understand the sacrifice competitors make to prepare for their races and lucky because I know that training for the big races in life has prepared me for the most important competition I have ever known, competing against and beating cancer. Truth be told I do sometimes forget that I am competing and I get tired and discouraged, but events like this and days like today are excellent reminders. I have selfishly worked really hard to continually inform my support crew (family, friends and co-workers) of my status so that I can continue to receive the much needed support. I still need people on the sidelines motivating me to keep going, and believe me when I say that I am so grateful for every positive thought and encouraging word.
Congratulations to all of today's IronMan competitors - Great work!!
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| Question: How does an IronMan race keep the spectators interested Answer: Don't tell them how to find the course (these maps were terrible) |
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| IronMan Motivation |
Friday 5/20/11
Early this morning I dropped off the dogs at the groomer to be re-shaved and while this might be new news to some of you -- there is actually a cut that is a lion's cut (that makes your dog look like a lion). Our pets don't have enough fur for a full on lion's cut but they do have very full tails. I asked for a lion's cut for their tails and I gotta say it is so ridiculously cute!!
Today I went to the office and it was great seeing and catching up with everyone. Since transitioning to work from home in December I haven't been back to the office very much. Today was special - I went in for a co-workers' baby shower. It was a great time!! My co-workers had a lot of words of encouragement about my treatment. It feels good to be around such optimism.
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| Check Out the Lions' Tails |
Stay tuned for more SuperMonkey Adventures,
Nancy
AKA: SuperMonkey
"The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson."
- Tom Bodett
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