Challenge Accepted: May 12, 2012

So there is lots packed inside of this update. The truth is that life has been so busy and I have found myself feeling totally exhausted. The luxuries in life - such as updating my blog have fallen to the back burner. Sorry for the delay in getting an update posted - I am doing very well and I will try to post updates more frequently then once every couple of months. Hope you enjoy reading about the latest SuperMonkey Adventures :)

Friday 5/11/12

Today I had another chemo maintenance treatment. This is the 13th treatment of 17 (4 more treatments to go). Matt was unable to join me - and all the nurses asked where he was. The interesting thing about having a partner like Matt is that people always notice when he isn’t with me (as do it). Matt has been absolutely amazing through all of this - learning about breast cancer and working to remain informed about my treatment. He has absolutely been my rock and a great source for advice when I needed it.

Self Portrait at Chemo :)

Today is also special because as you remember I had previously mentioned we have a program at work to boost health and wellbeing -- where I am tracking my exercise and weight loss (which by the way I am not losing weight). This week was focused on motivation and my office has been sharing motivational stories every day. Today they shared mine. The response was AWESOME! It still fascinates me that many people can read the same text and gain something different from it.

Below are some of the responses I received after the story went out:

You Rock
You are very inspiring and heroic
This is an inspiring contribution to all
Wow “You never know what you are training for” can be a life mantra for every sphere of life
Thank you
Your story is very heartfelt, and it inspires me to work harder... The impact you made on me personally made me realize I do have a right to celebrate life.
You are an inspiration! Thanks for sharing your story. You are definitely running a STRONG race!
Loved your story ... my heart is full right now
I admire and respect your determination and drive
Your story was very inspiring it brought me to tears
You are a true inspiration to all of us
I have always admired you during your struggle with cancer and the story is well written and inspirational
It warms my heart to read this, and you are quite a champion
This is so fantastic - I LOVE IT!
I would add “inspirational” as well as motivational! You are an inspiration!

Thursday 5/10/12

This evening Jo’s husband Robin hosted a wine and cheese event in her honor. Matt met me there and we spent the evening celebrating Jo’s life and contributions to each of us. I will always remember Jo and I appreciate that Robin offered us this moment to collectively celebrate Jo.

Monday 5/7/12

Life is interesting and for cancer survivors they understand that nothing is guaranteed. As I have gone through my cancer journey I have made several remarkable friends. One of my remarkable friends is named Johanna Meyers AKA: Jo. I met Jo last year after I had my double mastectomy while attended a Young Cancer Survivors event. Being so fresh from surgery was quite challenging - I felt uncomfortable and very self conscious about how I looked. I remember that Jo had a remarkable comfort about her - she asked questions about how my treatment was going and she shared her own experience with cancer treatment. I went home feeling great about the people I met and remember feeling particularly moved by Jo. Later in 2011 she would learn that her cancer had returned. She passed away today after a very valiant battle against cancer. I will always remember Jo as the person who helped me feel more confident / comfortable during the most difficult time of my life.

Saturday 5/5/12

Today marks my one year anniversary of my final day of heavy duty administration of chemo. We took it easy and while heading out to grocery shop we ran into our neighbors (Troy and Angela...AKA “TRANGELA”) who were headed out to a Mexican dinner and they invited us along. Of course we joined them because after all it is Cinco De Mayo. The restaurant specialty is enchiladas and we enjoyed it.

On our return home we talked about the fact that we have yet to visit the psychic on the corner (she moved in several months back but we haven’t been into visit). So Troy and Matt had a cigar, while Angela and I went down the street to visit the psychic. She offers many different services; psychic readings, tarot card readings and palm readings. We decided to both get our tarot cards read. Angela went first - the room was small - but I sat quietly to the side while her reading took place. This was my first reading EVER and I think the psychic was pretty irritated with my questions (I guess I should have done some research online before going). I shuffled the deck of cards and she laid them out. Interesting she reads them in phases -- I didn’t ask why, but there is absolutely a method at play.

She told me a lot of interesting things:

I am happy go lucky
My in-laws love me
I am trying to sell my house - it isn’t working out now - I will eventually sell
Our current house is dark, but our next house will be very bright
Things are going well at work
Money is fine
The love between my husband and I is very strong

So I used to think that psychics told you what you wanted to hear, now I think there maybe something to it. While I was pretty surprised that she didn’t mention Cancer or illness I think she was pretty accurate.

Angela and I left with the psychic’s business card and she shared that she does parties -- so maybe we need to have a party :)

I have absolutely no idea what these cards mean - but I was allowed to take a picture

5/3/12 - Not sure if I posted that my hair color is a little different
(egg plant)

Saturday 4/28/12

Tonight Matt and I attended a black tie, fund raising event for Joe Niekro. Joe died after having a brain aneurysm in 2006. The event was very focused on valuing every moment we have with people. The importance of telling those you love how you feel because life is so precious. This is something I have tried doing for quite some time - so while a very serious issue / foundation the evening gave me a warm and fuzzy.

Picture of us dressed up for black tie
(picture taken by Pam our fabulous neighbor)
Thank You Pam!!

Friday 4/27/12

Life is funny, I recently learned from a co-worker that she shared this blog with her daughter. She told me a great story about the challenges in raising children, as a parent you don’t always have the answer. There was a time recently when she didn’t have the answer. At that time she decided to share this blog with her daughter. In all the words / stories I share her daughter was able to find what she needed. When my co-worker shared this story I was unable to find the words to describe how I felt. I write and share these stories for lots of reasons but mostly because it helps me think more clearly about my current situation. I have to admit that hearing that a teenager is helped by something I wrote makes me feel great! I guess it is true that it takes a village to raise a child.

Thursday 4/26/12

We had Storms’ body cremated and today his remains were ready for pick up. Matt picked them up and I have to say they did a great job. The wooden box has his name engraved on it. And his remains are neatly packed inside.

We currently plan to go to Colorado to spread them, because he really enjoyed his time there. We haven’t planned or booked the trip yet - but hope to do so sometime soon.

Very classy - I am very impressed with the respect shown to our pets' remains

Storms' remains

Tuesday 4/24/12

So remember how I am working to get into better shape. Well I have started running again and really hope to get back onto a normal work out schedule. My weakness in all of this is that I don’t love to run alone. Between the 2 of them Storm loved running a heck of a lot more then Gusta. I remember when we first rescued her we all ran in a short run as a family (I think it was a 5 k). Half way through she was having a very hard time, she slowed way down and eventually starting dry heaving on the side of the road. Every single person who saw this unfold thought we were torturing her by forcing her to run too far. The loop that I usually run at the park is a little shy of 3 miles and she has struggled with this distance in the past.

Today was our first run alone - no Storm and no Matt. She did a great job. She kept a very good pace and she was able to run for as long as I ran. We did walk a bit - but not because of her - because of me. I did find that she would have rather run 1 mile instead of 3 but - I am looking forward to running with her in the future - I have a feeling she will be a great running partner (just right for me).

Funny angle -- Gusta and I recovering from our run

Sunday 4/22/12

Since we are on the market - we have been spending time driving around scoping out neighborhoods. I mentioned a while back that we were considering going to to the suburbs. Terry Hershey Park is a park in Houston that has several miles of paved and dirt trails and if we leave the loop we would love to be near Terry Hershey Park. So with all that in mind - we found a neighborhood today that has of all things “wild peacocks”. Needless to say, we fell in love - this is the most awesome idea we have ever heard of. I guess there was a couple a while back - the man bought the woman a pair of peacocks and since then they have multiplied into over 50 peacocks. These peacocks roam around in the neighborhood and it is so AWESOME! It may not be realistic to get a home in the “peacock neighborhood”, but I am excited just to know it exists. :)

Saturday 4/21/12

As our household adjusts to the absence of one of our members - Storm - I think it is important to keep Gusta our German Shepherd busy. So Matt had to work and Gusta and I ran a few errands and then went to the park. It is interesting to see how differently she behaves. She is very loyal and while she used to be extremely anxious and protective of all of us (Matt, Storm and I) she seems to have less worries with just her and I. The other funny thing about pets is that pet parents always have one that gravitates or has a stronger relationship with one parent over another. I believe Gusta loves me and cares about my wellbeing, but she LOVES Matt. Now that the family has changed and she and I will spend more time together (just us girls) it should be interesting to see how she changes.

Gusta at the doggie park
(always great to be off leash)

Gusta looking fierce

Gusta and I recovering from a long day out

Friday 4/20/12

Today I had another chemo maintenance treatment. This is the12th treatment (5 more treatments to go). The medicine always makes me tired and reminds me that I need to be patient with the treatment process. While I would like to think I am patient - I really am not -- interesting what sickness teaches us.

Another day of medicine

Chemo Close up :)

Tuesday 4/17/12

As most of you know we have been thinking about going on the market for some time now and have been diligently working to prepare our house. Today we are officially “on the market”. We are hoping that all the work we have done to make our house move in ready will pay off - by way of a fair price and a quick sale. Below is a slide show of our home.

http://www.metrophotos2.info/slideshow/displayimage.php?album=3364&pid=85104&slideshow=5000

Monday 4/16/12

For those who don’t know Matt and I have 2 dogs (Siberian Husky and German Shepherd). Our Siberian Husky is our “love child” born out of wedlock we got him from a pet store when he was only a puppy 3 months old and we were living together - not yet married. He taught us a lot about how to be good parents and taught us the importance of working together. We learned over the years that Siberian Husky dogs are very special; independent, smart and stubborn. Storm was nearing his 14th birthday and recently started having trouble with a few things -- one of which was getting up. He slowed down very suddenly over the last week. We recently went into the vet, who said that Storm’s kidney function had taken a turn for the worse and his spleen appeared to be very swollen. At this point the doctor said he likely had cancer. He laid out our options and said that given his age our best option was probably to try to make him the most comfortable as possible. We decided to start giving him pain medication. While that seemed to help him over the last few days - he eventually stopped eating his meals. Limited to eating treats and medication, today he stopped taking his medicine. He was also having a hard time breathing.

When we took him into the vet this afternoon we were told one of his lungs had stopped working and his heart rate was elevated. While he was enthusiastically eating treats at the vet’s office he was obviously having a hard time. We decided to put him to sleep.

The process is very hard to go through - the vet administers a tranquilizer followed by a medicine that literally puts them to sleep. The first tranquilizer relaxed him - but didn’t work very well, so they had to administer a second tranquilizer. After several hours they were able to administer the injection that eventually put him to sleep.

The entire process was very hard. We will always remember Storm - he was an amazing friend in good times and bad.

Coming home without him was confusing for our German Shepherd - who is approximately 9 years old and was with Storm for 7 years. I think she misses him a lot and as a matter of fact the other day Matt said Storm’s name and she was crying / howling unconsolably for about 30 minutes.

I have decided to add a few photos of Storm -- he was a dear friend and we all miss him.

Storm lecturing me about something

Storm and Gusta in Gusta's House
(with full coats these dogs produce a lot of fur)

Storm and Matt
(Storm was a talker)

Storm on Matt's Shoes
(when he was a puppy he used to surround himself with toys)

Storm had a way of lecturing me with his eyes
(here is a good example of that)

Tuesday 4/10/12

I recently received a gift from a co-worker a super cool Monkey Key. I am reminded all the time of how lucky I am to know so many great people. The things people send me; warm wishes and thoughtful gifts remind me of how lucky I am. Thank you everyone for being so supportive and loving, it has made a world of difference in making my journey so much easier. I recently told someone that while I understand that each of us has a different journey and experiences things differently I wouldn’t change my experience for anything. My friends and family made a world of difference in my journey and continue to help me everyday. Thank you to everyone for being so amazing!!

Coolest Key EVER!

Sunday 4/8/12

Today was Easter and our neighbors invited us over for brunch. It was a lot of fun - we had Strata (egg casserole). Of course because it was Easter we had to take over a few Easter goodies (candy / mostly chocolate). Troy and Angela gave us Easter gifts - Play Doh - which we of course had to play with while we were there.

Made by Matt and Troy - a Play Doh Biker
(check out his heart tattoo)

Made by Troy - a Play Doh Snake with a Mouse

I made this piece of art
Play Doh Flower and Snake or Worm - seems a bit small compared to the flower

Saturday 3/31/12

Tonight Matt and I went to SuperCross - it was so fun!! As someone who rides motorcycles I understand the fast pace - but I was totally amazed at the skill these riders have. This is a very dangerous sport and so fun to watch.

SuperCross Track - this thing is AWESOME!!

Matt and I at SuperCross

Friday 3/30/12

This afternoon I had another chemo maintenance treatment. This is the 11th treatment of 17 (only 6 more treatments to go). I am starting to think that the infusion nurses at Kelsey Seybold think I am the craziest patient they have. I couldn’t stop talking about the most recent episode of South Park “Faith Hilling”. It was a ridiculous episode - just like most other episodes. I don’t want to ruin the episode for those of you who haven’t seen it - but I chuckle even now just thinking about it. If you missed it - check it out on hulu - it is totally worth it. Treatment still wears me out and I find myself feeling very tired all the time. I understand from everyone that this will eventually get better - I am still waiting for that to happen - hoping that tomorrow will be better :)