Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Last Post



Stephanie's Obituary in the Chico Enterprise-Record, click here

All,

As the person that Stephanie trusted as her 'CIO' to post to her wonderful blog, I wanted to let you know that Stephanie passed away at 2:30am on September 13th.

Because I don't know many of you, much less how to contact you each personally, I felt you would want to know and this was the only way for me to reach many of you.

I have been given very few details, I will pass them on to you as I was told...

She went into the hospital at 5:00p on the 12th with Pneumonia, as you know her system was weak from all the various other things she was battling. I received a call the next morning informing me that she passed overnight in a hospital in Chico, CA.

If you have questions, please post a reply here and I will try my best to reply if I can with any updates.

Please keep her in your thoughts, I know I will.

We love you and miss you Steph...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**Update: service/informal gathering for Stephanie, scattering of ashes and if you wish to make a donation 'Memorial Gift' in Stephanie's name**

There was a service on 9/17 and a gathering on 9/18 for Stephanie by family and friends.

Based on her final wishes, she has been cremated and her ashes were scattered in the San Francisco Bay on 9/28/2011. I've included 4 photos, 1 of the boat we went out on in the bay, and 3 (1 at the top) of her ashes as they were scattered. For those of you who are familiar with the area, that is the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.






Lastly, on a somewhat personal note, if you can, please make a donation to the American Cancer Society in her name. Your donation will go to research to fight the disease and to helping people who live with it daily:

https://www.cancer.org/involved/donate/donateonlinenow/index> item #2: Memorial Gift

Monday, September 5, 2011

Back in the Saddle Again...NOT

See how much better my ARM looks? It's getting those nice yellowy edges just in time to go in tomorrow and get blood drawn out of the *other* ARM for this week's labs.

And, apparently, my body isn't too thrilled with this return to chemo after so long. There were far too many weeks when I was "bumped" thanks to low white cell count - as many as five, if Lloyd and I are remembering correctly - which had me wildly off schedule. Then I had to take my little unplanned three-week "vacation" from chemo while we were dealing with getting the air conditioner fixed (someone just had to be HERE - 3 different times), handling Oliver's surgery, the kids getting back home - you name it.

Well, add up all of that time away from chemo. The answer really isn't pretty.

My system is entirely freaked out now, and it seems like all I can do is either sleep, barf, sleep, lay around, or if I'm having a good time, read. I think the term is "shock to the system," don't you? I think that many weeks of no poison might have affected me a tad.

A week or two of sleeping might set me back to rights, assuming that the lab tech I see tomorrow doesn't leave me with major internal bleeding in my other arm!!!

Friday, September 2, 2011

It's "Back To ________" Time!!

Insert your "Back To" item - I kinda started this a few days ago, but technical difficulties interfered... So,for the kids, this week was back to school. All three of them are in one school again, for the first time since we were back in Fremont. It's still hard to believe that Anna's in high school, for everyone, including her! I still wonder where that not-quite-seven year-old went when I look at this gorgeous young woman in front of me. She's not 100% sure how she likes high school yet, but, it was only the first day. One very positive note, in her opinion, is that not a single one of her teachers did the "you must be Conner and Trevor's sister" bit on her. That is a sure way to make a very negative first impression with her!

For me, its "Back To Chemo" time. I feel like it's been forever since I've been there, because I've had so few treatments this summer. Stupid white blood cells!! Let's hope after these 3-4 weeks I've taken off as my "chemo vacation" that all my cells of all types have had time to build themselves back up to the right levels and I can get back on track. The sad thing is, I hate not going to chemo more than going - actually, I don't dislike going at all, because then I feel like I'm doing something to fight this fucker instead of just sitting there and letting it eat me.

SOOOO, I'm sitting here jumping out of my skin when the phone rngs, afraid it's the cancer center telling me not to bother coming. Today is my pre-chemo doctor's appointment, and I really need it. My doctor is an Oncologist/Hematologist, and unless I miss my guess, that second part means "blood doctor," and I could really use one of those today. Thanks to my least-favorite phlebotomy technician, I have THIS

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decorating my arm!

Since this picture was first taken, the blood has welled up in a lump, then started to pool out further into my arm, just as my PA, Roni, said it would. Right now, it's about 4" long x 2" wide at the longest/widest points.

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It hurts like the giant bruise it is, but at least I know that too is normal, in order for the blood to slowly resorb into the tissues. My wonderful chemo nurse were suitably horrified at the sight of this booger and told me not to go back to that tech! I'm going to have to see if that's at all possible.

What a wonderful beginning to my return to chemo! Now, just wait - my next blood test will show I'm low on RED cells because half of them bled out into my arm from the last test. Surprise, surprise, surprise...

Thursday, August 18, 2011

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!

IT'S NOT CANCER!!!!!!!!!! My baby kitty does NOT have cancer!!

Frankly, I was so surprised when the vet told me this that I almost didn't believe her. She was actually kind of surprised too - it usually IS cancer when a growth like this shows up on a cat.

Thank the deity of your choice... This is some happy news that I really, really needed.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Greetings, Earthlings

Howdy all. Nope, I haven't been abducted by aliens or some other strange fate. I just really, really haven't felt like writing anything - blog, emails, anything.

We've had an eventful last couple of weeks, in the sense that all kinds of small to medium level things have been either wrong, or just going on, and I've felt wiped out. I've actually felt the need to take an impromptu vacation from chemo in order to deal, and just to be home.

For one, our air conditioner decided to take a double crap. The first, most obvious part is fixed; the unit outside needed a new motor, and we have this neato little box with metal and heavy wiring-ish things and stuff in it, and it's freaking *melted* inside! I can literally say that the A/C had a meltdown... So, that got fixed, after much stern demanding of reasonable service appointments, not a two-week wait, but it still wasn't cooling the house very well. My intrepid husband decided to play detective and climbed in the attic and found that the cover to the big fan box up there is standing up a good four inches or more from the top of the box, and some of the ducts weren't connected right, so it was pumping cold air into the attic. The service tech comes back on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the kids came home, so there was the usual chaos of getting back, getting unpacked and getting settled back into home. And, of course, Anna had been separated from her other half/twin for the whole summer, so they weren't home a full 24 hours before we were having an extended sleepover.

Meanwhile, I took my sweet baby Oliver Pooterbug kitty into the vet last week because he'd been having some weird problems with his fur getting mats, for the first time in his life. He's not even a full longhair, more of a medium, and I've never had to brush him before - now all of a sudden, he's getting dreadlocks in his armpits. Well, Brenda examined him very thoroughly, and couldn't really find any cause for this sudden increase in dander he was having, except maybe an allergy. Checking him over so thoroughly, what she DID find was a lump on his tummy, not even as big as a pea, but almost certainly a little melanoma. ::sigh:: 'Cause, you know, we needed more cancer in the house. His surgery was yesterday, and now he's got about an inch of stitches that will be taken out in two weeks, one leg shaved in what looks almost like a poodle-cut (for the IV) with some hellacious bruises on it, and he had two rotten teeth extracted, since we agreed to the suggested tooth cleaning while he was under, and Brenda said they were seriously rotten. It could explain his atrocious breath, that's for sure.

We should hear the results of the biopsy in a few days. We've been keeping him confined in the bedroom, and not letting him into the closet (his favorite place - because we were sure he would crawl back to the farthest corner and hide) but I don't think I can keep it up much longer, because the whole "anesthesia" "groggy" thing was seriously false advertising!!! Mr. Perpetual Motion was driving us so crazy from minute one, to keep him restrained from jumping on the counter and force him to rest when we first got him home, we actually had to lock him in the shower!! You could tell he was stoned, from the look in his eyes, but it was not slowing him down ONE bit! We finally just let the dogs in and closed the bedroom door and he's been sleeping either on me or next to me pretty much the entire time since - in short, acting 100% normal. Purr, purr, cuddle, cuddle. He doesn't even act like he's in pain, but he's getting his pain meds anyway, as soon as Lloyd wakes up to help me.

And... Other than those things, I don't remember, but trust me that there's been *STUFF* going on, and there is more stuff to come, as we get closer to the kids starting school. Of course, I also have doctor's appointments, Lloyd's birthday is coming up, I'm finishing up the bathroom project & other random things around the house, and I'm not out of chemo forever. I feel like I'm doing something very wrong taking any time out at all, but we never could have got the air conditioner fixed unless I did! We were just up against a wall with needing to be in too many places at the same time. It sounds funny to say I chose air conditioning over chemo, but it's damn hot up here!

So, I think that's about it. There's nothing earth-shaking going on (except my poor kitty!), just mainly lots of minutiae to deal with and not feeling like sitting down and writing anything. The stress of anything makes my fibromyalgia just kick inti high gear, so pain has been the name of the game, and some days all I feel like doing is sitting down and falling asleep! 8•) Today I have to keep watch over my baby, so I think that's a good reason to rest...

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

If It Ain't One Thing ... It Sure As Hell Seems To Be Another!!!

Well, with many loving thanks, my darling husband finished painting the bathroom for me.

It's finished, and the paint is curing, just in time for the air conditioner to take a crap! Doesn't that sound fun? All of you dealing with heat and/or hot flashes can sympathize. The repair-savior is s'posedly on the way.

Meanwhile, it's naptime. The access to the unit is, of course, in my closet. I have decided not to care. I sleep in front of strangers every week at chemo, so why not while one marches through my room?

Who **CARES** ?!?!?!!!
It's HOT.
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Monday, August 8, 2011

Shortest Paint Job Ever By An Idiot Who Overestimates Her Capabilities and Just About Everything Else

Why do I make dumb-ass statements like this? "Shortest paint job ever," day 9/50%- Martha coulda done it in 20 minutes.
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