Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Updates from Cancerville, USA . . .

I just returned late last night from Portland, Oregon where I was honored to be with my sister for her last scheduled chemo treatment. She truly was a champ, all bandaged up in pink, signing thank you notes (which I will mail out shortly) and staying awake even during the slow, steady hum o' my incessant yammerin'. Jen had a great chemo party last time when I named it ROCK STAR CHEMO and she got all sorts of rockstar everything for her chemo party! This last appt was unofficially IT'S OVER, ROVER cuz, well, hopefully it is!! If I had been there when she walked out afterward, I would have serenaded her with WHO LET THE DOGS OUT, WOOF WOOF WOOF-WOOF. And while I try to stay positive and not get too pissed at her painless brazilian and to-die-for assortment of cute hats and wigs, I am reminded of the negative side of all that is happening. I mean, for cripes' sake, TAKE OUT LUNCH ON CHEMO DAY???? Hasn't she suffered enough??
And on a TRULY positive and grateful note, on her final day of chemo and the day I was with her, I received the last of donations to meet my fund-raising requirement for my run in June to benefit the leukemia/lymphoma society! I will be doing the 1/2 marathon in Seattle on June 26. I've been in training for months now. Training consists of lots of running, some workout/stretching, massages, chiropractics, and mostly me practicing NOT tripping. But me being me, I can't promise anything, so if you can attend the race, keep those camera's poised.

Last week I was in Seattle for a short trip to spend Brenda's final chemo treatment with her! I wasn't feeling too well but Brenda put up with me and Lori and I cheered her on to graduate! We unofficially named her chemo "IT'S A WRAP!" cuz it's the end of it and I was supposed to be her surprise present (but not wrapped) but when flights got all messed up and everything looked bleak, Lori told Brenda that I was on my way. So in the nick of time, I did make it! Even tho I wasn't quite the surprise we planned, it was still a great celebration!! (BTW, I think I left my 7-up under your private princess chemo room bed. I'm thirsty now. hint hint)

Today is Kari's big day again~!! She's at 7 of 8 chemo treatments, so in two weeks will be her FINAL one! While I was in Portland during spring break, I spent chemo with her, which I aptly named FANCY CHEMO cuz it was darn fancy! Complete with fancy bejeweled rings and Starbucks drinks and OUTRAGEOUS oatmeal cookies (duh!) We put the fancy in chemo that day for sure!! Mostly I thought it was fancy cuz I got to spend the afternoon with sweet, fancy Kari!

While a couple gals have radiation tanning beds to look forward to and we're not sure what they're gonna do with Jen besides wait for her next scan, the path ahead is lengthy but positive!! As I say my universal "prayers" which at one time consisted of begging for their healing, I now say thank you for all the great things. I feel thankful for their recoveries which I know is just ahead. I feel thankful for reconnections with people that I haven't been with for MANY years, which would have never happened, had no one caught the c-word. What a windy, curvy, sometimes confusing road with lots of speed-bumps! My friends and me, we have so much to be grateful for. I love the way we find stuff to laugh at in the face of this monster who is powerless to our fixation with remission. Yesterday while Jennifer and I were complaining that the chemo room had no internet available, Jen said "If we're lucky, I'll still have cancer next year when they finally get wi-fi!!" Cooooool. :-) (Lesson here is only get cancer where wi-fi is available. Makes facebooking and online shopping so much easier.)

Thanks for your cheers, your messages of hope, your donations to the cancer fund, your emotional support, your smiles and your love. It's felt in such far-reaching ways, you'll never know . . .

I don't think I'm alone when I say that my day will be complete when I can blog one day soon, Cancerville, Population ZERO!

With TONS o' gratefulness,
Chatty K

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Spring Break and the APRIL Challenge

I just returned from my spring vacation Oregon visit. I had a wonderful time there!! I'm usually ready to get back to real life when vacations end, but this one is harder to close out. I thoroughly enjoyed my mom, my grandma, my Saltmarsh/Ratty cousins and aunts, Shirley Forrette, the Reisingers, and my Uncle Paul and Claire. The real craziness started when my amazing cousin, Deanna, brought a redneck party to the house. We dressed up. Well, SOME of us did. Not everyone needed to. :-) With guns, blacked out teeth, billy bob teeth, missing teeth, men's unders, beer cans and improperly spelled signage, we let cancer know what we think of it!! And my mom pole danced on a rife. It was an absolute blast!! I was introduced to Lambic Framboise, which is the tastiest raspberry beer ever!! It's from Vermont, which made it seem classier. Ok, it's beer. Whatev. I LOVED it!! My grandma, mom, Katie and I beaded. It's our go-to hobby when we'd rather be drinking. :-)

Then I left for Portland/Salem in *The Kathleen Ann Caravan* with my niece, Katie, who put up with me for our 4 1/2 hour roadtrip. We played a "fill-in-the-blank" game where we discovered that "The Kathleen-Ann's" love GREEN, THE NAME LILY, and PAPILLONS.

Very nice to see my scarfy sister, Jennifer! Then I drove to Salem and got my BFF wish of fun and frolicking with Lori and Brenda. We hadn't all been together since our San Francisco trip in December. Since then Brenda has started chemotherapy for her boob cancer. She just LOVES freaking people out with her bald head. For someone with the cutest hats and wig, she does a lot of stripping them off! (Before chemo, Brenda was a total exhibitionist anyway. Just now, she MOSTLY strips her head. MOSTLY.)

After a couple days with the BFF's, we welcomed my sister and our dear friend/little sis, Kim FN into our fold for an overnighter!! The margarita machine kept up with us pretty much. We all stayed busy climbing rock walls and photo-shopping star wars characters trying to "laser beam us." Then the It-ly girl got sleepy and wanted to head to bed so she could make mass the next morning. Which we didn't let her do . . . someone had to make bacon and eggs for the hungover.

During this next week, I got to attend chemo for my friend, Kari, who is also fighting cancer. She did terrific at our FANCY CHEMO party!! My time with her was so very special. We had a LOT of catching up to do. I can't imagine spending that time with anyone else and coming away with such a warm feeling in my heart. She's courageous and positive and filled to the brim with love. Thanks, Kari, for sharing it with me!! Oh, and we pole-danced on her IV to the sounds of her poison pipe cleaner killing all the cancer. For back-up, it was all about the Pop Rocks. And it was FANCY. :-)

I got some more sister time before I had to go back to Medford. We did dinner at Stanford's and shopping! (We hated that. Eating AND shopping. What a drag.) I enjoyed our evening and then chatting it up the next morning. She got me coffee!! (I wonder if I moved in with her . . .)

I drove to Medford with Ipod problems but managed to stay between the lines and got safely to southern Oregon. My mom was waiting patiently for me, with some very yummy pumpkin/black bean soup for dinner!! She put together a little soiree for my Uncle Paul and Claire, who just arrived back from south of the border (not California. Lower.) and Leon, Elaine and Lori Reisinger, who are some of my favoritest Jacksonville-ites. They've known me since diapers and still seem to like me. Super-lucky me!

On Saturday morning, my mom and grandma went to breakfast with me. FYI: Nana shouldn't be trusted with cameras. Not only can she NOT find us in the digital screen on back, but when she pushes the button, she lowers the camera immediately, which means the only shots we get are of our boobs. Maybe Nana does it on purpose. We're not really sure. But when Mom took a pic with me and Nana, she suggested we get the boobs. I told her that was not possible, since I was standing on them. My bad, Nana.

I flew out from Medford to Denver last night, in time for a show with The Rouge. That was great! Their bass player, Jack, was celebrating his birthday. What do you get a guy who's just been signed by Atlantic Records?? A shopping trip with Nana??

So, folks, I'm not very far from my fundraising goal for my lymphoma run in June! In the interest of getting this money raised so I can get on with just running and training, I'd like to challenge everyone. I'm a HUGE Starbucks fan. I sometimes go once everyday. Somedays I take friends and buy several drinks in a day. Sometimes I just plain get thirsty and go by myself more than once in a day!! (shhhh.) So, this is what I'm going to do and challenge you: Every errand day or time I drive past my favorite Starbucks drive thru - JUST FOR APRIL - I'm going to NOT go to Starbucks, but I will go into my fundraising site and donate $5. Everytime. (OK, seriously, I may go a couple times but if I do, I pledge to donate twice what I spend there to the Lymphoma fundraiser. That'll learn me.) On May 1, I will look at my fundraiser site and anyone who has had a donation or donations of $5, I will put your name in a drawing and send the winner a Starbucks card. Many of you have already donated and I thank you SO much, from the bottom of my running socks!! I have the super-est and most terrific-est supporters and I'm so thankful for you!!