And the Chemo goes on and on

Hi all,

Ahh, sorry about the tardiness . . . I've been playing catch-up with life since we got back. Last Wednesday, I started another round of chemo. B and I spent about 45 mins with Devlin discussing all sorts of stuff. I really had a wonderful time on my chemo break and a renewed sense of confidence in myself and putting together my life after the diagnosis. I'm adding new tasks to my day all the time and trying to stay on a good schedule (ie getting up at 8am rather than 10 or 11am). Barak offered to start exercising with me, so we talked with Devlin about what kinds of exercises and machines would be gentle enough as to not break my back. Although we know that the bones are healing, there is no way to tell exactly how much they have healed and how strong they are.
We also talked about possibly ending chemo. Yes. Apparently, after the spot on my liver is taken care of, I will be eligible for moving from I.V. chemo to taking a daily pill. Insane, I know. Treating my extensive cancer is my job. It has taken me almost a year to cope with it and devise a strategy for handling it, and now, it might be over in 3-6 months. I'm not sure how to handle it. But since it's not in the immediate future, there's no rush to figure it all out.
We also dropped the wedding bomb on Devlin's office and my chemo nurses. It was really fun to tell all of them and get lots of hugs and well wishes from the other chemo patients.
To my surprise, I had little side effects on Thursday and Friday. I actually had energy to go out and do things. I went to see "The Reader" with about 30 senior citizens on Thursday afternoon. Friday, I wasn't too productive, but I was up and around the house. We went out for Happy Hour and Barak treated me to a piece of "Peace of Pizza" which is almost the most tasty eatery around here, next to Hunan, of course! Saturday, I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" with Bethel and we went to play board games at Peter and Anna's (our old neighbors). On Sunday, I got another sinus headache, so I was no fun. Not a bad first week back in the saddle. I hope they all continue to go as well, or even better.

Thanks again for all the love and support!
Catherine

On Our Way Home

We are leaving Tel Aviv tonight at 11:30pm and will be home, hopefully, by noon on Sunday. I hope that I will sleep for at least 5 hours on the plane, but even with lots of powerful drugs in my bag, there is no guarantee. So far, they haven't switch the plane on us (on our way out, they downsized and we got no-so-good seats) and we are still supposed to have "premium seating."

I'm loading up on bread, cheese, hummus and fresh and ripe fruits and veggies. We also have some candy bars and chocolate to keep us company over the next 14-16 hours.

My chemo-cation is coming to an end. On Wednesday at 9am I will resume chemo and start round #12 . . . with scans set for the middle of February. I'm hoping that the 1 cm tumor on my liver is gone, but since the bones are still healing and I'll be doing chemo anyway, it won't matter that much. I guess it's just the drive to improve that needs to be satisfied.

More from the States to come.

Shabbat Shalom

Gwen's Not a Match

Sad, but true. Barak and I had Gwen over for a play date with Cyan. Her foster dad, Joe, brought her over on Saturday, Jan 3, in the morning before we left for Israel. Gwen was suggested to us by the rescue because she is a younger female and was very submissive to the dogs she had been staying with. Well, when Gwen came over, she would have none of that from Cyan. Despite 30 minutes of "interaction" Gwen would not accept Cyan as her superior. Joe said several times that in his experience, he thought that it would take a long time, and supervision, to get Cyan and Gwen to bond. It wasn't like they were going at each other's throats, but when Cyan tried to assert her dominance (read: mount her) and snap at her when Gwen took her toys, Gwen fought back. Cyan's tail was wagging the entire time, so we know that she was trying to play, but it just wasn't working for Gwen.

As Gwen and Joe were getting ready to go, Gwen disappeared on her own down the corridor that leads to the bedrooms. She came back after about 30 seconds. About a minute later Joe said that he thought Gwen farted, and apologized. When the smell didn't pass, his eyes widened and he said, umm, I think she pooped somewhere. POOPED! POOPED??? What kind of 3 year old dog still poops in the house??? We did not sign up for a pooper. Barak went to investigate and indeed, Gwen had pooped, . . . in our bedroom . . . on the small rug that Cyan has been sleeping on! Barak said, because I refused to see it, that it was at least 3x the size of a large Cyan poop. WOW! Also not what we signed up for!! So clearly Gwen was not happy, and we are looking forward to continuing our search for another dog to rescue.

Yes, it's true

Barak and I got married on December 22, 2008.

We had a civil ceremony in California while visiting my family. Unfortunately, there was no way possible that both of our families could get together any time soon for a more formal ceremony (but we are planning on it for the future, so expect to have at least one visit to the Philly area in the coming years), but by having it in California during the holidays, we hoped that both families would be happy to be able to celebrate the occasion. My parents and my brother were able to be there to share the moment with us. And we waited to tell Caroline and Jocelyn until they arrived the following evening.

Now, while we are in Israel, we are extending the celebration or as Barak calls it, our Victory Tour. It's a very special time for us and we are basking in the glory with the ones we love.

Wow, lots of ground to cover . . . Let's start with chemo

Ok, so I will start with the wrap up of my 11th month of chemo -- December 17 -- Barak got a break and Lissa (my best friend since we were 10) took me to chemo. I got my white blood booster shot, which I had to bring with me to the airport the following day (more to come) . . . and we were off. I felt great that afternoon. Lissa and I went shopping for last minute items I needed before Barak and I took off for Cali the following day, Thursday Dec 18. I attribute it to Lissa being there. As I've been trying to get a handle on how to live my life the last 5 or so months, Barak has been the only one to be with me at chemo. Having Lissa there was a nice break and it allowed me to push myself to be aggressive in keeping my mood up and break the routine I wrote long ago for my Wednesday-afternoon-pity-party. Thanks Lissa! I'm glad that the teasing all the kids gave us at SPA kept us together all these years :)
Barak and I flew to Chico on the 18th and stayed through the 25th. We got an amazing deal ($231 per person, round-trip) so Mom was ok with us leaving on Christmas day. As I said above, I had my scary looking WBC shot, and I had to take it out and declare it as we went through security in Philly. To our surprise, when we changes planes in Phoenix, we had to go through security again . . . After 14 hours of travel, we made it to Chico, with our luggage, and enjoyed a fabulous fast-food dinner of In-and-Out! My one-month chemo-cation (thanks Carrie for the cool lingo) started out with a bang!