Back to Work

Today was my first day back to work. Rosemary did a wonderful job decorating my office with pink balloons and streamers. Many of the staff were wearing pink shirts and pink leis. I was surprised at the number of people who came to the office for cake. As you may have already guessed, my tears started to flow and I wasn’t able to say much more than, “Thank you for coming and read my speech tonight on the blog.”

So, thank you to everyone who took the time to come to Finance to welcome me back. It was nice to see so many smiling faces. I came to Western to go to school when I was 19 and I have never left. (The past five years have really flown by.) Western is like a second home to me.

It’s good to be home.

me

Disney

Wow, what a trip. We all had a fantastic time at Disney. Everyday was packed full of fun from 9am to 10pm. This is Disney’s “Year of a Million Dreams”. As part of the celebration, at each park they randomly give out a lanyard with fastpasses (a fastpass allows you to get on the ride ahead of everyone else in line so the wait time for the ride is only a few minutes) to the most popular rides. Getting the lanyard at each park is just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. It turned out that in Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios and Epcot, we were in the right place and got the lanyard. The chances of getting just one lanyard is slim but three is unheard of! We were very lucky.

I can’t even begin to list all the great things we did and saw; the list is so long. I will say though that I managed to get Steve on the Tower of Terror (with a $100 bribe) and Mission: SPACE (orange team).

A special BIG thank you to Steve’s parents Bob and Carolyn who made it all possible.

We arrived home Thursday night and my appointment in Nuclear Medicine came all too early at 8:45am Friday morning. I had to have another Wall Motion Study to check effects of Herceptin on my heart.

I’m back to work on Monday…seems hard to believe. Andrew said, “If people ask you if you got a haircut, tell them you didn’t.” I asked what I should say. He said, “Tell them you had to take care of something.” I asked again what I should say if they asked what I had to take care of and he said, “Tell them to mind their own business.” I told him I was pretty sure that everyone knew I had cancer so everything would be fine.

Well, back to the unpacking and laundry.

me

The Secret is Out

Let the fun begin!

me

The Letter

A year ago I was standing in my closet trying to figure out what to wear to work…what was clean, what could pass as clean and what had to be ironed. So I was thinking, “Black pants, striped sweater, no, blue pants…I have cancer.” I was thrown by the thought but just kept getting ready for work. Here we are now January 2007, you know the rest.

To bring a happy ending to the last year, tomorrow we are going to Disney World with the kids and Steve’s parents. The best part is that the kids don’t know yet. They think tomorrow is another school day. Because Andrew and Sean LOVE to get mail, that’s how I decided we should tell them, in a letter at breakfast tomorrow morning. So here it is.

Dear Andrew and Sean,

We want you to know how proud we are of you both. You are two very special boys. You have made the past year easier on us as Mom gets rid of her cancer.

So, we are going to have a family celebration. There will be no school today or for the next eight days. After you have breakfast and get dressed, (don’t forget to brush your teeth) we will be going to the airport and flying to Florida to go to Disney World!

We love you so much. This will be the best vacation ever!

Love,
Mom and Dad
xoxo

Needless to say, they are going to freak out and we’ll have the video camera set up to catch it all.

me

Herceptin Infusion 10 of 18

Today I was back at the Cancer Clinic to have my 10th Herceptin infusion. I ran into Colleen, who had had her 4th radiation appointment and was waiting to see her surgeon. She was able to hang out with me for my infusion; it was nice to have her company. This picture was taken at the Pink Party when we were both follicly challenged.

I’ve been keeping a hot flash diary this week as part of my follow-up appointment for the hot flash clinic on the 16th. So far I’m having 7 or 8 a day which is better than my experience before taking the Effexor. I’ve also noticed that the hot flashes aren’t as intense as they were before the Effexor.

Tonight I was at the running clinic where we moved up to 7 and 1’s ( 3 sets of 7 minutes of running followed by 1 minute of walking). I was amazed at how well I felt after the run. I guess doing my ‘homework’ paid off.

Off to bed now,
me

Haircut

Ah...the sweet sound of scissors. I had my first real haircut today. My hairdresser Elias, even got his hair dryer out! Elias actually had to sweep the floor when he was done. He has all these plans about colouring my hair a mahogany colour at my next appointment. A year ago I probably would have nixed the idea but now he can colour it green for all I care; after being bald, I'll go for anything.

I've decided that I really need to get serious about getting some exercise so I've joined a running group. I thought I had joined the beginner group but it turns out I joined the 5km group by mistake. I told Steve and the boys when I got home. Andrew said, "Just quit." Steve turned to Andrew and said, "Mom doesn't quit anything." I laughed, but I guess it's true.

me

Happy New Year

Day 3 of 2007...so far so good.

I'm still trying to figure out the side effects of Tamoxifen....nausea, fatigue, hot flashes. Hopefully they will subside once my body gets used to taking the medication.

I've started the process of getting things in order to go back to work. I've spoken to the insurance company and to Rehabilitation Services at UWO. Things seem to be running smoothly for my return at the end of the month.

With any luck, things should be back to normal soon.

me