Mark's visit to Spain

Back to Blogging...

It seems I took a break from my blog - much longer than I expected. I was tired of talking about myself. I think I was stuck both physically (my shoulder) and mentally. After many comments from friends, family and followers I decided that today was the perfect day to start anew.

MAY 11, 2010

Today is my anniversary... one year cancer free! The date is based on my last chemo treatment, May 11, 2009. It was a long process but hopefully all behind me now. I have had physical checkups and blood work every 4 months and will continue, eventually stretching the timeframe to once a year. I will also continue taking tamoxifen (anti-estrogen therapy) or a similar drug for at least 5 years. I feel so much better and am thinking that some sort of celebration is in order!

A brief update on the past six months...

I had outpatient surgery in October to swap one tissue expander for the silicone implant (right, non-cancer side). Not bad but found that the implant continued (continues) to bother me although not as much as the expander.

I started physical therapy at the beginning of September for frozen shoulder(s) - my right was really stuck. After three months of physical therapy twice a week and home exercises, my orthopedic surgeon said he would "manipulate" my shoulders while I was under anesthesia. I had that done on December 1st. Woke up after 8 minutes with both shoulders on ice. This was a non-invasive procedure. He basically yanked my arms/shoulders around. The anesthesiologist reported a very loud - Snap, Crackle, Pop! And it was over. For the first time since June I could put both arms over my head. Went to physical therapy that same afternoon. If you don't start moving it you will loose all that you gained. The doctor told my physical therapist I never could have gotten there on my own as my shoulder was REALLY stuck! Of course I am so glad that I did it. However I still had lots of work ahead of me. Continued with physical therapy until the end of February. Now I am working on my own stretching, strengthening and trying to get back into shape.

Had final surgery on March 8th to swap out the expander on the radiated side. DONE and hopefully never going back!

My hair is longer than both Mark's and Calvin's... probably longer than some of my women friends, Mary O and Kathy SB? Although once dark and gray it is now blond and naturally curly. I still don't quite recognize myself when I look in the mirror.

Other updates

Mark visited Calvin in Barcelona in November. They went to dives (Mark's favorite), bars and nice restaurants. A dinner with Calvin's friends was enlightening. The boys call themselves "The Wolf Pack". Humm, there is no explanation for that... yet. One of the highlights was a three hour dinner with Calvin's host family. Mark spoke no Spanish and they spoke no English. With Calvin's translation it all worked beautifully. They seem to really enjoy having Calvin around, especially "little brother" 9 year old Roce. Calvin took him to his first soccer match at the Stad in Barcelonan for his birthday. Calvin said his brother loved it and screamed for his team the entire time!

On another note...We are all still wearing our yellow LIVE STRONG bracelets for our friends (Bob, Sevim and Uncle Mike) also battling cancer. They are in our thoughts daily.

Calvin on the International Scene

Calvin has been in Barcelona for about 7 weeks. I must say he is embracing the Spanish culture. Late dinners, late nights, festivals, etc. He has called a few times. Once at 4:30am and then another time at 5:00am - Spanish time - just getting in from the clubs! He lives with a single woman and her 9 year old son - he refers to them as his "mother" and "brother". Calvin has always liked little kids so I think he is enjoying his role as big brother. He takes two meals with his family and speaks with them exclusively in Spanish. Most of his business classes are in English with American, Spanish, Russian and other European students. Then he takes one Spanish language class. He has been to see Roman Ruins, the Barcelona Festival of Fountains (fountains, music, color - see time lapse photo), the Octoberfest and soon to Copenhagen. Sounds pretty happy and looks good. The other photo is during the Festival of the Saint of Barcelona. Calvin and friends are standing in front of a rather large pot of paella.

Lessons Learned...

Can't believe I haven't posted for over a month! I have been busy. Getting out a bit more which is good but also tiring. I went for a check up with both my radiologist and oncologist last week. I am fine. Cancer free! Had one small issue with drug interactions. In spite of our modern and electronic pharmacy checks and health care systems I feel like I really should take responsibility for making sure that everything I do is okay with all my doctors. Turns out that the medication prescribed by my primary care physician for pain makes the Tamoxifen (cancer/anti-estrogen) drug less effective. Of course the Tamoxifen is more important so I will change the meds for pain. Although this is a fairly new discovery (in the past year or two) you would think that the pharmacy or health care provider would be aware or check for conflicts. The interaction with the Tamoxifen was only for about 6 weeks. I will be on it for 5 years at least so I am not going to loose sleep about it. But I have learned a lesson.

I also learned that it's not crazy to just ask... you never know what the answer will be. With this continued expander pain I was trying everything I could think of to get rid of some of it. I came up with the idea of having the right expander (remember - tupperware) swapped out for the much softer silicone implant right away. We can't do the radiated side for 6 months. I really thought that the doctor would say no. But I have cleared it will all doctors and have gotten approval from the insurance company. Not so crazy after all. Both the plastic surgeon and the radiologist thought it was a good idea for me considering my experience thus far. Also, it is my right shoulder that is frozen. So I can hopefully work harder on rehab with the softer implant in place. I am looking forward to this surgery. It is only about 1 hour, out patient surgery with a week's recovery. So not a major surgery and might make major changes to how I feel. At least that is what I am hoping.

Hair... I have more hair than Obama. I have just enough hair that I have been out in public a number of times and no weird stares or anything. My family and friends say its looks fine, actually very hip! I actually had a bit trimmed off as it was hanging over my ears (barely). It is still very dark and gray. Not sure what I am going to do about that.

Physical Therapy

I have moved on to new challenge. Sometime in June I strained something on my right shoulder. I lost a lot of mobility in that arm and proceeded to use it less and less. BIG MISTAKE! Frozen shoulder set in. I was in the middle of radiation so it seemed like I had bigger fish to fry at the time. Now that I am done with the frying, I am working on my shoulder. Seeing a physical therapist who really knows what he's doing and have already made some progress. But of course there is no gain without more pain. It was a good decision to get help as I don't think I could do this on my own. Let's call him the "pain train".

On another not so good note, a dear friend recently diagnosed with melanoma just started visiting my friend's the Cancer Assassins for his radiation treatments. Some sad coincidence. He seems to like them as much as I do. I guess he knew what to expect based on my photos and descriptions of radiation.

With the magic of facebook I have been found by a few more high school friends - many whom I haven't spoken to for 10 or 20 years. From one comes words of inspiration, greatly needed by me the week following radiation...

"If I were cancer and I was seeking Victory. I would not choose you as my enemy."

DONE

I had my last radiation treatment today, Tuesday, August 18th. Although I originally reported I would be done on Monday, we had a little change in the schedule. The doctor wanted to do one more treatment... and as the techies tell me - the doctor always wins. But now I can check radiation off my list. Can you believe I got a bit teary saying good bye to everyone. I have seen them almost every day for 7 weeks. I will miss them... but am glad to move on. My skin is fried, I am a bit tired and feel like the expanders are squeezing me! Tomorrow morning at 11:10 am I will be home and not in a doctor's office. Hopefully starting to heal. YEAH!

Radiation for Dummies or Radiation 101

I took my camera to my radiation treatments this week so I could share the experience. Many have asked what the machine is like and how it feels, etc. So I have some examples with me in position. As I described before the treatment portion takes very little time. I am probably in the room for 10 minutes or so. It takes them longer to get me into the exact position than it does to do the treatments. First I lie down on the table with my head and arms in the mold.
They but a bolster under my knees and tie my feet together so that I won't accidently move during the process. Remember I got
three tiny tatoos in June during my set up session. They use these and all the instruments to get me aligned with the beams. The table moves up and down and sideways. The technicians call out numbers to line the table and me up correctly. Sometimes they manually move my torso a bit. Then they leave the room. That big, heavy door closes then the radiation comes in short 10 or 15 second intervals... I don't feel a thing - just hear a buzzing sound. A red "warning" light also flashes during this time. After about 5 shots from one side (where you see me in the picture) the machine rotates to my other side - almost level with the table and I get a few more doses. That's it.

The machine can take x-rays, shoot protons and electrons and also do a CT scan to verify exact positioning. They don't use the CT on me. (The techies told me that is mostly used for radiation on brain cancer patients.) They have been using protons thus far to treat my cancer area. During the last five days of the process I will receive what they call an external radiation boost. This targets the area directly around where my surgery was and uses electrons. I have my last protron treatment on Monday and then we switch for 5 treatments to the skin. So, its "One machine does all" kind of like the fax/printer/copier machines. And it the very latest technology. There are often visitors coming to check out the newest radiation equipment. It feels great to know that I am getting the best treatment that exists.

I get an x-ray done each week and they verify their measurements to make sure I am still getting "roasted" in the correct places. I see the Doctor every Thursday where I get to tell her how horrible I feel and she says she is sorry. I get lab work done every other week to make sure that my white blood count doesn't drop too low. It has dropped a bit - but not bad. I just have to stay away from sick people again like during chemo. My skin is tightening and thus squeezing everything - worse than ever. My skin is irritated, I am irritable, I am incredibly tired and sometimes irrational... just ask Mark. But I am almost done. Only 6 more treatments... last day is Monday, August 17th. Don't know what I will do with myself when I don't have to go to radiation every day... recover maybe. In terms of my hair... I think it is growing faster on my legs than on my head. My niece says I "look like a very cute urban woman turned Buddhist! Very hip looking." Not exactly what I was going for but not bad.

I have been told that I look "radiant" by one friend as soon I was finished ... it took me a second to get her joke. Our neighbors have also told us they can detect a certain "glow" coming from our end of the street. Enough already!

There are two photos of the technicians whom we/they have named the "Cancer Assassins". A photo that shows me "in position" ready for treatment and in the top photo you can see the mold that holds my head and arm as well as the equipment.

Disclaimer: Anything I wrote in the column may not be accurate... I have not been trained well enough to understand the entire radiation process.

Half Way Done!

I am actually more than half way done with my radiation treatments. I have 12 more sessions. I actually thought it would feel so good to get to the half way mark, but now that I'm here all I keep thinking is ... I'm ONLY half way done. It's really taking a toll on me. I am beat. On Tuesday the computer than runs the machines was having some problems... of course while I was on the table. My treatment was stalled and they wanted me to stay in position while they got their physicist to come take a look at things. (The radiation rays were not going during this time.) So I had to stay with my arm in the mold over my head while they tried to figure things out. I am still sore on both sides of my body from that. I got blood work done again and saw the doctor today. Tomorrow I will have a longer appointment while they set up the final phase of the plan which treats mostly the skin and scar area. Another longer day for me. The doctor says that my skin is holding up well so that was good news.

Last weekend I rallied to go to Donner again. It's actually a great place for napping and reading. We had Calvin and his three Andrews cousins together for the first time in over a year so that was great fun. My niece is back from a year long trip to France where she was teaching conversational English at a company called Freescale. We actually saw her in France last September when we were there after our hike in the Alps. This fall her brother, Marshal and his girlfriend, Jess will be teaching English is Spain to elementary school children. And Calvin will be going to school (traveling and partying) in Barcelona. Our kids are extremely lucky! Photo of the Andrews cousins having a bad hair day at Donner. Now trying to get the Riker side of the family together before Calvin leaves.

My hair is growing. I didn't get what I ordered... so far it is dark with lots of gray around the edges. Can't tell if it is going to be curly yet. I guess my next major goal is to be at the point where I am comfortable going out in public without a hat or wig. I am totally up for the spiky look so just give me about an inch of hair and I'm there!

Radiation and Routine

I am a bit more than one third of the way done with radiation. My appointment time changed to 11:10am so that's when you should be thinking about me. In my last post I mentioned that the door that protects the rest of the office and staff from the radiation is about one foot thick, well it also weighs about 2,000 lbs. Isn't that amazing. So far my skin is looking the way it should according my doctor. And I am tired just as predicted.

All three of us have been watching the Tour de France every morning and some evenings. It's additive! It becomes part of our routine in July every year. Mark and Calvin are getting ready for work and don't always get to stick around to see the morning finish. Most of the days have been pretty exciting, with falls, attacks and wild sprints to the finish line. One of the radiation technicians is a big bike rider and Tour fan. We have discussed the Tour since my first set-up appointment in May. I am still wearing my yellow LIVESTRONG bracelet (as are Mark, Calvin and other relatives). That always makes it easy to start a conversation with other biking enthusiasts. Each day we talk about what happened the previous day. I have promised not to mention the current days race as he doesn't watch it until the evening and of course wants it to be a surprise. The Tour de France riders are now in the Swiss and French Alps and it reminds me of the area where we hiked in the Italian Dolomites last year - incredibly beautiful.

After Mark and Calvin go off to work in the morning, I do a few things around the house and then get ready to go to radiation. With driving time I am usually gone for at least an hour and a half. If I have my teenage driver, Millie (see photo), we often run some errands on the way home. We have become great friends... I text her the times I need her and always hear back immediately! The other day her mother (who is one of my dearest friends) asked her who she was texting and Millie replied "My new BFF" (Best Friends Forever) - I am honored. Often I have her drop me home and then I send her out to go to the store, etc. Saves my energy for other things. I now refer to her as my personal assistant. She will be a senior in high school next year and I will miss her when she goes back to school.

As mentioned previously I have to have some time on the couch every afternoon. It's about fatigue and also about getting my body horizontal. Laying down gives me some relief some the pain from the expanders. I watch movies, (many for the umpteenth time) but lately have been hooked on the TV series "Mad Men". It was a great gift from one of my FINS. Calvin and his girlfriend have been watching it too (at different times than me). It's set in New York City in the 1960's in an advertising agency. It is so true to that time period. Everyone smokes (even the pregnant women), they drink all day in the office and the booze in set out on the credenza just like you would put it out for a party. The women's fashions are great to see. The men do not treat the women very well - secretaries are there for office flings and all the men are having other affairs. Great character development and it is certainly keeping my attention. The second season was just released and I can hardly wait for my "rest time" to watch the next episode.

I have also read a few books, the most noteworthy is "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. It tells the story of three women living in Jackson, Mississippi and the relationships between the African American servants and their white employers. The times are starting to change but not quickly enough in the deep south. I lover her writing style and I will recommend it to my book club for our next meeting.

My baby boy turned 20... no longer a teen and hopefully he will rid himself of some of those dreadful teen habits. However no sign of that happening yet and I am not holding my breath!

Vacation and Radiation

I have been reminded that I have not updated my blog for ages... but I have been busy!

Photos - views from our room, sunsets, kids, beach volleyball and fun dinners! I cannot get the photos to line up the way I want but am tired of playing with it!

First we got to go on vacation. I am so happy that I was able to make the trip. I had been looking forward to it as my reward for finishing chemo... my break before starting radiation. The entire Andrews' clan, Calvin's girlfriend Molly, my sister-in-laws parents and sister and some of our longtime friends, the Hobbs, all gathered in Ixtapa for a week. We were hit with the tail of tropical storm Andre (I think it landed more in Cabo) which made things rather exciting for a day or two. Still hot and just some periods of hard rain. Mostly keep our group out of the surf and the waves washed away parts of our beach including the first row of pilapa umbrellas on the beach. Didn't keep us from enjoying it all. The view from our unit was incredible so coffee on the balcony was hard to leave. But margaritas and nachos on the beach lured us all away for a few hours. The travel wasn't as hard as I had anticipated. When my girlfriend hinted to Mark to take advantage of a special upgrade to first class for me (not him) he took care of it and thus I was a bit more comfortable. Read, relaxed, floated in the water and napped. Oh and a little eating and cocktails too. It was a wonderful change of scenery for me.

Started radiation right after we got back. I have 8 down with 25 to go. Think of me every week day at 10:40am. It's a fairly quick appointment. Because I am still having pain and mobility issues with my expanders and arms I have either friends or teenagers driving me. I already feel like the technicians are my new best friends as I see them every day. I did learn that the goal for someone who has had a mastectomy is to really radiate (sunburn) the skin as that is one of the most likely spots the cancer would return. With a lumpectomy the breast tissue needs to be radiated so the skin doesn't get as burnt. Hopefully mine will hold up well. So far, so good. Every other day is "party dress day" at radiation. Picture a piece of shimmery, metallic, heavy fabric... something like Hamlet would wear in a Shakespeare play. A piece of this is draped over my breast to intensify (I think) the radiation. The room is similar to an x-ray or MRI room with lots of high tech equipment. It takes a few minutes to get me into the the correct position with my arm in the mold (especially made for me) over my head and the table at the exact height, etc. The door to the room is almost 12 inches thick. The technicians leave the room and the door locks for the short period of time that the radiation is happening. This protects them from being exposed to the radiation. The whole process in the room, including getting me positioned, takes about 10 - 15 minutes. It takes a few minutes for me to change in and out of a gown for the process. Total time is about 25 minutes or so. Not too bad. Its a bit of a drive but if it keeps the cancer cells away then it's all worth it!

Highlights and Lowlights

The highlight of last week had to have been seeing the band play! Great entertainment.

The low light... (not sure if that is the right term but you get the idea)
It's a bit complicated, but medically I am right on track. I went to the radiologist to have my Simulation (set up) appointment for radiation. The technicians made a mold out of what you might picture a very small bean bag chair for my arm. The bean bag hardens after holding your arm in an awkward and uncomfortable position for about twenty minutes. Then they did a CAT scan of my upper body, I think to see where all my vital organs, etc are. At which point the doctor decided that my expanders were going to get in the way of my radiation treatment. We had to stop the set up process right then. On Friday afternoon I went back to my plastic surgeon. In one twenty minute session she took out half the saline (from each breast) which had been injected over the past few months. I now have saggy, lumpy not perky expanders. Looks kind-of like a half deflated balloon - no not quite that bad. And in clothes it's fine. Since the skin has already been stretched, hopefully things will all work out in the end when the silicone implants are installed. I was actually in a state of shock and didn't ask too many questions. The most important thing is for the radiation to get done correctly, the rest will be what it is and and we will figure it out when we get there. Mentally it was a very hard day.

I went back to finish up with the radiologist on Tuesday. Turns out that the deflation of my expanders shifted things around and I have less arm mobility than I had before. Go figure. Putting my arm back in the mold was not fun. Leaving it there for 25 minutes was even less fun. Got three tiny tatoos. Just little dots, not anything fancy. And that didn't really hurt. I am now working on getting some more mobility back in my upper body. The hope is that once my body adjusts to the new position of the expanders I might feel better. So far, not so much. Radiation starts on Jun 30 at 10:40am every weekday for 6 weeks. The actual appointment is about 1/2 hour max. Side effects are fatigue and a really, really bad sun burn. The goal is to fry your skin so the cancer won't come back there. Nice!

20 Down

On Saturday night I was treated to evening of food and musical entertainment at the home of Jim and Cathe Bonette. The group of men that Mark plays music (guitars) with most Tuesday nights actually played for their wives. We wives had front row seats for the show. Band members include Mark (in green), two friends from Encina High School - Jed Bittner (right of Mark) and Jim Bonette (left) - and mutual friend, Bob Foster (far right). They play Beatles, Grateful Dead, Neil Young, etc. There was a special guest appearance by Jim's son Max Bonnette, also playing guitar. The band is called "20 Down", something to do with a dart game. I guess we woman are called "groupies".

Calvin's Travels

After begging for weeks I finally got a few photos from Calvin. Although he swears they are busy with class, homework, guest speakers and site visits he has squeezed in a few fun things. About 15 of the students went to Phuket, Thailand for two nights. It's a beach resort area where the waves were great, authentic Indian food on a beachfront restaurant was the best and an elephant ride was incredible. He also rode right on the elephant's neck. On Saturday the group took a ferry to mainland China where they will travel around for five days. Yesterday visited a toy factory where they were greeted with a hugh sign "Welcome Georgetown Students" and a few minutes of M-80s (firecrackers) went off in their honor. The owner gave his speech about the factory and then they worked on the assembly line with the masses. Also had lunch with the work force and ate what they were fed. Not sure what that was, but wasn't bad. This factory experienced big problems last year with all the toy recalls from China.

The middle photo is Calvin in front of a traditional building which is a Nunnery juxtaposed against the modern architecture of Hong Kong (I think). Top photo is of his bungee jump. OMG! He said he was shaking at the top of the platform, but once he got going he enjoyed it. A perfect dive thanks to all those years of swim lessons.

His trip is also most over. He has to turn in a group project and a few other assignments on Friday and then he flies back to San Francisco on Saturday. He sounds happy and exhausted. Can't wait to see the rest of the photos! and him of course!

More Photos From Race for the Cure

Here are some more photos from the Race for the Cure. We don't have the group photo yet so you don't really get a sense as to how many people showed up. The one group photo in these photos is of all my relatives who attended. On the bottom is a slideshow... hope it works. You might also be able follow this link which to to Picasa. Thanks to Kit, Gigi and Justin for photo contributions.

Race for the Cure

Can You Guess?

This is a photo of a joke a friend brought to me at one of my chemo sessions. Can you figure out what it is? I was actually fortunate that I didn't require any of the real stuff to control nausea. I only felt really nauseous once. I did have offers from friends aged 20 to 75 who could get me real thing should I need it! Nice to know my friends are willing to take care of me on so many different levels!

Hair update. I didn't really expect to have much hair by now and I don't. I have about 1/16th of an inch of sparse growth - not sure what color. Then a few grey hairs in the sideburn area. I do have about 8 erratic hairs that are about 3/4's of an inch long. Those hairs probably never fell out. You can only see them up close and I think I kind of look like a cartoon character.

Calvin Update - He is in Phuket, Thailand this weekend with about 15 of the students on the program. They flew over Friday morning, got sun burned, body surfed and had an authentic Thai dinner at a restaurant on the beach. Tomorrow they might ride elephants and then go back to the beach. He is more than half way done with the program, keeping very busy with classes and just loving it. Still no pictures...

Doctors

So much for not having to see doctors for a while. I went three times this week. I had some issues with the tear ducts in my eyes (side effects from chemo) and the prescribed meds made the pressure behind my eyes sky rocket... not good. So have been to see my eye doc twice. Got that under control. Got a horrible cold, sore throat, cough (its hurts so much to cough) even lost my voice and decided to go see my regular doc to make sure it wasn't anything worse. It seems I will survive. Not what I had planned. This was the week when I was hoping to really start feeling better and instead it was awful. Maybe next week!

Speaking of docs... this is a photo of my plastic surgeon who has to be one of the nicest people ever, but of course she is known in my circle as the Torturer. I have even called her that in person. She doesn't look like she could torture a fly. But the pain in my chest from the expanders persists even though I haven't had a pump up for weeks. I keep trying to believe her when she tells me it will get better.

Airport and Lunch

I surprised myself when I woke up feeling well enough to go to the airport (yet again) to ship Calvin off to Hong Kong on Friday, May 15th. So glad I rallied. We had great car conversation... you know how it is when you get a kid in a car and he can't escape. Said our good-byes. I don't think I was sad at all because he was so excited. He has called twice and can hear lots of enthusiasm in his voice about all that he is seeing and doing. He is living in a suburb of Hong Kong called Sha Tin and taking classes at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (in English). The 24 Georgetown students on the program are living next door in a Hyatt Regency with daily maid service and flat screen television. Sounds rough. With the downturn in the travel industry I suspect the Hyatt is happy to have those rooms booked for five weeks. He is very busy with class every morning, afternoon speakers and field trips, homework and night clubs. Perfect place to study International Marketing and Comparative Management. I keep asking for photos but he can't seem to squeeze in downloading a few and sending them to us.

After dropping him off we met my brother and his new girlfriend for lunch in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco. Hasn't changed much... Found a restaurant called Magnolia with a Grateful Dead theme which was perfect. The menus were old play lists from past Dead concerts. Bonded immediately with Geetika (the girlfriend) and look forward to doing more with both my brother and her in the near future. She is also a member of this breast cancer club. Another survivor... gives me inspiration. Lots of traffic on the way home and I was exhausted for the rest of the weekend. Must say it was worth it!

I just realized that if you click on any of the photos you can zoom in for a bigger version. Much easier to see the details.

Done With Chemo!

I am happy to say that I finished my last chemo treatment about 10 days ago. Had my girlfriends Carol Michael, Cathe Bonette and Jean Foster with me for entertainment. They gave me a pedicure and foot massage. I think we were having so much fun the nurses wanted to hang out with us! No problems with the treatment. I received a certificate of completion from the staff at the infusion center - kind of like graduation. Hope I don't ever have to see them again! Must say that the hangover was the worst yet, but it's in the past now. I had my last appointment with the plastic surgeon for a while. I actually have only one doctor's appointment until the end of June. Then I start 6 weeks of radiation, which is not supposed to be too bad. I feel like I have reached the peak of my journey. Although still a ways to go, I am on the downward side. I am still experiencing a fair amount of pain from the expanders but that should get better over time (I hope!). It's hard to express how happy I am to be done with chemo and expansion process! Yippee!

Photos from Race / Calvin and Julie

Queen For A Day

I walked a mile. But it was so much more than that... I can't begin to express the range of emotions I felt from being part of the Race for the Cure. Empowering, uplifting and inspirational. I felt and still feel your support ... if you were there in person or in spirit... you made me feel like Queen for the Day. Of course I shared that privliege with all the other women who have had or are currently battling this disease. One carrying a sign that said "What a difference a Year Makes" came up and introduced herself and sister while we were walking. She is one year out from her last chemo and doing great. Her sister was diagnosed one year later but caught it early! She just wanted to tell me to hang in there. I also shared the day personally with 4 other survivors, Carol Michael, Sevim Larsen, Pam Kunkel and Kathryn Scott. I walked with a sign on my back with many other names and ran out of room to include everyone I know touched by breast cancer (see photo). Most of my family was present, minus Calvin (in a final), my brother (working) and niece Winnie and nephew Marshal both out of town. My Dad, I'm sure, was watching from somewhere. I don't remember the count of the team members who arrived early in the morning to join me for this celebration - at least 40 and many more donated. We were one of the larger teams and proud to say we raised over $2,240 (which doesn't include some that came in later). I had family there, friends I met through Mark's high school buddies, friends from book club, college, Rio del Oro swim team, Junior League, my Ashland girls trip, work, skiing, Jesuit water polo, neighbors and Sierra Oaks Elementary School. I will share the official team photo and other photos later. Team Captain and dear friend Anne Marder had balloons, mini cupcakes with the pink cancer ribbons, strawberries and mimosas for us after finishing. Anne's daughter helped too. My sister got team shirts and Mark carried our sign through out the walk. My nieces put my name up on the Survivor's wall at Cal Expo (and decorated my house in lots of pink when we got home). We were collectively the loudest to yell every time our team name was announced during the walk. And at the end, in a comfy chair with a mimosa in hand, I was the Queen! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

It was a long day... I stayed up way past my bedtime to greet Calvin at the airport at 10:30pm. He happened to be on the same plane with great friend Julie Calnero and the Sac State tennis team with their coach, trainer and other supporters some of whom we knew. Happy to have my boy home, even if just for a short time. Life is good. Tomorrow is the last leg of this part of the race - Chemo #4.