No more bras: March 2012

Time is like a river. You cannot touch the same water twice because the water that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment of life. – Unknown

I can’t believe it has been almost 3 weeks since I last posted in my blog! Time flies when you’re having fun! And what fun we’ve been having! Mom and Freeland were just here for 3 weeks, and Nancy was here for 9 days of that. It was SO GREAT to have them here! And thank you so much for the wonderful “vacation” in an oceanfront condo, Mom and Free! It was so nice staying with you “on the beach!”

The weather wasn’t our usual, picture-perfect, gorgeous, typical March weather when Nancy was here, unfortunately, but we managed to have a great time anyway. After she left, the weather made a drastic turn for the better, and we had mostly beautiful days for the rest of Mom and Free’s stay. Sadly, they actually left a week early – I guess they missed those 30-degree Maine days! Just kidding. I think they missed their own bed (their bed in the condo wasn’t very comfortable), their “routine” at home, their fitness class, etc. etc. So they left on Friday and made it safely back to Maine after 3 very long days of driving. We packed lots of fun into the 3 weeks they were here and into the 9 days Nancy was here. Lots of long walks on the beach (at least once a day, usually twice a day, and sometimes 3 times a day!), several shop-til-you-drop days, an airboat ride, a rehabilitated sea turtle release, St. Patrick’s day fun and frivolity, a visit to the beach at Canaveral National Seashore, many delicious lunches or dinners at some of the great seafood places in town, endless (but fun) rounds of Mexican Train, daily “happy hours” on the condo balcony while enjoying the sound of the surf….and the list goes on and on….. We also drove down to Wellington one day to visit niece Rachel who is spending the winter there in horse country. She is working for/training with a woman who is training for the Olympics (in dressage, I believe). Wellington runs the largest and longest running horse show in the world – from January through March – so Rachel is really loving it there. It happened to be her day off when we visited her, so we were able to go out and enjoy a nice leisurely lunch with her. And then we went back to “the barn,” and she got decked out in her riding clothes and gave us a private show of her expert riding skills on the horse she is mainly working with this winter. She and the horse, Thys, were beautiful together. Her Mom, Becky, is coming to Florida in April for just a few days to visit Rachel, and I’m really hoping I can get down there again so I can visit with Becky for a few hours. I mentioned in my last blog that I look at life differently now. I really do. And family and friends are SOOO important to me and mean so much to me. Not that they didn’t before…..they always have. But now I really want to take the extra step or go the extra mile to spend time with my family and friends whenever possible.

Speaking of friends, after we dropped Nancy off at the Orlando airport (which we hated to do – hated to see her leave), Mom, Freeland, and I continued on to Lakeland to have lunch with long-time family friends, Jeanne and Dick Bole. Jeanne, a delightful person, and her family were friends of our family way back when I was a youngster. And Dick was my 4^th grade teacher – my all-time favorite teacher…..because he had (and still has) such compassion, wit, a great sense of humor, and a love teaching that made being in his class such a joy. It was great fun seeing them both. They are wonderful people.

And more on friends – several of my college roommates have gotten in touch with me after receiving my “Christmas letter” and the news of my journey last year. Oh what great fun it is to be back in touch with them – thanks, Paddy, Sue, Mara, Fran, and Jennifer – so wonderful to hear from you!! So many great memories of our days at SLU (St. Lawrence University) so many years ago (did we really graduate 36 years ago??) And my dear friend/college roommate, Paddy, and her husband, John (also an SLU grad) are coming to visit for a weekend in April! How fun! So looking forward to that!

Since this blog is mainly about my breast cancer journey, I guess I should talk about the relevant medical issues now and then. It’s hard to believe “all that stuff” happened last year. I feel so great now that I don’t even like to focus on that at all. I have definitely moved on, and that’s all part of the past. However, there are a few issues that still linger. The ever-so-watery eyes, for example. It turns out the oculoplastic surgeon that Dr. Kutryb, the ophthalmologist, recommended is not in my insurance network, unfortunately. So I have to call him and see if he can recommend somebody else. Hopefully he can because I think I’m definitely ready to do something to resolve this problem.

I had a followup appointment with Dr. Sprawls (medical oncologist) on 3/16. Mom and Free accompanied me to that appointment so they could meet him (they loved him), and they thanked him for taking such good care of me last year, which I know he appreciated. I warned them to bring books with them because he is usually (I mean always!) running behind. We waited a little over an hour I think, but he spent close to 45 minutes with us. He told me I could get off the warfarin (Coumadin) if I did a D-Dimer blood test and if it came back in range. I did. It did. And I’m off the warfarin as of last Thursday, 3/22! Yay!! And no more INR checks. Double Yay!! We talked about my not-so-great (terrible, in fact) DEXA scan results – score of T minus 3.2 in the spine (the hip number eludes me at the moment, but it wasn’t as bad as the spine). So that means I have osteoporosis, and of course his recommendation was drugs. Did I expect otherwise? I was adamantly opposed to it until he told me that “studies have shown” (the ol’ “studies have shown” phrase) that breast cancer patients who take monthly Zometa have less likelihood of bone metastases. Well, heck! Now what do I do?! Of course I want to decrease my chances of bone mets! So I have to do some research of my own and find out more about it; i.e., more about “the studies” and who conducted them and who was in them and how many people, etc. etc. The other drawback, of course, is that Big Pharma charges an arm and a leg….or 2 arms and 2 legs…..for this monthly injection. Space Coast Cancer Center actually bills over $5000 per injection!! Reasonable, eh?! NOT!! However, my insurance company only “allows” $971 of that, which is still extremely absurd, to say the least, but that is all I would be responsible for – $971 per month for each injection! Thanks to my loving and generous family and friends of the family, I have the money to pay for that, and it will go towards my deductible for the year. I just need to find out more about Zometa – the risks versus benefits, how long I would have to be on it to derive benefit, etc.

I’ll have to have another D-Dimer test on April 20^th, along with another ultrasound to check the status of the DVT (blood clot) in my leg. Hopefully those results will be A-OK. Keep your fingers crossed. I’ll have a followup visit again with Dr. Sprawls on April 27^th to go over everything. I also have a followup with my radiation oncologist on April 3^rd, but I don’t expect any problems there. I’m doing great! And that’s all there is to it!

My fingernails are ALMOST back to normal, which I’m thankful for. But my hair is far from normal. Mom said it looks “cute” and “chic,” but those aren’t the adjectives I would use! It’s too fuzzy, too short, and very gray! But it’s only hair. Who cares?! Someday it will look sorta normal…..after a trip to the “coloring department” of the hair salon! Dr. Sprawls wanted to see my hair, so I (reluctantly) whipped off my bandana and showed him. I told him gray hair looks very distinguished on most people (he has gray hair)…..I just don’t want it on my head....LOL.

Once again, I have rambled on and on……my apologies……so I will close for now and be back in a few weeks. As always, thank you all so much for your love and support!

Rachel and Thys -- so beautiful!

Rehabilitated sea turtle released by Sea World -- very cool!

Brevard County Police & Fire Pipes and Drums (they are all members of the police or fire departments, and they were excellent bag pipers and drummers!)

St. Patrick's Day dinner at Rusty's

Dinner at Atlantic Ocean Grille (Thank you, Stuart and Donna, for giving Freeland the gift certificate! Thank you for sharing it with us, Freeland!)

Suzy and Kenny at Atlantic Ocean Grille

Freeland, Mom (they look fabulous for 85, don't they?!), and Nancy (she looks fabulous, too!) at Atlantic Ocean Grille

Sand hill crane

Gulls on the beach

Watch out for the gators....

Fun lunch with Jeanne and Dick Bole

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~William Arthur Ward

Once again I find myself so filled with gratitude – gratitude that I just can’t even begin to express. Where do I begin?

I will get back to the wonderful arrival of Mom, Freeland, and Nancy in a minute, but I have to begin my blog by saying that 2 nights ago, the 3 of them presented me with yet another HUGE check! Yes, you read that right. Another huge check! In the amount of $1000!!! And once again I found myself totally overwhelmed and overcome with emotion (see photos below; the tears are very real, not just from the watery eye syndrome). The subject line on the check says: Suzy Fund from Anonymous Donors! They refuse to divulge the donors, as the donors apparently insisted on remaining anonymous, so all I can say is “THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH” from the very bottom of my heart – in the hopes that the anonymous donors are readers of my blog. The money is going to be deposited into our “special account” for my medical bills/deductible and the special trip we’re planning to take, most likely to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The “special account” is also where the big beautiful Bank of America check from my family – immediate and extended – and friends of the family resides. THANK YOU ALL SO VERY, VERY MUCH for your generosity and your continued love and support!!! I really honestly cannot even begin to tell you how much Kenny and I appreciate it. There are no words to express my true feelings. I just hope you all understand how much it means to us and how much YOU all mean to us!!!

Mom and Freeland arrived in sunny Florida last Friday (3/2) after spending 4 days on the road driving from Maine to Merritt Island. Such a long trip, and the grand finale was that the trusty ol’ GPS had them get off I-95 one exit too soon, so they were heading west towards Orlando instead of east towards Merritt Island and Cocoa Beach. Of course, the next exit was 10 miles west – the first opportunity to get off SR528 West and get back on SR528 East. After that minor mix-up, they arrived at our RV around 1530 on Friday, and we were so happy to see them. We had some very luxurious accommodations (not!) for them in our pop-up camper, although we had actually planned on staying in the pop-up ourselves and giving them our bed in the RV, but they wouldn’t hear of it. We had a nice evening at the campground, and enjoyed a campfire together under a beautiful starlit night. They said they slept well in the pop-up. Would they tell me otherwise??! On Saturday, we checked into the condo that Mom and Free have rented for a month right on the beach in Cape Canaveral – very nice place with a balcony overlooking the beach and ocean. We picked Nancy up at the airport on Saturday afternoon -- so happy to see her, too -- and she will be here until Monday (3/12) – can’t you stay longer, Nance??!! Please??!! I know she would love to, but she has other commitments. The four of us have been enjoying our time together (Kenny is staying at the RV with the doggies, although he joins us for occasional dinners and outings) – shopping, walking/running on the beach, happy hours in Port Canaveral, games of Mexican Train in the evening, relaxing, etc. We even had one day nice enough to sit on the beach for several hours and enjoy our lunch there. The last couple of days have been extremely windy and not really “beach days” but still enjoyable. I really look at life differently now and try not to complain about trivial things, such as the weather. Every day is beautiful in its own way, whether it be sunny, windy, rainy, chilly, warm, whatever. Of course, I favor the beautiful, sunny, blue sky, 80-degree days, but I have no complaints about the other days that are thrown our way.

I had my INR checked on Monday, and it was 2.4, which is perfect. What wasn’t so perfect was that I had to wait for 40 minutes in the waiting room for my 2-minute appointment (or was it a 1-minute appointment?). I had put in a request the week before to change my INR appointments to every 2 weeks instead of every week, but “she” said she hadn’t heard back from Dr. Sprawls about that request yet, so I would have to continue every week. I politely explained that since my INR has been in the normal range for the last 8 weeks, I would have it checked again on March 16^th, the day I’m scheduled to see Dr. Sprawls. That way I can have it done just before my appointment since I’ll be there anyway. And then hopefully he will let me go every 2 weeks, or maybe every 3 or 4……or better yet, get OFF the Coumadin! I would LOVE that!!

I went back to see Dr. Kutryb, the ophthalmologist, last Friday. He was sorry to hear the “reamings” didn’t help my eyes at all. He said he could do a 3-snip simple surgical procedure to open up the top of the tear ducts, but he said it would probably be best to go see an oculoplastic surgeon in Orlando to see if the ducts are collapsed throughout the system or just at the top. He recommended somebody in particular, so that is probably what I will do.

And now it is time to call it a day! Hugs to everybody! And thank you all so much again for your love and support and generosity!