Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Ceiling Fans, Toilets and Gas, Oh my!

I have a HUGE migraine right now, hopefully I am getting my period which I missed this month. I am hoping I do because I am SO bloated and started my diet. It would really help my confidence if I just dropped the water weight I am holding onto. I was 126 lbs when I started chemo and I am 149 lbs now (as of Saturday). Thats a 23 lbs weight gain people! I never thought I would post this here but I plan on losing it and returning to my old weight since I worked so hard to do so before the sh*t hit the fan. I just weighed myself and I lost 1/2 lb and weigh 148.5 lbs. I am shrinking by the minute!

I mailed my wig back so they can sew the little combs into it. The adhesive was pulling out my growing hairs and I cant have that. I mailed it USPS Priority and insured it for $2000. If it gets lost I can use that money to pay for it because I used my CC. I would miss it but we really need the money. Its sad because I love that wig and I still plan on wearing it when the holidays come.

Well, since we are so broke I thought that I would make a few people their Christmas gifts this year. Thats the main reason I bought so much yarn when I went to the craft store the other day. I bought lots of stuff and still need size 7 needles to make the dishtowels for the kitchen. I am making a few for me and for my Grandmother who also mentioned some interest in crocheting again. I told her I have some yarn and an extra H hook that she can have to play around with. She sounded excited about it which is strange behavior for her. She is usually grumpy but hey if it makes her feel better. I am going to Knotty Girl later and am also asking about a lesson so I can really learn how to increase, decrease and all the stuff I am having a problem with. I plan on making my Dad a nice thick bulky scarf, he loves them. I am also going to make one for my Aunt, Mom, cousins and whoever I think is in need of a scarf! Some will be for outerwear and others will be for wear with a pretty sweater. I plan on making more than scarfs though. I am still learning so give me some time. I am definitely addicted because its all I can think about is making all these pretty things! From one obsession to another I say but its all good.

Last night while I was bathing my daughter I smelled gas. The kids bathroom is on the other side of the house and my husband and son were watching a video in our bedroom and he wasnt able to smell it. The furnace and hot water heater in down stairs and on the side of the house my daughter and I were in so I assumed thats where it was coming from and it was STRONG. I called for my husband and he immediately told me and the kids to GET OUT NOW were his exact words as he threw me the phone and my wallet. On the way out the door I opened as many windows as I could and called the police. Within 3 minutes I heard the fire engines. My kids were in their pajamas and we headed out the door and across the street to our neighbor J's house. He's such a great guy and his wife and kids were out there to helping me with my son and daughter because they were frightened. Hey, so was I. I had managed to get all the animals inside the HUGE crate I have. Three dogs and two cats sharing the space together. They were all good and they knew why. Animals are so smart. I pulled the crate over to the two open French doors which leads out to our deck and I figured they would be fine. If the fire men said to remove them I would have loaded them all in my car but my kids were with me and I couldnt get them physically out by myself. Plus they were on the other side of the house were you couldnt smell gas. While we were standing in J's driveway I heard the sound of sirens. Then I see not one, not 2, not 3, not 4, but 5 fire trucks make the turn onto my street! Wow, they dont fool around I guess. J said that they dont fool around with gas because they had a couple of houses explode. Thats a nice thought. When they were inspecting the house I went over to talk to one of the firemen. He was the nicest guy you would ever want to meet. He was also HOT!! Probably MUCH younger than I too. He kept asking me questions about my kids and mentioned that his son went to the same program as mine and so on. I havent been hit on in a while and thats what was happening. I looked HORRIBLE and had pizza sauce on my white shorts and a Buff that didnt match on my head. My eyebrows which consist of brown powdered eyeliner, were practically off my face. This guy must dig chemo chicks or bald ones! It was very funny. He made sure to check EVERYTHING so I could sleep that night. Eventually they found what they thought was the problem and I agreed. At the time I smelled the gas I was bathing my daughter and using the hot water. Our hot water heater is gas and over 20 years old. It was installed in 1984. My husband put the attic fan on with all the windows shut which created a negative pressure situation in the house blowing out the pilot light on the hot water heater. Therefore the gas smell and I mean smell. We opened everything and it still registered on the firemens gas detectors thats how strong it was. So they cant say for sure but I bet thats what it was. They couldnt detect any leak elsewhere so logical reasoning would say thats what it was. I have to call the gas company and have them come out to service the hot water heater. We really need a new one because the new ones have saftey features that the old ones are lacking but they cost a pretty penny as does everything else. Add something else to the list. We did find all the cat toys when the firemen moved the stove out from the wall to check the gas line. The cats were high on cat nip the rest of the night and you should have seen my old man stoned. He was wobbling all over the place. (I realized that previous sentence doesnt sound right if you havent read the entire paragraph).

My husband is quite handy and I guess things happen in threes. Last week our ceiling fan just stopped working in our bedroom. It was 20 years old also so the motor burned out from it being on day and night. With the heat we have been having I keep it on with the AC to move the air. We went to Home Depot and got a Hampton Bay for $60. It was a great deal because the one I really wanted was way to much and unaffordable at $269. Thats crazy and way over any budget so we got the cheaper one and I love it because it works! Then our Master Bedroom toilet started to leak from the base. DH had the entire thing taken apart with a gapping hole in the ground on Monday morning when I woke up. It took him 4 hours but he fixed it. It cost $28 in parts and a plumber would have charged at least $400 for the work with labor and parts. DH also fixed the pipes that came from the sink in the bath because they broke while he was fixing the toilet. Now this gas leak thing with the hot water heater happens. Anything else that can break?

I watched the couple that bought our other house move in the other day. I couldnt get a look at them close but one drives a mini Cooper. They already have lounge chairs on the front deck and flowers. I hope they find as much happiness there as we did. I am so happy a contractor didnt buy it and knock it down, it would have broken my heart to see such a cute little colonial with so much history being knocked down for a 5,000 SF McMansion to be put in its place. I cant stand those huge houses.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with my oncologist. The appointment is with the nurses and not the Dr. I am only having my port-a-cath flushed. This will be for the last time before my surgery and then its gone! I cant wait for it to come out but I am not looking forward to my surgery. I am nervous, anxious and frightened as the days inch closer and closer. I also notice that I am losing patience with little things and snapping at everyone. I think this is the reason.

I wish this damn headache would go away so I can knit and relax. It so relaxing to me when I am doing it thats one of the reasons I am doing it. Its more productive than watching TV or doing puzzles but that doesnt mean I am giving those things up either, fat chance.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

2 Week Post Chemo Update

July 12, 2006, I had an appointment with my oncologist for my 2 week post chemo check. They took lots of blood and then I waited to see him. He said everything was fine and I looked great (he doesnt see me in the morning!). He told me to see a GI specialist for my stomach problem (which I thought he would say). I also requested a MRI of my head and he said he would do it after my surgery was complete. I have to have my port flushed in 2 weeks and then I dont have to see him for 3 months. That would be in October sometime. He'll probably order a PET scan along with the MRI to see if I am cancer free. I spoke to the GI Dr when I got home and he wants me to wait to see if it will heal (he thinks its an ulcer/erosion) on its own and would rather wait to do an endoscopy because he would be treating me the same as he is now. So we will wait and I'll buy stock in Gaviscon!

After the oncologist I went across the street to the hospital to see my OT. She FINALLY got the sleeve in!! BUT not the glove, which I need more than the sleeve because my hand is always swollen. I havent been able to wear my wedding band in months and it bothers me. Right now I should be wearing my sleeve but it makes my hand swell more if I dont wear it with the glove. So now we go back to waiting for the glove! What a joke. Lets hope I have everything before my surgery. I dont have to see the OT until she gets the glove in so I am awaiting the phone call from her on that. I am typing on my home computer, not my laptop and its so uncomfortable! I am so spoiled with my iBook.

My husband and I had our 3rd appointment with the therapist this morning while the kids were at camp. It was a much better session than the previous two and I didnt get upset. Things are looking up lately. I hope they continue to improve. I still find myself doing most of the talking and I wish my husband would talk more. I said that to the therapist in front of him and he thinks that he is talking alot and getting his emotions out. Its funny how men look at things differently than women.

When we got home I opened my mail and there was a check from my health insurance company that has to be signed over to the plastic surgeon so I called his office to let them know I had it. The person who picked up just happened to be the billing person/office manager and she said that I owed them more than what the check was made out for. Something like $275 more!!! That was for a consult mind you and they charged the insurance company $400!! Thats crazy, just to talk to a plastic surgeon. She said that he was out of my network and I had a certain percentage to pay. When I was there she never said that to me. Now, all the Dr's I have been seeing are out of my network (who the heck knows why when the insurance is thru my husband's job which is the hospital all these Dr's work out of!!) and they have just been taking what the insurance gives them and eating the rest out of courtesy for my husband who works at the hospital. I have not received a bill from any of the Dr's so far and only have to pay a co-pay with the pain specialist I see. So this office manager (I should call her a bitch but I'll call her B instead), B, tells me to mail the money to her. I said I dont have that money and I wont have it so I cant do a payment plan, thats how broke I am. I just paid my 2 car payments which were both 22 days late! I asked to speak to the Dr and she refused. As soon as I told her that my husband worked at the hospital she should have thought in her tiny brain that MAYBE the surgeon knows him and wants to work something out with the way its going to be handled but NO she didnt. She should have taken my number and had the Dr call me back when he had time, like all my other Dr's do. I was crying so much that I dropped the phone and was sobbing uncontrollably, my husband had to pick it up to talk to her. He explained how all the other DR's were eating the deductables and accepting what the insurance is giving them and there is no way we could pay a percentage of what the plastic surgeons bill was going to be for breast reconstruction. 20% of $20,000 (just a guess its probably much more) is a lot of money we dont have and I refuse to pay anything for because I didnt ask to get breast cancer and I am not electing to have a boob job so my insurance should pay. DH said that there is some state or federal law about that. He told B to find out from the insurance company EXACTLY what they were going to cover and how much it would be and call us back. Apparently she had no clue as to what was going to be covered or not which she should have known, thats her damn job. After he hung up with B he called my breast surgeon (she is a saint) Dr Ward and left a message with the receptionist to have her call because I was very upset over a situation with the plastic surgeon. They work together ALL the time. She called back in 15 minutes and I told her what was happening. She also doesnt take my insurance but she just accepts what the insurance company gives her. She is the definition of a beautiful, caring doctor with a wonderful bedside manner. More Dr's should be like her. She said that B had no right to tell me what the Dr would or would not do because he has worked it out with patients before, as all plastic surgeons do in cases like this, and she would personally call him and speak to him on my behalf. I cant go to another hospital because she is my breast surgeon and she is doing the mastectomy portion of the surgery. He is the only plastic surgeon that does recon at the hospital at this time. The other one that was there had privilages taken away for coming into the hospital drunk or high or something like that. Yeah, I would want him to operate on me! Anyway, Dr Ward told me that these billing people dont care who they upset, they just want to make the office the most money because it makes them look good, so they think. When B was on the phone with hubby and I was sobbing in the backround she said, "I know how difficult this must be." My husband said outright, "NO YOU DONT SO PLEASE DONT SAY YOU DO". You go hubby!!

I am so upset over this entire thing you should see what a mess I was before. I couldnt stop crying and was almost vomiting I was so upset. I am going to try and calm down because Dr Ward is doing all she can to help me.

Last week I came across a website that gives out free hats to people undergoing chemo. I think its www.heavenlyhats.com I told them it was for me and that I like the color pink. Within 5 days I received a big box with 4 hats and 2 bandanas in it! Nice ones too! One was a pink baseball hat the other was one with the pink ribbon on it & 2 were floppy Ralph Lauren hats. One bandana was a bright green with Hawaiian flowers and the other had the breast cancer ribbons on it. It was such a nice thing to do I was so happy. I have to send them a thank you note.

Tomorrow my hubby and I plan to go out after he gets out of work. Hopefully we can get something to eat and go see Pirates of the Carribbean with Johnny Depp. I want to see that movie so bad. It all depends on what time he gets home and if we can get into a place to eat. We will never get into the Japanese Restaurant that we both love because you need a reservation and I dont know when he is going to be home. My sister is actually coming up tomorrow afternoon to hang out and watch the kids after camp. My Mom is going to take over for her in the evening when we go out. They are going to either collapse from exhaustion or get their second wind and make my Mom collapse!

Saturday, DH's nurse manager (who is leaving) is having a going away party at her house. She lives down the block from us. They have a pool and lots of stuff to do so we are going to go for a few hours. The kids are going to love playing in the pool especially since we didnt open our pool this year. Its supposed to be in the 90's so I better find my bathing suit!

*************************************************************************

July 15,2006~The situation with the plastic surgeon has been resolved and the B woman called my DH at work to apologize. To little to late B. Anyway, its one less thing to stress over.

My bloods came back normal. What a relief. The only thing that was off was my TSH and Free T4 so the Dr adjusted my synthroid dosage. Hopefully it will return to more normal numbers in 4 weeks when he wants it checked again.

My husband and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean last night. It was good but the story doesnt end at the end of the movie. They leave it as a "to be continued" when the third one comes out. It was a lot scarier than the 1st one and definitely not for the kids. Well, kids that are 6 and 3 that is.

We went to the party that my husband's ex-nurse manager had today and ended up staying longer than we had planned. The kids were in the pool most of the time that we were there and both DH and I were in there with them. I had a good time even though I didnt feel to great wearing my bathing suit. I barely made it into it due to the weight I gained during chemo. Most of the people DH works with are nice but there is one particular person that we avoided and I wont mention names here. She is the new Nurse Manager and I waiting for her do screw up because its only a matter of time. Its a long story about her and I dont feel like going through it but believe me she is not a nice person.

My stomach is still bothering me and I stopped taking the Zegerid and started back on the Protonix. I'll see if I notice a difference in how I feel. I dont want to have an endoscopy so anything to avoid it would be nice.

Tomorrow we are going to my Mom's for dinner because she is going away for a few weeks and my Grandmother is going to the shore with my Great Aunt. I am a little nervous because I am going to be doing things for the 1st time without some help and I am expecting to be totally wiped out. I know I can do it though because I did it after I had back surgery 3 years ago. The difference is that my son wasnt as active three years ago!

Time to work on some easy crosswords.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a Bear?

Houston, we have FUZZ! My head has a 5 O'clock shadow and I can see my hair line for the 1st time since March. I am excited over this! I am beginning to use my Morrocco Method Products to help get the growth going a bit faster. If it does what it should and works I'll buy more. I am going to use up what I have first and see what happens because it is expensive.

I am still not feeling well from last weeks Taxotere infusion and my left eye is still twitching. Hopefully it will calm down and stop driving me crazy. My stomach is also acting weird. I need to write all this stuff down so when I see the oncologist next week I can tell him.

Tomorrow my husband and I have our 2nd counciling session with the therapist. I dont want to cry as much as I did the last time we went but I have a feeling I will.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

My 8th and LAST Chemotherapy Treatment~6/29/06

I had my last treatment on Thursday morning and we were all running a bit late. My husband and I stopped to get the office staff pastries and the girl at the bakery was the nastiest b*tch walking the face of the earth. The bakery is great but dealing with nastiness like that is not worth it. She acted like we were bothering her giving the place business. Last time I checked thats what pays your check jerk.

After that encounter we headed to the office and the lab 1st for bloods to make sure all was well with receiving the treatment. My hematocrit was low and they wanted to give me Procrit but I have gone this far without is so I said that I would rather skip it if it was OK with the Dr. It was OK with him, thats probably why I am so darn tired right now. Right before the treatment the Dr wanted to see me in the exam room to get a look at the rash and give his verdict on it. He asked all kinds of questions and finally came to the conclusion that I had a form of what my son had, the Coxackie virus. Adults can get it but not necessarily in the same form that the child would get it. Its healing slowly with the cream I am using so he said to continue using it. We agreed that we would stick with Taxotere as the last treatment because we all agreed that the viral rash was just brought about because of my low blood counts and immunosupressed status and not a result of the drug.

I assumed the usual position in my lucky chair and they gave me all my pre-meds while hubby went out to get some lunch before I fell asleep. We ate lunch and then I started to get a pain in my chest. I wasnt sure if it was gas or a reaction from the Taxotere. They stopped the infusion for a few minutes and gave me some TUMS for my stomach then turned it on really slow. I wanted to get it finished no matter how long it took. I fell asleep the last hour or so that it took to infuse and I was soooo tired afterwards I cant even describe. I was unsure if I was going to make it to the appointment with the pain specialist afterwards.

We left the office at 2pm for the appointment with the pain specialist across the street. There was a ton of people in the office and NO WAY I was going to be able to wait around to see this guy. I waited 15 minutes and realized that the people waiting were already waiting over 45 minutes! I told his nurse practitioner that I had to reschedule another day because I just had chemo and needed to get to bed ASAP. She understood and didnt realize why I was an hour and a half late. I told her they had to slow down my infusion due to chest pain and then she got it. Duh, I thought I told her that I was coming straight over from receiving a treatment when I made the appointment. Well, anyway I can wait, I have enough pain medicine.

When I got home I went straight to bed and didnt move from 3pm-8pm that night. I woke up to shower and get back in bed then awoke again at 2am and had a snack of some cookies and milk to settle my stomach and get back to bed. I have been so exhausted after this treatment that I was teasing that they gave me the old stuff from when I 1st started my chemo treatments!

Yesterday I didnt even want to get up to go for my OT at the hospital but I had to because the Taxotere makes me swell quite a bit. Anything to avoid making the lymphedema worse is better than not doing anything at all so I went. When we got home I hopped into bed again exhaused from doing nothing. I fell asleep again until 7pm and my husband had made the kids dinner again, just like the previous night. You know when I dont prepare dinner then I dont feel well at all. I woke up just long enough to help bathe the kids and sit and watch a video with them. After they went to bed I had some ice cream (my dinner) and watermelon, take a shower and get back in bed. I fell asleep until 1-2am and then couldnt get back to sleep until after 3am. I was hurting quite a bit and got up several times to take pain meds but nothing was working. Finally something kicked in and I fell asleep close to 4am and woke up when the kids did. I had a very hard time getting out of bed and my husband had gone to work so I had no choice but to get up. My Mom wasnt coming until after 10:30am and the kids werent waiting. I had to lay down a few times in between getting the kids breakfast and stuff. The poor dogs had to hold it to wait for me to get enough energy up to get outside and walk them. I am so glad that this is the last treatment because I cant do this anymore. I feel like crap after this and I want it to go away as soon as possible. I feel totally useless to everyone and its not a good feeling. My son starts camp on Monday and I have to get him up early to catch the bus. I know he can handle it but I am not sure I can. At least my daughter doesnt start camp until the following week and an hour later then my son does.

I am sorry I didnt have a chance to update until today. I know a lot of people were wondering how I was doing and waiting for me to write. I could be better but hopefully as the days go by and this stuff gets out of my system I will feel much better. I took some pictures at the office while I was hooked up getting my treatment but I am not sure when I am going to be able to post them.

Plastic Surgeon Appointment

JUNE 28th, 2006~Today was my appointment with the plastic surgeon and DH went with me. I left the kids with my Mom because I figured the conversation and topic would not be appropriate and also because we would probably not get a chance to talk with a 6 and 3 year old present.

I liked the Dr a lot and I have heard great things about him. I feel comfortable with him and thats whats important. He filled me in on what is going to happen in the OR after the mastectomy takes place and what he is going to be doing. If this is TMI for everyone you can skip ahead, I understand.

After they remove the breast tissue (they try to spare as much skin as possible but they have to take the nipple because its breast tissue where recurrance of the cancer can take place), they then place "expanders" under the pectoralis muscle and skin. They are using a special tissue called Aloderm to aid in forming the shape of the new breast without pulling in another muscle (cant remember the name). If they do it without this material there is more discomfort involved and the breast doesnt look as good/natural as it can look. The Dr explained that many people get grossed out about this stuff because its harvested from cadavers BUT the cells are washed, sterilized and go through a process where the DNA and other stuff is removed or something like that and this 'tissue' actually becomes part of my own body because my cells grow into it like a mesh. Then they place drains into you for a week or two to drain extra fluid that accumulates. I had one drain after my lumpectomy and this time I will have at least 2, hopefully no more than that. They are also going to be removing my port-o-cath during this surgery which I am thrilled over and wish I can get it out tomorrow after my last treatment. After a 3-4 day stay in the hospital they allow you to heal for 2-4 weeks and then begin to inject saline into the expander to stretch the muscle and skin slowly so there is the least amount of pain involved. They usually inject about 50-100cc of saline at once and this is done once a week to once every 2 weeks depending upon how well your body adjusts to the expanding. After you reach the size you are comfortable with (this can take anywhere from a few months to many months) they let you remain with the expanders in for a few more months to make sure the tissue is stretched enough for the next procedure. The next procedure is called an 'exchange' or 'swap' surgery that is done as an outpatient. They remove the expanders and replace them with the implants. I am almost 100% decided on gel implants otherwise known as silicone. The Dr went over all the studies done and that they are just as safe as saline and actually he recommends them for women with mastectomies because they feel and look more natural than the saline implants. Women who have implants for cosmetic reasons still have breast tissue that the implant is behind so there is no issue with how natural it looks. With a woman with a mastectomy there is nothing there but some muscle the implant is under and the skin on top. I did my own research and I was in total agreement with all that he said to me and so was DH which means a lot when he agrees also. The last procedure is done anytime after you are healed from the exchange surgery. It can occur 2-3 weeks after or anytime after. I have heard of women waiting up to a year to do the last procedure. This final procedure involves making the nipple part of the breast. They take tissue that is darker in color usually from the inner thigh area or other private areas (I'm not to sure of exactly where) and use that to form the nipple. After that is formed they do tatooing of the area to make it appear more realistic. I was undecided whether or not I wanted to do this but after seeing the Dr today I think if I have come this far then it makes sense for me to complete the job and have nice looking breasts even though they arent the ones I was born with.

When it comes down to it I would take my 35 year old saggy breasts over implants any day but I am happy that I will have breasts to wear clothing and not feel uncomfortable if I wanted tro wear something a bit revealing. Heck, I might be able to wear things I never was able to wear before! I gotta look at the bright side of things here otherwise I would be crying my eyes out at the loss of my boobies. The breast surgeon said something to me a few weeks ago when I went to see her to discuss the surgery. After I was crying my eyes out in her office explaining that I have an emotional attatchment to my breasts because I nursed both my children for 2+ years each and when I think about them as infants I think about the times I sat in my rocking chair nursing them. She said to me that at that time in my life my breasts were my friends and they fed my babies and made them grow into happy healthy children but now they are the enemy and not my friend. They need to be dealt with appropriately so I never have to go through this hell again. Since she said this to me I have been thinking like that but let me tell you how hard it is. They are a part of me being a woman and I am a bit attatched so I am working on changing my mindset. I have 6 weeks to do that. Surgery is scheduled for the middle of August so I am working on viewing my breasts as the enemy and losing a few pounds so I can go into this surgery a bit healthier. I gained so much weight with all the steroids I have taken during chemo that I have blown up quite a bit. I know that I will lose it because I already did it once and I am more determined than ever. I am waiting for my NutriSystem to arrive and I am starting my diet after the 4th of July.

I thought the day would never come and it seemed so far away when I began my treatment in March. Tomorrow is the day of my last chemotherapy treatment. I am not sure if I am excited about it or not. I feel kind of indifferent about it because I feel like I should be doing something else to help myself. Unfortunately since my tumors were whats called Triple Negative (it means that the tumor is estrogen, progesterone and Her2 receptor NEGATIVE and cannot be treated with tamoxifen, arimidex or herceptin because it wont respond to them). Being triple negative has its good and bad things about it. The bad is that if you are triple negative you have the highest rate of recurrance within 2.5-5 years. After you have reached the 5 year mark you actually have a lower recurrance risk than the people who are positive for any of those 3 receptors. What many people dont understand about breast cancer is that there is no 5 year rule like other cancers. With most other cancers after 5 years they say you are cancer free or cured (many dont like the use of that word because there is no 'cure' for cancer) but with breast cancer they cant say that because you can have a recurrance 10, 15 or 20 years down the road. When I first read that I was stunned because I didnt know that but I made up my mind not to dwell on statistics and numbers because everyone is different and they cant classify you or throw you into this group or that group of women with BC. Mark Twain once said that there are 3 types of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics. This is so true because with all the medical problems I have had I was supposed to be in the higher statistical range and not have the disease but I did. Thats why I hate numbers and statistics.

Well, I got to get to sleep because tomorrow is a big day and I have to see the pain specialist AFTER my treatment. I had no choice because he didnt have an appointment available before my treatment. I also have to do something nice for the nurses so I think DH and I are going to get some pastry for them. I want to do more but dont have enough time in the morning plus I have to think about what I want to get them. They were all wonderful and I love every one of them.

A special thanks to my "THREE MUSKETEERS" who came through for me today with a surprise bouquet of flowers in celebration of my last treatment. But more so than the flowers and gifts given to me, they have shown me such support, love and compassion throughout this entire time I've been treated that it cant compare to any material gift. What they have given me cant be bought in any store. I love the three of them with my whole heart and they will be with me tomorrrow as I start another journey in my life.