All is WELL!!

    Almost a full week has passed since I had my first CHEMO treatment, so I thought I would post a little update!   ALL is great and I did not really had any bad or significant side effects from this first round.  I was a bit more fatigued on the 3rd and 4th night, but that may not really even be related!

    The best part is that I feel well and now I am SUPER excited that we will be headed off on 25th Anniversary Trip to San Diego and it's coming so fast!    We have ALL our plans set, we have a wonderful Dog Sitter for "Skye" - who is a sweet new friend (Amy), who happens to be a Dog Behavioral Specialist and also owns and loves "Skye's" Dog Mom - Cookie, who once was pretty much a bit of an anxious dog, as SKYE can be now.   I am so happy that AMY is taking her and feel blessed to have made this wonderful new connection, through "Arleen" who was Zeva'z Foster Mom (at Furever Dachshund Rescue) for the first 9 months of her life.   She also raised "Cookie" at that time up until Cookie was adopted by AMY!   Yes, a bit confusing, but a SMALL world and now we are ALL like family!

     We will be meeting up with them NEXT Sunday, (in Brighton), a Boston Suburb, which will be an easy drive for us, and a very LONG drive for Amy and her Hubby, from CT!   She is so kind to make this offer and I'm thrilled that Arleen and Michael will be there too.  I am so excited to get all these previous pups together for a Reunion.   I am NOT sure how SKYE will be when I leave her, but you can bet I know she'll be in great hands and Amy will video and text me daily, as needed!   Zeva, now my Service Dog, will be off to Cali with us an I also hope she does well on the flights and such We will  leave here with them both take them for a last minute Groom/Nail Trim at PetCo and put them in the snuggle beds for the trip to Boston.   I am even packing SKYE with her bed and her favorite Snuggle sack, so she is as comfy as she can be.  I will be packing for both pups this week, to be sure they have all the "normal" things, food, treats, toys and the creature comforts of HOME!

      I am so blessed to have all these people helping me and Packey make this trip and it's also going to be wonderful be to able to be out with Brian and Meghan again!   We have lots of plans and found some great places to stay !  I'm excited about plans to visit SeaWorld and Del Mar and simply to relax with the kids and have some fun days!

      On top of that, we have now booked a second trip and will be headed back to SD to spend Thanksgiving with Brian and Meg too, only we are also taking Alex and Acacia too!   We had to work hard for Acacia to get special time off and we did...they do HAVE to fly home on a RED EYE on Thanksgiving night, but they were fine with that.  They are simply thrilled that we can fly out on Tuesday and spend 3 days all together!   I'm so HAPPY it worked it with them and they have all their pet sitters (her Mom and Dad) all set!   We will likely hit the Zoo and SeaWorld !   

     We are not sure where we want to stay yet, but will be looked for a 2 bedroom Suite (Hotel) for the nights they are with us.  IF anyone knows of great places to say, please share!  We are open to any and all ideas!   

         For our first trip (June) we are trying a few place and the deals were found were amazing!   We'll be in Little Italy for three night, a night down on the ocean front and in Del Mar and left one night OPEN to do whatever to stay somewhere we loved!

         That's  my UPDATE!   Things are going well and I feel good!  I do have a long road ahead, but so far, so good!  My chemo is every three weeks and will be for 20 visits (+/-) so it will last over a year.  I had NO side effects from my Radiation and follow up is still 10 weeks away on that!  My next Chemo is the Tuesday after we return and it's all booked!  I just need to remember to bring more things up there with me to keep me busy!   I actually found I was a bit bored...so I plan to bring more crafting things, will donate some more cards to the floor/unit and am looking forward to having Joanne come to my home that Friday for a cardmaking afternoon!  It will be a blast!

     Oh and I went for my WIG fitting appointment and LOVE the wigs that were picked out for me.  I ended up buying three, insurance pays for one, but I loved them all and they are really kind of fun!   One is pretty much my exact hair style now....one is a bob cut I love with a little blonde/red highlight in it and the last is longer, but really fun!   I also have a couple of cute hats and even IF I do NOT lose any hair, which I may not, I can wear the wigs !  I plan to take at least one to use in CALI and think it will be super cute!    Hoping to take lots of pictures this time and share when we get back home.

     Special thanks for all the love, hugs and support -- I am so blessed with family and friends, both my life long local friends and now the wonderful craft community!   Speaking of which  am taking the new Mas-kerade Class and excited that it starts tomorrow!  Hope to see you there!  

     

First Chemo!

  Today was my first Chemo Treatment and it went very well.  Have the port made it a totally painless procedure!  I arrived at 9:30 AM and we started right on time and by 1 PM I was back home. Another nice perk is that you can order food at anytime, so they planned it so that I had breakfast, which was a super delicious White Egg Omelette, with fresh fruit and tea!   Once the Chemo began I read some magazines and browsed some of my favorite catalogs.

    I bought the staff/floor a delicious coffee cake, we had one at home too and it's was so good!   Plus a large selection of my cards that I donated as FREE!  I love to share and always donate all my cards!  Mostly to Operation Write Home, Princess Lauryn and my favorite Dachshund/Pup Rescues.

   NOTE:  I would LOVE to see more cards being sent to "Lauryn" -- Please see the sidebar for on

ThePurplePlace Blog for all the details.  

She is battling Leukemia and LOVE it when new cards arrive!   Thanks for thinking of her!!  :)

   Now, I am thrilled because one of the nurses, who I have known since I worked there, has always loved handmade cards and now wants to learn how to create them.  This is wonderful as I LOVE to have others to create with and my few friends that make cards, are not into it as much as I.  But, Joanne is thrilled that I'll teach her and I can also set her up a a huge amount of supplies from those I need to purge!   YAY!      We have already planned our first "create" date which will be right after I get back from Cali!  Both of us have such busy schedules, it was the first day we could fit it in.  Gives me time to get ready and put a stash together for her!   I am so happy with this plan.

     As for the Chemo I fell fine and had NO issues!   I have to go with a bland diet for a few days, but that is fine with me and our dinner is cooking now!   Thanks Hun!   My next appointment is in three weeks and all scheduled.  It will be the week after we get home and it's on June 9th with a pre-op kind of date (labs etc.) on the 8th!    The only thing I found is that I did get bored and it was nice when my Mom came up for the last hour to keep me more busy.  Next time I will bring some images to color for cards and that will be fun!

    I still LOVE how kind and caring that floor is and ALL the girls were happy to have some treats today and the cards.  I love that they are into the cards, since I have so many already done, sitting here in a basket waiting for a home!

    Thanks for following me and my journey!  It's going great and I'm happy to be fighting hard!!

 

Friday's Chemo Teaching Class!

     This is a copy of the update I shared on my Facebook Page!   That floor is so amazing and everyone is a pleasure to deal with!!   I'm in very good hands!

   My Chemo Class at AGH went very well.  I am now ALL set and READY for my first treatment next week.   We went OVER a ton on Info and I was given lots of literature to review.

    I am so impressed and blow away at how amazing everyone is on this UNIT!   I also want to THANK those who donate their time and efforts to the other therapies offered.   I plan to take some Stress Relief classes and massage, which you can have FREE before/after treatment!   I know it won't be a joy having CHEMO, but I know it is what I will do to WIN this battle!   My first treatment is Tuesday and then I'm treatment FREE until we get home for CALI!   WOOHOO!

Friday I have my first Chemo Teaching Class!!

...and that is one more step to my first round of Chemo which starts next week.  The best part about this is that ALL this can be done at Addison Gilbert Hospital, which is my local hospital and where I worked (in Patient Accounts) for several years....It's like HOME!

   I also LOVE their Oncology Unit and the entire time for that floor.    Looking forward to seeing them all tomorrow and will post some updates after my class!

   Keep up the happy thoughts    --    I will beat this illness and have a great life with my family and friends!

Cricut Cartridges -- FOR SALE!

Cricut Cartridges for SALE!!!!

    I sold my Cricut Expression last week and NOW and SELLING all my carts, if ANYONE here is interested!   This is a TINY beginning list of what I have, so far. Many of these are retired, but I'm NOT here to try and make money !!!

   Many are NOW retired and you can check prices on eBay etc...they sell for big $$! But...that's not what I'm about.   NOTE: ALL these WERE linked to my GYPSY, but work fine in any of the Cricut machines where you can INSERT a cartridge!    and All are in the original boxes, included the booklet, overlay and cartridge! ALL reasonable OFFERS will be considered!  

   They can NOT be linked to another GYPSY nor can they be used in a Cricut Explore and ANY of the newer Cricut machines that do not have a place to "physically" insert the cartridges!   

Shipping Charges -- I ship to the USA only !

IF you do ORDER Multiple Carts they will be 

shipped in FLAT RATE Priority Mail boxes.for FREE!!!

Single Carts will be First Class Mail or 

you can upgrade to Priority Flat Rate Envelopes for only $3!!

--------------------------------------------

Create a Critter $20

Plantin SchoolBook $15
Life's a Beach (SOLD)
Jasmine $15
Mini Monograms $15  

All Mixed up $15

George & Basic Shapes $15

Lyrical Letters $15 

Winter Woodland $20

Walk in my Garden $20

Printing Press $15

Paper Doll Dress UP $20

Every Day Paper Dolls $20

Christmas Cheer $20

Ornamental Iron 

Pagoda $20

Just Because Cards $20

DonJaun $20

Wild Card

Accent Essentials $15

Beyond Birthdays

Simply Sweet $15

__________________________________________

New Updates!

   My Radiation went very well !    I have a follow-up in t 12 weeks, and will pray the tumor is gone or is smaller!  It was a 30 minute treatment and was MUCH easier that I expected!   I wore the MASK designed for me and it's now a "Keepsake"....LOL!   I'll share pics when Hubby puts them on my computer!

    Next treatment is CHEMO -- I will have my "Port" put in on May 13th, followed by a teaching class at AGH on May 15th.   My first treatment will be on May 19th and takes about 3 hours.   I will follow that schedule every three weeks!

    My most exciting NEWS is that once I have my first treatment - I have been cleared to go to San Diego and Hubby and I will take that trip to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary.   The flights are all booked and we will be taking a 5-day day trip in Early June!   Zeva will be flying with us as she is now my Service Dog.   Skye will be staying with a dear friend and will be in great hands.

   We have someone staying at the house too and it will then be on the market and the perfect time for showings!   YIPPEE!