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!