Happy New Year!!

Wishing you health, happiness, and all good things in the New Year!

Snow Snow Snow

Snowy Day!

Dad and I cleaned up snow this morning, lots of it!  I shoveled and he ran the snowblower.  It's very pretty but very cold and windy.  It was funny how so much of the snow had blown off leaving bare ground in places while there was a foot or more in other spots.  One can only hope that this will be our one and only big storm.  :-) How nice it was to have my car in the garage throughout the storm--the first time I've been able to garage a car for more than twenty years.



Tomorrow my friend Alan Nyiri visits from Vermont.  He is a professional photographer.  You should check out his work at http://www.alannyiri.com/.  Barns, covered bridges, Acadia, landscapes ...

Late in the afternoon tomorrow I take my car to the garage in Farmingdale for an inspection sticker, oil/filter change, and new tires.  I have a crafting bag packed so I'll have plenty to do while I wait.

Blizzard Warning and Pajama Days

With a blizzard warning posted for the next twenty-four hours or so, with up to a foot of snow or more expected, I'm hoping to get some time to work on the projects I've been stockpiling for pajama days.  I'm just hoping that we don't lose our power, in which case I lose my heat and Olive the Cat and I will move into my parents kitchen to be nearer the woodstove.

It really feels like snow outside.  I went to town and got gas for the snow blower and my car.  I keep waiting for the snow to start...Dad's watching the Patriots; Mom's watching an old movie...I know I should be more motivated to do something, but I don't have much energy today.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I've been working on my 2011 calendar kit from Kellie, using Memory Box and PoppyStamps images and papers.  Only four months to go!  This has been a really fun project.  Thanks, Kellie!  I took the kit with me to Spa Day #6 last Friday and got all of the little calendars mounted and the decorative papers added to each month to set a color theme.  Yesterday I worked on adding stamped images, embossing, glittering, and embellishing each page.

Snow here overnight and a lunar eclipse!  Possibly sleet and freezing rain later.  I have a doctor's appointment today in Wiscasset but will change that if the weather gets awful.  Tomorrow I meet with the radiation oncologist in Bath to plan the next stage in my treatment plan.  Thursday I drive to Portland for blood work.  Sometime this week I need to do laundry and pick up a few groceries for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.

I hope to finish wrapping presents later today and get everything into the dining room and under the tree.  I'm finding it hard to believe that Christmas is on Saturday!  I'm not ready yet!  We're planning a quiet celebration because I'm anticipating my usual side effects and fatigue.  I'm thinking Pajama Day for Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Spa Day #6

Spa Day #6 is Friday the 17th!!!  Am I excited?  You betcha!!!  My bags are packed and I'm ready to go...just need to finish this post on Thursday night and get some sleep first.

This will be the last Spa Day where I get the full treatment.  After this, the Friday treatments will be only with Herceptin and without a lot of the not-so-nice side effects.  Hooray!!!  I imagine I'll have most if not all of the month of January to get acclimated to feeling good before the radiation therapy will start.  Once I know that schedule, I'll post it here on the blog.

I've been creating a lot of artsy things lately--shadow boxes, Christmas cards, framed mini watercolors, and working in my journal.  I'm taking a lot of that with me tomorrow.  I have a shadow box to finish "snowing", cards to finish and get into addressed envelopes, and my art journal--well, I have tons of ideas for the blank pages.  And since I hope to start a new one in January, I'd better get this one finished up!

I made peanut butter cookies this evening.  Yum!!!  Soft and chewy, just the way I like them.

Not much planned for my Portland trip tomorrow other than going down and back.  Christmas shopping is done.  There's not much I need for me, though I would love some new pajamas for Christmas.  Hmmm, that might mean a trip to the Mall after all, although I'd rather find a nice small store on a quiet street somewhere...maybe Cuddledown in Freeport has something I'd like.  Guess I'll have to check their website before heading out.

I'm expecting to feel kind of yucky by the first of the week for a week and a half or two weeks.  Christmas will be a quiet day, then.  And by New Year's I should be feeling better!  At least I know what to expect and know that there is an end in sight!!!

Happy Spa Day to me!

Can't Wait for Friday!

Friday is my last chemo treatment!!!  I can't wait!!!  I'm feeling pretty good and am heading out to a Christmas party/luncheon today.  I had a crafting day yesterday and finished Andrew's Christmas gifts.  Now to just get everything in a box and mail it out to him!

This is another busy week with lots of appointments, but that will help to make the week speed by more quickly.  I've got to plan my craft project for Friday, too, and pack that up to take with me.  I should have something, too, for anyone else there who wants to play--maybe gift bags and tags.  We'll see.  Have to go through the Christmas box and see what's left that needs to be used up.

I'm already thinking ahead to January and the possibility of teaching a paper crafting class or two.  I have missed my regular Monday group and hope to get back into the groove of creating on a regular basis.  I have so many ideas rambling around in my head and filling my notebooks!

Two more weeks until my final chemo treatment!

So the blahs have kicked in this weekend and everything is starting to taste awful.  I guess the only thing I can do is to try to eat either really bland food or really spicy food that might wake up those taste buds of mine.  I'm down to doing one thing each day and taking it easy the rest of the time.  Saturday I did some grocery shopping.  Today I visited here with my sister Barb and her husband and I worked on my blog post for the Outside the Box blog (which goes up at 6 AM tomorrow).  Tomorrow has to be Laundry Day--I've been putting it off for two weeks now.  I've got acupuncture later this week and a visit to the Lymphedema Center in Portland as well as blood work.  (I'm hoping to combine those last two on the same day so I only have to go to Portland once this week.)   I'm hoping that the worst of the side effects will be over by next weekend so I'll have one good week before the final chemo dose.  We've pretty much decided as a family that we will celebrate Christmas after the new year when both Barb's husband and I should be recovered from our various medical ordeals.  Barb and I did exchange Advent Calendars today--she refilled the little boxes of the one I made for her last year and I placed an ornament a day for her in little white numbered bags.

SPA DAY #5 (not that I'm counting...)

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go...Treatment #5 out of 6...Bring it on!!!

They'll think I'm a little crazy when I put all my empty toilet paper tubes on the table and start covering them with Christmas paper.  They make the best little card holders, gift card holders, or mini-scrapbook albums!  25 of them will make an Advent calendar--great ideas at MayaMade online.

I also have some papier mache circle ornaments to decorate and three of Tim Holtz's configurations boxes.  So I know I have more than enough to make the day fly by!

Making a List and Checking It Twice...

I've been over my Christmas list many times today and have been sorting through the items in my Christmas closet, matching names to gifts I've purchased earlier in the year.  I purchased ornaments and wrapping supplies during the after Christmas sales last year.  As I have found things that I think particular people on my list will like, I've stashed them in my cupboard.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of my shopping is already done!  The Artistree Craft Show this weekend and a stop at L. L. Bean on Monday and I think I'll be done!

Because of my chemotherapy schedule, I have this weekend before my treatment on Monday to finish my shopping tasks.  Even when I'm not feeling so hot the next few weeks I can get wrapping and decorating done.  I have my last treatment scheduled for Friday December 17th, just one week before Christmas.  We're planning a small and quiet event at home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with just Mom and Dad and me, anticipating that I'm not going to be feeling so great and will also need to limit my contact with people that weekend.  Our larger family celebration will be some time after the first of the year, once I've recovered from my last chemo treatment.  My brother-in-law Wayne, Barb's husband, is having surgery the same week I have chemo and he's going to need a few weeks of recovery time, too.  So I think this will work out all the way around.

I'm hoping to find a small tabletop tree tomorrow that I can put in my room for the small herd of sheep I've been acquiring.  I think Sunday may be the day to decorate the tree we put up each year in the dining room in the main house.  Dad's already made the wreaths and hung them outside and placed the tree that he will string with big brightly colored lights on the next warm day.  Mom and I will probably spend some time on Sunday addressing the Christmas cards I've made.  And Sunday night I'll pack my crafting bag for Monday's Spa Day at the Oncology Center.  I haven't yet decided what kind of a project to take for the day, but I want to have something that a group of people can participate in if they choose to.

Snow Sleet Freezing Rain

The weather has changed my shopping plans for today.

Think I'll stay in this morning and wait to see if the weather clears by noon.

Rain I can deal with but not ice.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy the day!  I'm off to the kitchen!

Sunday, November 21

I realized today that I haven't been working in my art journal much lately nor have I been posting any of the pages.  Here is a recent page:

There's a skim of ice on the pond this morning.  We had snow flurries for about three minutes on Thursday.  The nights are long and the days grow even shorter.  Mom and I have unpacked our winter coats, hats, and mittens.  Dad has buttoned up the house and readied the snow blower.  Winter's on the way...

Dad finished making wreaths this week.  I'm working on the Christmas cards we'll send out after December 1st.  Sometime in the next couple of days I have to plan Thanksgiving and do the grocery shopping.  It will be a small celebration this year--Mom and Dad and me.  No need for a twenty pound turkey--not that I could fit one into our tiny stove's oven!

Off to Portland Thursday and Friday!

Thursday I have an echocardiogram scheduled at Mercy Hospital State Street.  This is like an ultrasound of my heart.  They do this every three months to check to make sure that all of the heart toxic drugs they are giving me don't damage my heart.  That's at 10 AM so I'll be up and on the road early.

Friday is my regular blood work at the Oncology Center at Mercy Fore River.  I'm pretty sure that my numbers won't be looking so good this week.  I've had a hard time bouncing back after this fourth treatment.

My temperature is holding steady at 100...

Looking forward to sleep tonight.  I took a three hour nap on Monday afternoon and haven't really slept since.  I sure could use a night of sound sleep!

After Feelin' Not-so-groovy...

This has been a hard week since the last treatment.  Seven days of not feeling quite like myself, food tasting really bad, and tired but not sleeping well.  I think my acupuncture treatment yesterday, an afternoon nap, and a good night's sleep have finally helped me turn the corner.  I'm at least feeling better this morning, even though I'm sure my blood count numbers are plummeting.  I'm off to Portland later to get those numbers checked.  I hope they are good enough to let me out tomorrow to a couple of church fairs in Manchester and Winthrop--gotta love the places that have rooms of second-hand junk for sale!

Dad just drove the Chevy to the end of our road with a For Sale sign on it.  Know anyone who wants to purchase a 1987 Chevy Caprice with less than 80,000 miles on it?  It's in good shape, has been garaged, has new tires, and has hardly been driven the last five years (20 miles last year!).  Let's make a deal!  It's almost a collector's item!

Once that car goes, then we can try to move the Kharman Ghia out of the garage and find that a home.

Here's Olive sitting on the head of my raccoon sculpture on the porch, gazing wistfully at birds in the bushes or squirrels/chipmunks on the ground.  She loves this porch and so do I.
I'm hoping for warm weather this weekend so I can close up my porch for the winter.  Have some things out there to put in storage in one of the outbuildings.  Then I have to seal up the two sliding glass doors which means putting up a ladder, taking down some of the porch screening, and prying the doors into place before locking them.

Richard and his brother Chuck will close camp at Moosehead/Beaver Cove this weekend.  There's just no way I could do this and I have hardly been there at all this year.  Next year in the spring maybe I can get the rest of the work done needed to winterize the place, to finish what Gail had started.

Hoping for enough energy to do the laundry later today or tomorrow.  It's either that or I have to go shopping!  I'm out of almost everything!!!

Feelin' Groovy

I'm back from my chemo adventure. Good day. There were two women who took my cardmaking class today and there were three nurses who wondered if they'd be caught if they logged out during the day for an hour or so! They didn't join us but they kept checking in. Each of the women made ten cards! Of course we had four hours to work with! I gave several cards I made away to other patients who were just there for bloodwork only and couldn't stay. One woman was trying to figure out if she could take the next Friday off from work that I'll be there so she can come in just for the class! It was fun and made the time go by quickly.


I also had good luck at LLBeans on the way home. Had gift cards to spend and went a little bit over so I got another $10 gift card to use before February. And I picked up chicken lasagna at Claytons!


Hoping to go to a craft show and an art show tomorrow morning, both in Manchester. Then I'm having brunch with Lydia and Connie at Slates on Sunday morning!  Got to get in the fun stuff before the first of the week when my blood counts start to plummet!


Sometime tomorrow or the first of the week I ought to work in another stop at Dom's Barber Shop for the "bald man's special"--I have several bald spots but hair growing in other areas of my scalp...weird. I finally plucked out the last of my eyebrows yesterday. Maybe I'll practice drawing crazy eyebrows on now that I have a good eyebrow pencil!


I made twelve Christmas cards yesterday and I have ten tags all ready, too. Still have to make more thank you/gratitude cards for November and a couple of others for my parents to send out this next week. I guess I'm back into a crafting mood. I have some ideas for altered clothing, too, as soon as I figure out how to rewind bobbins on this sewing machine! I also want to make more ribbon and fabric flowers for pins or to sew onto my clothes.


Four treatments down and only two more to go!!! Woo-Hoo!!!

Friday is Spa Day! Treatment #4

This Friday I'm hosting a Make It/ Take It project for any of the Spa attendees.  I've packed up a big bag with everything we need to make gratitude/thank you cards in Thanksgiving-themed colors.  I know I have at least one woman who wants to do this, and then I'll see who else is in on Friday.

I will be up early and on the road by 8 AM for early appointments.  I'll leave dinner for Mom and Dad in the crockpot and grab a light breakfast and pack my snacks before heading out.  I'm planning a stop at LLBean on the way home--have a sweater to exchange and a $10 gift card to use.  Will probably also stop in Yarmouth at Claytons for dinner take-out and at the Royal River health food store for groceries.

Places to go and things to do this weekend and the first of the week depending on how I feel after this treatment.  Updates later...

Now that Halloween has passed...

When Andrew was here for a visit recently, we spent some time creating his slightly off-kilter somewhat demented Mad Hatter costume for Halloween.  We actually had good luck at the Goodwill Store in Augusta and both Goodwill and Salvation Army in Topsham/Brunswick.  The first and best find was the blue brocade tuxedo jacket with the velvet collar and the royal blue men's cuffed (and somewhat short) pants.   A pleated front tuxedo shirt was augmented with linen pleated cuffs from another shirt sewn on.  Andrew thought he'd like a black and white vest--found this double-breasted one and re-tailored it to create the pointy front and a shorter back.  He found the perfect hat at the One Stop Party Shop in South Portland and added a purple scarf from my collection to it and used another of my scarves as a floppy bow tie.  A giant playing card (the Ace of Spades) tucked into his pocket and a giant tag in the brim of the hat add the finishing touches.  Cool, huh!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this photo!!!

Monday, October 25th

My son Andrew was here last week for a nice long visit.  He flew into New York City for a friend's wedding and wound his way to Maine by last Monday morning, was with me until Wednesday afternoon, and then came back again from Friday morning until mid-morning on Saturday before leaving for his cousin's wedding in NH.  Even though neither of us was feeling our best--me from chemo, Andrew from jet lag and lack of sleep--we had a great time together.  Having him around so much was the best birthday present ever!

I took this picture of Andrew down on the covered bridge with the double waterfall in the background.  Experiencing fall in New England after being away for over a year was a real treat for Andrew.

This is week two since my last treatment.  Kind of hit rock bottom this weekend with the blood counts.  I have appointments almost every day this week except for today.  MUST do the laundry today!  Tuesday I meet with my therapist, Wednesday it's cranial sacral work with Meg, Thursday is acupuncture, and Friday is blood work and a visit to the Lymphedema Center to be fitted for my compression sleeve.  I really need to spend some time this week on financial stuff, too.  Have some work to do for Gail's estate and some medical bills to sort out and pay next week.

I worked on a Halloween project yesterday:

Will pop this into the mail later today to send to Andrew.  He LOVES Halloween and goes all out decorating and has spent all month working up costume ideas.  We had great fun at Goodwill stores collecting the items he needs for a slightly demented and dark Mad Hatter.  I'll post pix when he sends the final look.

Got to tidy up my crafting area after the paper explosion yesterday and make a few thank you notes later today.

Feeling a bit more like myself today.

The NEW Me

Yesterday afternoon I went to a salon in Winthrop to have my head buzzed again.  She could get it pretty short but not short enough.  It was still feeling pretty prickly and I could actually pinch my hair and pull it out for the last couple of days.  I decided it wasn't really going to fall out on its own after talking to my doctor.  So I went to Dom's Barber Shop in Downtown Hallowell and asked for the Bald Guy Special.  Julie shaved my head first with clippers that took it down even shorter, then lathered up my head and used a small razor to shave me bald.  The best parts:  hot hot towels and a scalp massage with a nice pomade to make my head shiny.  Very cool!!!

Today at Spa Day in the Oncology Center, I had a make-up consultation and learned the proper way to use cleanser, exfoliant, moisturizer, concealer, foundation, blush, eyebrow pencil, eye shadow, eye liner, mascara, lip liner, and lipstick.  Not only did I have fun using the products but I got to keep them all!  Another gift to women with cancer.  I also got two new hats, also free, today:  a green and yellow knit hat made by a volunteer and a lovely olive silk turban from an online company that donates headwraps to women with cancer.  The treatments went really well today.  And I got a good head start on all of my Christmas cards!  A couple of the other women there asked if I'd do a make and take for them at my next treatment.  So I'll plan something easy and quick that won't take much prep or anything using supplies I already have.  That will be fun and is another thing to look forward to in going there.

That's all the news for today.

Anne

Week Three and All's Well!

Here I am at Week Three and looking forward to acupuncture on Thursday and a chemotherapy treatment on Friday!

I taught a class yesterday afternoon at Your Maine Stamper and it wore me out.  I'll have to think carefully about teaching classes as my treatments continue.  We worked with the 7 Gypsies Printers Trays to make twelve seasonal/Christmas/winter ATCs.  This is my sample:

Connie, Kellie, Donna, Jean, and Jeanne were in the class.  Each of the printers trays so was different!  What fun!

Today is a quiet day at home.  Think I'll work at cleaning out space for a cot...Andrew is coming home from California for a visit next week!

A Quiet Week Ahead

I'm voluntarily avoiding people this week until at least Wednesday while my blood count bottoms out and begins to return nearer to normal.  Not much planned for the week...cranial sacral work with Meg on late Wednesday afternoon and blood work in Portland on Friday.  I suppose I'll need to do the laundry by Thursday and pick up a few groceries then.

I've started all of my naturopathic supplements and am really feeling pretty good today.  If only things didn't taste so awful!  It's like things that should taste sweet are bitter or sour or everything is just plain foul-tasting.

I did walk for an hour today, up the road to the fire station, townhouse, and the fair parking lot and back down the road with a detour through the cemetery.  I did find a gate open to the fairgrounds and that would be a good place to walk once I build up some stamina and can do more than an hour.  Or I could park at the townhouse and walk the trails on the fairgrounds for an off-the-road adventure.  Think I might try that later this week.  I can always park at the church and walk the cemetery paths, too.

I have a major art project to tackle this week.  I have a printer's tray class on Monday the 11th and need to create the sample for class and prep the materials.  I'm hoping for a warm and sunny day when I can work at the big table on my porch, but I can always work at the round table near the heater inside.  :-)  Think it will be a Twelve Days of Christmas home decor project (although I do have a group of people just ga-ga over Halloween who may opt for something a little more ghoulish).



I've been reading a lot...nine books in August, six in September, and one already this month.  There's always a stack of books waiting for me!  And now that some of my favorite programs are back on TV, and I don't have a TV,  I've been watching them on my computer.

I guess I'd say I'm falling into a rhythm around the chemotherapy treatments, the other appointments I have, all the medications I take, the need for daily exercise and activity, doing some reading and making some art, and taking time to just be quiet, too.  Two treatments down and only four more to go!

Second Cycle

Well, I'm figuring out a few things the second time around.  First of all, the Monday and Tuesday after a treatment should be days I lay low and don't try to do too much.  I'm glad I went into the shop on Monday, that I did the Christmas display shelves, and that I had class.  I'm especially glad that I saw Meg for a cranial-sacral treatment after all of that.  But I did sort of crash and burn yesterday.  Spent most of the afternoon and evening under the covers snuggling with Olive.  She's the best therapy cat ever!

Food does not taste good today and even green tea tastes awful.  The only thing that does taste good is watermelon, maybe because it's cold and juicy more than having flavor.  Today will be a day of small frequent meals to keep something in my stomach.

Not much I have to do today, just laundry that I will take in town later this afternoon.  And I'll pick up a few groceries and a prescription on my way back home.

First on the To Do list:  take a nap!

Treatment #2 Tomorrow, Friday the 24th

I can't believe it has been almost a week since I posted last.  This has been one very busy week.  Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday I went to the Lymphedema Center.  I'm doing so well with my therapy there and am doing a lot on my own at home so I do not have to return to them until my compression sleeve (see image at left in Plum) comes in.  I will need to wear a compression sleeve (juzodreamsleeve.com) for any heavy exercise--raking leaves, shoveling snow, for example--or for long distance travel, particularly flying.  So for the next couple of weeks I will be working on exercises here at home.

Wednesday I met with Dr. Anne Jacobs in Newcastle.  She's a naturopathic physician, Chinese herbalist, and acupuncturist.  We spent almost 2 hours together talking about my cancer, diet, exercise, and supplements.  I came home with lots of bottles of medicines that I need to organize.  I think it's time to set up a medicine daily/weekly/monthly log.  Some of these I will be on just during chemo.  Some of them will change when I start radiation.  And some of them I will continue for the next five years.  All of them will help to support my immune system and the efficacy of the chemotherapy.  Many of them will also help to modulate the side effects from that chemotherapy.  I am now on an anti-inflammatory diet and drinking gallons of green tea (decaf).  I have a daily exercise goal in addition to the exercises I do from the Lymphedema Center.  And I start acupuncture next week.  Like I said once before, having cancer is a full-time job!

Tomorrow is another Spa Day at the Oncology Center in Portland.  I have started packing a bag--I think I'll take the book-making kit from Penny Bennington, a couple of new craft magazines, and a good book (I've got a new Claire Cook).  I've got orzo Greek salad, cantaloupe and raspberries, and broccoli and mushroom-stuffed chicken for my lunch as well as bottles of water and green tea.  Think I may stop at the health food store after treatment even though there is pumpkin squash soup here for dinner tomorrow evening.  I've got to be up early in the morning to do all of the exercises, take all the pills, and eat breakfast all before 8:30 when I'll hit the road.   Should be another good day!

Back to "Normal"

Today is Day Four of "Normal".  I really feel like myself and have felt fine since Tuesday morning.  My taste buds are working again and food actually tastes good, so I'm eating normal meals again.  I have lots of energy.  My blood work today shows that all of my blood levels--white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets--are back up within reasonable numbers and I have no restrictions for the next week until treatment next Friday.  So if this is a sample of what I'll feel like during the next session, I can expect about a week and a half of not-so-hot and a week and a half after that of pretty normal.  I still haven't lost my hair, but Cathy my nurse assures me it will all fall out soon.  I am looking forward to the weekend!!!

A Busy Week...

I'm driving to Portland a lot this week.

Three visits to the Lymphedema Center for lymphatic drainage massage therapy

One visit to the Oncology Center for blood work

Stopped today at two of my favorite secondhand consignment shops:  Forget-Me-Nots in Falmouth and Village Consignments in Yarmouth.

Tomorrow I'll hit the two in Freeport and three more in Brunswick on my way back from the Lymphedema Center before cranial sacral therapy with Meg in Brunswick.


Trying to figure out how to add in a naturopathic physician/acupuncturist to my schedule.  And I have yet to meet with the nutritionist.  Dealing with cancer is not for the faint of heart!

Bald is...well, bald!

Friday

This morning Tammy at Shear Expressions will give me a shorter buzz cut than I've had.  I expect my hair to start falling out next week and I want to avoid some of the mess with that.

Then I'm headed to Portland to the Oncology Center for blood work.  That will take an hour or so--draw blood, analyze the counts, and then plan for the next week with Cathy, my nurse.  I'm looking forward to talking with her.  I have been making a list of questions and things I'm curious about that we can review.

 I should have time for lunch at Panera.  Not sure if I'll do any other shopping today.  I might check out Home Goods by the Mall--I could really use a comfortable chair!