Shul and Pool and other things

We had a great time today. Everything was just about perfect. There was a bat mitzvah at the shul today followed by a lovely catered lunch for everyone. We sat with a few people who are quickly becoming our "regular" shul friends. When we got home, we immediately changed into workout clothes. We walked 1.2 miles up to the Palms, did 9 exercise machines, and walked back home. It took us about an hour and 45 minutes, and when we were done, we were exhausted but proud of ourselves. Then we laid by the pool (me still in the shade and not in the pool) for about 2 hours just snoozing, reading, and playing puzzles on the phone. What a great day!!

Did you watch the wedding?

I got up at 3:40 a.m. to watch the royal wedding. I remember watching Charles and Diana back in 1981. This one was even better, I think. Maybe it's because they genuinely seem in love or maybe it's because I kept thinking about Evey's upcoming wedding. I love Evey's dress even more than Kate's.

Yesterday I went to my cancer support group in the morning, and then I spent about four hours getting wedding shower invitations ready to mail. Tedious, but fun, too. I hardly had to do any at all compared to the number of invitations that Evey has to do for the actual wedding. I wish I could be there to help her with them. Hm...flight to CA in my near future?

I ate really well on Thursday and dropped three pounds of water weight. There is so much sodium in the Passover food! Unfortunately, I ate two slices of pizza for dinner last night and put back two of those water-weight pounds. I'll see how today goes. I'll be eating lunch at Epcot, but I'll also be walking around a lot. Paul Revere and the Raiders are performing there today. We also plan to go see the new Disney movie, African Cats, this morning. We are having our usual Sunday on Friday because on Sunday we are going to see the Tampa Bay Rays play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Frank has Flown!

We got up very early this morning and took Frank to the airport. He has already landed back in Baltimore by this time. I hope his flight was good. It was a great visit for everyone. Here are a few pictures of Frank before he left this morning.

We are trying to get the house back to normal after Passover. I spent time rearranging the pantry and now I need to go to the refrigerator and do the same. I had better get that done before Mark gets back with the groceries.

We were good today because on the way home from the airport we went straight to the gym and did our strength training circuit. I added two new exercises to the routine, bringing it up to 8. I may yet add another one or two for the lower back and legs. When we went to the Younger Next Year lecture with Frank on Monday, they said the goal was to do 45 minutes of strength training at least twice a week. I timed myself today, and it was only 26 minutes. Obviously, I need to add some more exercises or sets or something; otherwise, I don't see how I can stretch it out to 45 minutes.

Passover has wreaked havoc with my weight, as always. I'm 252.4 this morning, up three from last week. Of course, last week I was up three, so now it's up six in two weeks. Yet again, I am making a commitment to behave myself. I have been very good today, so far. I'm on track to have only 1245 calories today if I stick to the plan. Later today, Mark and I plan to go to the indoor track for a nice long walk, too. The YNY people said 4 days of aerobic activity of at least 45 minutes plus 2 days a week of strength training of 45 minutes and one day off per week. Mark and I like doing the weight machines three days a week, so at least one of those days will also include the walking. That's going to be today, we decided.

Frank's Last full day with us.

It is Yom Tov again today, the last day of Passover and a day to say Yizkor, the special memorial service for our loved ones who have passed on. We all went to the synagogue this morning. We felt that the cantor there did a meaningful Yizkor service. Frank actually cried as he remembered his beloved wife Alice. I felt that it was a moving service in general. Everyone there put great effort in to it.

After services, Frank wanted to walk around Downtown Disney and pick up a few presents for some people. We had a nice time watching him decide what to get. We went to World of Disney and also Basin, two of our favorite stores. We also stopped in Ghiradelli and got the free chocolate. That always makes Evey happy! Mark and I didn't eat or buy anything, but we enjoyed watching Frank enjoy himself.

Then I stopped at Publix to pick my up F-cream for the breast. I called in the prescription Saturday night and had hoped to make it last until tomorrow morning, but this morning I had trouble squeezing enough out. I knew I would need more before tonight. Sadly, the insurance company didn't think I should have used it all up yet. Publix had not processed it because CIGNA said I wasn't entitled to it until April 29. That's three days away. I am only supposed to use it 8 more days, so I told the lady if I had to wait three more days I just wouldn't bother doing it anymore at all! Then I asked how much it would cost if we kept the insurance company out of it. She said $13. I said, fine, give it to me for that. She said I had to wait ten minutes. ARGH! Mark and Frank were sitting in the car with the A/C running and I didn't want to make them wait anymore. I said I would come back later.

It's frustrating that the insurance company can decide how long a tube of ointment should last. They have no idea what size the area I am covering is. The tube is small and I'm covering my entire breast, half of my chest, and all up under the arm. That's a BIG area!! I do it twice a day, and I can just about make the tube last two weeks. I understand if they give you 30 pills that they don't want to give you 30 more until you only have one or two left, but a tube of ointment after two weeks? Come on!!! Anyway, we are going out tonight to dinner at the home of our friends Jonathan and Susan. On the way there we will stop at Publix and pick up the ointment. I will pay the entire price of $13. When the insurance covered it, I had to pay $7, so I guess the insurance covered about half. We're not talking hundreds of dollars here, so I am happy I am getting it tonight without the insurance.

Enjoy the pictures of Frank enjoying himself at Downtown Disney today. He is flying home tomorrow. We are leaving our house at 6:45 a.m. to take him to the airport. It's been a great visit.

Epcot yesterday went well until...

We took Frank up to Altamonte Springs yesterday to the only kosher grocery store in the Orlando area, Kosher Kat's. It is owned by the daughter of one of his old friends from the early Mishkan Torah days, Dave Unger. Jody, the owner, was at the store, but Dave was not. She was nice enough to tell us where he lived, so we went over for a bit of a talk before heading to Epcot. Frank and Dave had a delightful time reminiscing for an hour or so. There are a few pictures on the blog today of Frank with Jody, with Dave, and with Mark outside the store.

We wanted to do a little shopping for some fresh vegetables to make salad, but down here they take Easter very seriously! Most stores were closed. All the Publix and even the SuperTarget were closed. We had to shop at Goodings, a grocery store across from one of the main Disney entrances. It's for tourists and very expensive, but it was open. Once we got our veggies, we had our picnic Passover lunch in the car before heading over to Epcot.

Epcot is always fabulous. Frank rode some things he sort of remembered doing back in the '80s with Alice, but most of those things have changed somewhat. He did Spaceship Earth (the big iconic ball), Journey into Imagination (the Figment ride, Alice's favorite), Little Nemo, Mexico, Norway, the American Adventure, and Soarin'. We also saw Ricky Nelson's twin songs, Gunner and Matthew, sing two shows. It was a great day.

Once we got home, I realized I had lost the little folder that contained my season pass, $40, and a driver's license. I was devastated. I think it had fallen out the last time I pulled the camera out to snap one last picture as we left the park. I included that picture of Mark and Frank walking past Innoventions on our way out of the park. Anyway, there is GOOD NEWS!! It was turned in to the lost and found, and we are heading over there to retrieve it as soon as I'm finished the blog. So I'm finished, got to go!

Disney World with Frank

Friday was a LONG day, but it was a great one. We took Frank to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios at WDW. He had never been to either park. Because it was Passover, we had to pack lunch and dinner in a cooler and eat in the car. That was a little hard because the meals came so late, but we had plenty of bottled water with us in the parks. We walked and walked and walked! We certainly got our exercise.

This morning we went to shul, and I was able to bench gomel. That's a special prayer for when you have come through a serious illness or accident. Wednesday I finished my radiation treatment; therefore, I am done my cancer treatment. I felt it was appropriate to say the special prayer, and the shul was nice enough to let me do it. It felt good.

When we got home, we all slept about two or three hours! We must have needed the rest.

Tomorrow we are taking Frank up to Altamonte Springs to Kosher Kat's. He is friends with the owners, so he is looking forward to seeing them. Then it is off to Epcot where we will hear the Nelson Tribute band. The band includes Ricky Nelson's twin sons who will be singing their father's songs. Except for having to pack a picnic lunch and dinner again in the cooler, it will be a lot of fun. It's so much easier to go to WDW when it is NOT Passover. We told Frank to come back for Hanukkah so we can go in all the great restaurants with him!

First day of the rest of my life!

Today is the first day since last June that I can say I do not have cancer. It's truly the first day of the rest of my life, my life without cancer. It's an awesome feeling.

This morning I got up and went to the Solivita Cancer Support Group again. I wore the pink Survivor shirt that Leslie sent me in the fall. Everyone there applauded for me! It's a wonderful group of people. After that, I got a manicure and pedicure at a new local salon. I liked the lady a LOT. She is French Canadian and has a lovely accent! She is the same lady who cut Mark's hair last week. We both liked her a lot and will continue to go to her salon. It costs about half again as much as it cost me in Laurel, but I'm OK with that. I did really enjoy it so much. I went to two banks and bought a few groceries at Publix before meeting Mark and Frank at the ballroom for a lecture on space. We didn't really learn anything and I dozed off during it. Oh, well...

It's been a lovely day, but tomorrow will be amazing. We are taking Frank to the Animal Kingdom and the Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. He has not been to either park before, so we'll be doing a lot of walking!! Because it's Passover, we can't buy any food in the parks, so I have packed us a picnic lunch of matza, cheeses, salad, nuts and fruit. Our dinner will also be picnic style and consists of cold turkey, matza, salad, more nuts and fruit plus some chocolate macaroons. We have bottled water to keep us hydrated. We never did a picnic at WDW before, so this will be a little something new. I will try to post a few pictures on tomorrow's blog.

I'm officially a SURVIVOR!

Yes, today I completed the active phase of my BC treatment, which means I can really call myself a survivor now. I got a genuine, heartfelt hug from everyone at the radiology center along with an angel pin and a really great certificate. Here is the text of my certificate:

Certificate of Merit

Be it Declared to All Present That

Rebecca Silverstein

has completed the prescribed course of
Radiation therapy with a high order of
Proficiency in the science and art of being
Cheerful, Outstanding in High Courage, Tolerant
And Determined in all orders given.

By order of the diploma committee

The Radiation Therapy Staff
4/20/11

I thought that was really, really cute!

When I went out to the car, I sat and cried for a minute or two. It was sort of an overwhelming rush of emotion. Later I felt like it was the last day of school, a bitter sweet separation.

I will see the radiation oncologist in six weeks for my first follow up. Then every four months for two years then every six months for essentially the rest of my life. I will have mammograms on the affected breast every six months and on the unaffected breast annually like always. I will stay on the pills Arimidex for at least five years. I will also see the medical oncologist on about the same schedule, but they'll stagger the appointments. I guess I'll be going back to the cancer center about every two or three months forever! Oh, well...that's actually comforting to know that I'll get checked out frequently. Every BC woman fears a recurrence. I am no exception.

I also was fitted today for a compression sleeve. I need to wear it when I exercise and when I'm on an airplane. Since I'll be flying to Maryland on May 6, I figured I needed to get the order started. I didn't know about the exercise thing until a few days ago. The tech at the center today said I should wear the sleeve from morning to bedtime any day that I fly and an hour before and up to two hours after I do my weight lifting routine. UGH. Something to get used to, I guess.

Chag Sameach

I hope everyone had as nice a seder as I did last night. We had our friend Frank P. from Maryland and two new friends from here that we met. Mark led, and as always, he did a great job. Tonight we will do it all over again, sans our other friends. It will just be the three of us. To mix it up a little bit, Mark is going to use a different hagaddah tonight and some different songs and tunes. That should keep it fun.

We sure did miss our kids, though. It's been a lot of years since Evey attended a seder with us because she was in Boston in school and now in California. It's been several years since Lowell attended with us at the Oresky house. Last year we were on the cruise, so we had no family members. I always had this dream of a big dining room with a huge table and lots of family and friends around it. Oh, yes, that's just like the Oresky house at seder! I envy them all their family, including their children, attending the seder. Our friends the Kopelmans in Buffalo even have their daughter and her family driving in from Massachusetts for the seder. I know our kids don't have time off and live far away, so I know that realistically it's not an option for them to join us for seders. At least not right now, but it doesn't make me less envious of my friends who can have their children with them at the holidays. And now I have that big dining room with the big table! Still, it was lovely having three friends join the two of us last night.

It's Tuesday, so naturally I have to report my weight. Sadly I regained the three pounds I lost last week, back to 249. I have not been behaving myself in restaurants. I ordered dessert virtually every time we ate out, and we ate out a lot of times. Now it's Passover, which is synonymous with eating carbs. I'm going to do my best to keep the calories reasonable at home, and there will NO eating out for the entire week of Passover. I also need to walk everyday. That's the single most important thing I need to do for weight loss, but I have not done it. Two years ago when I was desperately trying to get the weight off for the hernia surgery, I walked every day without fail. I need to get that "desperate to lose weight" feeling back. You would think that needing to fit into the Mother-of-the-Bride dress would make me desperate, but sadly it has not worked yet.

Time to head out to shul for Passover services. When I come back, after a quick lunch, I will head up for radiation #32, the next to the last one, the penultimate one. I also meet with the doctor today, so I have many questions for him. I am going to write them down today so I don't forget any. I need to know when I get back to the pool and hot tubs and sunshine. I need to know when I can start taking my vitamin D again. I need to know how long I need to continue putting the prescription steroid cream and aloe gel on my skin. I need to know how and when I follow up to be sure I stay cancer free.

I am getting excited that my treatment phase is coming to an end. Last summer getting this diagnosis made me feel like life as I knew it was over. That is still true, but now it's a new life that's better than ever. I have heard from several people as well as read about it online that there is a normal feeling of depression that sometimes overcomes patients when the treatment phase ends. Suddenly they feel abandoned and scared because they are not being seen by a doctor as frequently as when they were in active treatment. I don't think I'm going to feel that way, but I'll wait to report on that for sure until Thursday or later when I'm not going back to the cancer center every afternoon. I hope that I'll continue to be excited and happy about being out of treatment and ready to pursue my own life on my own terms.

Living on Vacation All the Time

Last night Mark and I both had the feeling that we were on vacation. This morning we felt the same way. It's so pretty everywhere, and we do so many fun things. It's just not like it used to be when we were in MD and working. We are loving it! It's exactly the sort of life we envisioned when we planned to move down here. It's exactly the sort of life I cried about not having when I got my BC diagnosis. Now, with just 3 more radiation treatments to go, we are living the dream.

We went to shul Saturday morning because it was the Adult B'nei Mitzvah class. There was also a lovely sit down luncheon and a special "learning" session with a student rabbi. After that we went straight to the pool. We dozed on chaise lounges in the shade and read magazines for hours. Mark also did his water aerobic routine, which he loves. He actually got to do it two days in a row since after his hair cut Friday, he had a chance to do it at the pool then. (The haircut went very well. He liked the salon and the lady who cut his hair. He plans to make this a regular routine now. I will be having the same lady do my mani/pedi this coming Thursday. I'm excited about it even if it does cost more than Laurel.) Around 7:30 last night we got ourselves out of our lounge chairs and walked down to the Lakeside restaurant for our dinner reservation. The place was packed because there was a Billy Joel impersonator scheduled to perform at 9 p.m. He was great, but he had laryngitis, so eventually another girl came out and sang. She was awesome, but she wasn't singing Billy Joel tunes. He did at least an hour's worth, but his voice was shot. I could hear it and was surprised he managed to do as much as he did. We got up and danced to about four or five songs and then headed home at 10:30.

As we were leaving, we commented to each other that we would never do that sort of thing back in Laurel. We never went out dancing unless it was at a wedding or a bar mitzvah. Here it just seems so nice. It's in our local area, close to home, and we are starting to meet people there regularly. Even the wait staff knows us now since we've been going there at least once a week.

Then this morning we got up and went out to a breakfast buffet in Solivita. The restaurant Mosaics is only open for Sunday brunch, so we decided to give it a try. It was quite good and cheap! Buffet breakfast for two people came to $17.90, and that included tax, tip, and coffee! Amazing.

Then came the hard part of the day. We are now in the process of turning the kitchen over for Passover. I hate this part of the holiday! It's a bit easier in this bigger, newer kitchen. There is more space for things and less crap to throw out. Maybe it won't be so bad after all this year.

We have been invited to an appetizer party at the home of two new friends that we have met down here. In fact they are coming to our house for the seder tomorrow night. Their party starts at 4 p.m., so we are working like crazy to get everything done in the house by then so we can put it an appearance for a little bit. At 7 p.m. we have tickets to see a musical show in Solivita put on by one of the performing groups. It is supposed to be spectacular! We'll see.

Tomorrow we pick Frank up at the airport, and the holiday starts tomorrow night. Hag Sameach everybody!

Almost Didn't Make It

Yesterday I almost didn't make it to the radiation session. I left the house at 2:30 p.m. as usual. As soon as I got on the main road, I knew something was wrong. The traffic was just stalled. We inched a long for a bit, and then I noticed that I was inching up a car length at a time only because cars ahead of me were making unsafe u-turns on the grassy median. I called Mark on the cell phone because at this point I had been in the car about half an hour and had gone maybe 10 minutes worth. He found out that the road was closed completely about a mile and a half down with a three car fatal accident. There are no other roads to take from that point except to turn around and make a HUGE circle. Once I got to a crossroad where I could make a safe u-turn, I did it. I went in the opposite direction and should have made it there in an hour. At that point it would be 4:40 instead of 3:15, when my appointment was scheduled. I called the radiation center, and they were as nice as could be. They said no problem. So I took off to drive a huge circle that should take an hour. Well, it took longer than an hour because about half way there was another big accident. We just sat and inched along. Fortunately, the road was not completely closed down. I kept calling Mark and calling the cancer center. Thank God for cell phones and hands-free devices! I made it to the cancer center at 4:59!! Normally they close at 5, but they were just so very nice to me. They let me in, and we did my first boost. Of course, nothing went smoothly there either. They had trouble with their equipment, so instead of taking 15 minutes, it took 30. I left at 5:30. And those radiation therapists had another patient waiting who had also been caught in the huge back ups. Those guys are the BEST!!

At least I had a good morning yesterday. I went to my Solivita Cancer Support Group for the first time. They meet every Thursday morning at 10 a.m. 10 people were there, but I heard it ranges from 2 to 25. I was the only new one, so they saved me for last. I was impressed with the stories I heard from the other people. Everyone was supportive of each other and genuinely interested in their stories. Two other ladies were also under active treatment, like me, but the rest had conquered their cancers and were in remission. I will definitely go back next Thursday. I told them that I would be celebrating the end of my radiation treatment with them!

When I came back from the meeting, I told Mark that I wanted to take him out to lunch at the Upper Crust, our little local pizza place. On Thursdays they have broccoli cheese soup, so I had that in a bread bowl with a salad. The nice thing was that one of the men from the cancer group was in there ordering a salad, too. We invited him to sit with us at our table, and we had a lovely conversation with a new friend. It was just so great to know someone when we went into the restaurant this time. Mark is planning to go to the Diabetic Support Group soon. Hopefully, he'll make some new friends there, too.

Except for nearly missing radiation, yesterday was a great day!

Today Mark is having his second "store bought" haircut. After he did it on the cruise, he realized he liked the results, so he's trying a new salon in this area. I hope he likes it. I'm going with him to see how it goes!! I have made an appointment at the same salon for a pedicure and polish change on my nails for next Thursday afternoon, so I kind of want to see what this place looks like as well. It's a lot pricier than my old salon in Laurel, but half the price of the cruise ship!

We are going up to the Palms to exercise, then have a quick lunch out before the hair cut. After the salon, we'll head up to radiation. Then we are going to our synagogue near Disney World. Tonight because they are having a big dinner tonight. Their student rabbi is there for the weekend, so after the dinner he is leading services. I didn't expect Mark to want to go out for this because the meal features many forms of carbs and he never usually likes to go out on Friday nights. That he was interested in going was a pleasant surprise, so I'm excited to have dinner and socialize with the new shul folk and eat carbs! LOL

"Have you been helped, sir?

That was how the girl at the counter greeted me at Ben and Jerry's yesterday. The answer was yes because another guy had already taken my order for my free ice cream scoop. Still, that's the second time in about two weeks that I've been mistaken for a man. I need more hair! If I was a woman with less of a sense of self and femininity, I might be insulted, especially when you realize that half of one breast is gone. Many women feel less of a woman after breast surgery. That has not happened to me, thankfully. I just need more HAIR!!

Mark and I have spent the last two days in insurance hell, again. Mark's is ongoing and unresolved, but my issue was resolved relatively quickly today. I'll tell you about mine first.

In February I had a PET scan at the cancer center. Everyone there accepts CIGNA, so I assumed the radiologist reading the scan would, too. He was contracted out by the cancer center and is not a CIGNA in network doctor. The claim was denied and I was billed for $240. I was outraged, so I spoke to the doctor's office and the cancer center. Both said to relax; it would be taken care of; no problem. So I did relax until I got the second bill yesterday. I called the doctor's office again and got the same story. No, he's not a CIGNA doctor, but yes, he's contracted with the cancer center. She will resubmit it with a special note on it and it will get paid. I reminded her that we had exactly the same conversation about five weeks ago. She kept repeating herself like a robot. I hung up and called CIGNA. I got a wonderful customer service rep who immediately reprocessed it and said, Voila, PAID! Amazing. I should have called him back in February. He said this often happens with radiologists, pathologists, and anaesthesiologists who are often contracted out. As long as I have my work initiated by a CIGNA doctor and done in a CIGNA center, it will be paid, but it often first gets denied. The CIGNA rep said if/when it happens again, just call and they'll fix it. How nice.

Mark's problem is totally different. I'd like to say it's unique, but he's actually read of similar problems online now. As of January 1, 2011, we both switched to new policies. I took the CIGNA husband/wife policy offered by Baltimore County; he took the federal Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan in Florida. Both require that we go to in network providers, but that is not a problem for us. The problem now is that he had some doctor visits in January in Maryland and a visit to the new doctor down here in March. None of them have been paid because both CIGNA and BC/BS are waiting for the other to pay first. Both insurances say they are the secondary. HUH? When Mark had two policies before (my Carefirst BC/BS of MD and his federal HMO MDIPA), his fed policy was the primary and mine was the secondary. They determined this by whose birthday came first. His is in March, while mine is in August, so his is primary. (I never really thought that was a particularly good reason, but whatever...) When he got the new insurances, he assumed it went the same way, so he told both the doctors when he went in that the BC/BS was primary and CIGNA was secondary. Now no one will pay anything. According to the federal policy, because Mark is retired and has other coverage (my CIGNA), his fed policy is secondary. My CIGNA people say that because I'm the policy holder and he is my dependent, CIGNA is his secondary. Well, come ON people! Somebody has to step up and claim him!! We are still waiting to hear back from both companies. I'll keep you posted.

I had my last big field radiation treatment today. Tomorrow I will start the boosts, which are directly to the site of the tumor. I still have to have an ultrasound before it each one of those, but then it's just one field instead of two that gets radiation. It takes slightly less time because of that. There will be 5 of these and then I'm truly DONE!

Because when I finish next Wednesday, it is Passover, I can't go out to eat at a nice restaurant to celebrate. I can't go to a bar and have a drink to toast my accomplishment either. So, I'm trying to think how I can celebrate and mark the end of treatment. Today I told Mark I could go to a jewelry store and buy myself something nice and expensive and charge it to his credit card, but he didn't seem to like that idea. LOL Any ideas on how I should celebrate and mark the end of my cancer treatments? I'll be all done. I'll be a survivor. I'll be on pills for five years, have regular CT scans, mammograms, PET scans, doctor's visits, blood tests, etc. that go with being a survivor. You're never really done looking for the insidious beast to rear its ugly head again. Still, it's a big milestone and I want a celebration. Any ideas will be welcome.

A good Weigh-In

I knew I was being reasonable this week in my eating, better than the last few weeks, although I could have done better at exercising Unfortunately yesterday, we didn't even get to the gym because of a hold up at the radiation center. My appointments are for 3:15. I normally arrive at 3:05, get called back about 3:13, and walk out at 3:30. Yesterday they had computer problems and extra people trying to make up appointments, so they didn't call me back until 4:35 and I left at 4:55. Crazy! Then the traffic was so much worse by then that I didn't get home until 5:40. Neither Mark nor I felt like going up to the gym at that point! Still, this morning I weighed 246, a loss of three pounds. This is a loss for two weeks in a row, so I hope I can keep the streak going!

Mark built another big bookshelf yesterday for the dining room. I emptied the older, smaller cabinet in there, piling everything up on the dining room table. I had planned to put the books back into the new shelf, plus empty the last two boxes that are still in the dining room, but I pooped out after I got back from the radiation. So this morning, I will load that shelf up and it should look great. We moved the smaller shelf into the family room, near the TV, so after the last DVD tower is built, anything left in those 6 boxes can go on that other shelf. Oh, it's all coming together. My immediate goal is to get all of the boxes out of the "public" rooms before our friend Frank gets here next Monday. That will mean Mark still has to build the two dressers for the bedroom so he can clear the floor space in there, and he still has the boxes in the den to empty. Still, the rest of the rooms will be DONE by the end of this week. Very exciting!!

Yesterday morning we were treated to a majestic sight in our back yard. Last summer, we had seen one big deer standing there. Last week, a big buck with huge antlers wandered up the hill and into the yard. He stood there looking like the Prince of the Forest for a few minutes before turning around and going back down into the woods. Well, this morning the prince brought the whole family up! The big buck and five does all slowly made their way up the hill to the edge of our backyard. They stood still for a few minutes, looking at the house, and then slowly made their way down the back yards of the houses to our left. We watched them silently until they were out of sight. It was beautiful!

The Fifth Dimension

Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr., members of The Fifth Dimension, gave an outstanding performance yesterday at Epcot's spring concert series. They opened with "Up, Up, and Away." It was nice to hear a lot of songs that we actually recognized! These two have been married for 41 years. It's nice to see an entertainment couple with a track record like that, too.

We walked, and walked, and walked yesterday at Epcot. My legs were tired when we got back to the car, so I hope I show a little weight loss tomorrow morning. I ate appropriately the last few days. I intend to behave myself today, as well. Soon we'll be heading up to the gym for our weight routines. What I have not been doing is walking every day like I used to two years ago when I started this weight loss project. I hope to get at least a 30 minute walk in today at some point.

This morning I had to go have a fasting blood draw, just a routine thing for the new primary care doctor, but my radiation oncologist is also asking for a copy of it. Hopefully all looks good. I'm usually concerned only about the cholesterol levels! For the first time we used Quest Diagnostics right here in our local neighborhood. They let you make appointments on their website, and it went very smoothly. Little by little we keep finding all the medical places we need.

Also this morning, we had our two ceiling fans/lights installed, one in the dining room and one in the living room. The man worked really hard and charged $175, which was $25 less than Home Depot would have charged. The company was great. They answered the phone promptly, gave us a quick day for the work, showed up on time today, and charged what was quoted on the phone. You can't ask for more than that. This company will definitely get our future electrical business. We got their name and number from a sticker on the circuit breaker box in our garage, so we were just hoping they were good. It turns out this company wired most of the homes in the community when they were being constructed, including our home. That gave us a good feeling, too.

It is going to be in the 90s and very humid here today. I can feel it already. For the first time, our A/C actually kicked on. We have not had to use heat or A/C most of the time that we have been here. Those days are over! LOL Actually this amount of heat is unusual here at this time of year. The news keeps calling it "record-breaking" and "unusual." We wouldn't know! LOL

Radiation is starting to wind down, and that's a good thing. Today begins my last full week of treatment. The whole thing ends next Wednesday. I have 3 more treatments to the whole area, and then 5 boosts just to the tumor site. My skin is pretty dark and speckly, but it is hanging in there OK. I am looking forward to being released from treatment next Wednesday and moving into the "follow up" stage. I'm also starting to think about how I can reward myself at the end of radiation. No meals out! It will be Passover. LOL

Disappointment

Our trip to the kosher "supermarket" was disappointing yesterday. I expected it to be small, but to have aisles, maybe carts, shelves, a cash register...NO. It had none of those things. It was a really small, one room affair without any of the above mentioned items. They had a few freezers, the kind you might put in your garage or basement in your home. One had some dairy items and one had frozen meat. They had one shelf of products. We were able to get the spaghetti sauce and salad dressing, so that was excellent. They did not have gravy or margarine. We ended up buying another jar of gefilte fish, some cakes and cookies, a tray of jell candies, a box of matzo ball soup mix, and two packs of muenster cheese. Then we drove back to the Publix that we had gone to on a previous day to get the turkey and some frozen TV dinners. It is clear now that in order to get everything we need for Passover next year, we will need to drive around to several stores. Each place that we visited (Whole Foods, Super Target, Kosher Kat's, and 3 different Publix) had something we wanted, but no single place had everything we wanted. We still expect to make a mail order tomorrow for margarine and gravy if we haven't waited too long to have it arrive in time. So this year was a learning experience for us. Another alternative for next year is to make a big trip to Miami and get everything. It's possible to drive down and back in the same day. If we took a few coolers to put the frozen and refrigerated items in, it might be worth it if all the shopping got done in one place on one day. Or we could go away for the whole week like last year! Another cruise, perhaps? A week at Rocky Gap? We'll see.

I was so tired yesterday after the morning drive up and back to Kosher Kat's followed immediately by driving up to radiation that I fell asleep as soon as I got home from the cancer center and slept THREE straight hours, from 4:15 to 7:15 p.m. Insane. I usually do not sleep that much during the day. It must be the radiation fatigue catching up to me. I also went to bed by 11 and slept very well right to 8 a.m. Amazing. I guess I needed the sleep.

Services were lovely at the synagogue this morning. They also announced that they have hired a rabbi, who will begin August 1. There had been four candidates, but we only saw one. The one we saw was the one they hired, so I guess we saw the best! Mark and I liked him a lot. He will graduate from the JTS in NY in May. His wife is pregnant with their second child, so she had not been able to come with him to FL when we saw him. I don't know when the baby is due, but I bet they will have a newborn when he starts in August. How nice for this little shul to have a young rabbi and his family start a career with them. We are looking forward to it.

We expect to go to the gym to do our weight routines today, and we plan to watch the Orioles play the Rangers this afternoon. Last night's game was rained out, so it's a double header today. It should be fun to watch. Hopefully, I won't sleep through it all!

More House Progress

Yesterday we got a few more projects accomplished in the house. I bought a lot of picture hanging hooks at Bed, Bath, and Beyond on Tuesday. So Wednesday I spent about an hour getting a dozen or so pictures up on the walls, which also meant up off the floors. I think it looks very nice! We also bought two ceiling fans with lights: a brown one for the dining room, a white one for the living room. The previous owners took the chandeliers that had been in those rooms with them. With all the craziness going on last year with us, when the agent called to say the owners were taking those two chandeliers (after the signed contract said they were leaving them), we didn't even have the presence of mind to demand something as replacements. So we got empty ceilings instead of light fixtures in those two rooms. I didn't like those chandeliers anyway, but I could probably have gotten ceiling fans in place of them. Oh, well...Mark had $125 in gift cards to Home Depot. Thanks to all of you who gave him those gift cards for holiday presents. We used them to buy the fans. Now I just need to find an electrician to get them installed ASAP. We had planned to have Home Depot do it until we found out it was $100 per fan. That seemed excessive since one fan cost $100 and the other was only $70. It didn't feel right to spent $200 on installation. I guess after I call some electricians today, I'll find out if this is a fair rate or not.

This post is going to be brief because soon we are heading out early to Kosher Kat's, the only kosher grocery store in the Orlando area. It will take about an hour and a half or so to get there. It will be worth the drive if they have all of the rest of the stuff we need for the holiday. I'll let you know.

Taxes, UGH

Today Mark is going to finish doing our taxes. It's a multi-day process, even using Turbo Tax, but I think today will be the last day. Sadly, his preliminary estimates show that we will have to pay about $2400. UGH. We lost our two big deductions: Evey and the home equity loan on the old house. We still have to pay the state of Maryland's income taxes because we were residents there for seven months. At least that will be over for 2011, but we both have to fill out papers to have more federal tax withheld from our retirement checks. Without the big deductions, the majority of this is going to the feds. Oh, well...at least it's not as bad as the year we had to pay penalties and quarterly taxes for not withholding enough.

My radiation oncologist yesterday said the all the red dots on my skin are a rash from dry skin. The radiation definitely dries it out. I put the prescription steroid cream on morning and night, but I don't think it's particularly moisturizing, although it does feel greasy. After the treatments I use the pure aloe gel, which is wet and sticky feeling until it dries. Then it feels like nothing was ever applied. I wish I could put some more traditional moisturizer creams on there, but I'm not allowed to because they have too many other chemicals in them. Oh, well...just six more of these treatments, then the five boosts and I'm done. As I predicted, he said take Advil and keep stretching! I took Advil with dinner and I just took some again with breakfast. I also used the oxycodone again at bedtime.

I will do my weight routine today. I never did walk yesterday, so I didn't do any exercise. I also snacked too much at night. UGH, again. Now I'm up another pound or two. The weather is MUCH nicer today, so in addition to the weights, I hope I get motivated enough to go out and take a walk. It's bright and sunny today. By Sunday it will be 90 and humid. Summer comes early in Florida!

Go O's!

The Orioles beat the Tigers yesterday, so they are now 4 wins, 0 losses. That is amazing. For the past few seasons they hardly ever won four games in a row, let alone at the start of the season. Lowell and Emily went to the game yesterday in Camden Yards with their friends Mason and Allison. I'm so glad they had great weather and a win. Go O's!!

Yesterday I said we would not drive around anymore looking for Passover food, but I guess I lied. After a long drive up to Altamone Springs, about an hour and 20 minutes, we found the Publix that was recommended to us. Yes, they had a pretty good Passover section. We found diet Coke! We also found diet Dr. Brown cream soda! Yay!! They had marshmallows, candy, and potato chips, too, but I did NOT get them! I did give in to two treats, two cans of macaroons and a box of chocolate covered matzo, for a little something sweet after the seder meals. Unbeknownst to me, Mark had already gotten artificial sweetener, and we learned that ground pepper does not need a special Passover marking as long as we buy it before Passover and open it during Passover for the first time.

Still, we needed margarine and spaghetti sauce, and then Mark remembered that he wanted salad dressing. Also he would be happy if he could find some sugar-free jelly or jam. We bought some apricot preserves, but they are not sugar free.

When we left, we thought we were going to order these things online, but I had an idea while we were driving home. We still had not driven to Kosher Kat's, the only kosher supermarket in this central Florida area. I called them on the phone. The man who answered was very pleasant. In fact, he is a friend of our friend who is coming down here for Passover, Frank. Frank had asked us several times to go there, but it's so far away we were trying to stay closer in. Now we are going there on Friday. I learned on the phone that he will have everything we want coming in a shipment on Thursday. How exciting! So Friday morning we will drive about an hour and a half to head just a little farther north than yesterday to Kosher Kat's. Hopefully we will be heading home that day with everything we need to finish our special Passover shopping.

I had radiation #21 yesterday. I'm noticing over two dozen little red dots on my skin, possibly small blisters. My skin is getting quite dark all over the left breast and up to my neck, actually. These dots just broke out yesterday morning. I'm also noticing more and more stiffness. In the morning when I get up, it is really hard to raise my arm up over my head. I do stretches on the wall now like I did after surgery. This is painful but necessary. Throughout the day I keep trying to stretch that arm. The somewhat painful feeling in my breast, especially along the left side under my arm, is there almost all the time now whether I move or not. It tends to improve as the day goes on, being the worst first thing out of bed in the morning, but it is annoying. I am not so uncomfortable that I am taking any Advil during the day for it. I did break down last night, though, and take oxycodone at bedtime. I slept well with that, but it still hurt when I got up this morning. There are only 7 more treatments to the whole area before moving on to the 5 boosts directly to the tumor site, so I just need to hang on for a little longer. Tuesday is my day with the doctor, so I'm curious to see what he will say about the red dots and the pain. He'll probably say stretch more and take Advil for the pain! Seriously, what else can he say? As for the blistery dots, he'll probably just say keep using the cream. So, I'll let you know tomorrow if my predictions are correct.

As for the Tuesday weigh-in, I was 249 this morning. That's down about a pound and a half from last Tuesday. I'm not excited because last Tuesday I was up, so I'm just see-sawing and basically staying the same. I had good days and bad days this week. Yesterday was a BAD day, so I'm surprised I wasn't up a lot more. My willpower is weak these days. All I can say is that today starts a new week, so I'll jump back on the wagon. I had four veggie sausage links (160 calories) and a low-fat, sugar-free yogurt (80 calories) for breakfast, along with three cups of black coffee. I plan to take a walk today because I have been neglecting that. So far, it's dark and stormy out, but it's supposed to be short-lived. I think I'll be able to walk outside later on, or I can go to the indoor track.

The Last Day for...

driving an hour to look for Passover food. After today, we are ordering anything else we need online. The main things we'd like to find today are margarine, ground black pepper, artificial sweetener, and either tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce. Mark doesn't eat good pasta all year, but on Passover he always craves the really BAD Passover noodles. LOL It would be nice if we could find some Passover sodas, but we can always make iced tea.

We are ordering the seder dinner online. It serves 12 and we will be 3. Do the math! We are eating that dinner for four nights, the first two nights and the last two nights. Ha Ha!! Hopefully Frank is OK with that. We are keeping the rest of the menus simple, so the rest of the ingredients are fresh vegetables, matzo, eggs, fish, and meat. We have the obligatory five pound pack of matzos and the frozen, Kosher for Passover meat. The rest is easy to pick up at the last minute locally. We are NOT buying any of the things that usually jump into my basket at Seven Mile Market: marshmallows, candies, potato chips, macaroons, cookies and pastries, etc. Since they are not here, it's easy to skip buying them. Thank Goodness!

I am happy to report that Evey had a spectacular day on her birthday yesterday. She has posted some beautiful pictures on Facebook and her journal/blog. I might try to snatch a few pictures from there and post them here, if I can figure out how to do it. If I have her permission, I'll give out her blog url, but I don't want to do it without her permission. Sorry. Trust me, she had a BLAST, surrounded by her fiance and their California friends, lots of presents, and a Mickey-head-shaped chocolate birthday cake.

Lowell and his girlfriend Emily are going to the Orioles' opening day game in Baltimore today. I am excited for them. I really hope the Orioles win! The O's swept the Tampa Bay Rays in their three game series down here. They are off to a great start for the season.

Mark and I had a great time going to their stadium, Tropicana Field, yesterday. There are a few pictures of that here. Larry King, of "Larry King Live," threw out the first pitch. We had great seats, too. We enjoyed it so much that we went to the box office when it was over and bought two tickets in the same section for a game against the Angels on May 1. It was an easy two hours and 10 minutes drive down there on easy, scenic roads. Also, parking was easy to get and close to the stadium if you arrive an hour early like we did. Mark had fish and chips for his lunch while I had a garden burger and fries for mine. There was also pizza and cheese quesadillas as other choices for us. There's a museum in there that we did not have time to go to this time, but maybe next time we'll allow time to go through it. All in all, we had a great day.

Well, time to turn off the computer and the TV and head up to Altamonte Springs Publix for our last ditch effort at Passover shopping. This particular Publix has been recommended to us by some of the synagogue members. It used to be a store called Albertson's. Now that sounds Jewish, right? I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes. Of course, radiation #21 is this afternoon. I'm noticing more stiffness and a little soreness in the area. I think that's to be expected, and so far it's not terrible.

Have a great day and keep your fingers crossed for an Oriole win!!

Happy Birthday, Evey!

Today is my daughter's 24th birthday. Happy Birthday, Evey!

She is back in California with her fiance, Eric. I'm sure they are going out to dinner or doing something else special for the occasion. We sent her some presents, so she'll be opening them later today. I wish her everything wonderful for today and forever.

Mark and I have some special plans ourselves today. In just a few hours we are driving to the Gulf Coast, to St. Petersburg/Tampa. We have tickets to see the Baltimore Orioles play the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. The last two nights the Orioles beat the Rays as we watched at home on TV. This afternoon, we are hoping they sweep this opening series with another win. That would be so much fun!

Years ago, we took Lowell with us to a game at Trop Field. We had a great time at the game, and I always enjoyed it when we got to do something with Lowell by himself. Since we were on vacation with the whole family, including Mark's mom, Bernice, it meant leaving Grandma B and Evey back at the hotel. They stayed in our room at Coronado Springs in Walt Disney World because they were not interested in baseball. Evey was probably 10 or so at the time. The two of them had to go to the restaurant together for dinner that night without us. It was a restaurant that we had been in before at Coronado Springs since it was a food court and the main place to eat if you stayed there. All they had to do was walk down there and use their room cards to get a dinner. This was when we found out that Bernice had never gone to a restaurant by herself, or as the grownup in charge, and ordered dinner. She said she was not sure she could do it. Mark and I both were shocked. So we told Evey to be the "grown up" and take care of her grandmother in the restaurant! Evey seemed quite up to the task. As far as we know, they had a good time together in the restaurant.

I hope it's a lovely spring day wherever you are today. It's sunny and in the 80s here again, but Trop Field is a completely closed in ballpark. I guess the air conditioning will be running and the sun will NOT be in our eyes! Ha ha!! No need to worry about using sun screen when you go there, even for the afternoon games like today.

Lovely day

Several people have asked about my hair. I guess there haven't been any pictures lately that show exactly how much hair I have. I'm beyond the peach fuzz phase. I still feel very, very soft, like Evey's bunny. It's still fun to rub my hands over the soft hair. I included a couple pictures that I took of myself this morning before we headed out for our errands. I hope this can give you an idea of how I look now. I included a picture of me with a completely bald head from December as well as the picture of me in the salon the day I had my hair cut right before the first chemo. Quite a few changes!

We left the house around 10 a.m. this morning. First we went to the local Farmer's Market for some fruits and veggies, but mostly to buy tickets to a show. Our Solivita Show Choir group is called the Starliters. They are having their big spring show the Sunday before Passover, so we bought our tickets. I had a nice time talking to the two of them about the group. They have auditions in August, so this year is out. We are hardly here at all in August, but maybe during the summer of 2012 I'll go out for the group.

Then we went to the gym for our weight routines. Thanks to Evey, I think Mark and I are both working more efficiently on the machines. We do them slower and at the right height. I also added a machine for my legs that she recommended. Mark added that one also. It's good to have an ATC in the family!

Another run to IKEA followed the exercises. I needed to get seat cushions for the dining room chairs. I got them in 3 colors: two white, two blue, two gray. I thought it would look fun! We also had a delicious veggie chili and lemon pepper tilapia lunch while we were there. IKEA's restaurant is cheap and delicious! I highly recommend it if you have one near you.

Next we went back to the Super Target near IKEA. We still need Passover margarine and either tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce. No luck. We picked up some fresh kosher chicken breasts for the next few weeks, but nothing for Passover. On Monday we are going to make some phone calls to a few places. If they don't have what we want, then we will have to resort to mail order for the final things we need for the holiday.

Radiation treatment number 20 was next on the agenda. No problems there. Of course, when I got home, I forgot, AGAIN, to put my aloe gel on the skin. I just remembered now as I was typing the blog. Ah, now I have shmeared the gel on. It's cool going on, then sticky drying up. It doesn't smell real great either, so it's not the best part of the day. Hopefully it's helping prevent dry skin and other radiation related problems.

As we drove home from the cancer center, Mark was looking in his iPhone for recipes to use the Guavaberry liqueur that he bought in St. Martin. He found several, but we didn't have all the ingredients for any of them. A quick stop at Publix took care of that. I'm now sipping a "Dances with Wenches," which includes the liqueur, sugar free cranberry juice, and lemon juice over ice. It's delicious!

Mark is busy making Moroccan Chicken and Vegetables from a recipe we picked up at the health food store. The kitchen smells spectacular while he is working. It's a pleasure to sit at the kitchen table and type this blog while he cooks. He just put the TV on for a baseball game. The Tampa Bay Rays are playing the Baltimore Orioles right now! It's opening day for them. We're going on Sunday to see them, but right now it's on the TV. Such fun!

I have had two days in a row of being careful on my diet and exercising regularly. I have dropped back to 246.5, so I'm pretty happy. Today's calories will be a lot higher than usual due to lunch out, but I think I'll be OK. Nothing really counts until Tuesday anyway. LOL