Fort's Cancer Sux!!

I thought the nervous anticipation of this post should be loosened up a bit. I took this picture just up the street where they're doing construction on Winton road. Hilarious.

Since this past Friday, things have just keep getting crazier in my life. Three big things pretty much occupying every waking second of my life when Im not at work....

Last Friday they put my grandma, Marie into Hospice. She hasnt been doing well for the last few months. Having trouble eating, and loosing a lot of weight. She was surrounded by family all weekend and died Sunday evening. I was in Athens for most of the weekend for Rugby Alumni but was able to see her Sunday evening when I got home which was nice, although I have to be honest, I did feel guilty for leaving all weekend, but I really hated seeing her in that condition. I think everyone did. There are few things more awful to see than an elderly person without their teeth, mouth wide open and completely out of it. She just looked miserable and im relieved that she's out of pain and playing with JP.
Of course Friday I had my blood work and PET scan so maybe thats why I just felt like I needed to get out and have some fun. I knew the results werent going to be good. Ive had pretty bad hip/bone pain for the last three weeks or so even though I kind of knew it would be bad, once Monday rolled around, Ill admit it. I was really scared.

Dr Romers nurse called me Monday (which was really early - I was thinking it would be Tuesday or Wednesday) my Tumor Marker went up from like 87 to 127 (which, keep in mind, is still half as low as it was a year ago) but as for the PET scan.....ouch. Not too good at all. A lot of bone progression....hips, femur, spine, shoulders, etc. But the good news is that there was no involvement in the kidneys, spleen, liver, lungs, brain. He also said that sometimes the cancer will make a home in the bones and not leave for a long time. It likes a good bone apparently. Who doesnt?

So anyway....I say to make me an appt ASAP - the following day. Tuesday at 1020a. Im there. I decided Sunday that in light of grandmother passing, I wouldnt say anything to my mom about this until next week, after the funeral. I told some friends, and Angie begged to let her go with me, "because someone needs to listen to the doctor" and "Someone needs to write things down"....blah blah blah. Shes right. Everyone knows Im about as attentive as a 2nd grade t-baller in left field when I go to these appointments. but I told her I wanted to go it alone.

Then I talked to my mom.

"Did you get the results back yet?"

"No, I told you, I think It will be Wednesday"

"Are you lying?" My mom doesnt have to make angry accusations when she thinks im lying. She knows that all she has to do is ask and Ill come clean.

"ok, they called. I have an appointment tomorrow at 1020"

She asked why I didnt tell her and I told her I just didnt want to upset her, especially this week. She said she's been making herself sick waiting for Wednesday and she would have been more pissed if I hadnt said anything at all...and lets face it, I cant lie, and Im glad I told her.

I called ang and she said she wanted to go....I was on the fence until she offered to pick me up and take me. I cant pass up an offer like that with the gas prices the way they are!!!
So she picked me up around 930 and we met mom at Romers where we got the news. They said they could fit me in at 1p for chemo and so we went out for lunch and I came back. Mom and Ang ran some errands and I got started.

Of course the chemo nurses were all great - Joni and I got back into our usual, inappropriate treatment room conversations and behavior:
This is what I look at during treatment:
And this is my IV pole - AYE CARUMBA!!! More bags than ever! Is it wrong that I was looking at everyone elses IV pole and making sure that I had more bags of chemo than everyone else? Always the competitor:
Actually, I think a few of those were saline. One of my drugs burns when it goes in, so they add some saline to dilute it a little bit, but it still burned.

Sadly, though, I was again approached about this "Situation" about my ovaries. As many of you DONT know, my period did in fact come back a few months ago. My "Secret plan" was to try and get pregnant and if it happened, THEN we would deal with it.

But with all of this going on, Romer brought it up again. He told me wanted to have them removed and add another chemo...but they had to be gone. He asked me how I felt about it and I just sat there. Becaused If I talked, I would cry, and I have this "thing" about crying in front of my mom....or anyone else for that matter.

So he took the reins again and explained that this was the only way we could really "Throw the whole kitchen sink at this thing" and lets face it, pregnancy hormones would be like dumping gasoline on the match of my cancer. So I discussed it with John and I think thats what we're going to do. I mean, we just need to get back in that whole "rah-rah foster care" mentality and I think we'll be fine.

We didnt take the classes in the fall because he was coaching rugby, now Im coaching volleyball, so after the season is over we'll revisit it. No biggie.

After chemo was finally over around 4p, we all headed over to see Shrek at "The Greene" in Beavercreek/Kettering. What the hell! Has anyone been to this place? I asked my dad who the mayor was of The Greene. I mean, you have to see this place, its rediculous. Or dont go. A lot of snobby, expensive stores that I couldnt shop in if i wanted to.

Shrek the Third was good, although I think the second one is my favorite. I was excited because I heard Amy Sedaris was going to be one of the voices of the princesses, and I couldnt even tell which one she was!!! I was expecting it to be the voice of Jerri Blank from Strangers but it was unrecognizable. Oh well.

Then we headed over to Adobe Gilas for dinner and a few drinks. I had 2 margaritas but I had to keep chugging the water. One of the chemos im on is a real killer on the kidneys - ive got to drink TWO 2-liters of water a day to keep it properly flushed at all times.

You know whats funny? I always bitched and moaned that chemo NEVER made me loose ANY weight....and whadda ya know, now Ive got to chug water all day so Ill probably start losing weight because of that.>rolling eyes

Ok - now what you've all been waiting for...the Rugby Alumni recap.

First of all, this weekend was made most exciting my Stacy's find: Rooms available at Bromley Hall. For those of you not famillar to Athens, Bromley hall is an old hotel that has been turned into an upperclassman dorm. Apparently theres a block of rooms, 6 or so, that can be booked for alumni if the university hasnt put guests in there first.

This was a huge score and we could not stop talking about it before or during alumni weekend. Statements like, "Hey, can you belive we're staying in Bromley?" or comments to others at the party, "Hey, did we tell you we're staying in Bromley?"

I guess this is such a huge deal because at this point, we have no friends that still live in town and close to the bars. Amy is 15 min out and Bacon got deported. So we were screwed. We did have a hotel but it meant taking cabs, which isnt THAT big of a deal but NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING compares to the joy of a short walk back to a bed with clean sheets. I mean....NOTHING.

As Stetson reminded me in the Gift Shop: "I mean, Fort. Its Bromley......LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION"

We got in Friday night and made our way to the Cats Eye of course, and saw some famillar faces. Jon Watts, Simmons, Matt Hess, Richie Ohms and a gaggle of ruggers from the 70's who started showing up a few years ago. The crowd was thinned considerably due to Leary being in Iraq, Casey staying home because of the National Tournament in CA in a few weeks, and THREE count em, THREE idiot alumni who planned their weddings on Alumni Weekend....i mean.....WHAT in GODS NAME WERE YOU THINKING! Im so over it.

We had a great time...and like I explained to Kristen, I just want to sit at the same bar, drinking the same coors pounders, with the same people, making fun of the same people, telling the same stories, over and over and over again.

Friday night we also got another surprise - the after party was going to be at 24 MONTROSE.....next door to 28 Montrose, the best rugby party house ever! Stacy, Jami and I all lived there our Junior year. This house was great. Just standing by it made Stacy and I so excited she could hardly contain her self......(thats 28 Montrose behind us)

Saturday we headed to the pitch. I brought my cleats but didnt play because my legs were a little sore, and I didnt think we'd even end up playing....although Stacy, Alisa and Kristen all played - heres some footage of the pitch after the womens game followed by post game interviews of the girls:

I would have to admit that the highlight of the afternoon was our friend Lytle discussing his new obsession with ripping phone books. Its a long story about how he got into it, and unless you've met this guy, you have no idea how delivery affects a story. Although some of his finer points of ripping phonebooks cant be repeated...theres just no way to explain how funny it was. I wish I could. Of couse upon arrival at the afterparty, someone provided him with a catalog of some sort - still a minor feat, although not a Columbus sized phonebook - and he begrudingly went to work on it. Thats my husband John standing next to him, clearly amused:

The highlight of the evening though, was getting to see 28 Montrose again. We stood outside at the party and I kept poking Stacy...

"Hey! Lets go knock on the door and get a tour!"

"Im not NEARLY drunk enough yet"

I thought that was a lame answer, but I waited patiently. About 8 beers later, I approached her again, and she caved. I grabbed her by the arm and speed walked to the front door. There were no lights on so it didnt look good.

Stacy jiggled the handle, knocked on the door. No answer. One shoulder pop by stacy and we were in. Im not one for breaking and entering, but it was 28 for Christ's sake! Stacy yelled,

"Foooort......STAAAACCCYYY" Partly to wake up anyone inside, partly as a cover that we were looking at friends, and partly to just amuse me since she was hollering for people who hadnt lived there in EIGHT YEARS.....and we were those people.

Definitely men living there. We walked up stairs. My old door was locked, stacys wasnt. We walked in, looked around, stacy went to the bathroom and we ran out. I left the light on and everyone told me to go turn it off. About a half hour later, the lights were back on, and I grabbed stacy by the arm and told her we were "Going back in!"

We jumped back onto the porch only to see some girl passed out on the couch. We waited a while and finally saw some dude walk by. We knocked. He answered.

"Hey!" we said, "we used to live here!...mind if we have a look around?"

The guy is like, "Yeah sure! Help yourself! I dont live here though."
Upon further investigation, we found out that this guy was from Manhattan visiting a friend, and this house was his brothers friends cousins brothers house or something.

But we were still "Cool to look around" .....super.

Then a young man skipped down the stairs, about 10 minutes out of the tanning bed. He happily obliged in giving us a tour of the rooms that werent locked, we busted into stacys old room and took this picture:
What was funny is that the kid who actually lived in that room was there, lying in bed, talking on the phone, as we loudly chatted with mystery 28 montrose man about "old times"...Im sure he wanted us to get the hell out, but of course, it felt like we were letting THEM into OUR place. It really did.

Heres some more random party pics: Below- A game called "Spoons" Ive already typed too much....let me just give you this piece of advice: If someone asks you to play spoons, say "NO".

Me, Carl, Andy, Aaron & Stacy:


Random Party Fun:


Wine Cooler Chugs:

Our rugby alumni shirts for the past three years always say on the front: "Back to the Cats Eye"......but what could just as easily say, is "Back to Souflakis". Many of you know I worked for Souflakis for a few years while I was in Athens. Hazem started running the place right around the time I quit and when I worked there, we did not get along!! at all! I dont know when everything changed, but we're good buddies now. And going to Athens and NOT going into Souflakis is NOT ALLOWED!

Nothing washes down a night load of draft beer like a Beef & Lamb Gyro or a Grilled Chicken pita with spicy fries and (for stacy) an Egg Roll. Stacy talks about Souflaki Egg Rolls as if they were a fine delicacy that should be reviewed in Bon Appitit. For Real. So good!!

Heres me with Hazem and his wife Faryel. Good people! Miss you guys!

Jami- these pictures are for you - check out JEFF HILL! its grassed! and look! Its the 28 montrose kitchen!!
Of course Dave Leary made his apperances from Iraq - looking forward to July when he's home for good!



Here are the alumni men expressing to Casey how much they miss him: (IF YOU HAVE YOUNG CHILDREN, TURN THIS DOWN!)