Mess, Sweet Mess. -

Scrapbook Mountain February Crop 2008.

Im not going to get to into this as I am sick with a pretty bad sinus infection. I was sick most of the weekend blowing my nose and going to bed early so I hardly got ANYTHING done. I worked a little on my college scrapbook and did maybe 10-12 pages. It was a far cry from the momentum I had last November. This year we were back in the auxillary room where I was the very first time I came here. Back then I thought that we were the JV scrapbookers. Varsity was in the gym. This year, J-Mac said it was the V.I.P room, "without the bottles of vodka on the table:
The room had a chalkboard, which was fun. Stacy went to the bathroom, came in, and didnt notice anything on the board:
Aunt Helen supplied her group of 20 or so with matching pajamas - here's your favorite OU croppers:
And heres how we really felt about all the picture taking:
Here's the group picture. There were about 12 cameras laying on the table and about 4 women picking them up and randomly snapping pics. Luckly, I noticed mine getting picked up and excitedly said, "Oh, Oh, smile! Thats my camera!" so I think I got a good number of ladies not to look away. But I wasnt 100% of course. Jan seems bitter about something!

Can see her? Here you go!
Well, Im home, I havent even unpacked the car yet, Im tired as all get out because I didnt get great sleep because I was on the top bunk and I had to crawl down and go to the bathroom everytime I needed to blow my nose aftr I blew my nose in the dark and I heard somone have a full body convulsion since it was so loud.

I feel crappy. I need to get rid of this or they wont put my port in....or worse, they wont give me chemo. My sinuses have been a real sore spot for what seems like months. I did the nasal irrigation twice when I got home, and im going to take some tylenol cold/sinus right now. I dont know if I should even try antibiotics...they havent seemed to work for me the last few times Ive taken them.

Anybody have any suggestions for sinus issues? My nose is RAW.

Nite!

"The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity I need. My name in print. That really makes somebody. Things are going to start happening to me now! "

- Navin R. Johnson

I totally thought of this when Brent informed me that "Forts Cancer Sux" actually has had enough google hits that it "prompts" you if you search it. So if you type "Forts C", it will give you the rest. Because I demand nothing but the best assistance for my blog seekers. Either that or Jami hasnt figured out to save it as a favorite and is googling it everyday:

I dont have much to add except something I already discussed over email today.

CINCINNATI: Home of the unnecessarily long local weather coverage.

Is it necessary to pull GMA for THREE FULL HOURS of LOCAL weather coverage? Seriously? Hey Derick, you said it would be like this last night. I looked out the window, saw the endless scroll of school closings and could have very well guessed that the roads weren’t great. If we gotta go to work, we gotta go to work. I need at least 15 min of Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer to get going. I don’t give a $hit about your live coverage from Turfway Road and blow by blow information about how iced up the on-the-scene reporters umbrella got.

All Im saying is that when you take up 30% of the screen with a lower left hand live action doppler radar, and two separate ticker scrolls of closings, time and temp on the right, YOU DO NOT NEED AN ALL MORNING BROADCAST TO STATE THE OBVIOUS!!! I love these gals:

We're not big fans of local news in general, and so it just annoying when they get all jacked up over a little snow & ice. And thats just cutting into GMA! Dont even get me started when they hog up 20 min over a line of thunderstorms.

Well, I think its settled. Im scrapbooking "The College Years" this weekend at scrapbook mountain. I was thinking about doing high school, and I just didnt feel inspired. I havent really gotten excited about the College Years yet - Ive looked at those pictures a gazillion times! Luckly Ill have Stacy, Jami & Alisa there to help me out with names and events to journal. Ill just need to get going and Ill get excited. I havent really had time to do any prep work ahead of time, so we'll see how much I get done. I may start some sorting/cropping tomorrow and Thursday but dont expect a repeat of november!

Well, theres still a mountain of dishes and we're tag teaming them right now....

THROWDOWN IN FINNEYTOWN 2008

Im not going to write much because the photos speak for themselves....I tried to get a shot of each team but fell short by a few teams. Sorry all! Thanks to those who brought goodies to share with jmac's chicken and ham. Everything was great! Here we are(above), Firebird Nation, playing our first and only match. We were taken down by the "Cadets" (Patty & Dan). I cant say either of us really tried that much. you dont want to win your own tournament, and its actually kind of nice to not care for the rest of the night! Oh yeah, and we're kinda lousy at beer pong.

Ut-Oh! Look who it is! Fort's Imports - back for another shot to regain their 2007 Championship title. But it wasnt to be. Team Punishment knocked them out in the first round.

Here's Jensen of "Team Punishment"....Eva was his partner, but I didnt get a team shot of those two. I think Team Punishment got knocked out in the next round though.
The garage was a happenin' but cold place, as it was last year. My parents asked why we have all these fall/winter parties where everyone is inside. We do have a big backyard, but anyone at this party will attest to the fact that the kelts are hands down the loudest drinkers in the tri-state area. Its best to keep this group surrounded by four walls if we want to keep the neigbors from calling the cops.
"Team Bacardi" (Tracy & Ross)....knocked out by Pong-a-long-a-ding-dong in the first round.
The Soldiers! My cousin Andy (left) and his buddy Alex came down from Springfield and represented well, knocking out "Perfect Strangers" (my brother Nick and co-worker Ray) in the first round. The success wouldnt last though, and they were done in the second round.
Team "Beauty and the Geek" en route to losing to team "Seal the Deal" (Tony and Pauly).
Here they are, the team that brought a dynasty down: The Cadets (Patty & Dan)
Now, while all the games are being played in the basement and the garage, all but eight people have to find something to pass the time. Filley Jr. and some of the Kelts created "Beer Case Armor" complete with sword and shield in the kitchen:

This was the only shot I had of the Brackets....and youcant even read it very well. We spent more time working on these brackets than we did on any aspect of preparation for this party. Jmac drew the names, and I drew up the banner:

Team "Blame Canada" - taken out by "Team Bono Sucks" in the first round:

What do you do when the keg runs out before the tournament is over? Send out the sober pregnant lady and and super strong, strapping young lad to the rescue!
(FYI: Nick's outfit is the one half of team Perfect Strangers. I named them that just becuase they didnt know each other, but it turns out, Nick wanted to dress like Balki, suspenders and an novelty tee. It actually worked out because his teammate Ray, is from Chicago, Just like Cousin Larry!) We were singing the Perfect Strangers theme song all day after looking it up on youtube:

Once the keg was kicked, the Potpourri O'Beer took over. (there were about 5 beers left this AM)
The "Richie Valens Fan Club" represents:
Dont even ask:

They guys on Team Bono Sucks really hate Bono:
"The Teabaggers": Darian & Kevin drove all the way from Michigan to get knocked out in the second round:
This vest is worthy of a second look:
Teabaggers breakin it down in the basement!
J-Mac wore his dad's old basketball referee jersey. To say it fit snugly would be an understatement.


Trace, Ang & I:

Pong-A-Long-A-Ding-Dong: (Ang & Rachel) survived till the Final Four!
Team "Seal the Deal" Paul & Tony - Final Four achievers, only to be beat by "Running with Scissors"

Bono Sucks - my predicted team to win. I didnt know of any team entered that takes drinking games more seriously. This wasnt a recreational event. This was business, and business was good until......
Team Running with Scissors (Amy & Chris) walked away with the Championship (and the banner). I couldnt even watch the championship match...it was too stressful. Way to go guys & gals!
Oh yeah! Then this dude showed up in a drunken stupor and basically face-planted into the basement floor....twice. Folks, alcohol and concrete can be a dangerous mix. This gentleman was later given the helmet Bill had on for obvious reasons. (Yes he is fine) This one had me a little worried, but he was being well looked after and was taken home by cab. Other than my cousin getting bit by someone (WTF??) and Nick cutting himself while getting into the ham, no other injuries were sustained. And oh my oh my, how the beer pong tournaments leave our house an ABSOLUTE DISASTER. We've probably done about 20% of the cleaning that needs to be done and the house still reeks of stale beer.


John was up until 4 am waiting for the last people to leave, and I was out by 1am. He slept in pretty late and I went to UDF for the Sunday paper and some donuts. Get this: There are reeeely slim pickins at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon in the krispy creme case, so I grab a bag and start pulling out what I like, (Devilsfood & blueberry cake) and what John likes, (chocolate covered creme filled). There was a girl approaching the case. I took the last bavarian creme and went for one of the white cremes, she was kind of hovering and must have made me nervous and as I was pulling out the white creme donut, my hand hit the rack and I DROPPED IT ON THE FLOOR!!!

When I went to pick it up to throw it away, she leans in real quick and reaches her hand into the case and quickly snatches up the last one!!! I just rolled my eyes. Im often faced with the viceral need to punch unnecessarily competitive people in the face, but I always walk away. (fun competitive is OK - Being nasty is NOT.)

Thanks to all who showed up! Another great weekend. Now get your butts back here and clean this place up.

Surgery Cancelled on Friday

due to REDONKULOUS irony.

First things first. My port surgery has been cancelled for Friday morning for what I can only explain as the BIGGEST MEDICAL OFFICE IRONY I have encountered to date.


Two weeks ago when the scheduled my port placement, Miss A from Dr. X's office called. They needed me to fax a copy of my drivers license and a copy of my insurance card. Did it lickety split. They then needed for me to "swing by the office" located at kettering hospital and fill out all the preliminary paper work. For some reason I HAD to be there for this to take place.

I said that I had chemo two days later and I could probably swing in before five at the end of the day. But the chemo treatment lasted a little longer than I thought and there was no way I was going to make it in with time to fill out all this paper work. I wasnt sweatin' it though. I had PLENTY of surgeries and each one I filled out all the paper work the day of the procedure.

Miss X and I play phone tag a few more times during the week, she calls trying to find out when I can come in and my last message to her was this, "Hey Miss A! Im so sorry we're having a hard time connecting. Im not trying to avoid you. As you know, I work in Cincinnati and there is NO time during normal business hours that I can get up there. I take enough time off for appointments and chemo related sickness that I cant really afford to take a half day off to fill out this paperwork. We're just going to have to find another way to accomplish this. Fax me the form, email me the form, whatever. I will fill it out, fax it scan it, email it, WHATEVER YOU NEED ME TO DO, but I cannot make it up to Dayton before Friday."

Miss A calls me after work today and informs me that I HAVE to be there to fill out this preliminary paperwork (Um, Yeah - I have Breast Cancer and Im not allergic to shit, thats all you need to know. Sure sure, I read your HIPAA waiver, where do I sign, blah blah blah) "AND I KNEW from the beginning this is what was expected of me blah blah blah."


I say, "But you cant just FAX me or EMAIL ME the form and I cant JUST FAX IT OR EMAIL it BACK TO YOU???"

"No Ma'am, our system SCANS these forms and you have to fill them out here."

WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?

Im still actually willing to give this woman the benefit of doubt....maybe this some kind of magical machine that only reads handwriting from the fresh ink of a warm pen. Who frigging knows. THE IRONY OF THIS DELIMMA IS THAT THEIR PROCESS IS SOOOOO ADVANCED THAT THEY ACTUALLY HAVE A MACHINE THAT SCANS DOCUMENTS AND IS SO COMPLETELY HIGH-TECH THAT IM REQUIRED TO TAKE A HORSE AND BUGGY AND SHOW UP IN PERSON TO THEIR OWN INKWELL TO START THE PROCESS.

Now, Im a complete tard when it comes to computers, but let me guess here? Even if I scanned the document and sent it to you and the PDF file I sent it to you in was NOT compatible with your high-tech system, couldnt you, just couldnt you just print the mother effer out and THEN Scan it into your system AS IF I FILLED IT OUT THERE IN PERSON????

Good Grief! Am I taking crazy pills here? SOMEBODY in the medical profession PLEASE explain what process would be that dependant on the registree showing up to fill out the redundant medical history form??? Im open to explainations here, she just didnt do a good job of it.

THEN, Im all, >insert loud frustrated sigh here< "Well, what if I came up there tomorrow morning and filled it all out?"

She's all, "Oh, there's no way I could finish the pre-cert in time for your Friday appointment." (she's had my medical card for A WEEK NOW)

So thats it. I lost my appointment for Friday. I was also supposed to have some sort of heart scan that after noon but Im going to have to cancel that because Im not coming up for just that. Ill have to reschedule that one.

Luckly I dont have chemo for another two weeks, so I have time to have the procedure done, but I can tell you it WONT be Dr. X's office making a sweet dime off my insurance policy!

Now I have to see if Romers office can schedule me somewhere at Bethesda in Cincinnati becuase that was simply REDONKULOUS.

Im not trying to be difficult, but last year, of my two weeks vacation and one week sick/personal days, ALL THREE WEEKS were taken for Dr. Appt's and chemo related sickness. Our weekend at the in-laws in NC at Thanksgiving was the closest thing we had to a vacation and it would be nice if I could salvage ANY DAYS for something other than a Drs appointment this year. We havent been on a real vacation since we went to Florida two summers ago!

In happier news, Ive been kind of working on a diet for this "Biggest Loser" competition Ive been in and I am now teetering just above and below 200 lbs! I havent been under 200 since college. Everything is fitting better and Im pumped.

I havent really been doing anything other than cutting out Red Meat and pork (and fast food) and for the first time really watching my sodium intake. Is absolutely AMAZING how much sodium is in soups and a lot of these frozen lunches we take to work. One can of soup in our pantry looks innocent enough, right?

But look! 1740mg of SODIUM!!! Did you know that the reccomended daily allowance is at 3000mg??? And thats one of the higher numbers Ive seen! Since I started paying attention to the sodium intake, Im wondering if that is why things are fitting better, Im retaining less water. Also, Ive had issues with REEEELY high blood pressure in the last few months, so this is something I should have been doing a long time ago.

And for your addtional public service announcement for today, you can find tips HERE for reducing your sodium intake.

The "Cousin Eddie" Theory of Wellness.

The last two weeks have been pretty much achy with a side of stiffness. I dont know if its the new chemo or what. Its not supposed to give any side effects, but a few days after I got this "new and improved" treatment last week, Its just been something different every damn day.

The few days leading up to my volleyball game last week, I was pretty much sore all over, but I had a really bad pain in my back, upper right side just under my shoulder. The MRI showed that it wasnt anything cancer related, so I just assumed I lifted something at work or did it playing volleyball the week before. After whining on the phone about it to my dad, I followed up with informing him that even though I could barely turn my torso it hurt so bad, I was still going to give the the ol' college try and play volleyball that night. I tried to articulate that in my own messed up way, that "I felt that If something physical caused it, something physical would fix it.

Dad couldnt resist immediately brought up Cousin Eddies Christmas Vacation quote when the grandmother notices his daughters eyes weren't crossed anymore: "That's something, ain't it? She falls into a well and eyes go crossed. She gets kicked by a mule, they go back to normal. I don't know."
So anyway, that's what Im calling the "Cousin Eddie" Theory of wellness. If its suffered bad trauma of any kind, fight it with good trauma. It seems to be working for me

Our new energy waster, er, I mean, garage bar. The bar hath arrived!!! John has worked tirelessly to get this guy up and running and with the help of Grandpa Roterts beloved beer signs that have been passed down, our garage now looks like the party central we envisioned two years ago. Whats awesome, too, is that I can hear it running when I go to bed.

Ive been pretty lame with posting pictures lately but nothing much has changed. I picked up a new rug for the den a few weeks ago. Stacy had me convinced that white was the way to go and then we remembered that we are not a clean people, nor are our friends. White was no longer a good idea. I wouldnt say it really "goes", but it was cheap and we can spill any damn thing we want on it.
The cat is still doing great. He's slowly taking over the show around here. Still confused as to why hes not out right encouraged to explore every orafice of the house. "What's that you say? you dont want me pawing at cords? I cant stand on the end table and drink your water? You dont want me in the fireplace tracking ashes all over the place? You guys suck."
Actually, I have a really cute story about the cat. The other night I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, and he jumps on the bed, crawls up the length of my body, and lies down with his little paws out right under my chin. His face is like two inches from mine and he puts his little paw out and STROKES MY CHEEK!!! It was the cutest damn thing ever. There. My cat is cute. Screw you if you cant handle it.

So I had a bit of a "trippy" experience this past week.....

So, Ive told a few people about this and they all thought it was interesting so Ill share it with you.

Last week, I was having reeeeely bad hip pain. Im getting to this point where Im almost afraid of my mind. It seems like whenever I think about something enough, I get a physical reaction. Case in point: After chemo I had mentioned that although I realized it was pretty screwed up, I kinda felt bummed that there were no side effect with this new drug. Not becuase I enjoy pain, of course, but there is some satisfaction when I get my IV, go home, and it totally knocks me on my ass becuase it assures me that they didnt give me some placebo or something.

Of course, the next day, Im getting cold symptoms and my lower back and hip is KILLING ME!! After being educated on the chemo and how it was supposed to target the tumor growth only, I was somewhat relieved by the pain. It was working, becuase I knew my flare-up was in the left hip and it was stinging like HELL! I was limping the ENTIRE DAY.

So I rev up the ol' CD player and bust out one of my 16 minute ChiGong routines. The hip is still hurting throughout but Im sticking with it. I finish, but Im still not satisfied. Now, let me preface this by admitting that I did take a Tylenol cold PM before this "event" happened, but I have been taking them almost everynight since and have been unable to recreate the event or get back to this "place".

So anyway, I lie down, and I have the blue glitterly lava lamp warming up next to the bed. My hip is still in severe pain and so I just start massaging the hip bone, but its not doing much. I keep staring at the lava lamp, and start to visualize whats going on in my hip:

The chemo was a red liquid. I close my eyes and envision my hip bone. The red lipid form of the chemo is penetrating the cancer in the bone, and when it hits that cancer growth, it chips away at it, almost explodes little pieces of it off bit by bit. And every twinge of pain is an explosion of chemo blasting away the cancer growth.

But I cant just leave it at that, I start to stare at the lava lamp, and start to visualize that healing blue, glittery goodness swirling around my hip. When the chemo would painfully blast another piece of cancer, the healing energy would swoop around it, carrying off the cancer away from my hip. It was carrying away the bad stuff and this protective, healing energy was also bringing strength back into my bones.

This went on for maybe a half hour and I was absolutely SOMEWHERE ELSE. All of the sudden, I snapped out of it, sat right up, and all the sudden had this strong urge to just CHUG WATER! Like, my body was telling me to flush out whatever I had pried loose. I had a huge mug of water sitting there and I chugged the whole thing.

I stand up to walk down to tell John about this, and the HIP PAIN IS GONE. I walk down stairs, sit down on the couch and start to tell John about what had just taken place. I break down crying, and he's looking at me like Im nuts!

The only problem? I cant get back "there". Ive tried a few times since and I recall hearing that sometimes getting to these meditative states can take practice. So im going to keep trying either way.

I went to volleyball last night, after a full day of excrutiating neck pain (I think I might have slept on it wrong) and got through it. In true Cousin Eddie Wellness Theory style, playing vball made the pain quickly go away. Im learning the only way to fight agressive pain is with agressive pleasure!

So many of you have been listening to my ChiGong/Blue Lava Lamp ramblings for some time now, so i took the liberty to film the blue lava lamp while playing the introductory speech of the Lift Chi Up Pour Chi Down Method program I listen to. The man comes on and tells you the benefits of daily practice. Now you can all get a little taste of crazy. (sorry, I couldnt turn the footage so the the lava lamp is sideways, thats what you get with lackluster 'puter skills.) And again, a warning, I dont know what the volume is on this thing so I would advise to turn your volume down and then turn it up as it plays. (Jami is feeling like crap this week, so this ones for you Jami! Watch it! Absorb the healing energy of the all powerful healing lava lamp!!! I command you!!!!)

Ok, I think thats it. Sorry for the more infrequent postings. Ive got big things coming up! Beer Pong tournament is just FIVE DAYS AWAY and we've already got TWENTY teams signed up. Im hearing through the grapevine that folks are reeely stepping up the costumes this year so we're certian to have some good pictures. J-Mac has been practicing his throw in the FIREBIRD NATION team uniform. BRING IT!!!

I dont know what else this week might prompt an interesting post....Im getting my port put back in on Friday, so Ill be out all day for that surgery. I love getting knocked out. I have such a hard time falling asleep, anesthesia is great. Ill post some pictures of the surgery on Friday. Maybe Ill get the nurses to take pictures of the surgery....hmmmm......any weak stomachs out there?

To save anyone else from leaving cryptic comments about my lackluster ability to post updates about my status, (even when I dont know it myself), Im on Doxil now. Its kind of like Adriamyacin (the "Red Devil", most hated chemo drug among bc surviors, hair loss, sickness, etc) but Dr. Romer described it as "Adriamyacin's Cousin"....Its still a red liquid but apparently the chemicals are in a lipid form, which Romer described as "grapes" ....like little pockets of drugs that target the tumor growth ONLY without wreaking havoc on the rest of your body. Virtually no Side effects, which, I know this sounds totally screwed up, but I sorta like the side effects, in that, even when im curled up in shitsville, Im thinking, "Well, its obviously killing the good stuff, it MUST be killing the bad too!"

But with this? Nothing. So I am a little wigged out, although I do feel like I have a cold coming on. Weird. The back pain is gone, but now my left hip is bothering me again. Time to bust out some positive CHI and start sweet talking my body in the mirror to straighten its ass up and get well again. Ive got to get a port put in next friday. My right arm's had about all it can take. Welcome back Qigong.....its been awhile.

Nick and I had an interesting one hour long conversation last night. I asked him if it was wrong that when I first heard of this satellite that is falling to earth, all I could think about was how much money I would get from the government if it fell on our house. Of course Id take my scrapbooks to work and some other sentimental stuff....but I think they'd definitely give you enough to by you a new house and at least a few million for pain and suffering.

Then Nick told me how he and Meredith had already decided how they would split up their winings if they won the lottery. (even though they dont play) Lets just say John and I would be well taken care of. We talked about a Mediterranean cruise and I suggested we just by a yacht for the whole extended family. I wont tell you how much Nick & Mere are going to give to us, but lets say its enough for us to by the yacht. Then we got into an argument about which one of us would by the yacht and we settled on them buying the yacht and us bringing the Captian & Coke.

Happy Friday.