We've moved to TV!!

My parents were interviewed by the Bend local news. I'll again attempt a link, but if it doesn't work, then copy and paste. It turned out good, I cried. For the fourth time in three days. I'm on a roll.
I feel really good today. As long as I take it easy, I'll feel good tomorrow too. Jerrad, Jenn, & Sam went to the aquarium with Drew, Tanner & Conner and took Max. I wanted to go, but I was afraid I'd end up overdoing it and feeling crummy tonight or tomorrow. I was bummed, but I'll live. Its the last time I'll have to think about that part of things!!
So I woke up this morning to a call from Good Morning America. That was trippy. They want to talk to my dad and I and possibly have our interviews on TV. Ha ha ha. I'm supposed to hear from the guy again today, so I'll let you know if any of it actually pans out. Lisa says my dad was meant for the stage, he says when the camera crew from Bend was in their house he was like "uh..." and mom talked and made sense. Hard to imagine my dad at a loss for words...
Ok, I don't know about the link, but I'm sure Randy & Nell or someone that is smarter than me can put the link to the story on one of the comments. (hint, hint, please)
Go to KTVZ.com and you'll see it on there.
I have the coolest parents. Total rock stars... I think its pretty cool that at the bottom of the article if you read it, rather than watch it, people have put comments and most of them are former students of my dad.

DONE DONE DONE DONE DONE DONE

If I could do an exponent on the word done I would show how exponentially excited I am. :) How's that for math teacher-ese? I feel pretty good, a little out of it, but not bad. I don't have to ever have chemotherapy again... (probably and hopefully). The nurses in the chemo room are amazing. They work very hard to make you as comfortable as possible, and they did. They have DVDs you can watch, games you can play, popsicles, coffee they'll fresh brew, crackers, warm blankets, etc. And they're so nice. They remember my name, which is so nice to have knowing the number of people they deal with. They look you in the eye and ask how my kids are, and listen to stories I think are funny, they probably don't, but they laugh anyway. They were awesome. I will be happy to not see them for a while because it means I don't have to go there anymore, but I so appreciate their warmth.
A woman came in today while I was waiting to be done and she was crying. She went straight to a nurse (Robin) who dropped everything and gave her a hug. The woman was obviously really upset, and not being able to hear any of the conversation, I invented my own scenario for some reason. All of a sudden I was convinced that her husband had died, and I started crying. Good God, I didn't even know what was really going on, and I'm crying. I think it was just another reminder of the reality of cancer. I'm in my last chemo, I have my 76% (still wish that was higher), but its very real and very scary, and apparently this woman pushed me over the edge. Luckily, Brent walked in shortly after, and I recovered.
On an entertaining note, I don't know if you read Nell and Randy's comment on the last post (Big Time), but apparently our newspaper article is spreading. :) Pretty weird. Its somewhat embarrassing. The Bend news station actually went to my parents house and interviewed them. Who knew the fifteen minutes of fame would come from breast cancer!?
Christmas in Tillamook has been wonderful. I got a beautiful coat from Rick & Debbie that is bright and makes me feel colorful in spite of being so pale. We looked over old Christmas pictures and I started getting really excited to have hair again. For someone that never wanted to do their hair, that surprises me, but I'll be stoked. I used to tell people I had brown hair with gray highlights and judging by the fuzz on my head I think we're looking at gray with brown highlights. :) There are some brown suckers up there though!! I don't know how long they'll last, but I'm hoping they're fighters. Ha!
I am anxious to start radiation. I am more excited to have some time without doctors, but I'm ready to start and get it over with. I'm sure it'll get old and hectic, but I want to get going.
I also went to church yesterday here in Tillamook. I have never been a church person, but Pastor Peggy has been incredibly kind and I wanted to go see and listen to her. I got a big "hi Mo!" at the beginning. It was incredibly welcoming. Max got uncomfortable pretty early on, so he and Brent went to read books in the other room and Debbie and I listened. We both cried twice. She said a prayer for a number of people including myself, that was first cry, then she said some really nice things about teachers. Cry #2. For those of you that haven't known me my whole life, I don't cry. I used to make fun of Lisa for crying all the time. I now cry all the time. I like to think I'm developing much more compassion in all of this, and that's why I am more emotional, but maybe I'm just a wreck who can't get it under control. Grandma Madge used to tell me to just cry because it always makes you feel better. She was pretty smart, I'll go with that. I love you all (crap, that made me teary eyed again), thanks for all of your positive energy, I'll keep you posted on how the tattooing goes. Have a Happy New Year!! I may sleep through the ball dropping, but I am anxiously awaiting 2009.

Big Time

The Klumphs and the Simes have hit the big time. We were a cover story on Christmas Day for the Albany Democrat Herald. Pretty much the biggest paper in the world. It rivals the New York Times. Ha Ha. I'll put a link at the bottom to the article so you can check it out if you're bored and need something online to look at. It starts off with calling dad "short and jolly." Hee hee.
There's another little part in the actual paper, but not online that mentions the pink t-shirts that my Aunt Linda made. My favorite "pink t-shirt picture" was from the Mohans who took the shirts to Yellowstone. There were doctored pictures with buffalo and moose wearing the tie-dye. It was awesome. Anyway, Aunt Linda, Mohans and my student body-guard Logan got a shout-out in the paper too.
Our Christmas #1 is done, we were going to Aunt Linda's house, but the snow in Portland area made that rather difficult, so my parents and Amos came here. We had a great time. Santa came and ate some cookies, we played some serious board games, I had a few tom & jerry drinks, it was very relaxing. Brent dominated the board game world, enduring my dad and Amos's creative accusations. Those of you that know them can imagine. :)
We are headed to Tillamook this evening for Christmas #2. Tillamook Christmas is always just as relaxing and fun as Sime Christmas, and always involves more food. Mainly seafood. Brent and I will leave Max & Cannon in Tillamook on the 29th and come back to Corvallis for the day for CHEMOTHERAPY #8 aka THE LAST ONE. What I have to remember is that it takes a couple days (or more) to recover so its not really "done" until a few days after, but wow I'm excited!!!
I also met with a physical therapist this week to discuss exercises and stretches I can do to help with some lymph node cording in my armpit (I'd explain this, but its gross) and to reduce likeliness of lymphedema. The stretches feel really good, so that was interesting. I go back sometime the first week of January to see if its helping and maybe for additional stuff. I also go to the radiation master on January 5th. They'll tattoo me to mark where to aim the radiation treatment. I always kind of wanted a tattoo... Not exactly what I had in mind. Everybody that I talk to in the medical field in Corvallis says the radiation doctor is really good, so I feel pretty good about her. I'm ready to be done with the chemotherapy stage and move onto the next one. I am very excited for my hair to grow back. I look the sickest right now that I have through this whole ordeal. Eyebrow hair and eyelashes are nearly non-existent. It sucks. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and its not a positive reaction. I just don't like looking sick. I don't feel sick (most of the time) and I don't need a pity look from strangers because I now look sick. Oh well, there are worse things. Have a great New Year!!

Ok - I tried to get the link to the article, but I can't seem to make it happen. So, go to democratherald.com, then there's a place to search on the left side. Search in the archives for Klumph and the article should show up. "A caring equation in SH." Witty! Either that or there will be seven links listed below because I actually did know how to do it, and kept posting the link over and over and over again. Totally possible.

Blah blah blah

I didn't have a nap today. I'm a rebel. I have no aches and pains and I feel really good. My parents would both be telling me "don't push it" but I'm good. I can tell I am getting better when the thought of alcohol sounds good again. I am excited for Tom & Jerry's at Christmas time. If I was feeling crummy then the thought of them would make my stomach turn. It probably doesn't sound good that I judge my wellness on the thought of a seasonal drink, but oh well.
The more I near the end of chemotherapy, the more I think about the possibility of recurrence. Its a definite fear that I am hoping will enter my mind less and less as time goes on. That 76% just won't totally disappear from my memory...
I am very excited for Christmas with family. I keep trying to talk about Santa Clause with Max, but when I say things like "are you excited for Santa to come?" He says, "no." He's really good with no.

Snow Days

I was going to go back to work today, but school was cancelled for snow. Bummer, no work for me. We went and played in the snow yesterday, Max actually loved it and didn't complain about being cold. Cannon was just sort of fascinated and stared. When we put him inside with Grandpa though, and he could see everyone outside, then he was mad and wanted back out.
I'm feeling good today. Very few aches and pains, very little loopiness. I'll still need a nap, but I feel pretty good. I got a blanket for my birthday from my parents that I curl up in for nap time. Its dark red, and has sleeves and a sort of hood thing. It takes me a while to warm up, so I require a lot of blankets, but anyway, I totally look like the hare krishna. I should be standing at an airport handing out red flowers with messages of some sort attached. Peace be with you, now give me a dollar. Maybe that will be my back-up career if this whole teaching thing doesn't work out.
Anyway, here are pics of Max & Cannon just because I like them. This is Max in the snow yesterday, and Cannon with my hat on.

Uno Mas!!

I have one more!! I'm singing that line by the way. My stomach felt a little uneasy today, but I feel pretty good overall. Acupuncture helped a lot today, it was very relaxing and helped with my stomach and such. I also talked to the oncologist about drugs to take after radiation, (tamoxifen) and what it does, how it works. There were pictures and everything it was good stuff.
It is kind of nice to see a doctor regularly I am finding. Even things that are not related to cancer, there's a doctor there to ask and tell me its nothing, or check it out. I have had fluid in my ear on and off for a while, so she checked it out for me. Ever since I had that earwig crawl into my ear (sorry Lisa) I'm freaked out by anything in my ear. A littly hypersensitive you might say. :) I think I have good reason. Anyway, a nurse is going to clean it out for me tomorrow when I go back to get the immune booster shot thing. Apparently there's a nurse there that's really good at it. How you get really good at cleaning ears, I don't know. Seems like an odd thing to speacialize in, but hey, everyone has their random talents. I kick butt at minesweeper for instance. I am the greatest minesweeper player in the world. Its not going to make me a million dollars unfortunately, but sometimes someone is impressed by it.
Oh, so the drug, I take it for five years, starting after radiation. It can have "menopause like systems." Cool, I already have that from chemo therapy so more hot flashes and night sweats. I can live with that. My head actually just starting sweating, so here's another one! They're not bad and usually make me laugh, so its fine. Between three and six months after radiation I will go back for a bone scan and a CAT scan. If those are all clear, then I won't have one for another six months to a year. I will have blood work done I think about every three months because there's a way they can check for specific tumors with the blood. Again, I will probably get aspects of this wrong, but my understanding is that they can use my blood to check if the liver is operating normally, check if there is a tumor on my brain even. These scientists and doctors are significantly smarter than me. :) They're probably not quite as smart as my cousin Kellini, but they're close.
According to the oncologist if cancer is going to return, it doesn't usually do it until after five years. Who knows why.
Radiation definitely is hard on the body and there are a few people even who are adamantly against radiation. I talked to my acupuncturist about it today, and her feelings were its so focused and centralized that yes, its hard on that part of the body, but its much better now than it used to be. She also said that if its that or cancer, then she'd pick radiation. :) I like her!
There was some talk from my oncologist before one treatment of putting me into menopause because there is a post menopause drug that has been found to maybe work better than the pre-menopausal drug. This was when she thought I was Jewish. I know, sounds funny. There is a Jewish population of people that are at an incredibly high risk of having breast cancer and ovarian cancer, so they do more intense preventative measures. For some reason my surgeon was under the impression I was Jewish, so it took about three appointments to convince my oncologist that no, he's wrong, I don't have a Jewish heritage. Anyway, so I talked to her today about the putting me into menopause thing. To do this, they have an injection they can do that you have to closely monitor and makes your brain think you're in menopause, its not ideal. Another option is to have surgery where they put two little incisions in your skin and basically suck out your ovaries. This cancer thing is glamorous, glamorous, glamorous. I have plastic bags in my chest, I have no hair, I have like 2 eye lashes that I keep layering with mascara to emphasize (yeah that'll make them look normal), and scars all over the place. Oh, and a large lump below my collarbone that is a port. Yup, let's suck out the ovaries, I love it. Anyway, so I told her I really didn't want to do the suction thing or the injection thing, but I didn't want to be stupid about any of this either. She said she thought it would be fine if I didn't do it and stuck with the tamoxifen. Aaaahhh, good stuff. So, bottom line after all this rambling, I'm not Jewish, I'm not removing any more body parts or organs, I will take tamoxifen, and I ONLY HAVE ONE MORE!!!!

Its All About Me

I was telling Brent the other day that I'm getting used to all this attention. I used to be very uncomfortable with the focus being on me, and I still am a little, but its getting easier!! My birthday was Wednesday, so I had my coworkers singing me happy birthday and balloons covering my classroom, in addition to the usual attention of people wondering how I'm doing and helping us with dinners. Yeah, I could get used to this whole "its all about me" thing. It could be rough when I go back to having to take care of myself. What's that about?
I have chemo #7 on Monday!! It should be the last time I have to miss school to do it, and therefore the last time my dad should have to come. Although he says he's "getting into teaching shape again." Since he was here almost the whole week last week it was easier as far as getting to know kids, etc. When I reminded my class I was going to be gone, they were all pumped that he's coming in. I think I'm meaner than he is. :)
I have had itchy hands on and off this week. Apparently that's a common side effect to chemotherapy. I'm sure they probably told me that at some point, but I have a hard time paying attention. Anyway, I called the nurses about it, and one said there was really not a whole lot I can do about it, and the other one said to check out chemocare.com. Some things work for some people, some of it doesn't work for anyone, but its worth a shot. It is kind of entertaining to me that there's a web site for help with side effects that sort of thing and I just now found out about it. I'm so not the researcher. The people that read this that have had breast cancer before probably read this and think, "wow, she just doesn't have a clue." A part of me feels guilty for not doing more research to learn about what's happening inside my own body, but I really just don't want to. Usually when I need to learn more about something I call Lisa. She knows everything and if she doesn't have an answer, she'll find it for me. Its totally lazy of me, and its horrible, I'm just not very smart. :) Anyway, have a great weekend, I think we're getting a Christmas tree for Cannon to tear down. Ha!

Christmas is coming!

Feeling good again, excited to go to work tomorrow because it means things have a faux-normal feel to them. My Aunt Stephanie and my cousins Ryan & Amy came over to dinner tonight. The cancer card came into play in that I invited them over, offered to make food (meaning, I offered for Brent to make food) and Amy insisted she bring dinner with them. I'm not really sure what we're going to do when we have to fend for ourselves again. Its been a while since we've had to like ... make dinner. :)
Max and I had a great two year old battle today that totally left me frustrated and irate and feeling stupid for letting a two year old get me this upset. It was nice to talk to Amy and Aunt Stephanie and be reassured yet again that he's two, its not cancer related. I think Max threw his first fit on his first birthday. Cannon turns one at the end of January. Does this mean I'm going to be doing two of these battles a day? Holy crap, I'm screwed. Chemo is nothing comparaed to that little sucker. Gotta love him.
I've been humming Christmas music non-stop lately. I am definitely excited for the holidays. Lisa loves Christmas music, and probably for that reason alone I hated it, but its grown on me, and we're getting close to almost done with this treatment business. Two more. The 15th and the 29th. They even let me schedule the last one. We're on the upswing of the roller coaster.

Still chemo

Ok, its not cake, its chemo. I felt all screwy yesterday, and last night had a huge headache and thought I was actually going to throw up. I didn't, but I didn't go back to school today either. I still feel a little loopy today. I'm frustrated. I'm tired of trying to figure out what I could have done differently. I'm tired of sleeping all day, I'm tired of the whole deal. I'm glad there are only 2 left, I know I can make it and everything will be fine, but it won't be as easy as I was hoping. I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow, and next week, blah blah blah. Irritating!

Cake

This chemo thing is cake. Ha ha! I'm starting to agree with Dr. Lee "is no problem." If I had had taxol first then adriamycin & cytoxan, it would have sucked. Having those miserable suckers first makes the taxol seem like a dream (accomplanied by my friend Emend). I didn't have an allergic reaction again today and I had fewer steroids. Those steroids are a little trippy. I kept wanting to tackle Brent...
I haven't had any of the tingling sensation in my hands and feet either, which is marvelous. About 5% of people experience that to a pretty serious degree to where they can't touch something without it causing pain. Good stuff. I have some additional tightening in my left arm pit which has me a little concerned. Dr. Lee set up an appointment with a physical therapist so she can give me some exercises to do everyday to help with tightening, and to help avoid lymphadema (pretty sure that's spelled wrong). She says this is pretty normal but can worsen during radiation. She also said that it seems to be ok, but it will make me feel better to go meet with her. I don't go until the 23rd.
I also got to schedule the last one today!!!!!! I have the next one December 15th, Happy Birthday Grandpa Leon, and the last one is December 29th, just in time for Rick's birthday.
We had a great Thanksgiving in SunRiver. I ate like I was a teenager, and when they weighed me today I kicked some scale butt. :) I totally would have won a weight gain contest if there had been one. We had so much food, and all of it tasted good, nothing had a metal taste, it was amazing. I guess I should start using that treadmill from the grandparents that's in the garage... Max & Cannon had a great time with their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandma, and great aunts, and Max was crying when we left, because he wanted to stay. Cannon got an eighth tooth, so he was a little whiny, but Rick & Debbie let him sleep in their room so we could sleep. It was heavenly. Conner is my two year old nephew, who is hilarious. It was good for me to see him throw the occasional fit though so I could be reassured that Max isn't a fit thrower because I'm sick or I have no hair, he's just 2. I have a little less guilt.
I go in for a Neulasta shot tomorrow for the immune system. I'm guessing some aches and pains will set in tomorrow evening. Whatever, I only have two left you're not bringing me down now man!!
Here's a picture of my favorite big kid and I. I tell Max I have a favorite baby, a favorite two year old, and a favorite big kid. The family pictures this year have everyone in hats. Great family support.