Cancer Wellness House and Idle Chit Chat

On August 14, 2010, the Cancer Wellness House will present the 14th annual Survivors at the Summit. This inspiring event symbolizes the challenges individuals and families experience when faced with cancer.
I have just mailed two sets of necklace/earrings made from recycled paper and cloth scraps to donate for Prizes and Gear Giveaway for this years event. I gave necklaces last year and feel this is a really good experience for many of us out there who are or have been affected by cancer.
Check out: www.cancer-wellness.org and click on the "Register for Survivors at the Summit" to learn about the event and see if it is something you may be interested in being part of.

I've been very busy with spring cleaning - my back hurts, my shoulder aches, so I thought I ought to take a break and catch up with the old blog.
First, I cleaned out my arboretum (a fancy name for my closed in back porch in which I grow plants and carry out the messy part of bead making.) I try to bring in all my geraniums from outside every fall and then take them back out in the spring. Well, I think this is the last year for that. I have some geraniums that were at my wedding 29 years ago! I think that is remarkable but also borders on hoarding...
But they are a messy living thing, they drop leaves and then bugs and snails often hitch rides inside with them. I just decided this spring that I want the space to work in my covered porch this winter and the geraniums will just have to be bought new next year. I'm sorry for offending some recyclers... So here's a picture of the new, tidy workspace. (I still have to have some plants, for pete's sake - just not overrun by them.)

Next, take a look at my poppy's this year! Wow! The color is unbelievable. They don't last too long so you have to catch them at their peak and this is the weekend.
The last picture is of my wonderful daughter-in-law, Mel with my new grandson getting ready to be born. She is due the end of July! I can't wait. I also have a new grand-niece due the end of July, double bonus month!

But then Ireland is in 5 days, that will hopefully take my mind off
the impending births for a few days!

Trip to Ireland draws nearer!

School finishes on June 3rd this year and....
yes, I leave on June 5th for Ireland! Not many days now! I'm hoping the volcano in Iceland doesn't delay the arrival into Ireland, but I don't care if we can't leave and return to Utah for several weeks after expected return date, that would be such a shame to have to extend my stay!

We'll be flying into Dublin and start the trip from there - two glorious weeks touring Ireland. I have to plug the company doing this trip, the head planner is Ray Taggart from "Pixel Foto and Frame" on 90th south and State Street in Salt Lake City. He is a professional photographer so he takes groups all over the world about twice a year on these photography trips. They are "all inclusive" trips -all meals, all tours, all entertainment is included in the price which is great for some one going alone like me (husband won't go, says he hates flying for that long). I've done trips where we just winged it and found places to stay when we got to the cities, I've done trips on tours that left you half a day to yourselves to plan stuff to do, but I'm now at an age where I want someone else to do all the work. This trip has three meals a day, all the tours and evening entertainment! Like Ray says, "you just have to buy the souvenirs!"

I just want to wander and look and sketch (while other do photography) and have nothing to worry about. I'll report back on how great that was when I return.

"Pixel Foto and Frame" is now planning an October 2010 trip to China and Tibet. Last fall Ray took a group to Turkey and he's taken groups to Tanzania, Africa, just to name a few of the places. Maybe you are interested? Give them a call! I'm trying to get them to do Costa Rica before too much longer! Anyway, I'm excited and have started to pack my stuff up so maybe next blog will be the return report!
Slan go Foill (Bye for now)

It's my 13th year of extra life! Thank you doctors, researchers and donators!

For those who read this blog for info about paper beading... sorry, I beg you to suffer my indulgence. I'll get back into paper beading as soon as school is out and I'm back from my TRIP TO IRELAND! I feel the need to slow down and even stop to smell the roses.
Last weekend was a reflective time for me. I happened to be downtown and see the aftermath of the Susan G. Komen race for a cure event on Saturday. It made me stop and think for a moment; to feel the sunshine on my face and breathe the sweet air. And also to look at the love in my husband's eyes.
Thirteen years ago in May, I was doing radiation therapy for my own breast cancer fight. I had already undergone two surgeries - one to remove a lump in my breast and the second surgery to remove the lymph glands under my arm for analysis. I was a mass of scars and scabs and starting to get 2nd degree burns under my armpit from the radiation.
But I never doubted I would recover, really I never doubted it.
Then it was as if the universe decided I needed to be humbled and feel I too was vulnerable. So around a year or two later, I had a routine blood test that showed I had some problems with my blood count. The doctor said it could just be side effects from the radiation treatment and we'd just wait and take another test in a month to see how or if the blood tests changed.
That was one of the hardest months my husband and I went through, I mean as far as compared to the official breast cancer diagnosis. When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer everything went really fast - I found a lump, doctor saw me the next day, did a biopsy right then and there and then surgery within the week - no time really to sit and think about it. But now we had time to think. I got a bit more scared this time. We never told anyone, why have them worry until something was verified. We hardly talked about it ourselves, I could tell my husband was suffering but I didn't want to break down in front of him.
Finally another test and wonderful news - all was OK with my blood work.
Time went by and we got more and more able to go through a day without thinking about cancer.
Then the spring of 2006 my mother passed away. I finally had time to go to the doctor myself and ask him about a lump I could feel under the right side of my rib cage. He felt the lump and said it was about time I had a PET scan anyway. The PET scan can detect potential cancer spot with the use of radioactive isotopes in sugar. The girl doing the scan was strangely quiet after the scan which always scares me. A few days later the doctor says that I have a suspicious spot on my liver and I will need further tests.
The family had just barely watched my mother die from cancer that previous March. My Dad and siblings were still reeling from the shock. I was literally sick to my stomach and this time I cried on my husband's shoulder, I just broke down. He tried so hard to be brave and optimistic but the next couple of months were nearly our undoing. I can't even remember what other tests I had done, but the wait between results, the wait for the next appointment, the wait for the next results were torture.
I decided to go the 268 mile round-trip south to visit my Father for a few days over the 4th of July. Everyone met at Mom and Dad's for the 4th and I didn't want my Dad to feel lonely his first big event without my Mother even though I was going through my own drama. My Father developed a very bad cold on the 4th that quickly progressed to pneumonia and since I am a teacher, it was logical for me to stay and tend to him since I was out of school. Both my sisters who live near, had to work. But I had to leave in the middle of the crisis to go home and get the final results from my liver tests and my sisters gave me a semi-bad time for having to leave. I think I said I was getting a mammogram and the appointments were such a long wait. "I'd just go up to Salt Lake and be right back that same day."
I brushed death aside once again, all I have are some cysts on my liver, nothing malignant!
So here it is 2010 and I have survived well beyond what others diagnosed even 20 years before me where able to survive. The fear is always there, floating somewhere nearby, but because of people willing to donate money for research and because of researchers willing to work for a cure and come up with medicines like Tamoxifen and Femara, I am here today and am well and looking forward to another summer and the adventures it brings. I can't believe my luck but I don't take it for granted! Thank you to you all and your work to give me 13 more years!

I really, really appreciate it!
I think I'll go out and look at the rain one more time before I go to bed!