Color us lucky

Thousands of our fellow Nutmeggers are suffering with power outages and worse after Irene stormed her way through Connecticut.

Here in our neighborhood there was a lot of wind, intermittent heavy downpours and branches and leaves down. 
A dead tree fell into our backyard, but nowhere near the house. 

But we never lost power. The lights never even flickered, and for that we are so grateful.

Yesterday my oncologist told me he and his wife had

to evacuate Saturday afternoon. They live on Long Island Sound and he said the Sound was like the ocean that day.


Ralph's sister and several other relatives in Connecticut have been living without electricity for days, and they can't get an estimate of when it will be returned. I can't imagine their frustration.

A friend who lives about 20 miles away in a more affluent (and rural) town than ours lost power Sunday and still hasn't gotten it back. 

Today she was able to bathe herself and her two kids with water they got from the fire department.

Wow. That is roughing it in my book. 

I pray that everyone gets electricity back soon!

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood

This is how the courtyard outside the area where I get chemo looked at noon today. It's a beautiful setting. 

This was taken through the window. Unfortunately we can't go out and play in the courtyard. 

Today is Chemo Day again...the weeks fly by

Gimme a c - C!

Gimme an h -H!

Gimme an e - E!

Gimme an m - M!

Gimme an o - O!

And what does that spell?  Exhaustion.  

Well at least it's 'chemo light,' as I prefer to call it.



Must be Monday.  ;-)


{And my online cancer journal continues..}

Storm damage recap

We got through the wrath of Irene unscathed, thankfully. 
None of the bigger trees in our yard fell. 
This old dead tree from a neighbor's yard is now lying at the bottom of the hill in our backyard. 

And there it will stay, because it's not in the way.
We have electricity and we don't expect it to go out now. It got really windy here this afternoon after the storm, but that seems to be subsiding.

Sorry to hear about all those people suffering after Irene paid them a visit, including several family members in Connecticut who have no power.
We had luck on our side this time.

A little levity from the e-mail bag

I'm tired of waiting all day for the arrival of that mean Irene. It's nerve-wracking!

Thought I'd share something I got in my e-mail yesterday, just for giggles.

~ ~ ~

A crusty old man walks into the local Catholic church and says to the secretary, "I would like to join this damn church."


The astonished woman replies, "I beg your pardon, Sir. I must have misunderstood you. What did you say?"
"Listen up, damn it. I said I want to join this damn church!"


"I'm very sorry sir, but that kind of language is not tolerated in this church."


The secretary leaves her desk and goes into the priest's study to
inform him of her situation.


The priest agrees that the secretary does not have to listen to that
 foul language..
They both return to her office and the priest asks the old geezer, "Sir, what seems to be the problem here?"


"There is no problem," the man says. "I just won 20 million dollars in the damn lottery and I want to join this damn church to get rid of some of this damn money."


"I see," said the priest. "And is this bitch giving you a hard time?

Getting anxious about Irene

It appears that our family of four is among the 65 million people on the East Coast about to get hit by Irene.

I never did like crowds.  :-(

Waaah!

Ralph just came home with some wine. Both red and white. 

He's good at hurricane shopping!

Minor miracle, horticulturally speaking

Yup, my poinsettia is still with us eight months after Christmas.


This has never happened before. 

Time for 'chemo light' again, tra la, tra la

Actually I joked to a friend last week that going for the treatments is my only break! My days seem to get pretty busy. So it's relaxing to just sit there and veg out.

My mother is there with me, and she goes to the snack bar in another part of the building and gets us a roll or something to snack on, and there is free coffee...

The doctor will even get it for you! How cool is that.

He seems to get miffed if you don't want any!

 

{And so my online cancer journey journal doth continue. Thanks for reading.}

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ fruity

It's Saturday morning here, which means it's Shadow Shot Sunday time ...

Now that statement could confuse someone not in the know!

One sunny morning this week I spotted this shadow when I put a colander of blueberries on the table. 

You can see lots more shadow shots (much more interesting than this one!) at our awesome Aussie friend Tracy's Hey Harriet blog. Check them out!

Building up a tolerance? Could be

Yesterday was "chemo light" day number 4, and miraculously when I got home I was not ready to go to sleep.
I actually stayed up for two and a half hours and worked before taking a nap.

When I told Ralph he said I must be getting used to it.

Maybe my body is building up a tolerance to it or something.

All I know is eight more treatments to go! Or as the doctor said, I'm one-third of the way there. The weeks are flying by.

~ ~ ~

My online cancer journey journal doth continue...

Thanks for reading!

Surreal is one way of describing the process..

My friend Linda said in a comment on my blog May 3 that she was wondering how I felt when I went for chemotherapy.
Well, I've had a lot of treatments since then and her question continues to stick in my head.

The first time I was escorted by the doctor into the spacious room (overlooking a beautiful healing garden and waterfall) where they hook you up to an IV I felt like I was part of a new club - the chemo club - that has a membership list a mile long.

It was kinda like when I became a mother for the first time...you are instantly a member of a club that you never leave.

I suppose I'd describe the feeling as surreal - you know of people throughout your life who have gone through various forms of cancer surgeries and treatments, and you only imagine what it must be like.
But when it actually happens, all anyone can do is take it one treatment, one procedure at a time.
I wasn't scared, but rather grateful that I was getting the medical care I need.

I feel fine, just tired. I've had no nausea, and for that I also am incredibly grateful!

Tomorrow morning I return for 'chemo light' number 4.
Thanks for reading my online cancer journal.

To be continued...

Shadow Shot Sunday

I spied this shadow earlier this week while waiting for a friend at a breakfast/lunch spot.

Luckily I had my camera along.

Snap a shadow and join the weekend fun!
You can see lots of shadowy photos at our awesome Aussie friend Tracy's Hey Harriet blog.

A day later than usual

My usual Monday chemo light appointment got postponed until today.

I just got up from a nap and feel a bit less tired than I did when I got home. I found out what is knocking me out is a dose of Benadryl. It must be a large dose or maybe as one of the nurses said, I'm a cheap drunk.

And I thought it was the chemo light. Silly me.

Dang, it's raining now and we were thinking of going to a free outdoor concert tonight. I figured I have enough energy to sit there and listen.
I guess it will be postponed until tomorrow.

And so my not-too-scintillating online journal of my cancer journey continues...

Ruby Tuesday ~ summer fun

Today I post a photo of some real rubies, or gems as it were! These are some of the members of the next generation of our extended family.
I'm happy two of them were wearing red, which gave me an excuse to use this for Ruby Tuesday!
Oh, and the flagstones are red, so it's all good.

See lots more photos featuring a little or a lot of red at Mary T's Work of the Poet.

Impromptu x 2

I had two unplanned get-togethers with friends Wednesday, thus the title of the post.

First off I took a morning walk with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. I wrote about it and posted a photo here. I'm cool like that. ;-)

I also snapped the photo below while we walked and talked.

Then Wednesday afternoon Duchess Linda of Norwich Upon Thames Facebook messaged me to see if we could meet her for dinner after she picked up daughter Amanda from the New Haven train station.
We could and we did! It was great to see them again.

All in all Wednesday was a lot of fun. Note to self: Need to do more of that!

Straight out of the camera

Took a short walk with a friend this morning. We should do that every morning! Anyhow, this is what I saw along the way.
Looks bucolic, doesn't it? Well it isn't! haha

It's located directly under a highway bridge that spans the Housatonic River between Derby and Shelton, Ct.
It's pretty but it's also kinda noisy around there.

What the hail happened?

Like many of my Facebook friends in this neck of the woods (southern Connecticut) I posted two photos of the hail we got during an early evening storm yesterday on Facebook.

And I thought I'd also post some here, just for the hail of it.
It was a freaky storm and it seemed to last quite a while. It was soooo noisy on the skylight. I was afraid that the hailstones were going to make their way through the skylight. Fortunately they didn't.
Some folks were able to capture rainbow photos, but I didn't see one or else I would have as well.

As you can see Allegra was out there with me taking pix.

It was so nice and cool after the storm. Felt great.

Here's one of the smaller hailstones in Allegra's hand. A lot of them seemed to be the size of quarters.

Guess that's about all I have today. Hope everyone has a good Tuesday ~

OK, it's another Monday morning

...and time for some more "chemo light." That's what I've decided to call it.

Woo hoo!

Happy August to all my blog friends.

Cake for moi!

Some things have not been going so great lately (breast cancer diagnosis and money woes come to mind), but in the spirit of taking the bitter with the better - or in this case the bitter with the sweeter - a few things have been going well.

And they're things that money cannot buy.

In the past few years I've been fortunate to have met some wonderful people and to have made several friends.

One of them is Troy, a guy who always makes me smile. Actually he cracks me up.

I just met him in April when Ralph, Allegra, and I attended a viewing party to watch the SyFy channel's "Ghost Hunters" episode that focused on an investigation at the Sterling Opera House in Derby, Ct.
I just happened to be interviewed for that episode, and my interview was on TV. ;-)
You can read about my 15 minutes of fame here.

Once you meet Troy you feel like you've known him for years. He's a friendly chap, that's for sure.

Yesterday he surprised me with a delicious chocolate Bundt cake he baked (see above).

He already told me Bundt cakes were his specialty and he'd bake me one for my birthday, but instead I got the cake yesterday ~ five months early. It was such a cool surprise!

Thanks so much, Troy, you made my weekend!

Almost doesn't "cut" it

I almost got my head shaved yesterday afternoon...but I got too busy to take the time to go to the salon at the hospital.

The service is free if you're undergoing treatment there. I must take advantage of it.

Next week. Yep. I'll do it next week.

Steroids and 'chemo light' ~ cancer journal continues

I had my first Taxol treatment/injection yesterday, but not before lots of steroids got pumped into me.
I had to take five tablets the night before then got more steroids through the IV, along with Benadryl to help a possible allergic reaction to prep me for the chemo drug.
They say this drug won't affect me as much as the previous "A and C" cocktail, so I've decided to call it "chemo light." haha

The steroids give me an appetite and today I have that Taxol glow. Pink cheeks. They also seemed to keep me awake last night. Not good. Time for some coffee.
When we were leaving the Griffin Hospital Center for Cancer Care I took a quick photo through a window of the healing garden built into a rock outcropping and situated between the chemotherapy side and the radiation side of the building.

It's a beautiful facility, that's for sure. I'm fortunate to live so close to such a wonderful place.
When it was dedicated in late 2008 I never thought I'd be making use of it.
It just goes to show you never do know what the future holds.

Ignorance is bliss

I've not been keeping up lately with my online cancer journey journal thingy.
And it's truly counterproductive, since my goal is to compile parts of these blog posts into something more permanent.
The idea is to self-publish a book...I have the title and everything. ;-) Maybe by sprinkling some humor into a book about breast cancer I can help another woman with a similar diagnosis. That would be my hope.

So it's Monday..and I have more chemo coming up this morning. Woo hoo.

I was blissfully ignorant a few weeks ago when everyone who has been caring for me in a medical professional way was saying "it's your last chemo"...turns out what they meant was the last treatment featuring that strong "A and C" cocktail. I thought they meant the last chemo.

That's what I get for not reading all the literature given to me at the start of all this. I found it overwhelming, and decided I'd take one day, one week at a time.

That July 5 treatment really knocked me out for more than a week. All I wanted to do was nap.

(Cue the violins here) And it seems like once I started regaining my energy the HORRIBLE HEAT hit. I don't like the heat at all, because I get so sluggish. And with all this medical stuff I feel even more sluggish.

So, that's it from here. Hope everyone is keeping cool. We can try anyway.

Shadow Shot Sunday

A toddler and his juice box on a summer day.

See lots more shadow shots at Hey Harriet, hosted by our awesome Aussie friend Tracy!

Shadow Shot Sunday

I took these photos of two Protestant churches that grace the Derby, Ct. Green at the same time I took the third shadow shot in last week's post, during a free concert we attended. It was a beautiful evening. The photo above is of Immanuel-St. James Church.

Alert readers will get the idea that I have posted photos of both of these churches before. Can you tell I rarely go anywhere? Haha.

But I do love local history and old buildings. As a matter of fact, in case you were wondering how the historic Sterling Opera House fits into this scenario, it is just a few feet away from the Second Congregational Church seen below!
And alert readers will remember I love that old (and haunted) Sterling Opera House.

I'll make an attempt to find some shadows from another location for next week's meme. ;-)
Until then, happy shadow seeking.
~
See lots of interesting shadows by visiting our awesome Aussie friend Tracy, at Hey Harriet.

Don't let the cat out of the bag

I turned around a few minutes ago when I was working and this is what I saw: Linus checking out a bag that our new printer was packed in.
We think he likes it.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Shadows I spied at Derby Day, a street festival here in Connecticut, two weeks ago.
These lemons caught my eye as I was waiting out in the hot sun to buy some homemade lemonade. The woman at the booth was squeezing them all by hand. Ouch! She must have been sore at the end of the day.
I wrote about the festival here.
I helped at the Valley Arts Council booth, and below are shadows I saw when we were cleaning up at the end of the event.

Then this past Tuesday Ralph and I went to a free summer concert on the Derby Green.
I thought this was a cool shadow on the tree trunk.
The three-piece band you see at the Gazebo is Last Fair Deal, a group based in Litchfield County, Connecticut. The guys played a mix of bluegrass, folk, country, Grateful Dead and even two Beatles' songs. One of them told me they had been playing together since 1972!
The weather that evening was perfect for an outdoor concert. We plan on attending more of them this summer.

See lots more shadowy shots courtesy of our awesome Aussie friend, Tracy, over at Hey Harriet.

Not the daddy ... but isn't this sweet?

Here's the youngest reveler at sister Michele's Fourth of July picnic Saturday. She seems content being held by a cousin.

She didn't want to sleep. She was too busy watching everything around her all day. ;-)

Happy Independence Day!

Oooh, aaah!

Had some fun with my point-and-shoot again this year. Love to get a fancy camera and a tripod, but whatever.
Went to two fireworks displays ~ one in an urban setting and one in a suburban setting.
The photo below is the urban one...as if you couldn't tell.

25 years and counting ...

Well here we are ~ the old married folks, renewing our wedding vows Sunday. A totally unexpected event, and one Ralph and I will never forget.

I hinted about this here on Monday, but I was waiting for a photo to illustrate!

The occasion ended up being kind of a blur, but I'll share what I remember.

We were invited to the Baptism of seven-month old Noah, the first child of Ralph's boss and friend, Marc. We arrived early and found a spot on the aisle in the last pew.

The Rev. Thomas F. Lynch (above) came over and smiled and welcomed us to the church. He struck up a conversation and asked Ralph what his illness was; Ralph told him he has Muscular Dystrophy and then mentioned I have cancer.

Father Lynch, an incredibly friendly man, seemed taken aback.
He asked, "Are you two friends?"
We said something like, no, we're married (hahaha) and told him we had just marked our 25th wedding anniversary.

He asked us if we had celebrated or renewed our wedding vows. We said no we hadn't. He told us to see him after the Baptism and he would renew our vows. It was our turn to be taken aback!

After the Mass, Father Lynch announced to a crowd of about 200 people (there was also a First Communion that day in addition to the Baptism and the sanctuary was filled with proud parents) that there were two visitors from Ansonia who had just had their 25th wedding anniversary.

Ralph and I just looked at each other.
We thought he was going to renew our vows privately, after everyone had left. Nope. That was not to be.

He called us up to the altar, asked us to take each others' hands, and we recited our vows.

My voice got a bit shaky, as I saw Marc and his lovely wife in the first pew beaming at us.

After the brief exchange of vows, everyone applauded! I was overwhelmed, and I do believe Ralph was too.

We walked (and rolled) back down the aisle to lots of smiles, and one elderly man got up and shook my hand and said congratulations. Ralph's co-workers were beaming, and surprised, as were we.

Afterward more of the parishioners came up and congratulated us.

I told Marc (who fortunately has a great sense of humor) that we didn't mean to steal his thunder! It was his special day!

He told me, "I feel like I should get you a gift." I said jokingly, "Don't worry about it, we didn't get you one."

At the luncheon afterward we got more congrats and best wishes, from Ralph's co-workers as well as from people we didn't know.

I'm grateful to Ralph's colleague, Chris, who was quick with the camera and got a few photos of the moment for us.

Words escape me ~ I can just say it was wonderful. We went to the church Sunday not knowing we were going to get married again.

But we did.
And sealed it with a kiss.

Ruby Tuesday ~

Ralph used a photo of a sign from our local street festival that I was going to use for Ruby Tuesday, so I found others with some red in them that I took Saturday at the 14th annual Derby Day.
I'll forgive him this one time. ;-)

Lookit all the rubber duckies. I should have gotten another for my collection.

I posted this photo below of the Sterling Opera House on Sunday but I figure why not re-use a photo I like? As you can see the weather was beautiful Saturday afternoon.

This is a friend who is part of Above the Realm paranormal investigative team. He was one of three members who were giving tours of the historic Sterling Opera House throughout the day.

I haven't participated in a while in Ruby Tuesday, but I'm back. See more photos featuring a little or a lot of red each week at Mary T's Work of the Poet.

Simply amazing

Something wonderful and unforgettable happened yesterday to me and Ralph. It was a beautiful day.

I'm going to write about it, but I'm hoping we'll get a photo e-mailed to us that I can use to illustrate the post.

And no, we didn't win the lottery. It's more important than that.

Balloons, crowds, and general silliness

As I mentioned here yesterday, I spent Saturday at the 14th annual Derby Day.

I had never been at a venue an hour before a festival started, so it was interesting to see the vendors hurriedly getting ready for their day, that feeling of anticipation in the air. (I'm easily amused I suppose).
At that point the skies were overcast and I thought that rain was on the way. Fortunately that wasn't the case. It turned out to be a lovely, sunshiny day.

I thought there was a good turnout, but I'll have to find out this week from the organizers what they thought about the how the day went.

Above you see the stately Sterling Opera House standing in the center of all the activity.
It's the same historic (and haunted?) 19th-century building that was investigated a few months ago by SyFy's "Ghost Hunters" team led by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson.
People were lined up throughout the day to get a chance for a free tour. It generated a lot of interest. I love that building.

These two wine bottles that Valley Arts Council member Billiejo of Prospect, Ct. transformed into incense holders were on display at the council's booth. Eye-catching!

So after helping at the booth a good part of the day I started to get tired, and by late afternoon I got out the camera to pass the time. These photos are what I call my balloon series:



Silly enough for you? There were more pix but I decided that was enough of that!

There also was a Mustang convertible being raffled off..here are Allegra and Ralph checking it out.

I think our daughter would like a vehicle like that. She sure looks comfortable in it. ;-)

Let the festivities begin

Squirrels are running around on the roof at the moment and poor Linus is going nutty. He keeps looking up at the skylight.
Go away squirrels!

In other news, I'm going to be "working" today at Derby Day, a street festival, here in southern Connecticut (for my out-of-state friends).
I'll be at the Valley Arts Council booth.
There will be live entertainment throughout the day, craft vendors, kids' activities and art exhibits in two indoor locations and more.

And free tours of the historic (and haunted?) Sterling Opera House. (pictured above)

Boo!

I hope the skies don't open up. The clouds look threatening. Go away rain!