Re-post: Fund-raising walk a success

*I posted this yesterday on my View from the Valley blog for the New Haven Register.

Naugatuck resident turns her dream into a reality

Jamie DeCicco accomplished her goal, and then some.

The Naugatuck mother of four who organized Saturday's breast-cancer walk at Linden Park in Naugatuck raised almost $2,000.

She told me was thrilled with the turnout, and plans to organize another walk next October to support The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness at Griffin Hospital in Derby.

 

As a breast cancer survivor and patient at The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness I'd like to sincerely thank DeCicco for her hard work and dedication, and congratulate her on her successful event.

My daughter Allegra and I walked the track and husband Ralph was there to cheer us on. Even
though the pre-Sandy skies were overcast, the foliage along the Naugatuck River was pretty.

These girls, all dressed in pink, were ready to sell baked goods, pink wristbands, and rings. Pictured from left are DeCicco's daughter, Carmen, 10, her niece, Naomi, 9, and Emily Fanzutti, 16, daughter of Mary Fanzutti, a breast cancer survivor.

Griffin Hospital Community Outreach representative and Valley Parish Nurse Maggie Sessa provided participants with information about breast cancer awareness and prevention, as well as info on other health-related topics.

Participants walk the track along the river amidst the foliage at Linden Park in Naugatuck.

 

 The mighty Naugatuck River.

Kids enjoyed bouncing around, thanks to Bob Allen, owner of B Bounce ‘N, LLC in Naugatuck, who donated use of a bounce house for the event.

 Daughter Allegra strolls along.

 

 Our cheerleader, Ralph.

And of course there were beautiful cupcakes for sale, baked and decorated by one of DeCicco's relatives. I got there too late to take a photo of the full amount. They looked delicious!

Congrats again to DeCicco and her husband, Sebastian, for making this a fun event.

I'm looking forward to next October's walk, when the Valley Goes Pink once again.

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 ~ caregivers

 

Some of my friends and acquaintances who work at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Ct. Wonderful people I'm grateful to have met.

Daughter Allegra and I went to a kickoff reception Thursday night for a breast cancer survivorship program.

The program has been in the planning stages for a while and the launch was delayed, but October is an ideal time to start it.

It's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month after all!  

I wrote a story about the event for the newspaper. 

Since there are shadows in the pic I snapped that night I thought I'd use it today. Double duty and all. ;-)

See lots more shadowy pix from across the globe at Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

Thoughts on Relay for Life

Hard to believe I haven't posted here in a week. I've been blogging though, keeping View from the Valley full of good stuff on the New Haven Register's site.

On Saturday Ralph and I went to a wonderful lunch catered by Outback Steakhouse for cancer survivors. It was held before the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in Shelton, Ct. I wrote about our perspective on the relay here.

Here is the survivor's lap at the opening ceremony. I don't know any of these ladies, but just behind them are members of "Circle of Friends," the support group to which I belong. I tried to get a photo of them as they passed by but it was blurry. They were way too fast for me.

We were surprised to hear my my name read from the list of survivors at the opening ceremony. I signed in at the lunch and that was the list they used.

I wasn't on a team, we just went to have a good time. I give those who stay there for 18 hours or more a lot of credit! I don't have that kind of energy.

 

It was pouring rain when we got there but it cleared up after lunch in time for the opening ceremony. Look at these beautiful clouds!

I thought there was a good turnout of relay teams and tents filled with people selling food and crafts and games of chance to benefit the American Cancer Society.
It's overwhelming to think of the numbers of people whose lives have been affected by cancer just in our little part of Connecticut.

I hope the event was a success and a lot of money was raised toward the goal of kicking cancer to the curb.


Bonus photo below. ;-)

A friend of ours was a team captain and took this pic.

This is another in an occasional series about my journey with breast cancer. 

Life is busy, but that's good

It's good because there is less time to dwell on that danged diagnosis of breast cancer I got last year.

My latest news is I'm going to be part of a new cancer survivorship program at the hospital. And it sounds like it's all free of charge.
I'm looking forward to participating, and of course writing about my experiences. 

 
I have been doing a lot of bloggin', but not here. I've been working on the View from the Valley blog for my job at the New Haven Register.
This morning I wrote a post about love and romance and all the stuff that makes life worth living.

My latest thing is checking the blog stats several times a day. The page views have been increasing! Yay!

Page views equal job security, I think.

If you get a chance, could you please give me a click?  

Thanks in advance.

Breast cancer, blogging, being healthy: the 3 Bs

I seem to be busy with work and life in general and my blog has been ignored.
That doesn't make me feel good. But I have returned.

What does make me feel good is I'm blogging away as part of my job.

Yesterday I wrote a story for the newspaper about Saturday's second annual Women's Day of Health at Griffin Hospital (in Derby, Ct.) and also wrote a blog post about it. I even mentioned my own breast cancer surgery. I'm not one to reveal too much about myself, but it was in me to write.

I knew quite a few of the ladies there, and enjoyed chatting with them. There were slightly more than 100 registered.
Darling daughter, one of the youngest participants by far, accompanied me and we had a great time, as we did last year. And we ate! Yogurt and fruit for breakfast and a delicious chicken wrap, apple, and goodies (cookies and pretzels - Ralph got the pretzels) for lunch were included.
All in all a wonderful event. We're looking forward to next year.

Please click on the link above and tell me what you think.

~ And so my breast cancer journey journal continues...thanks for reading.

Breast cancer journal continues ...

Not quite done yet with my online journal. Today my radiation oncologist told me I didn't have to see her any more. Yay!  

Not that I minded seeing her. She is very sweet and supportive.

Now I am only going to see the other two oncologists on an every six months schedule. Sounds good to me.

Next appointment is in July. And it will be here before I know it, the way time is flying by! 

I've been taking Arimidex since Feb. 2 and no side effects that I can tell. I was concerned about joint pain but knock on wood I'm OK. 

In other news, my hair is growing pretty fast. It's starting to get curly in the back, getting a mind of its own and doing whatever it pleases.

Double yay!

~ Happy day ~

 * Hearts and flowers * for Valentine's Day? 

No, something better at this point in my life... strong bones and some unexpected cash

My bone density test results came back normal! 

 

And I'm happy to report I received a check from a 5K Walk/Run fund to offset medical expenses. 

It's the same fund for which I raised money last fall. 

I participated in the walk and was proud to complete the 3.1 miles, even though I was still having chemotherapy during that time. 

I raised $$ through pledges (thank you again to those who supported me!) and what I received from the fund is almost the exact same amount I had raised.

Woo hoo. Sometimes things go well!

{This is another in a series about my breast cancer journey.}

Ignorance is bliss

Remind me to not read any more online forums that focus on breast cancer or on the tiny pill I have started to take.

I read some comments from women who have been taking the prescription med and have had a variety of side effects. Notice I'm not mentioning the name of the pill. 

But I've told myself it is only those who have had ill effects from a medication who would take the time to write about their experiences on a forum...right?

For the majority of breast cancer survivors it works just fine, right? At least that is what I choose to believe. I'm happy to report that as of this week I'm a one-year survivor.

I was eligible to get the medication for free from the manufacturer. Thank goodness! I don't know what I would have done, since I don't have any prescription drug coverage with my health insurance. To say it is pricey is an understatement.      

I did have some joint pain earlier, but it went away. Bone pain is one of the side effects I read about, and the doctor did tell me it could happen. But he also said since I went through chemo (with no horrible side effects) I should have no problem with this. 

It has been seven days and so far, so good.

{This is another in a series of my online breast cancer journal entries. Thanks for reading}

Life is short; seize the day

Never have these words meant more to me than in the past two weeks.

Sadly three people to whom I was connected in different ways have passed away during that time. I wrote about one of them, a former colleague who passed away at 91, here.

The other two, neither of whom I met in person, were in their 70s. My heart goes out to a friend who lost her mom and another friend who lost her soul mate.


May all three rest in peace.


~

I haven't posted lately; nothing like breaking a New Year's resolution.

But I think the reason I haven't been able to come up with anything to write is because the almost-daily medical appointments have stopped. My online cancer journal came to a halt.


But today that changed..I went for a bone density scan. That's gotta be the easiest medical test ever. And none of that pesky fasting beforehand!

It was a new machine and it was really fast. The woman administering the test said it used to take a half hour. This lasted five minutes.

I'll get the results in a few days from my primary care physician and then schedule an overdue physical with him. Last year with all that chemo and radiation (now just a memory) just didn't seem like the right time to have a physical.

So...I wanted to see if I could still write a blog post. It looks like I can.

New family activity...

Touching my soft, new hair that is growing back. It's fun, it's easy and it only takes a few seconds.

And it's bringing us together as a family. What's better than that? 

Comeback time

As quickly as they disappeared from my face, they are now coming back. My eyebrows, that is.

And yesterday I suddenly noticed my eyelashes are starting to reappear.

Woo hoo times two!

I graduated yesterday ;-)

Viral, I went

Posting this for any of my friends who didn't see that I went "viral" on Facebook last night. ;-)

Yes, I'm tooting my own horn here. (toot, toot)

I was surprised the story link that one of my editors posted got several shares and many comments.

Yesterday I wrote a story about my experience at a "Look Good...Feel Better" session Thursday night and sent it to my editor. He put it in today's paper.

"Look Good...Feel Better" is an American Cancer Society program for women undergoing cancer treatment. I had written about it five years ago, as an observer. This week I was a participant.

Here's the link

Thanks for reading! My online cancer journal continues.

Ah ...

I just had my second (complimentary) Monday morning massage after radiation.

It felt so good! Relaxing for sure.

Looking forward to having this week off. 

What to do? What to do?

Oh, that's right I remember now: Christmas shopping, sending out (a few) cards and taking care of related Yuletide activities. ;-)

Happy Monday to all.

19 treatments down...

Having radiation is easy, but it makes me tired. Wishing I could take a nap right about now.

In happy news, my hair continues to grow in a fluffy sort of way. Someday my tresses will return.

I'm not yet ready to post a photo, but soon I shall.


{Jotting these things down for my online cancer journey journal. Trying to keep a record of what is going on with me these days, for future reference.}

Happy Friday to all!

F is for Fatigue

Just returned from radiation treatment #17 ~ not that I'm counting.

It's all good but I am getting rather tired.

Since F is for Fatigue, I made up some words for the letters leading up to F in the alphabet. Woo hoo!

A is for Allegra, my helper these days.
B is for Breast.
C is for Cancer.
D is for Diagnosis.
E is for Exhausted.
F is for Fatigue. And this is where I'll stop...I don't want to whine. I can deal with fatigue.


And so ends my latest online breast cancer journey journal entry.

Thanks for reading!

Still doing OK with the radiation

I haven't been true to myself ~ I've not been blogging about my cancer journey on a daily basis.

If I don't write about it now, where will I get the info for that upcoming book? 

This week is flying along..between work and tending three farms, I've been quite busy.

Nothing new to report health-wise. This morning after treatment I'll probably see the doctor. 

She can check my "tan lines."

Oh, and my hair continues to grow...very s-l-o-w-l-y...

Happy December to all!

Radiation: Days 6 & 7

I don't want to jinx myself here but the treatments continue to go along fine...no side effects yet.

That's something for which I am thankful, especially in this season of Thanksgiving.

Today our Cameron comes home for a long holiday weekend ~ yay! 

And tomorrow is his birthday ~ double yay! 
I wonder what kind of cake he would like?

Radiation: Day 5

And so I finished week one. That went by quickly. Yay!

Seems like I was just there last Friday to do a run-through  before starting treatment. Now it's a week later. Time is flying by.

And a week from today is the day after Thanksgiving. Yikes!

Guess it's about time I get organized...

{thanks for reading my online cancer journey journal!}

Day 4 and counting

This morning I had my fourth radiation treatment. 

I also saw the doctor, and she said my blood work from yesterday looked  fine. Yay!

She noticed my hair is growing back and told me I'll have a new 'do every week. Double yay! 
It's exciting to see my hair return.


{And so my online cancer journey journal continues..thanks for stopping by.}