Sunday, April 12, 2009

Details from Treatment April 7: Part II

The most amazing thing about this week was that I felt up to participating in all these activities. I had to rest in between, and I'm very grateful that my parents and Tom and Max were available to help with all the preparations, but I made it! I even felt up to attending church on Easter morning.







By Saturday night, I had the energy to stay up late and make Ukrainian Easter eggs with Max -- she's been talking about it for years but this is the first time she's had the chance to share it with me. Not that I need any new hobbies, but I could seriously get hooked. Here's a photo of the process, and one of Max's favorite eggs.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Faces for a Friend

My two friends who run a great kids' craft business called "Make a Mess" offered to produce a fundraiser for our family. They contacted Max (who happens to have an eclectic career history that includes face-painting at festivals) and arranged for a special Saturday morning event at their location. Max brought her facepaints, and there were crafts and activities for the kids, along with snacks... I can hardly express my gratitude to Jen and Susan for putting the event together; finances are very challenging at the moment and without prescription coverage it really helps to receive financial support like this. THANK YOU to everyone who attended and who donated (and you didn't even all want your faces painted!)




Thursday, April 9, 2009

Details from Treatment April 7: Part I

This was going to be a hectic treatment recovery because Daria was on Spring break, Passover began on Wednesday (treatment was on Tuesday), and the Faces for a Friend celebration was planned for Saturday and Sunday was Easter! Oh, and just to complicate matters, I was in class the weekend before. Max wasn't able to arrive until Thursday, so I made arrangements for Daria to spend a few days with her grandparents. They fed the ducks, they went to the library and picked out movies and books, and they had a fun trip to the beach. Daria was especially excited about the toy "Sugar Glider" she was given at the arcade.

The Rose Angel made another appearance the day before treatment. I'm grateful for the loving encouragement for my journey.

My parents arrived on Wednesday with Daria and Mom had prepared and lugged along an entire Passover seder for Wednesday and Thursday. For the first night of Passover, Daria read us her special Passover book from school and we all participated in the "Plague Puppetry" (don't ask). We had a guest for dinner that night, our friend David, who had never experienced a seder before. We enjoyed sharing our tradition with him, especially hiding the afikomen. Daria and David both received special gifts for finding their afikomen.





For the second night of Passover, Aunt Max arrived with kosher beef and sour salt, prepared to tackle yet another dish she'd never made! My grandmother, who passed away in February, always made a beef borscht (beet soup) for Passover. I wanted to recreate her recipe, and tried to keep it a secret as a surprise for my mom... but as we got into the preparation process it became clear we had to clue Mom in because my tastebuds have been heavily impacted by treatment, and Max didn't know what the dish was supposed to taste like! So Mom joined in and the borscht was a team effort. It was the same bright pink color it used to be and tasted just like Grandma's.



Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Email from April 1, 2009

This is an email I already sent out -- hopefully most of you saw it:

I just wanted to give you all an update on what has been transpiring regarding my health. This past Monday, March 30th I had a CT Scan to review what affects the treatment has had on my Melanoma. This afternoon I received a phone call from the nurse practitioner. All is stable and one area has had some additional shrinkage. This is all great news. Everything is heading in the correct direction. I am grateful for the information. And I still have more work ahead of me. For those of you that have asked, I will stay on this treatment course for as long as I continue to respond to the treatment and that I can handle the side effects.

Thank you for your continued support you extend to me and my family in all the ways that you do. I know I have said this before but I would not have been able to do this without your love, support and friendship. Each one of you is apart of my village. Thank you for being apart of that village and for being my cheerleaders. Please continue to see me as "A Miracle". I love you all. God Bless us all.