Treatment Number 12...NOT

That's right NO treatment for me.

I went to the hospital yesterday for my appointment with my oncologist and to have treatment. (I thought) When I went into the appointment room I first met with my nurse practitioner who told me that they were trying to get my CT Scan results (I had the CT Scan that past Monday). So we started going over my last 3 weeks and then she told me that I was going to be meeting with a Nurse Practitioner that specialized in pain management. I have been increasing my Neurotin and got to a level that it started affecting my cognitive abilities. I wanted off the meds or to try something different because I don't want to be living my life like a zombie. So that appointment was about switching to Lyrica instead.

During that appointment my oncologist popped her head in the room and said, "I have your CT Scan results." And then she said, "Everything looks great. Everything is stable. There are NO new tumors. This is great news." Then I started to cry. Everything is stable. OMG. It really is working. Finally something is working and I am doing great. This is all that went through my head. It had been a long week waiting to get the results. I choose to wait it out and have the conversation in person with my doctor. I am so glad I did!!!! I finished up the appointment with the other nurse practitioner.

My oncologist came back into the room and then proceeded to say, "I think it might be best to start doing your treatments every 6 weeks instead." "OK", I said. She said, "I don't want the neuropathy to become permanent and you are doing so well let's give your body a break." I said, "OK". She said, "Let's not do this treatment." I said, "What". She said, "Go home". I said, "What". She said, "Skip this treatment". I said, "Oh My God". She said, "I know I know your schedule." I said, "Yes my schedule." We all started to laugh!!!! She said, "It will be OK just skip every other treatment in your schedule." I said, "OK but what about the next scan and what if it starts to grow again and and and????" I was really concerned and scarred at this point. But then I realized how supported I am, how loved I am and how everyone in my life is holding for me to be "A Miracle". Especially me. This means that I will need to stop treatment eventually and continue living a normal life. I know that it is not totally gone right now but it will be and this is the next step in the process. So I went home.

And here I am updating my blog, by myself. This is all great news and I am so happy to have a week back to be able to play, work and be with my family on these sunny days of summer. Of course with lots of sunscreen! Hahaha. OK not that funny but very true.

Thank You to everyone that was supporting me this treatment and who I had to cancel.

My dear friend Max from Boston who comes every treatment to support and love not just me but my family as well. I am so sorry you can't get your hair cut this time. :) Thank you for all that you do. I will miss seeing you.

Thank you to all the neighbors that were going to deliver food.

Thank you Susan for arranging it all each treatment and

to all the neighbors that continue to deliver food

month after month aftermonth, without any hesitation.

It makes a huge difference

in my recovery process, Thank You!

Thank you to my MSIA Family that comes to give me Prayer Communion each treatment cycle. Thank you Alice for being my

Guardian Angel and for arranging it

and supporting me the way that you do.

Thank you to my Village of Angels!!!

My treatment support, Jann for loving me

just the way that you do.

Rose Angel for your words of inspiration and that

lovely rose I get before each treatment.

House Cleaning Angels assisting me so that

my surroundings are clean and fresh.

Thank you to everyone loving, praying, supporting

and holding that I will be "A Miracle".

God Bless each and everyone of us today and always.

Until next time,

Light, love and laughter,

Shari

An Update after Treatment #5

Hi everyone-

We just wanted to update you on Shari this week. Her recovery after treatment #5 has overall been decent, however, not quite as good as last time. The biggest challenge that Shari has had to face this treatment is battling a stubborn head cold that began the Monday right before her treatment, and she is still dealing with. At this point, the worst part of the cold are the coughing attacks that she is having at night and causing her to have very interrupted sleep and feel quite tired as a result. Please keep Shari in your prayers that this head cold goes away soon. 2 weeks is a long time even under the best of circumstances, let alone having to deal with the cold and her chemo side effects together.

Max was with the Olbrichs during this recovery period and, as always, Shari thanks you from the bottom of her heart Max!!!

Shari's "Rose Angel" did indeed come through once again for this treatment, bringing Shari her much anticipated rose and 7 individual quotes. How thoughtful!

Shari's next treatment will be on Friday, February 20th. We'll keep you updated!

Peace,
Shannon

A Blessing...

This is a blessing that Shari's friend, her "Sister Angel", sent to her to celebrate her good news. She wanted me to pass it on to all of you!

Best,
Shannon

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Begin with a Moment to focus on our gratitude - - -

We are grateful for the constant and consistent presence of You, dear and beloved Lord, God. Thank you for Your radiant Light, Your embracing Loving and Your still and peaceful Sound that fill us and everything around us.

We gather here in Your name today in sharing our gratitude, and for a special celebration of our dear friend Shari in acknowledgement of YOUR will in altering the course of her disease toward wellness, and, if it is for the highest good, to disappearing and becoming extinct, complete, and just plain GONE, in and for Our Shari on all levels.

We give thanks for the courage, strength, loving, caring and sharing brought forward in each of us to participate in this process with Shari, as we all are learning and growing and expanding into the truth of Your purpose for us individually and together in this process. We are so pleased that we could answer Your call and we do our best as Your Loving and Your gifts are so present as we serve in any way.

We ask for a special blessing for Shari as she is anchoring this miracle and courageously, consistently and beautifully demonstrating her endearing partnership with God, and her truthful commitment to Living - joyfully and peacefully - in the process. May she always have Your angels, Guardians and Light beings present for support, guidance, comfort and healing.

And we are grateful that You will use each of us as Your Angels when needed as we are here and ready.

We ask for a blessing today on this celebration and communion together here in Shari’s home, and for her beloved Tom, Daria and Summer.

Dear Lord, may YOUR clear and radiant Light extend from the very center of Your Loving Heart and flow down to fill this house at 504 XXXXX Circle and secure the Light into the earth below. May it radiate and vibrate with your Loving, touching to all things here, and to everyone present such that all who enter here are touched, and as each one present goes into the world and to their homes, this Light remains with them and spreads to their homes and those they love are touched and so forth, as Your Loving, Light and Sound are in motion and service at all times.

We are so grateful. We Love You. We receive You and Your loving Dear Lord, and we celebrate. Amen

A Rose is More Than Just a Rose...

Shari just completed Round 3 of chemotherapy yesterday (an update on that is coming next). Before we get to that, though, we want to tell all of her friends and family about Shari's "Rose Angel". The day before each of the 3 chemotherapy treatments that Shari has completed, Shari has found a rose on her front doorstep. The rose is always accompanied by 7 different inspirational quotes written on index cards and paper clipped to the rose.

The rose is given to Shari anonymously. She genuinely has no idea who keeps leaving her pre-treatment rose and inspirational quotes for her. While one part of Shari is very curious about who the mystery gifter is, another part of her happy to have it remain a mystery. She is very thankful and appreciative of this anonymous "Rose Angel" who is so thoughtful and provides her with this wonderful pick-me-up right before each of her treatments.

So, to Shari's "Rose Angel" whomever you are, Shari wants you to know this.... She appreciates you and your generosity more than you can know. Your gesture really puts a smile on her face and helps her get through her tough days. You are very much loved and appreciated!

Shari is so stylish!

On 11/22, Shari's friend Mair came over for the "final buzz" and they took off the remainder of Shari's hair. After this session, Shari was mostly bald, although there were still a few small patches of hair remaining. Daria got to help this time around and as you will see from all of the smiles in the picture, they had a great day together!

Shari is ready to become bald!

You can see Daria's hand in the picture "helping" Aunt Mair!

Daria got a turn with the clippers too!

Saying goodbye to Mommy's hair.

And embracing it all with ..... SMILES!

And after this buzz session, here is how Shari is working her new Bald look. Doesn't she have the best head shape?

To top it all off, here are some of the FABULOUS hat and scarf looks that Shari has been wearing lately. She looks so very chic!!!

Stay tuned for more fashionable updates soon :-)

Update on Shari

Hi everyone-

Shari is doing fairly well this week. She has experienced some fatigue, bone pain, and some rashes on her body in the last 10 days since her treatment started. However, all of this has mostly been manageable for her and are all expected side effects.

On Wednesday, Shari went to the hospital to have a port put in her chest. From here forward, her medicines will be administered through the port, instead of having to give her IV's every time she goes for treatment. She has had some discomfort and soreness at the incision sites, but is overall doing well from that procedure.

Shari's next chemo treatment will be next Friday, November 21st.

Please keep Shari in your thoughts and prayers and keep holding her vision that she will be a "miracle" and eradicate this cancer from her body!

Best,
Shannon

Touched By An Angel...

For anyone who may be doubting, there are still alot of really great people in this world...People who will go out of their way to assist a stranger for no other reason than to be nice and to help someone out. Shari met one of these selfless people two weeks ago.

The weekend before the historic presidential election, Shari was at home, preparing to cut her hair before her chemo treatment started a few days later. Out of the blue, her front door bell rang. Shari answered to door to find a friendly campaign worker canvassing her neighborhood reminding people to get the vote out! As he talked to Shari, she mentioned that it was going to be hard for her to make voting work in her schedule (she needed to leave for the hospital that morning by 7:30am for her first chemo treatment!), but she was going to try her absolute hardest to make sure she voted. She was especially concerned by the prediction that lines would be long at her polling place, and she wouldn't have the time to wait.

After hearing her story, this kind man told her that he wanted to help her out. So, he told her that he would go to the polls early on Tuesday morning and wait in line for her so that she could pull right up to the polls when they opened at 7am and take his place in line and vote. The man gave Shari is cell phone number and told her that whether she came, or not, he was going to be there waiting in line for her.

The night before, the man called Shari and reiterated his commitment to waiting in line for her so she could vote quickly and get on her way to the hospital. Shari still wasn't sure how her morning would go and if all of the timing was even going to make any of this possible, but she surely appreciated the man doing this for her.

Tuesday morning, Shari was on her way and called her new friend to let him know she was coming. As promised, this man had been waiting in a long line and when Shari arrived, he gave her his space in line. He then proceeded to go all the way to the back of the line to wait his turn to vote.

This seemingly small gesture made a huge difference in Shari's life! You never know how impactful your kindness can be and Shari was so appreciative that this "voting angel" was sent to her!

Shannon

Empowerment!

Once Shari chose to do the chemotherapy and targeted therapy treatment that began this week, she knew that losing her hair would become a reality at some point in this process. Shari has embraced this reality and decided to be proactive about it!

Shari wanted to cut her hair short in anticipation of the chemo side effects, before she started treatment and started to possibly feel ill. On Sunday, her dear friend Mair cut her hair into a fabulous new short style! Shari looks beautiful.

Shari, before

Shari, after

Doesn't she look fabulous?!?! In other "hair" news, Shari and her friend Jan started the process of wig shopping last week. They went to a boutique in West Chester and were introduced to a HUGE variety of options she has for head coverings, including wigs, partial hair pieces, hats, scarves, and headbands. Shari found a few things she really liked there including a wonderful wig that she hopes she may be able to get in the coming weeks! Check out her pictures.

I love this shot of Jan and Shari together! Don't they look adorable?!?!

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow I'll update you on Shari's wonderful voting story. There are some really wonderful people in this world!

Shannon

We Interrupt this Regularly Scheduled Programming....

Hi everyone!This is Shari's friend Shannon. As many of you know, Shari has been diagnosed with melanoma and has recently found out that the melanoma has spread to her lung. Shari began a chemotherapy and targeted therapy treatment program as of yesterday to fight the melanoma. We know that Shari will be successful in her fight, but she can use all of the support that she can get along the way.

Shari has asked that I act as a communicator with all of you, her loving supporters, as she goes through this process. This is a job I will happily accept. In light of this, I have "hijacked" Shari's blog and will occasionally update you here with her progress.

Shari provided an update yesterday after her first chemotherapy treatment and here is what she had to say:

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Today, Tuesday, November 4th I started my first chemo and targeted therapy treatment. And after 1 small issue in the morning (I was never scheduled for an appointment in the calendar for today's treatment) and 1 small issue once I started the chemo (I had a small rash reaction that made them stop the meds and check with my Dr. that took about 45 minutes before receiving clearance to continue) I think the day went smooth and easy. I was very tired and floating around from the Benadryl that they gave me and then got very high from the steroids. The combination was overall good.

It has been almost a 12 hour day since I left my house and got back home but (I DID VOTE, YEA!!!!! can't wait to share that story, another time) I am tired and ready to relax, get out of my clothes and retire for the night.

Thank you for all your support and love. I will update often and keep you up to date on my progress. If there is anyone that I have missed please let me know. And you are welcome to share my "Miracle" progress with anyone that would like to know. My oncologists vision is to maintain and stabilize the disease and I would like to take it a step further I want to be "The Miracle" to shrink the melanoma and it be gone from my body completely.

God Bless us all,
Light, love and laughter,
Shari
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Please keep Shari in your thoughts and prayers. I will update here regularly so please check back!

Shannon

A Day Of Rest

So today started out to be a day of much needed rest. Tom decided this morning that he wanted to go to the beach for the day. After much debate inside myself, I decided that he and D Rose should go without me. And that I should spend the day at home catching up on all the needed rest that I manage to not get. Besides, the side affects from my treatment (I will explain later) are now kicking in. This of course is a good thing but it does take it's toll. So driving 2 hours to the shore and 2 hours home from the shore, spending time on the beach in the sun and walking on the boardwalk, although to most of you sounds like a wonderful day, to me would have been exhausting. So I made my chose and opted to stay home and I sent the two of them off by themselves.

At the beginning of the day I was sooooo happy. Alone in the quiet with my class work, my new blog, my book that I want to finish reading and of course the Olympics. I was set. I had to run to the store for a short errand and was back by lunch time. I made myself a nice lunch and then it hit me. "They must be on the beach having a great time." "What have I done, why did I decide to stay home?" And lets just say that it went on and on and on from there. Most of the time I was trying very hard to be content in my quiet and then the one in my head would start and not let up.

All in all, I had the day of quiet I needed so much. I completed a lot that I wanted to get accomplished and had rest, quiet rest. On the most part I am grateful for days like this and I also wish that I had the energy all the time to just pick up and go like I used too. That day again will come.

Blessings,

Shari