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Let's help Rick and Tanya

2

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  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Stuck at $3,640 on Memorial Day. Please help. Thanks.
    Retired and loving it.
  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,268
    Hi, We're getting closer! :p

    Yours, Larry
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    edited May 2018
    Seeing the beauty in simple things. A note from our friend, Tanya. Please help.

    Hello Everyone!

    I just wanted to give you a quick update. Thanks all of you, I was able to make a quick trip home to see Rick, get some crazy kitty lovin' from our 3 kitties, see my Mom, visit with a number of friends ( sorry to anyone I was unable to see) and get a truck load of business paperwork done before I have to head back for my first surgery. Thank you all so much for making it possible for me to have a little time at home before my big summer of adventure truly begins. On a brite and shinning note, a mama moose decided to gift us with the birth of brand new baby twins and she saw fit to share them with us this morning. I thought you might all like to see them so I am including a picture here for your enjoyment! When they are brand new they are Irish Setter Red and cute as a spotted kitten!
    Blessings to all, from both of us!
    Tanya & Rick


    Retired and loving it.
    MikeL_2
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Thanks, Larry!
    Retired and loving it.
  • Erin Holohan Haskell
    Erin Holohan Haskell Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 2,272

    Hi, We're getting closer! :p



    Yours, Larry

    Wow! Thanks, Larry!
    President
    HeatingHelp.com
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Almost there: $5,040. Thanks to all of you who are helping. We can do this. If you can part with a few bucks, please help. Thanks.
    Retired and loving it.
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    edited June 2018
    Here's an update from Tanya (posting as one of their cats):

    Good Day Everyone,

    Hello all, Squirrelly Girl here with an update on Mama T’s recent setback. Mom and Dad hooked up Kitty Cams before they started this journey so they can peek in on us and Mama can get her kitty fix everyday. The other great thing is that they can actually talk to us. The first time Mama talked to us Bro Winston was seriously wigged out and was trying to find out where Mama was that he could hear her but not see her. I think he thinks she has a secret invisibility cloak but I saw Papa installing the cameras so I am in the know… I didn’t tell Katy Cat or Winston about it though and being the youngest in the family it is fun having inside info that my sibs don’t. It’s a cat thing you know :-). This makes it easy for Papa Rick to talk to me and give me updates on Mama… I love being in the know and having my brother and sister reliant on me for all their information on Mama and Papa… it’s a youngest sibling thing :-)

    HOUSEKEEPING

    Enough on that, now a small bit of housekeeping. We are changing our posts on information on Mama. We have a number of friends and family who do not feel comfortable with signing on to Caring Bridge or the GoFundMe site for updates so we will be writing one update and posting the same update to Caring Bridge, GoFundMe and we will also begin putting the updates on FaceBook. We are apologizing now for anyone we might miss responding to personally. We try very hard to answer each person personally but sometimes it is days before we make it and it may be longer now that we will have 3 sites we will have to track.


    NEWEST NEWS


    Papa Rick busted Mama out of quarantine at the UWMC Tuesday afternoon. Sunday night she was having trouble breathing and Papa rushed her off to the ER at the University of Washington Medical Center.

    The visit to the ER began with a bang. They put her on an IV antibiotic (Vancomyocin) and she had a bad reaction to it. Burning veins, swelling & rash so they too her off of it right away and now she has a 3rd medicine she is allergic to.

    It took them some time to figure out what was going on because the tests kept coming back as fine. Even so, they couldn’t get her blood oxygen levels where they were supposed to be. As long as she was on oxygen support and getting albuterol nebulizer treatments they would get into the proper range but as soon as they were done the numbers would drop again.

    The long a short of it all is that she somehow managed to pick up viral bronchitis that caused fluid to collect in her lungs and subsequently an asthma attack ensued. She was born with bronchial Asthma and took shots for it until she was around 9 years old. She rarely has any issues with it now as an adult.

    It is most likely that she was exposed to it before they left Alaska or on the plane coming down to Seattle.

    She made it her mission to pee herself out of the hospital. Yep, she decided in her own head that she might need more fluid because she was having some of the same symptoms as Papa Rick had when he had the flu and went comatose 2 winters ago. They also could not get his BP and oxygen to normalize and stay put because he was so dehydrated. SO…the little kitten that sits on her shoulder and whispers in my ear said she needed to drink water and a lot of it.

    I hear she ran the poor nurses raged getting water for her. Pretty much every time they came in she had drained the pitcher and had them bring her another one.

    They made her have a nasal swab to try and identify the bug that was causing her to be sick. She is pretty sure the swab went all the way to her brain!

    SO… they identified that she has viral bronchitis that triggered a full on asthma event. The excellent staff at the U of W took great care of her and Papa brought her home from the hospital Tuesday and she is feeling much better.

    FIRST POST-OP APPOINTMENT

    Today they had their first follow-up appointment with the Oncologist Doctor post surgery and they left feeling very relieved with the news they received.

    The biopsy of the lymph nodes shows no migration of the cancer to the lymph system!! Yep, Winston, Katey Kat and I
    (the magnanimous Squirrel ) will be having a catnip and treat kibble celebration in honor of our people Mama that we love so much.

    Now, what does this mean for her treatment you might ask. Well, it means nothing but goodness. There is no need for radiation! There will be no Chemotherapy! Mama T will be staying in Seattle for monitoring, reconstructive surgery, and to get her started on her 5 year hormone suppression protocol. Once all of this is done, and they can make sure she doesn’t have a bad reaction to the hormone suppression drug she can come home… for GOOD!!!!!!

    We three kitties are doing the kitty happy dance right now, and if you have never witnessed kitties doing the happy dance, let me assure you, you are really missing something special!

    With your continued prayers, mama’s determination and the grace of God we are hoping to have her home with us by the middle of August!!!

    Well, I suppose that is enough info for now. I will do my best to get an update out after Mama’a next appointments.

    IN THE MEAN TIME, we wish all of you a continued wonderful summer. We hope you find fields of catnip to frolic in and your friends and family bring you lots of toys to play with... mama always brings us toys when she comes home :-)

    We thank you for your ongoing support, prayers and kindness.

    Blessings to all of you!

    Squirrel Girl (SG), Katey Kat, Winston, Papa Rick and Mama Tanya
    Help spread the word!
    Retired and loving it.
    Fred
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,090
    I'm in...
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Thanks, Jamie. Everyone matters or nobody matters.
    Retired and loving it.
    Larry Weingarten
  • Jean-David Beyer
    Jean-David Beyer Member Posts: 2,666
    Just donated.
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Thanks, Jean-David!
    Retired and loving it.
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Rick and Tanya are just $373 from their goal of $6,000. Thanks to all of you who have stepped up to help them. Could just a few more of you please do the same and nudge this over the finish line?

    Thanks.
    Retired and loving it.
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Done! Eric Karn just donated $373 to make the full $6,000 for Rick and Tanya. Thanks, Eric, and everyone else who cared enough to help our friends.
    Retired and loving it.
  • Canucker
    Canucker Member Posts: 722
    edited June 2018
    Donation in, we got 'em there. Go get 'em Rick and Tanya :smile:

    Eric
    You can have it good, fast or cheap. Pick two
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    :)
    Retired and loving it.
  • Erin Holohan Haskell
    Erin Holohan Haskell Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 2,272
    Wow! Many thanks to everyone who helped Rick and Tanya.
    President
    HeatingHelp.com
  • rick in Alaska
    rick in Alaska Member Posts: 1,457
    I can't begin to tell you all how much I appreciated this. This was amazing.
    I will have to be going back home the day after tomorrow, but because of the money raised here, I will be able to stay for a longer period of time when she does her second surgery. At this point she is mostly able to be on her own, so I feel better about not being here.
    I am at a loss for proper words, so again, thank you to all who donated. The people who own this site, and the people who frequent this site, deserve a lot of kudos.
    Rick and Tanya Norvell
    p.s. I won't forget this!
  • Erin Holohan Haskell
    Erin Holohan Haskell Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 2,272
    Thanks, Rick. All our best to you and Tanya.
    President
    HeatingHelp.com
    Canucker
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Bless you both. Stay strong.
    Retired and loving it.
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Update:

    Good Morning Everyone,

    Squirrel Girl here with a brief update on Mama T and Papa R. I am including a picture of Papa’s cell phone. Actually it is a picture of what is left of Papa’s cell phone after our riding lawn mower tried to eat it. Mama says Papa’s middle name is McGiver so if anyone can fix it he can. I saw it though and somehow I think he is gonna need an all new phone.

    Mama’s friends of over 34 years came to stay with her the day after Papa went back home to Homer. Papa left on Wednesday morning really early and she came the very next day. Mama said they had lots of fun just hanging out at the apartment having a 3 day pajama party. She tried really hard to do a lot of nothing so the fluids would get down to where she could have the drains removed.

    When Mama came out of surgery she had drains in both sides of her chest. These drains have collection bulbs that collect fluids that are produced by the body after radical surgery. She isn’t supposed to get them out until her body produces 30ml or less of fluid per day for 48 hours straight. SO far the lowest she has gotten is around 38 ml. On Friday after she Jan “stripped the lines” and emptied the collection bulbs, the left side would not seal under suction. They tried making it work 3 or 4 times and it just wouldn’t hold.

    Mama called the Doc.’s office and they asked what her drain counts were and then walked her through removing the drain line. That all went well and the surgery site where the line was seems to be healing well. Unfortunately there is now no place for the fluid to go so it is building up under the skin at the surgery site. Mama says she is going to call the doctor today and find out if there is any way they can drain the fluid that is building up as it appears to be causing the sharp stabbing pains to be more often and more intense.

    Mama had a week with no appointments after Jan was scheduled to go home to the Tri-Cities ( 3 hours from Seattle) so when Jan went home Mama went with her. Jan didn’t want her to be alone for the week and was also wanting Mama to help her get set up to try out eating Keto so they thought this would be a good chance to do so. Now Mama is afraid she may have to go back to Seattle before the weekend. We will know more after she talks to the clinic and Mama promised to let us know what the plan is.

    During the week Jan stayed with mama she was eating Keto style with Mama and decided she wanted to try it so Mama is going to help her get her kitchen set up for trying it out. Mama and Papa started eating Keto about 20 months ago and Mama went from 198 pounds to 143 pounds in the 20 months. She says she is so grateful they began eating healthy and she dropped the weight before they found out she has cancer. She said she can only imagine how big the cancer would have been if she had been eating all the sugar and simple carbs these past 2 years! Cancer LOVES sugar and she is so glad she isn’t eating it anymore.

    I asked Mama what she means by eating Keto. She says that it means they eat only fresh food, nothing boxed or pre-made. They stopped eating sugar, wheat, rice and all other grains. She says a lot of people (who don’t do their research) think it is a high fat completely carb free way of eating. She assures me that is not true. She says there are plenty of GOOD carbs in the veggies they eat. She makes their own bread, crackers, and treats and they all get Papa’s seal of approval which is really saying something!

    Anyway Auntie Jan wants to give it a try and mama said she would help. So Mama is in Kennewick with Jan and Jan is taking VERY good care of her. My kitty sibs and Papa are very grateful that they have such wonderful family and friends. Everyone has been so helpful with prayers, words of love and encouragement, donations of money and airline miles to help them go back and forth for treatments, surgeries, appointments, etc.

    Thank you again to everyone. We kitties are so grateful that our Mama is so well taken care of since we can’t be with her. We really miss her and know that with all your prayers and help she will be home to us soon healthier than ever.

    I will write more in a few days. In the meantime I hope you can all find a nice meadow with lots of pretty flowers and butterflies so you can run and play and chase the butterflies. Mama taught us it isn’t nice to eat or play with them up close and personal because they are very important for our eco system so we don’t hurt them. We just play tag with them. SO if you play in a meadow with butterflies be sure to admire them from a distance so they can keep our flowers blooming!

    Blessings and love,

    For Mama, Papa, Winston and Katey Kat, this is Squirrel Girl wishing you sunshine and happiness and loads of fun this summer!





    Retired and loving it.
  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,268
    Hello and thanks to Squirrel Girl for keeping us updated. Not sure which will be better for the phone, hot glue or crazy glue?!?! :o

    Yours, Larry
  • Erin Holohan Haskell
    Erin Holohan Haskell Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 2,272
    Yes, thanks for the update. Sending warm wishes for a smooth recovery.

    @Larry Weingarten - Duct tape? ;)
    President
    HeatingHelp.com
  • rick in Alaska
    rick in Alaska Member Posts: 1,457
    That is a bad feeling seeing your phone shooting out of the lawnmower. It might not have been so bad if it wasn't a mulching blade on it. I also found out that if you do this yourself, don't put the broken pieces in your pocket. That lithium battery gets real hot when it breaks! Good thing I did not throw away our old phone, since it will be a week to get another one sent by slow boat. No-one will send overnight because of the battery.
    Rick
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Quite a year, Rick. Quite a year.
    Retired and loving it.
  • rick in Alaska
    rick in Alaska Member Posts: 1,457
    Luckily I have a great attitude. I looked at that phone splayed all over the driveway, and said "dang". And then the technical side of me kicked in and I wanted to see all the parts to see how it was put together :p
    Then I finished mowing the lawn and moved on. It's what we do in life to keep going. Never give up!
    Rick
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Amen!
    Retired and loving it.
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Update:

    Hello all, Squirrel Girl here,

    Yet Another Silver Lining

    There has been yet another turn in Mama’s adventure. As I mentioned in my last post, Mama was getting fluid build up in her right surgical area after the nurses talked her and Jan through removing the drain that had ceased to function properly. Well, it didn’t improve and the doctor’s didn’t want Mama to wait until the 13th for her next appointment. So… that wonderful Auntie Jan brought Mama back to Seattle on Tuesday so she could get the fluid drained.

    The silver lining of the week is that Dr. Gougoutas did the first filling for her expanders a week ahead of time!! SOooo… Friday the 13th will be her second fill if everything is good on her upcoming visit!

    They stayed over night and then drove back to the Tri-Cities to finish out the rest of Mama’s visit. Jan and her friend Michael brought Mama back to Seattle on Sunday. Mama is gonna be busier than a cat chasing a dozen mice this next week. She has 2 Dr. appointments Tuesday the 10th, A DEXA SCAN and a PET Scan on Wednesday and 2 DR. appointments on Friday.

    Mama said it was crazy hot there in the Tri-Cities and that she a jan and the kids all had a good time.

    Well all, I really don’t have much more news than that. Time to go play with my toys, i love digging them out of the toy box one at a time :-)

    Until next time, this is Squirrel Girl signing off for Mama, Papa, Katey Kat, and Winston
    Help spread the word!
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  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    edited August 2018
    Update from Tanya:

    Squirrel Girl here! It appears that Mama is gonna be going back and forth between Seattle for a while longer than we had hoped. With the continuing unknowns of the enlarged lymph nodes and the reconstructive surgeries (see more below) to come she is hoping now to be home in early December. Because of this the GoFundme goal has been increased to try and help cover the added living expenses for the extra 3 to 4 months.

    Wow, I can’t believe it has been so long since I have written an update. I beg your forgiveness as I was spending all my time while Mama was home for a visit trying to keep her in relaxation and recovery mode. Winston, Katey and I all took turns holding her down by laying across her legs. It was reasonably effective. She did go out a couple times with Peg and to have lunch with Grandma but most of the time she just rested.

    Mama came home a couple weeks ago for 10 days. She was so happy to get home to see Papa and us kitties and to see Auntie Peg and Uncle Joseph before they head back to Pennsylvania on the 3rd. She got to see the beautiful flower and veggie gardens that Joseph has been tending for us this summer. She even got to use some of the veggies for dinners while she was home! This made her very happy as she said she really misses the fresh summer veggies.

    Mama went back to Seattle this past Saturday and is now at the little apartment at the Pete Gross House. She had her first Physical Therapy appointment on Monday and she says it went real well. She is diligently doing her exercises so she can regain all her lost range of motion and strength before the next surgery!

    Tomorrow she has an appointment with a Thoracic Surgeon to see about investigating the status of the enlarged lymph nodes that are still pitching fits behind her chest wall. These nodes continue to be enlarged so they need to find out why. We aren’t sure when she is gonna have the actual biopsy but she has the appointment with the TS and a pre-anesthesia appointment also tomorrow. She says she is looking forward to that like a cat looks forwards to a “real bath”… yup she used air quotes when she said it, silly human :-)

    Her Physical Therapy is scheduled for the next 3 Tuesdays in a row. Mom is hoping as we all are, that she will be able to come home again for a longer stay between the final PT session as well as any other appointments that might come out of the biopsies and her first reconstructive surgery. Currently the first reconstructive surgery is scheduled for October 31st. Mama says that seems somehow appropriate and is scheming on what fun thing she can do to surprise the surgeons.

    When Papa was going through his stem cell transplant he had his second bone marrow biopsy. Having already had one and having the scars to prove it, they took sticky notes and wrote “Drill Here” in sharpie and affixed them to the previous biopsy sites :-) Yep! That’s our Mama and Papa for ya! Now it is Mama’s turn to try and figure out something fun to do to make the surgery staff laugh! ALL IDEAS ARE WELCOME! We have time, I bet we can come up with something fun…. purr-sonally I am voting for something with a black cat theme… but that’s just me ;_-)

    Sooooo… that is about all I have for now. Thank you again to everyone for all your continued mental, emotional and financial support. Our blessings are more numerous than the butterflies in spring… and that’s a lot!!

    I am attaching photos of the beautiful yard courtesy our very good friend Joseph!!


    Hugs and purrs, purrs and hugs,

    Squirrel Girl signing off for Mama T, Papa R, Winston and Katey Kat





    Retired and loving it.
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506




    Retired and loving it.
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    I'm in for the new goal.
    Retired and loving it.
    rick in Alaska
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
    Me too.
    rick in Alaska
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    I'm drawn to Number 11 on this list:

    https://heatinghelp.com/blog/25000-days/
    Retired and loving it.
  • rick in Alaska
    rick in Alaska Member Posts: 1,457
    Thanks Dan. As a technician, I am drawn to number 5. As a husband, gotta go with 9 and 10.
    p.s. Why are you up commenting at 2:14 a.m.?
    And again, thank you all very much.
    Rick
  • rick in Alaska
    rick in Alaska Member Posts: 1,457
    Also, even though we have never met officially, I consider it an honor to have you call me a friend.
    Hope to meet in person one of these days, and wish I could have made it for the big meetup.
    Rick
    Erin Holohan Haskell
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Friendship works lots of ways, Rick. You know that. Thanks, pal. Stay strong.
    Retired and loving it.
    rick in Alaska
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    Update from Tanya:

    Duly appointed (and may I say… an excellent choice) to keep you up to date on our people Mama it is I, Squirrel Girl back with the latest news. Papa and we kitties sure do miss her. We tried our best to keep her here (i’ll show you pictures of us holding her down) but she said she will be back for a longer stay real soon. She will be coming home on the 19th and will be home for longer this time.

    Things have gone well with her physical therapy. She went again today and had a good increase in range of motion. The therapist said her surgery is healing very well and her skin is in very good condition. She said apparently most people have problems with their skin. Mama was so excited to get started on the PT she nearly over did it! She says her brain isn’t working real well right now (that is one of the side effects of the hormone suppressing drug she is on) and she couldn’t remember how often to do the exercises or where she put her paper showing the exercises. The first day she did the exercises 3 times a day. It wasn’t until that night that she found the exercise paper in the backpack. Wholly cats-in-jammies she was only supposed to do them once a day. She said she was one sore girl the next morning. The muscles have calmed down now and things are moving along real well in that department.

    So well in fact that she is able to cancel her appointment on the 21st and come home for a longer stay!!!!!! Oh my goodness! Winston was so excited when he found out that he raced all the way through the house from the bedroom, down the hall, skidded on the concrete floor going around the corner, across the living room and jumped from the back of the couch to the top of the cat tree. He then commenced to rip the daylights out of the top of the cat house. He is VERY excited… me too!

    We are all marking the days off on the calendar until she gets home. There probably won’t be a lot to tell between now and the 20th or so of Sept. I know mom wants to try and do a little work in the garden and get some time in in her studio.

    There will be more news the middle of September and we are expecting it to be good news. The first reconstructive surgery has been confirmed for the 31st of October.

    Thank you again and again and a million times over again for everything! You guys are better than a basket of fresh catnip!

    Blessings to you and yours,

    This is SG signing off for Mama T, Papa R, Winston, Katey Kat and myself

    PS I included a couple pictures of Winston and me doing our best to hold mom down :-)



    Retired and loving it.
  • Erin Holohan Haskell
    Erin Holohan Haskell Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 2,272
    That's wonderful news. So happy to hear it. Enjoy that garden!
    President
    HeatingHelp.com
  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,268
    I'm in. Squirrel Girl needed some attention. B)
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    !
    Retired and loving it.
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,506
    A note from dear Tanya:

    HELLLLO EVERYONE !

    Tanya here, Squirrel Girl is taking a nap with her Papa Rick and the rest of her feline sibs. I am sitting in our own home in our own recliner. I am surrounded by my amazing husband, 3 terribly adorable kitties on the 5 acres we own in what is in my estimation is the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my 62 years (and I have seen a few places :-) ). We will be having burgers with tons of fresh veggies courtesy our good friend Joseph who planted and tended the most amazing veggie and flowers while they were here this summer. Thank you Joseph!!!... Life is good.

    I am 10 weeks and 5 days post double mastectomy surgery. I am gaining strength everyday and my range of motion is already at 75% to 80% of pre-surgery stats. I may just be able to get back to pre-surgery strength or better before my reconstructive surgery! The surgery sites are well healed and the expanders are fully filled. Again... Life is good

    I am feeling grateful to be doing so well in my journey to recovery. I am grateful to have so many people who care about Rick and me and that they provide us with such an amazing support system. If you are here reading this entry whether it is on Caring Bridge, GoFundMe, or Facebook you are among those I am speaking of! YOU ALL ROCK....BIGTIME!

    I make a concentrated effort to stay positive and not dwell on the bad things that can and do happen in my days of late. I am definitely aware that no matter how I feel or what I am going through there are those that make my predicament feel like a cake walk. I do not want to give the impression that I don't have my bad days as this would not only be a lie by ommission but also unfair to those who struggle with daily turmoils far worse than mine. So in the interest of full disclosure, these past few weeks I have had more than a few less than favorable days.

    I have to say this learning to live with "no hormones" really sucks. To add insult to injury one of the breast cancers I have is treated by eliminating any female hormones I have left. The side effects of the hormone suppressing drugs are many and varied. Two main ones that my body has decided to let in are extreme fatigue, as well as confusion and extremely poor short term memory recall. My "random access memory" is temporarily out of commission. The doctor said that the symptoms may go away. The internet cancer sites says that some symptoms may lessen or go away in several weeks (3-6 weeks). Yet other side effects, most notably bone and joint pain can take several months to manifest.

    The third and most frustrating side effect is a heightened sense of anxiety and a previously non-existent depression. Fortunately these are all things that are quiet common with cancer patients and the SCCA is on top off it all with the multidisciplinary complementary medical staff.

    They got me in to see a psychiatrist before I left for home for a visit. The doctor is taking me off of my old anxiety meds and is starting me on a new one that treats both anxiety and depression and has been shown to help lessen chronic pain in some patients. Now, that is a side effect I would be ecstatic to experience! If it would help with my arthritis pain it would be awesome. Unfortunately it will take several weeks to see if it will make the difference we are looking for.

    Also, when I am in Seattle I force myself to leave the apartment almost every day for a walk or to go to the grocery store or the little corner park. I am very much looking forward to the day I wake up and "want" to go for that walk! I know it is on it's way... and I am hoping it will arrive very soon.

    I was quite excited to be able to fill in for a few hours at the Ptarmigan Arts Gallery for a fellow "Ptarmy" this past Friday and will fill in another half day the end of the month. It sure felt good to pay forward a small (very small) amount of the kindnesses we have experienced through this whole new chapter of our lives. After my 3 hour shift I was able to take my Mom to her favorite Thai restaurant where we met Rick for lunch. It was a great 1/2 day! Then I came home and pretty much slept the rest of the day away.

    On Wednesday I was able to concentrate enough to get the sales taxes done and get our vendors paid for the businesses. It literally took me 5 hours to do 2 hours worth of work, but I got it done.

    So I am pretty much good for about 4 hours of some kind of physical or mental work a day then need to rest the balance of the day. I am hoping that the side effects will lessen over the next several weeks and I will be back even better than before in short order!

    There are more than enough less than stellar days, unknowns yet to be clarified (insert enlarged lymph nodes here), the uncertainties of everyday life, and yet Life is absolutely, undeniably and unequivocally Good!!!!!


    Blessings to all who stop here to read and to all of your families and friends,

    Tanya signing off for Myself, Rick, Squirrely Girl, Katey Kat
    Retired and loving it.