Thursday, June 23, 2011 - The highs and lows of one week

Hello Bloggers and Blogettes :)

Well, what a week or two it has been... seriously!! I think you all have heard, heck has anyone NOT heard of the horrendous riot the was downtown Vancouver after the 7th Game of the Stanley Cup where the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins. Now I mention the game, but in reality, the game had nothing to do with the reason for the riot... that was just an excuse where, because of the street parties set up every night for fans to come down to celebrate...this gave the thugs and troublemaker a great way of blending in, wearing the Canuck Jerseys and t-shirts and just blend in with the crowds. The riot was going to happen no matter what the outcome of the game. Anywho... I have a whole lot to blog about the Riots, so I'm going to save that for a separate blog. Instead, I'm going to write about this week, which is why I call this blog the Highs and Lows.

May as well start with the lows... always best to get the bad stuff out of the way. It seems my life is on a roller coaster ride. It has been since I was first diagnosed in December 2006. I think everyone who either is fighting the cancer battle or is a caregiver for someone who is, definitely understands what I mean by the roller coaster ride. Just when you think you have a handle on what's going on, it changes. And that's the strangest part... it can take forever to change so you are waiting for the other shoe to drop, or it can change very quickly and the last thing you want to hear is, "Oh, well that sure took a change very quickly!" Or, the one that gets me very nervous is, "Well it appears the tumours are growing and this chemo you are on right now doesn't seem to be working, so how about if we make an appt. and you come in next week so we can talk over your options". Hearing those words makes me think more that there are fewer and fewer options so we should talk about them.

Anywho, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. This week is a chemo week. On Monday, June 21st which was a great day (more on that below), I went in for my pre-chemo blood lab, as well, for a chest xray. The pre-chemo blood work is a given... have to do that the day before or day of chemo every two weeks. They actually do a bunch of blood tests, checking my wbc (white blood count) and a part of that is checking something called "neurifils" which are the white blood cells that fight inflammation and infection. Both of these were totally in the normal range... which just goes to show when the chemo kills off the good cells and hopefully the bad cells, my system can regenerate the good ones very quickly. So these tests showed that there was no reason for delay in the chemo the next day. I was ready to go. The CEA test takes another day or so to get the results. This is the test that measures how much CEA is in my blood and that reading will determine if there is active cancer in the body. This test is only a diagnostic tool and unfortunately, it doesn't work accurately with everyone. So far, I have been one of the lucky ones and it has been extremely accurate for me. When the tumours were being lazy in my lungs and not growing, not doing much of anything, my reading would be in the 1.0 - 2.0 range. Last spring was when we noticed it starting to rise... enough that it indicated something was going on and a couple of the tumours in my lungs were starting to grow. So, I was put on a pill form of chemo and that worked really well for 3 months.. Shrunk those puppies by 30%.... but then the next 3 months to Dec 2010... the pill form seemed to just up and stop working. The worst side affect was it really did a number on the inside of my heals (as if I don't have a hard enough time walking!)

So, over Christmas we had a break from the chemo and starting in the New Year (Feb) we would start on a new chemo. Well, new to me, not an actual new chemo. This one was called Iriniotecan. Now to tell you the truth, I can't remember what the CEA reading was when I started it in Feb... I could look back in some of these Blog entries but no big deal. What happened with the Irinitocan was that I lost all my hair. That was to be expected but still it was really freaky when it actually happened. I was on the Iriniotecan for three months but then when we had the CAT scan, there was a sign of growth. Not a huge growth but the trend was they were growing, not shrinking. Now, I know at one point my CEA reading was quite high (25.0) but then when I started the Irinotecan it went down to 15.0 which is good in that it was showing a downward trend. But, alas that was short-lived... it started climbing again. So, we added a second chemo... 5FU and that comes in the 46 hour pump you have to be attached to. So, off to the chemo unit to get my 2 hours if IV Irinotecan and then get hooked up to the 46 hour pump which means I'm free to go home since it's portable and I can take it with me anywhere. The hope was that the 5FU chemo would give that extra boost, with the Irinotecan. Now, having the two of them, did give me more side affects... mostly the queasies and of course the fatigue. Then, usually by the weekend there is some intestinal cramping. By Monday I'm feeling back to my old self.

Well, today I got the results back from the CEA test that was drawn on Monday. To my great disappointment, the reading is back up at 25.0. Now granted, I've only had the two chemos for 2 sessions, but that is a month.... and if there was going to be some trending, we would have seen it by now. So, it looks like the cancer is on the growing spree again. How much/how fast, we won't know until the CAT scan at the end of July. So, my oncologist, Dr. Sharlene Gill, would like me to come in next week (my off week). Either Mon or Tue I'll be going in for a CEA blood test, then on Thurs I'll go in and see her so we can talk about our options.

So, there you have it... the roller coaster ride where I have no idea if we are going to find an "option" that does what we want it to do, which is shrink the tumours in the lungs and then, if real lucky, make them dormant and stable. Meanwhile, for the last umpteen months (since Feb?) I've also been battling this weird bronchial bug that seems to be making the rounds. It is very weird in that there's not a lot to cough up, but you get this incredible wheeze when breathing out... and almost any physical exertion gets you out of breath. I was concerned this all had to have something to do with the chemo and the bronchitis infiltrating the lungs, but apparently not. My lungs are clear and this crud is all in the bronchial area. But between the chemo and the ongoing fight with the bronchitis... you can imagine I'm not always the most happy of campers ;)

Ok, lets change it to some good news!! We all like good news!!! And for those of you who are on Facebook you KNOW what my fantastic news is!! On Monday this week (June 21), it was the Annual Jessie Richardson Awards. This is sort of the equivalent to Vancouver's Tony Awards celebrating the achievements of Vancouver's Professional Theatre Community. I'm lousy at guessing numbers but the Awards Ceremony was held at the Commodore Ballroom which holds a lot of people. I figured there were 500 - 700 people there but someone reporting on one of the television shows says there were close to 1000 people. Suffice it to say, there was a good turnout from the theatre community and those who support the theatre community.

WELL! You can imagine my total surprise when the Mary Phillips Award for Best Behind-The-Scenes Achievement was brought out. This was one of the special awards and as the presenter was giving the speech about the winner of this award, I was setting up the next "Tweet" to go out to both Twitter and Facebook... so only had half an ear to what was being said. I do remember thinking, "Ahhhh yes, there are quite a few of us who dabble in various fields in theatre from box office, to publicity, to photography, to supporting, to administration to... and the list goes on and on. I still hadn't put anything together because I know there are a lot of people who do this... but then she said that the winner had a little dog, named Bridget who would come to the office with her. Ok, now that SHOULD have been my clue, right? But inside, I guess I was in denial that I would be getting such an honour, I thought, "WOW, Who is this girl who had a dog by the same name as mine... why don't I know her?? That is just too weird that there are two of us, involved in theatre, each with a dog named Bridget!!" It wasn't until just after mentioning Bridget that she mentioned something about Metro or TUTS that it hit me... and that's when I knew, "OMG!! She's talking about ME!!" When she then said my name, the room broke out in applause and a standing ovation! Somehow I made it to the front of the stage where there were stairs that I had to go up (but they did have helpers, thank goodness!). Seriously, I don't remember climbing the stair but even worse, I don't know what I said in my acceptance speech!

Here are a couple of pics from Monday Night:

This is a glimpse of half the room at 5:30pm when the doors opened. I had gotten there early to save seats for my two friends, Mark and David and my self, only to find we were already reserved to sit at the media table. So I didn't really need to get there that early, but better early than late :)


I really like this picture!! From left to right, moi, actor Jay Brazeau and my friend David Hannigan! Mark was taking the picture. Now what was really interesting with this picture is, he took it with my camera and we didn't have the flash on but it looks like we are overexposed even though thre was no flash. Weird, huh?


Ok... here we go... this is me up on the stage at the podium giving an acceptance speech. But can someone please explain why my shoulders are up past my ears, giving me a triple chin and a wig that's seems like it's slightly askew? I was totally in shock and had no idea this was going to happen so I didn't have anything prepared. After the fact I had so much I could have said that would have been very appropriate to how surprised I was to get this award and yet, how much it meant to me to receive it. So, I'm thinking I'm going to have to write a proper acceptance speech and post it as a note on Facebook and here. There really are no words to describe the feeling of being so totally accepted by the theatre community... amongst all those people I look up to and in awe at their talent. To have them, in turn, see me as part of the community, it's amazing!


Ok, this is a much better picture, with the shoulders down somewhat and the wig looking like it's a bit more centered ;) I am NOT used to wearing wigs, unlike the gals who perform on stage and can be wearing up to three or four wigs in one performance! I don't know how they do it!! But in this pic, everything seems to be in place and here is the lovely Jessie Award for the Mary Phillips Best Behind-The-Scenes Achievement.

Isn't she a beauty? What makes her so special to me is that this started with one person submitting my name and reason(s) why I should be considered for this award and what make me an unsung hero... and then that goes through the Committee process. I don't know too much after that but at some point votes happen and someone comes out the winner This just blows me away to get acknowledged and recognized for something that is an absolute passion for me. Not only do I love the Arts (theatre in particular) but I've fallen in love with every single person that is involved in all the productions that are done in Vancouver. Fickle that I am, I can go from one production to another and am in love with everyone in that production too. It's not a bad life at all :D


Ok, one more picture... I really like this one. Julie MacIsaac, Samantha Currie and myself. Julie and Samantha do a lot of acting/directing with Carousel Theatre for Youth... and this is one of my favourite theatres that encourage youth from the very very young to teens working with Shakespeare :)

So, as you can see... it's been one of those weeks with the highest of highs.... and maybe not the lowest of lows (it could be lower), but kind of scary stuff with the thought that we are going to have to come up with a different plan for fighting the tumours in the lungs.

Ok.. so that's it for this blog entry. I do still want to write a blog entry about the riot from June 15th. I know people are calling them the Stanley Cup Riot which makes it sound like Vancouver Canucks fans just can't handle not winning when it comes so close to getting that Cup and keeping it on Canadian soil. Yes, it appears Hockey is Canada's #1 sport... who would have thunk it?? I have never paid much if any attention to the game. I would have said it was probably a tossup between Football and Hockey but I stand corrected... Hockey in Canada far outranks the other team sports. BUT, as much as I know next to nothing about the game, the one thing I do know and have observed through these semi-finals and final Playoff games, Hockey fans are not out to destroy their own city and throw temper tantrums because their team doesn't win. Yes, they will be severely and depressingly disappointed because we were so close to getting the Cup, but destroy our city??? Anywho... I will have more to write about that later. But for now, it's going on 11:30pm and since I did get the pump taken off this afternoon, any time now I should either get the "oh oh, insomnia! I'm going to be up all night!" or "do I have to walk all the way into the bedroom? I'm never going to make it!! zzzzzzzz!"

So, nighty night!!

Cheryl

June 11th, 2011 - another month goes by!

Hello bloggies!

This is the strangest thing... according to when Iooked, the last blog entry was May 19th... yet, I could have sworn it was just in the last two weeks. It's absolutely amazing how time just flies by and yet, there are days when it can't go fast enough! I'm thinking, in particular, the Chemo weeks. Yikes... they can be nasty and slow!! And yet, when I get over them it's like my mind goes wonky and I think, "Well, those days weren't really all that bad, now were they?" The answer is YES!! They WERE bad and kind of scary and I wish I didn't have to go through them. The good news is that when the yucky days are over, they are over very quickly and one seems to go from "yucky, flu like symptoms, no energy" to "I think I can go out again!" Tonight ended up not being one of those nights, although I had plans of going to a friend's apartment-warming party if I ended up feeling better... and I did end up feeling better, but Steve called to say that it was pretty crowded and yes, warm, so I decided to stay home. I have a problem with my internal thermostat and if I go to a crowded room and it's that warm, then it becomes unbearable for me.... to the point where I feel like I'm going to faint. Sooooo, tonight's plans were cancelled before I actually began them ;)

But, suffice it to say, life has been pretty darn busy and hectic. So much to get ready for the new season at the theatre, including updating the website with all the new season information, plus this year Metro Theatre along with Canada's own JEFF HYSLOP is going to be giving two 6 day Intensive Musical Theatre workshops... one for beginners and one for youth who have had some training. Two excellent opportunities for 12 - 21 year olds! Very exciting stuff!

Of course, we still have one production left of this current season -- HARVEY by Mary Chase. Yep the classic movie of Elwood P. Dowd and his imaginary 6 foot rabbit. A great comedy and worth coming down to check out if you are in the Vancouver area!

I have to admit, with the chemo treatments being every two weeks, and each chemo week I'm sort of out and down for the count for 4-6 days, I haven't been able to get into doing much photography this spring. Then again, what kind of spring have we really had?? Maybe I'll blame the lack of photography on the fact we haven't really had a spring yet!! :D

Ok... last blog entry was to say that Bridget was feeling much better after her ordeal. And what an ordeal it was! But she seems to be doing just fine and has not had a repeat (phew!). She's even back on her own special diet and off the gastro diet... so life is good for my wee Bridget. This coming week I will be making her an appt. to get in to see the groomer. Poor little monkey is a bit of a mess since I wasn't going to take her in when she was going through all that trauma.

As for me... well, the game plan of chemo continues. I won't lie... this is no walk in the park :/ As a matter of fact, some of it I don't understand. I'm not sure if some of the things I'm going through are caused by the chemo, or if they are something I would normally have and the chemo is aggravating it. It's just so hard to figure out... and some of them can be a little on the scary side. For instance... back when I first started the chemo at the beginning of Feb. I would get a very congested nose every 2nd week when I got the chemo. This eventually ended up in my chest, hence I have this feeling of bronchitis non-stop. My GP did put me on antibiotics and lo and behold, it appeared to clear it up! No more congested nose or chest.... until the next chemo. Then the bronchial chest reappeared. Not the congested nose this time, just the tight chest and in the mornings, the rattley cough. Along with that I get very short of breath. Well one can assume the shortness of breath is because of the bronchitis... except I've never had shortness of breath when I would get bronchitis back before the chemo days. So I can't help but thing the whole bronchitis thing, cough and shortness of breath has something to do with the Chemo, even if that is not a normal side affect. My GP, oncologist and community healthcare nurse have all been very diligent in keeping an eye on listening to my lungs for congestion/bronchial pneumonia and the strangest thing... the lungs are perfectly clear. Even an xray proved there is nothing in them... yet, the congestion, cough and especially the shortness of breath wipe me right out.

Anywho... this week was the second treatment of the two chemos. I went in on Tues afternoon to get the first infusion of Irinotecan by IV for 2 hours. While sitting in the chair, as the chemo is being infused, I can feel the queasiness start up. So after the Irinotecan is finished then I get a small bag of gravol via IV. Once that is done, the chemo nurse hooks me up via the IV needle and my 46 hour portable pump of the 5FU chemo. I am then free to leave the building and go home. I come home and I have to admit, I'm pretty tired by the time I get home. So, I get dressed into comfy jammies and it's a given I'm going to be home for the next 4-6 days. Sure enough.. the queazies hit the tummy, the bronchitis does it's weird thing, along with the shortness of breath, and one just has a general over all feeling of having the flu and the lowest energy one can imagine. Even if one of you said "Let's go out for lunch... I'll pick you up!", I couldn't do it. Besides never knowing what the tummy is feeling, there wouldn't be enough energy to get dressed, down the stairs and into the car... let alone park and the walk to the restaurant. Stuff I just took for granted in the past... it's amazing how some of the smallest things are the big challenges.

Anywho... this week the community healthcare nurse came to my apartment and there will be one who comes every chemo week to unhook my chemo pump at the 46th hour. It's a 5 minute job. Of course, they check the states, so that's a good thing. They also ask questions to do with am I getting around ok at home... if I need help then they can arrange it. Hopefully I won't get to that point... so far, I'm doing fine, especially since Toby lives across the Hall and she has taken Bridget under her wing. Mimi comes down every morning to care for CB (my handicapped cockatiel) so the dog and bird are fine and in good care... which is a huge deal on these chemo weeks when I am just not up to being my usual self.

But then everything changes! For instance, this morning/afternoon I was still feeling flu'y and not able to go out or do anything out of the apartment. But, around 7pm tonight, voila! All of a sudden the flu symptoms vanished. I actually felt ok! I was actually going to go to an apartment-warming party, I felt that ok... but then common sense kicked in ;) I mean, here I had had my 4 days of totally low energy and here I was going to go to a crowded apartment party?? Hahaha... not one of my wiser ideas. So, I stayed home... knowing that tomorrow I'll probably be feeling just fine and maybe can go out for Sunday brunch :D I guess I just have to learn not to rush it... whether I like it or not, it's going to take a good 5 days, which seems like such a waste to me, unless the chemo is doing a lot of good.

Welllll.... it's 10:30pm. I think this is as good a time as any to curl up with a good book. I'm in the middle of reading Kate Morton's The Distant Hours. It took a bit to get into it but now that I am, I'm quite enjoying it! Hahaha... one of the things that I want to do is to go bookstore and just browse. Of course, there's no such thing as just "browsing" at a bookstore. When you do that you find books that you really want to read... especially at stores like Bookwarehouse where you can find oodles of them on sale! Hahaha... the only problem, I have 43 books that I still need to read that I picked up having wonderful afternoons like this. So common sense tells me I really should read some of these books I've already got before going and surrounding my self with more books at a bookstore :D

Okey dokey... hopefully next blog entry won't be so "Poor Me"... I'll try to remember to write the next on in a non-Chemo week :D :D

Ciao for now!!

Cheryl

Thursday, May 19, 2011 - Dog Trauma and my CAT scan results

Hello Bloggies ... another update!! :)

Hey, it's only been about a week... I'm doing better, right?? Well, I'll work on trying to make these weekly updates, but who knows ... so much to report on, so little time.

Well, for starters this past week has been extremely traumatic for a good 4 days (Fri - Mon) because of my little diva, Bridget. I know some of you were following the status updates on Facebook so this will be a repeat... I'll make it quick since the trauma is now over and she's doing so much better. It started Friday (May 13).... I should have known that Friday the 13th was not going to be a good day. I had to go for my CAT scan at 8:30am that morning (right there... having to be ANYWHERE by 8:30am does not bode well with me!). The rest of the day seemed to go without any problems. Toby mentioned when she took Bridget out for her walkie around dinner time, that she had gotten sick... just once but she threw up a yellow bile. This is not uncommon in dogs, but is something one should keep an eye on because it could be a sign that something is wrong internally. Well, it didn't seem to affect her appetite and she ate her dinner with her usual gusto... but a couple of hours later, threw that up as well. Then starting around 11pm, the diarrhea. Oh oh... just this past March she had that attack of colitis, so were we to go through this again? Pretty much so, it seemed. I was up all night with her Friday, getting her outside before we had an "accident". Sat morning I called the vet's office, explained the problems and with some discussion we agreed that we should just let it run it's course... and keep her on a very very bland "white" diet (chicken and rice). There is also a medication called ProGut, which is a paste that puts the good flora back in the gut... so Toby ran up to the clinic and picked this up. Saturday night seemed much better... both Bridget and I got to sleep through the whole night, no problems. Sunday, not so good... and Sunday night was THE worst. I can't even begin to describe how horrible it was and the poor little darling was in so much pain and suffering. Monday, first thing in the morning it was up to the clinic we went, where they kept her all day. They were going to keep her so that 1) I could get some sleep (after 2 nights of no sleep, it was taking it's toll on me since this was also a chemo week), 2) run a bunch of tests to check everything that could possibly be causing this and 3) set her up on a 4 hour IV of rehydration. After all that diarrhea, the poor little darling was soooo dehydrated. It's amazing how quickly small dogs can fall into the danger zone with dehydration and diarrhea will do it every time. Well, suffice it to say, all her tests came back in the normal range, which means she does not have any of the diseases they thought might be possible... and her pancreatitis test came back negative, which is a huge relief. Soooo, after coming home with antibiotics and having been rehydrated, she did much better... and now, she is almost totally back to her normal spunky self. The diagnosis... after having colitis, she obviously has a very sensitive "gut" and if she picks up something off the ground, or she is exposed to any kind of stress... her sensitivities act up. We are now going to work with the Vet on a diet that will hopefully keep on top of this so it doesn't happen again.

In case anyone hasn't figured it out... my little Bridget means the world to me ;) She's a character and a half, she's been with me for 13 years, through the good times, the bad times and the everyday times. A lot of you will remember that she started out as the Box Office dog at Metro Theatre... as well, she was both the Box Office dog and the Office dog at TUTS. She didn't come to work with me back when I was working my government job, but all the more reason it was important she came with me everywhere else. She quickly became adept at charming everyone who she met at the various theatres. She has been my sidekick all this time and she is so very rarely ill that when it happens, I will do anything and everything to get her well again. She's my little hero :)

Then there's me.... sheesh, it never seems to just rain, but it pours. As I mentioned, I had a CAT scan Friday morning. The purpose of this CAT scan was to see if the latest chemo (Irinotecan) I've been on since early February is doing it's job. As a recap, the cancer we are dealing with right now are multiple nodules in both my lungs. The primary cancer was colon cancer and the primary tumour was removed 4 years ago. The spread went to my lungs but appeared to be very indolent (lazy, wasn't growing). Last spring, the nodules started growing, so I was put on the oral chemo (Capecitabine aka Xeloda). That worked until Dec, then it just up and stopped working. Unfortunately, that's one of the realities of chemo... it can be working really well but then the cancer gets used to it and becomes immune. So then one has to try a new attack.

Well, long and short of it... it doesn't appear the Irinotecan chemo is doing a great job on it's own. When comparing the most recent CAT scan with the scan in Sept... there has been growth... not a lot, but the nodules are bigger than they were in Sept. What my oncologist and I think is that the Irinotecan has slowed down the growth, but it hasn't done the job we wanted it to do which is to shrink the tumours. So, my oncologist is suggesting we try adding another chemo (5FU) to the Irinotecan we are already on... so it will be a combo chemo. Now, the 5FU is the chemo I was first on (it is also the IV version of the Capecitabine/Xeloda). It's possible the combination chemo might be the extra kick that is needed for the tumors to be affected and start shrinking.

I'm certainly (obviously) willing to give this a try, but it does not make me a happy camper. The reason why? The 5FU is given in the same IV when I go in for the Irinotecan, only since we are adding it to the existing Irinotecan, that will increase the time I'm in the chemo chair. I'm not sure how much longer I'll have to sit in the chemo chair, but I do know I will also have to be hooked up to the 48 hour portable pump. Some of you will remember I was hooked up to the pump and would come down and do the box office at TUTS. Of course, back then I did not have the Irinotecan as well, so adding this 5FU chemo is not going to get rid of the side affects I am currently getting. Hopefully, I won't have any NEW side affects because of the pump. I tolerated the 5FU very well last time, so I'm expecting to again this time... but it has been 4 years, so it's possible that it may produce side affects that I didn't get last time.

Also, through the wonders of technology... a request has gone in for the research team to do testing on the original primary tumour that was surgically removed back in Jan 2007 to see if it is KRAS mutant. This is a gene or some such thing that if I have it, I would not be eligible for two other chemo treatments (Ertibux and Vertibux). Both of these have their own side affects, one of them being a very painful rash that breaks out on the face. So, I'm torn as to whether I want to be eligible for these two options or not. But, we are getting our ducks lined up in a row as to just what options we have left. Right now, my oncologist is not too concerned... but says the realities are there are only so many options so we have to cover all our bases and make sure that these options would actually do something for me. She says we are not to jump ahead of ourselves... we'll plan for 4-6 months at a time, because options can change, new ones can become available, etc. at any time.

So that's where we are right now. The CAT scan was not what I wanted it to be... and now we are about to add to our existing chemo treatment plan. And yes, after typing all of this, I'm now tired... so I'm going to go have a wee nap so I can be awake to go check out Broadway Chorus's performance at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island tonight :)

Cheryl

Friday, May 13th, 2011 - A long overdue blog entry

Heloooo bloggies! Yes, it's Friday evening and the sun is just starting to go down. Actually, I'm thinking it's more the clouds are rolling in than the sun is going down. It's going to be a dark and stormy evening... the wind is already a'howling. Not sure when this started since it was a gorgeous, gorgeous sunny and fairly warm day today. Go figure?

Well, surprise, surprise... it's been a good month since my last blog entry. I am really not sure how I'm going to be able to break this bad habit I seem to have gotten into. I mean, the whole purpose of blogging is that one keeps up an ongoing dialogue, even if it is pretty one sided. hehehe.. one needs people to write comments on each entry for it to be more a "conversation" style blog... or else it's just me rambling on. Hahaha... now that is certainly not a surprise! It seems whether I'm on a "bulletin board forum", an "email list", our good old Facebook or here in bloggy-land, rambling and babbling is something I tend to do. The only one that has me limited is Twitter... with only a 140 character maximum then babbling is not a possibility.

So what's there to report in the last month?? Chemo brain sets in and seriously... the last month just becomes one big blurr! I know the term "Chemo brain" is used quite often when someone is getting chemo treatment, no matter what kind of chemo or what kind of cancer. Chemo is sort of all put in one category and all cancers sort of get bundled together, even though we all know they are so very different. Likewise, treatments for all these various conditions are very different.. hence reactions are and can be different. I remember the first chemo treatments I was on (we are going back 4 years now) and although I can't say any of it was a walk in the park, I did feel I handled them all exceptionally well. I remember going down to Theatre Under The Stars every day, then doing the box office for both shows 7 days/week. Oh, the good old days!! Taking all the challenges of handling crowds of 1100 or more, using a computerized system during the day and a manual system at night... and there I was, with a fully functioning (or so I thought) brain, while being on chemo. Yep, I would have my chemo pump attached to my port and kept the small pump (the size of a baby bottle) in a fanny pack around my waist.

It's now 4 years later... this time the chemo is different. I go in to the chemo unit every two weeks and get chemo infused into my port via an IV. It takes about 2 hours and then a couple of extra minutes to get some anti-side affects meds put in. Then I'm free to leave... no pump, nothing to take home with me. But this chemo reacts soooo differently than the stuff I had four years ago. For example... I had the chemo on Tuesday afternoon. For the rest of Tues, Wed and Thurs, I pretty much have to stay home. I'm not necessarily sick or anything (although there are times when I feel a bit on the queasy side), just lack of energy. Just the thought of leaving the apartment and either getting into someone's car and going somewhere or getting into my own car and driving somewhere to meet someone... takes way too much energy. So, the first couple of days I just hang out at home... and thank goodness I have way more to keep me occupied what with theatre work on the computer ;) But even that... I have to really watch... because it's amazing how much energy/concentration computer work actually requires. Which brings us back to the term "Chemo Brain". Chemo is a systemic toxin/drug. It does not just go straight to where you think the cancer problem is (in my case, nodules in my lungs). The chemo goes throughout your whole system, via the blood stream and the lymphatic system. Hence, it does get in the brain... and that's where the fog/memory can be effected. So when one has chemo brain, sometimes the simplest of tasks become quite the challenge. And then other days, when one gets a lot of tasks done, well, we feel we are quite the heroes :D

Today, Friday, May 13th, I had to go first thing in the morning to get my 3 month CAT scan. It's been three months since I started this particular type of chemo. It is this scan that is going to tell us whether the chemo is doing what we are hoping it will do. Obviously, we are hoping the chemo will be shrinking the tumours/nodules in my lungs. The plan is, that if we can shrink them down back to small nodules, then I will be able to have a nice break/period of time off the chemo. Since the tumours are throughout both lungs, it's not like they can go in and just cut them out. If there were only one or two and they were close together, that would be an option... but alas, that's not an option for me because they are throughout both lungs.

Now in the past few weeks, actually maybe longer when I think about it, I've been fighting a bronchial bug. It appears to be a bronchitis bug that a lot of people have gotten and had to fight off. Back in my younger days, when I was a smoker, bronchitis was something I got all the time, so when the symptoms showed up, I knew exactly what it was. What I didn't account for was this weird closing of the bronchi (??) airwaves so that when you inhaled, all was fine but exhaling produces this wheeze/whistle. Some say that is what it's like to have asthma... but I've never had asthma before and highly doubtful I have it now. But I did get the tight chest which is not comfortable. My GP put me on antibiotics and it seemed to take almost the full 10 day cycle but the chest is all clear now. Still got the wheeze but not as bad as when I first got it. Meanwhile, my oncologist ordered a chest xray to rule out pneumonia... phew! That's all I would need.

Soooo this past couple of weeks had been kind of meh! I mean, there's the usual chemo symptoms to deal with and then add on top of that bronchitis, antibiotics, chemo, anti-chemo symptom meds... come on now, a girl can only be so spunky :)

But, spunky I've sort of been... when I've managed to get out and about. I did go out for a wonderful lunch with my friend, Nelli, at Seasons in the Park up at the top of Queen Elizabeth Park. It was one of those gorgeous sunny spring days and they had just finished planing a garden full of hyacynths. OMG!! The smell was divine!! I swear that has got to be one of my most favourite flower smells!! Here are a couple of pics... and I went blonde that day :)

These are planted outside the front of the restaurant in the park. But there are also tons more throughout the park. Such a glorious smell!!

Here I am in my blonde bouffant. I have to admit, I'm not too sure this is a look for me. It will do to be different, but it hasn't really grown on me. And no, I'm not fond of the double chin, which of course I blame on the blonde hair

My friend, Nelli!! Her lovely yellow blouse is PERFECT for this day we had. We were surrounded by yellow flowers and yellow is the perfect colour for spring!! Do you think I have ANYTHING in yellow?? Noooo... hmmm, and I was just shopping today! My bad... I should have been looking for some gorgeous yellow!

This is at the entrance to the restaurant. Lovely daffodils lined the entranceway, even though it is a little late for daffodils now. April is really the month for them... but I like them anywhere, anytime!

And this is the view we had from inside the restaurant. It's views like this, the flowers, being in the middle of a park, and on such a warm, spring day... well, it makes for a nice long lunch! Needless to say, we were there for a couple of hours, just catching up and having a girls' twosome lunch! Ahhh... the life of retirees!! :D

Now let's see... there was another stretch of days... this is while I was fighting the bronchitis in the chest and I really wasn't feeling all that hot. So again, better to be safe than sorry, I stayed around the old homestead. Again, bronchitis, like the chemo, really takes a lot out of the old energy system. So here we were having this stretch of lovely spring weather... the kind of weather you just want to get out and be outside. As we all know, when Vancouver has the good weather, there are so many things one can do outside. Ok, so some of us aren't THAT physical , so going for a run on the seawall, or a bike ride around the city, or taking the dog on a hike... not going to necessarily happen. BUT, one does get the overwhelming urge to just be outside soaking up the Vitamin E, and just feeling good about being in the fresh air.... but alas, I was homebound and feeling a tad on the depressed side. This is so NOT like me not to be out and about. More and more I've been having to stay close to home just to rebuild my energy reserves... and I'm hoping it's all a combination of fighting the bronchial bug along with the ongoing chemo battle... and as soon as I get over this bronchial stuff, I will be back to my usual running around self :)

Sooooo, my friend, Joan called me on one of these gorgeous days to see how I was doing and of course I whined to her about how I was missing our latest days of spring. So, bless her heart, she drove over and picked Bridget and I up and off we went to Spanish Banks to get some fresh air, a bit of sun and just the freedom of getting outside for that afternoon.

Sitting on a log over at the beach at Spanish Banks, looking back at the West End (which is where we came from since we both live in that 'hood). Hahaha... you can almost see my apartment building in this pic, but not really since it is sort of tucked behind one of the buildings on the far right of the picture.

This is showing how the tide is actually coming in (sandbars are getting covered over, but when the tide is out, you can almost (almost) walk out to the freighters sitting in the bay waiting to go into the port of Vancouver). Like I say, a lovely spring afternoon... and one where even just sitting on a log and able to get a few pictures makes for a lovely day. Unfortunately, I couldn't go for a bit of a walk because I was fighting the darn shortness of breath from the bronchitis... so I sat on a log, while Joan took Bridget for a little walk. Then we went off for a White Spot milkshake :D

I know I'm forgetting a few things... we had the big Federal Election. Don't even want to go there... for those of you on Facebook, you know what I think about that. So I won't put you through that again. Meanwhile, there have been a couple of openings of shows, some I made it to, some I didn't. But the ones I did I had a heck of a wonderful time. Fighting Chance Productions, THE WIZ was wonderful!! Metro Theatre opened 42nd STREET and had a very successful run. This past weekend, Metro opened HAUNTED which runs until June 4th, so if you get a chance to see it... please do!! We will then round up our season with the last production HARVEY, which is a play I know a lot of you have seen the movie... the fellow with his imaginary 6-foot rabbit friend?

Ohhhhh... and for those of you in town who have kids who love musical theatre and would like to take some training... have I got news for you!! Metro Theatre and Theatre Adventures (founded by Canada's own JEFF HYSLOP) will be doing two 6-Day MUSICAL THEATRE INTENSIVE WORKSHOPS. Yes, imagine being in a workshop lead by Jeff, as well as other phenomenal instructors - Mark Carter, Artistic Director for DSR Productions and Caitlin Hayes, Musical Director extraordinaire! The first workshop is one that will be 6 half days (mornings) for children 12-15 yrs. The second workshop will be 6 full days (morning/afternoon) for young folk 21 years and under. There will also be invited professional guest instructors. A workshop not to be missed!! PS: Although the starting age is 12 years old, if your child is someone we know who is under the age of 12 but has had theatre performance experience and/or training, then I'm sure we can work something out so they can attend. But you will want to sign up pretty darn quick! Once word gets out that Jeff is doing these workshops here in Vancouver, they will sell out pretty quickly!!

Ok... I think that's enough for tonight. Once again, I say with tongue in cheek... I will try to be a little more regular with the posts ... better than once a month because when I leave it that long, I forget what I've done over the past month!! And really, I think I've been pretty busy... at least, I think I have!! LOL!!

Huggggggs!

Cheryl

Saturday, April 16th, 2011 Just another Saturday :)

Helllllooooo Bloggies!

Hmm... well there hasn't been much to report over the last 2 weeks or so, and when that happens, I guess I get kind of lazy on the Blogging chores. The thing is, I'm sure there IS stuff to report, but unless it is some spectacular event, the mind just doesn't click in to think it's worthy of reporting.

Hehehe... ok, so I'm trying to ignore the elephant in the closet which is our Federal Election that is looming on the horizon. Since so many of you see what I post on Facebook, I'm not about to drag you all through Cheryl's political views and how we need to bring in a new government party :) I am doing my bit to hopefully convince the younger folk (19-30 year olds) why it is so important that they get out there and vote, especially in this current federal election. When I was that age, I seriously didn't understand our Canadian politics and to tell you the truth, couldn't care less about them. Part of that was just the times and part of it was just being young and not that affected by stuff. So, it wouldn't surprise me at all if that's not how a lot of young people feel these days and have probably asked themselves why bother going out to vote when it's always he same old, same old stuff repeating itself. I don't blame them for thinking that way... except it IS important to get out and vote, otherwise we WILL be having to repeat the same old, same old, over and over again. And that is NOT a pretty or safe sight!!

Anywho... moving on. This week is a chemo week. I had my chemo infusion on Tuesday and although Tue, Wed and part of Thurs were "ok", it still is kind of yucky. By yucky, I mean no to low energy and that is very hard for me since I'm used to being able to do stuff. Even if it's stay at home and do stuff, I like to be on the ball and getting things accomplished. But when I have these low energy days, things like getting computer stuff done, or doing some basic chores around the apartment just don't get done. The other stuff like getting laundry done, which means up and down 2 flights of stairs... well, suffice it to say the laundry is piling up and then when I get my energy back, I end up spending hours (or a couple of hours over the course of a few days, just doing laundry.

This week, yesterday (Friday) was the worst day so far. I did get out and about yesterday while the sun was out. I treated myself to a late breakfast at De Dutch, my favourite breakfast restaurant. Then it was off to Fingertips and I got a LONG overdue pedi and eyebrow shaping done. Oh, that felt sooooo good to get that done!!! Seriously, a girl can NOT let a pedi go that long otherwise one's feet just look a total disaster area.... and when you have damaged feet (neuropathy and nerve damage) anyways, well suffice it to say, it's imperative that one keep their feet in good shape. After the pedi, I did stop at Safeway and pick up a few things... and then headed home.

I was not home for more than an hour and all of a sudden a wave of nausea struck! I'm not sure how to describe chemo nausea... in some ways it's similar to when you get a stomach flu, but on the other hand, it is very different in that you may not necessarily get sick to your stomach but have these waves of nausea similar to food poisoning. Make it a combination of food poisoning and stomach flu and you might be close to it. It is NOT pleasant!! The longer those symptoms last, the weaker you feel so even taking Bridget out to the back lane to do her pee is pretty much a tough thing to do. Obviously, if I had to do it, I would... no doubt about it... but I am so lucky to have Toby living across the hall from us and she is a life saver. She is Bridget's "walker" as walking Bridget is not something I can physically do anymore. I keep hoping that when the weather warms up, I'll be able to take her out for short walks, but even that I have to wonder if it's going to be doable. If it's not the walking that is a challenge, it's the lack of physical energy when I am outside because of the chemo/side affect drugs. To tell you the truth, I really and truly don't know what is the cause of all this... is the lack of energy because of the chemo? Or because of the drugs I'm on to prevent the nasty side affects? Or the damage to the nerves/muscles that the combination of chemo/drugs causes? I don't think anyone has the answers since everyone who has to go through chemo reacts differently.

Now the blood work I had done on Monday before the chemo, all blood tests showed fine, that my cells are regenerating so that I could do the round of chemo on Tuesday. So that is a good thing... that my immune system and cell regeneration is still healthy. What I'm not too pleased about (although I suppose it could be worse) is my CEA reading. As I reported in the last couple of blog entries.... it had gone as high as 25.0, then had a nice drop to 15.0, then two weeks later to 13.0. This week it is holding steady at 14.0. The good news, it's holding steady ... but I'm not happy that it's not going down. What does this mean? It's anyone's guess at this point. It could just be it's holding and it will drop in the next reading. Or, it could mean that it's about to start rising. This is that roller coaster right a cancer patient is always on... waiting for the good news and then worrying when the news is not what we want to see.

I have a CAT scan scheduled for May 13th. This is standard procedure, to have a CAT scan after 3 months of chemo. It will be this scan that can tell us that the chemo has been working and whether the tumours in the lungs are shrinking. Soooo, don't be surprised if I'm getting antsy as we get closer to the CAT scan and then it will probably be about a week after the scan before I get the results. Scans are one of the most anxiety ridden procedures for someone with cancer because the either give good news or bad news. Rarely is there anything inbetween because the chemo is either working or it isn't.

But hey... tomorrow is a new day! I'm going to meet a friend for coffee... either get out and meet him in the 'hood, or here if need be. We have a potential project we might be working on together (which I can't mention till all the i's and t's are dotted and crossed) so we need to touch base to see where we are at with it. My participation will be in PR and promoting it online, etc. So this is something I can do from the comfort of home... yet still be involved :) Hahaha... it's not as if I don't have a couple of computer projects on the go! There's the Metro website, the new season which has to be adjusted and then update everywhere on the website, doing the publicity for the last two shows of this season and coming up will be the June 1 eNewsletter. All of these things are projects I can and do do from home... so being organized is something I need to do. Right now, I'm looking around at my desk and I'd say there's a big need for me to tidy up, get new file folders and start organizing the new season/year/summer :D

Ok, if I was really kewl, I'd now insert some photos just to break up the monotony of all this text, but alas... if I wait to do that, it may be days before I post this!! Soooo, I'm going to post this blog entry, then, over the next couple of days I'm sure I'll be feeling a bit more perkier and I can start taking some photos and fun bits :)

Ciao for now!!

Cheryl

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 Wednesdays, Wednesdays :)

Hiya Blogmates!

Yep, it's me checking in again. This time, I don't have a lot to report on so I guess that is a good thing. Yesterday was a chemo day and the day before, Monday, was blood work and my oncologist appt. The blood work went fine and then I had 1 1/2 hours to kill before my onc appt. So I decided to take the car and getting washed... it was filthy and has been for some time. So off to the car wash I went. Of course, wouldn't you know it when I came back yesterday it was raining! Arrrgh! So my clean car only had 1 day of being clean! But it was about the onc appt... I was not a happy camper. My appt was for 4pm... and wouldn't you know it, Dr. Gill was running behind schedule. Now that doesn't surprise me at the end of a day, and I don't really think it's anyone's fault... stuff happens that you weren't counting on, or an appt. takes longer than you had planned for. They also had interns/students working this week, so that could slow things down as well. I figure a half hour is about the max you should ever keep a patient waiting, no matter what your specialty (this goes for Family Doctors as well). But TWO HOURS??? That is just so totally not acceptable. And as far as I'm concerned, when the nurse comes to the waiting room and calls your name, it should be at that point she/he tells you that the doctor is running very late. If I had known I had 2 hours to wait, I could have left the building, done some running around and then come back. But to sit in the small consultation room for two hours, thinking any minute she's bound to come in... I was a wreck by the time she came in. Before I could say anything and I really was going to give a piece of my mind, she apologized profusely and said that this should never have happened. In future, I am to call the clinic and ask to be put through to ACU and find out if everything is on time... and if it's not, then not come in until it is. I told her that I was so stressed out now because of the wait, and the build up of anxiety... that I couldn't even remember what questions I had and what I wanted to ask her. So we went over some stuff, got prescription refills and was good to go for the Chemo on Tuesday. My blood cells are in the normal range so they obviously bounced back. CEA won't be ready for a day or two so I'm not sure how it is right now, but when she gets it she's going to email me.

Sooooo, yesterday was chemo and today I'm not exhausted but I am tired. So I've just stayed at home and napped and played on the computer. I am totally going to rest at home for today, Thurs, Fri and Saturday because Saturday night is the opening night of 42nd STREET... and I INSIST on being there, no matter how tired I might be! I've worked really hard on this show, getting the word out and filling the theatre for opening night, despite the lack of co-operation with one or two folk.

Now, it's about Miss Bridget! She has given me a scare or two over the last two weeks. The day after my last chemo, Bridget had a flareup (bad one) of colitis. That was really, really scary and I had to rush her to the vet, even though technically I"m not sure I should have been out and about. But there you have it... we do what we have to do for our little darlin's. Well, we had a rough couple of days and eating/drinking was not one of her priorities. But eventually she did start eating/drinking on her own, so I thought we were over the worst of it... but then she had another flareup the next week. Sheesh! This week she's doing great... totally back to normal! So I've started giving her her normal eats... but I guess the tummy is not quite ready for them, even though her eyes tell her she is. So, I'm cutting back again ... and we are just being really careful. Better to err on the careful side. Hahaha... I know she's not doing too badly because she is talking to me and telling me she wants to go to bed BUT she knows she has to be taken outside for a pee before she goes to bed for the night ;) So guess who is telling me she wants to go outside?? I told her to wait just a few more minutes!

Oh, and one more thing before I end off. A shout out to Applause Musicals Society. They are a group who take old musicals that have either not been produced in Vancouver or it's been a long time since they have... and they do them in a concert format. Beautiful productions and a chance of hearing some of this old music sung by talented performers. Well Applause musicals in conjunction with Western Gold Theatre (a group that does shows for older, retired professional performers) and Fighting Chance Productions (a group that does newer, modern shows using the young up and coming performers) put on the most wonderful cabaret on Sunday for World Theatre Day!! It was truly magical and was done at the PAL Theatre, here in Coal Harbour. I loved every minute of it!! Here's a picture that my friend, Alana took of me at the event:

I beez a happy camper... in my element surrounded by magical, wonderful people!

Now I took a heap of pictures and have uploaded them to an album on my Facebook called World Theatre Day 2011. Since most of you are on Facebook, you just have to to to my profile and check on Photos to find the album.

Well, it is going on 10pm so I think I have time to do up the dishes in the sink then take Bridget outside. Hehehe... this is the routine evening pit stop and she has it down pat. She goes out to the back lane, pees, and then wants right back in. No detour, no walk up the lane or around to the front. She has her spot, she does her business and then right back to the back door, thank you very much :D

Hehehe... I WAS going to bake a batch of those Cheese Cookies... have been meaning to for days! But I just haven't gotten around to it... and starting them at 10pm? I don't think so. Maybe tomorrow :D

Until later!!

Cheryl

Saturday, March 19th, 2011 - The ongoing catch up :)

Helloooooo Bloggies!

Yep, it's me back in the blog. I have to confess, I did have to go back to the last entry to see what I wrote and where I left off :) Chemo Fog aka Chemo Brain (not to be confused with Blog Fog)... plays havoc with one's memory! So, it appears that the last entry went into quite some detail about the first round of this new chemo. Still makes me shudder and cringe when I think of the rough time I had with that! Suffice it to say, the second round, went much, MUCH better. Still, not a walk in the park and not something I would choose to do for the fun of it... but compared to Chemo #1, Chemo #2 was much more manageable. The side affects I did get were just not fun... but not deadly like the first round. That is because we are now on half-doses of the chemo and I go in every 2 weeks instead of every 3 weeks... so I end up getting the same amount but spread over more time. Phew! I had Chemo #3 this week, on Tuesday and Tues - Thurs was excellent! No side affects at all! But then the Chemo Fatigue hit on Fri and today (Saturday), which is to be expected. I'm hoping that the fatigue only stays around for 2-3 days maximum... because then that means starting Monday I can build up my energy again before we have to do this again on the following Monday.

But... there is good news that goes with all this chemo nonsense! Some of you know, or have heard me talking about the term CEA. This is just a blood test that they do and for some people, it is a very good tool to help with understanding what's going on. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with everyone, so it's not the be all and end all of tests. I've been very lucky so far in that it's been a very good indicator for me. When everything is stable and there's nothing going on with the cancer nodules in the lungs, my CEA reading hovers around 1.0 - 2.0. But when there's any activity, the CEA readings start to rise. Because it's always been a good indicator for me, when/if it starts to rise, even if it's only rising a small amount, that puts my oncologist on guard and we start doing other tests to see WHY it's starting to rise. The numbers aren't really important... what is important is if the trend is that it's just going up, up, up. Obviously, we want it to come down and stay down. Well, it was going up, so that is why starting chemo. After that horrible first round, which I thought for sure if it was making me that sick, it had to be killing off the cancer too... so you can imagine my disappointment when, the CEA results after the first round went up even higher... to 25.0!! YIKES! Tumours on the loose!?!?! Now we were going to go to half doses? Yes, I was more than a bit concerned, I have to admit.

Well, had to have the blood tests again before I went on Chemo #3. I have to have the blood tests done before EVERY chemo treatment because they need to know how my WBC (White Blood Cells) count is doing. Every time you get chemo, it kills off good cells as well as the bad cells... pretty much kills everything in it's path and since it's systemic, it goes through my whole system (blood, lymph, arteries, veins... everywhere) killing off whatever it can. That is why I have two weeks between treatments... so that the good cells that have been killed off can regenerate, and the bad (cancer) cells that are killed don't regenerate because dead cancer cells can't be brought back to life. So, before they hit me with another round of chemo, they have to check my good blood cells and make sure the counts are up high enough that I am ready to take on another round. When they do that blood work, they also take blood to do the CEA test. Sooooo.... drum roll please.... I had my CEA test done last Monday (before Tuesday's Chemo) and YAYAYAYAYA!! The reading was 15.0!!! In one treatment, it came down 10.0 whole points!!! Well, it may be a combination of the three treatments, but suffice it to say, between tests it came down 10 points which is excellent! What this means is, the chemo is working... obviously it is killing of cancer cells so that hopefully, it has stopped the nodules in my lungs from growing, and if we are really, really lucky, the nodules will now start shrinking. The goal here is... to obviously stop any growth, to stop any new growth, and to shrink any tumours that are already there. The first CT scan that I will be getting will be 3 months after starting this chemo... which will be sometime in mid-May. So I am really keeping my fingers crossed that all these chemo treatments that I will have been taking will show some real shrinkage and change come mid-May :)

Ok... so that's enough about the catch up on Cheryl's health journey! Let's see what else is in Cheryl's world? Oh, I forgot to include a picture in the last blog entry. This goes back to mid-Feb sometime, when 2 friends (Mark and David) and I went to a movie and then out for Chinese food afterwards. Always fun to have a movie/dinner night with friends, but what was different about this is... mid-February in Vancouver, cherry blossoms are thinking of popping out on the trees, daffodil shoots have come up from the ground, and yes the crocuses are up here and there.... AND... we get SNOW??? Hello??? It was snowing on us!!

Left to right: Mark, Cheryl and David in the snow :) I have no idea what was up with the hair... I left the apartment and I had bangs... where they are now is anyone's guess :)

Oh.... and have I mentioned how I love flowers? Be them plants outside in the garden, or indoor plants that blossom, or flowers sent just because someone is thinking of me... I am thrilled with them all! Well, my aunt Cathe sent me this gorgeous plant that is a tropical plant that thrives in Hawaii --

Hehe... ok, I did try to crop out the background since it's on my kitchen table that happened to have a lot of clutter around it the day I took this picture. But it is gorgeous and I just love it!

Ok... moving on... what have I been up to while being home an awful lot of the time. Well, it's kind of twofold in a way. Yes, I must admit that I tend to stick around home a lot more than I used to... back in the days when I was all over the place. Working out of the TUTS office, doing Publicity/website/eNewsletter for Metro, and taking in as many shows as possible because I just love what everyone is doing in theatre these days. Vancouver is so wealthy in creative talent... if ONLY we had a bit more support from both the public and the government. I don't mean just theatre (although that is one of the arts I hold near and dear to my heart) but everything from theatre, dance, music, art, web design, any kind of video/online design... because whether people think the electronic age is just a phase and this too shall pass... I'm afraid that's not the case. If anything, our world is going to go more and more digital, entertainment is going to go more and more digital... and combining the traditional arts with the new digital world is going to be huge and we have the talent here... underpaid and under appreciated, but they are here!

Ok... where the heck did that come from and why was I bringing it up??? Hmmm... there was a reason... but alas, it has slipped into the fog . Oh well, it was going to be a brilliant statement... hold that thought until I have another brilliant one :D

Moving on... film. Hmmm... I'm sure the above had something to do with this next topic, but I have no idea what the connection was going to be. Oh well. A couple of weeks ago, I was at the opening night of a brilliant little show called "The Story Of My Life", a 2-man show, that was done soooo well by two wonderful actors, Stephen Aberle and Jonathan Holmes. I love going to shows like this where I don't really know what I'm going to see, but am going because of friends that are involved and of course, I want to support all my friends. Well, this show was being held at the Revue Stage on Granville Island. When I got there, lucky me found a parking spot right beside the theatre (unheard of)... but when I got out of the car, it was basic chaos ;) There was movie equipment EVERYWHERE! Not just your regular run of the mill movie, which we are used to in Vancouver, since someone is filming somewhere at any given time... but this was obviously a major, major film company, because they had not only taken over the Granville Island Public Market (outside at the back), but the two bridges (Granville and Burrard) as well. Well, sure enough... the movie was Mission Impossible 4. Those aren't my kind of movies but even I know they spend a heck of alot of money on them and since they are on the 4th one, it has basically become a Tom Cruise franchaise!

The following are pictures I took before and after the show that I was there to see. Yes, Tom Cruise was there on set, but no, I didn't get any pics of him. As far as I was concerned, you'd never really see him because he was surrounded by so many people. What I found MORE interesting was... this was an outdoor shoot, at night... and how much lighting equipment they had to light up the area they were shooting in. I mean, the area they used was just a small area outside at the back of the market. BUT, across the water were the buildings and of course, the two bridges... so since these were obviously in the shots, they had them all brightly lit up!! Hahaha... imagine if this was your condo and you are now ready to go to bed... but your windows and condo is lit up with bright movie lights shining in!! So the following pics are the ones I took where I was fascinated that there was so much light for what is probably a couple of seconds of film...

You can see the dock at the market where the "set" is... with one of the huge lights on a crane, and Burrard St. Bridge in the background. I am standing just outside the Arts Club Backstage Lounge door.

Papparazzi... and people trying to catch a glimpse of Tom Cruise (and people just walking around Granville Island checking out what's going on).

See what I mean about equipment everywhere? To the right of the white screen is the front door to the Revue Stage, so to get to the show, you had to climb around equipment. I'm not sure what light this screen was being used to bounce because the action is around the corner of this building and all the way across the dock. YET... 4 of us were talking right at the spot after the show, in normal voices, and one of the PAs came over and asked if we could keep it down since we were being picked up on the mics. Mics?? Where? What mics?? They weren't filming here, but obviously had the whole area wired for sound.

Here's a good example of what I meant about the buildings being lit up at night. Notice the bridge on he right, which is also lit up (and you can see one of the big movie lights on top of the bridge). Now imagine living in one of these condos :) This picture was taken, probably around 11pm at night :)

So striking! I have to admit, it is a very pretty effect to see these buildings lit up like this at night. It's a lovely picture normally, but all lit up, it's quite magical.

Ok, I'm on my way home at this point. Must be getting close to midnight, so I'm now on the other side of the water. If you look across to the brown building (Arts Club), I was taking the above pictures pretty much from under the green sign on the side of the building. I am now over on the side where the lit condo buildings are. From this side, you can see the very brightly lit dock where the filming is taking place. Notice the rather largish boat on the right? This is part of the film... but whether they were using it in the shoot they were doing that night, I have no idea. I didn't stick around to watch, but it looked like it was going to be an all night shoot.

Ok... not sure you can see it, this picture might be too small. But on the wall, behind where the three tents are, there's a sign that says PIER 17. This is no Pier 17, this is the Public Market , but obviously, in the movie they are at Pier 17. So anyone who sees the movie... if you see Pier 17, this is where we are :)

Hehe... I had to take another picture of the lit up bridge. This is the Granville Street Bridge and I'm taking it from the side where all the lit condos are. This is a rather large bridge as far as lighting it and lighting all these condos... and you can see some of the lights that they are using. This is what fascinates me with these big productions... imagine being the lighting designer. It's one thing to say, the size of the stage/sets are XXX but to design lighting two bridges and a heap of condos and the water and the "Pier 17" set for a ... oh who knows, 1-2 minute scene?? I'm sure Tom Cruise will be running off the dock an hopping into a boat... and that will be the scene. I just find the whole technical set up to be the fascinating part of a movie :)

So, a little more recent... this past week has been an interesting and slightly worrisome week. Like I mentioned up above, it was the first week of Chemo #3, so I pretty much stay close to home on the Week 1's. Wouldn't you know it, Chemo on Tuesday and Bridget ends up with a Colitis flareup on Wednesday. Yes, even doggies can get colitis and it is not pretty. No one wants to see their pets suffer and colitis is every bit as painful for dogs/cats as it is for people. Mucho diarrhea that comes with cramping and intestinal spasms. But the worst part is when the output turns to blood. VERY VERY scary! And you know the poor little darling is suffering. Of course, just like people, the last thing you are thinking of or wanting is food or water... so now there's also the worry of dehydration. The smaller the animal the harder it is on their system and dehydration can set in so quickly. When I realized this was not just a little tummy upset, off we went to Dr. Joan's. Luckily, the clinic (which is just up the street from us) is open until 8pm on Wednesdays (at least the timing for this flareup was good). So, at the clinic, she got rehydrated and a shot to stop the nausea. We also got an oral syringe of medicine/paste that I would have to squirt into the back of her mouth morning and evening... and that would help with stopping the blood/diarrhea. Lucky for Bridget (and me), these meds worked pretty quickly. On Thursday, the diarrhea had stopped (there was nothing left in her!!) and by late Thurs afternoon, she was showing interest in drinking water on her own. She wasn't too interested in food, but later in the evening, if I had fed her the special fibre food Dr. Joan gave us to stimulate her appetite, she took it. But she was not interested in eating on her own... she wanted to be hand fed. ;) Yesterday she was eating more on her own, although I was keeping her meals very small. By last night she was letting me know she was much hungrier than what I was feeding her . So today, we are pretty much back to her normal amount of food... but I'm mixing half of her regular food with half of the special food and she gets three small meals/day rather than two larger ones. Needless to say, I'd say she's on the mend and doing fine!

Of course, she was pretty stinky after her ordeal... so today, Toby (friend who lives across the hall and takes her on all her walkies) gave her a bath. Yes, I know she is so long overdue for a grooming and that was on the agenda that I make her an appt. for this week... but then she got sick. Now, I don't want her to go to the groomers around other doglets until I know she is 100% better and won't have a relapse. So she got a bath at home... and the poor ragamuffin looks like an orphan now! She certainly doesn't look like a well-groomed schnauzer!! LOL!

Bath Time:

"I'm really, really not impressed, Mom! You know I don't do water! I don't do rain, I don't do swimming, and I don't do BATHS!!"

Seriously, have you ever seen anything more pathetic?? She looks like a drowned rat and you can tell by her body language that she is NOT a happy dog. Her little back is hunched over... you'd never know by looking at this picture that she has the perfect schnauzer straight back and holds her head up high, with ears sticking straight up. ;)

Ok... this is post-bath. After running around like a tornado, rubbing herself dry all over the apartment, hopping up and off the furniture and wanting to play "Chase me!"... she finally was dry and worn out. Here she is curled up like a cat on her pillow on the couch, as if nothing had happened :)

Hehehe... had to take this one. She is NOT going to pose for the camera no matter what I try to get her to do :) But I wanted a picture to show just how ungroomed she is... hair falling in her eyes, a beard with no shape... but is she ever soft and does she ever smell good!! :D

Ok... I think that's about it. This is not an entry... it's a saga!! But I figured it was time I added a few more pictures to go with the babble. So, until the next time... enjoy the pictures and for those of you who live close by... I THINK we may be seeing our Spring arrive soon! I need a couple of days where it's sunny so I can actually go out with camera in hand and get some proof that Spring is here :D

Ciao for now!

Cheryl