Tuesday Sept 13th, 2011 - Health Update

Hi bloggies!

Yep, it's me, the late one, reporting in again much later than I had planned on doing. I really should do a two-parter tonight but something tells me if I can get just one entry done tonight I'm going to be ahead of the game . I have to sort through a bunch of photos for the "social" entry on the blog and if I wait until I've got that done, then the health update will be even later than it already is :)

We sort of have to go back to last week with the buildup to starting the "new" (to me) Chemo called Vectibix. As those of you who have been following for some time, I have been through various chemos and the last one which I was on from Feb - June, I really did not react well to it. Ended up with severe breathing problems and for someone who has had nothing worse than chronic bronchitis of which the worst part was the tight, painful chest, I had no idea what "severe" breathing problems meant until going through this chemo. When I ended up in Emergency, that was when it was decided that enough is enough, I had to come off this chemo. They weigh the risks vs the benefits and my risks had outweighed any possible benefits the chemo was doing.

So, not only was I taken off the chemo, I was given the summer off to try and regain my strength and breathing. No one knew how much I would regain, but I'm happy to report the bronchial and asthma problems are gone! I still have the bronchialspasms, which is that "wheezing" when you exhale. I was only getting them in the mornings and late at night, but since starting this new chemo, they just sort of are always there. So we are going to have to be on high alert watching if this is going to be a problem or not.

Anywho... lots of "chemo anxiety" as we got closer and closer to Sept 9th, which apparently is totally normal... especially after having such a bad experience with the last chemo. So, Friday, Sept 9th, was my chemo infusion day.

The chemo technicians/nurses at the BC Cancer Agency are fantastic. I only wish I could remember each of them! There are quite a few of them and every single one of them are wonderful... but because of my very very faulty memory, I can not necessarily remember them individually... whereas they all remember me, even if it's been over a year since they last saw me. That is one little pet peeve of mine with the chemo... the havoc it's played on my memory, then add to that just the general middle aging process.

Anywho... when I got there, my tech told me that she was going to give me an hour's infusion of magnesium since my blood tests showed my magnesium was a little on the low side. Oh, that's another thing... I had an appt. to get my blood work done last Tues because I was seeing my oncologist on Thurs and it would be determined by the results of the blood work as to whether chemo was a go on the Friday or not. Well, lo and behold, even though I had it in my calendar, I totally forgot all about the blood work appt.... and didn't remember until the next day. So, I went on the Wed, but again... curses for not only forgetting but forgetting even though it was in my calendar!! But, they got enough of the results so that chemo could go ahead on the Friday as planned.

So the first hour was actually getting topped up with Magnesium. The second hour was the actual chemo. And then I was free to go. I found I was really, really tired... almost felt like chemo fatigue although that seemed way too soon to have hit.

Here's my friend, the IV... that is used both for a bag of Magnesium and a bag of chemo (Vectibix), but not at the same time.

And here I am, hooked up via my port, getting the chemo. Hahaha... notice the difference in picture quality? This one was taken with my iPhone, the IV pole and machine was taken with my real camera :)

So I figured, I should stop somewhere and get a bite to eat because it was really warm and chances are I wasn't going to be in the mood for making something when I got home. I went to one of my favourite breakfast restaurants... The Wooden Shoe... and had some breakfast:

Comfort food Plus!! Under the ham are two basted eggs, with hashbrowns, some hollandaise sauce, raison toast and a small dish of apple sauce. Oh, and a cold glass of orange juice. I couldn't eat all of it, but what I did was soooo comforting!!

Then, if I thought I was tired after the chemo, I really noticed I was tired after eating, so time to head home! No stopping to run errands or pick up anything... time to go straight home.

This is Cambie Street... I just need to go straight down this road towards the mountains, over the Cambie St. Bridge (which you can't see in the photo) and then to the left which takes me through Yaletown, along the water's edge until I get home. Probably a 10 minute drive from here to home, if I get all the lights right. Mind you, it was about this time when I took this picture, that the west coast of BC had the 6.4 earthquake. Go figure? I didn't feel a thing and when I got home, no one mentioned a word because they hadn't felt anything. This is a good thing!! Very little, if any, damage done in Vancouver. And that's the way I like my earthquakes :)

So, I got home, and lucky for me one of my neighbours was coming in at the exact same time, so he opened the carport gate for me and I just had to drive in, lock the car and then walked in with him. He went up to his apartment, after asking if I wanted him to go pick up anything from the store, which I reassured him I had done all of that before that day... and I went on to my apartment and crawled into bed with my Bridget :) She is the PERFECT dog when you don't have any more energy other than to just nap... her favourite thing :) :)

We are now on Day 5. As the home care nurse said, the first week can just be blah... and the second week should be better. Well, I'm still in the first week and although I have to admit, the side affects have been MUCH more mild than the last chemo... still, there are a few that I can't deny. The "tireds". I can't really say it's chemo fatigue because when that hits, you literally have a hard time putting one foot in front of the other, and going out is not an option. No, this is just having the over all feeling of being really tired and although I feel pretty darn ok at home (after all, it's not that far and I can have a nap if need be), I have not had the energy to actually go out and do things. I start off in the morning thinking I can, but by the time afternoon rolls around I'm feeling a bit drained... and then I get really impatient with myself. Yesterday and this morning I really started having the queazy nauseaus feeling. This morning I took a "dex", which is a steroid that was prescribed for past chemos, but not for this one because one really shouldn't get nausea with this one... so I took one and the nausea went away. But, I forgot, although the "dex" works great for the nausea, you can (and I do) get a nasty headache as it's wearing off.

Soooo, hopefully tomorrow I won't need anything for nausea or anything else. And hopefully it's not going to be a full week of being under the weather, even if it's a mild under the weather.

Ok, next entry will be a 'social' entry! Life is not always all about health issues and what one has to go through! Hahaha... I'm even starting to bore me, so yikes, I can only imagine what it's doing to you bloggy readers :) :)

Hugggggggs,

Cheryl

Monday, August 1, 2011 - Chit Chat and more Chit Chat

Happy BC Day for those living in BC and Happy Aug 1st for those living elsewhere :)

I've been busted!! :D I was reminded in person by a friend this weekend that twice now I have promised to follow the Health Update blogs with the fun, chit chat and pictures blog. And I have failed on those promises TWICE now!! OMG! Caught red-handed!! What is really funny is the health updates are the harder ones to write, both from an informative perspective and from a "how the heck do I make this interesting to read? I mean, who really wants to hear about someone else's health problems??" Soooo, I figure writing the Chit Chatty blog entries will be the most fun because they don't have to have boring health bits... and I can put lots of pictures (assuming I've taken pictures) and basically just add free-form writing and call it a blog entry . But just when do I think I'm going to get started?? Hahahaha... my excuse to myself has been... oh oh, now I've done it! I've got all these pictures to share, so I have to organize some way of writing in order so the pictures make sense. Well, the longer I put it off, the more pictures I get and the bigger, more daunting the task becomes!

Off I go to the kitchen to get a nice cold glass of orange juice and I shall begin this daunting task of doing the first chit-chatty blog entry. I have tossed out the idea of writing in any sort of date order, or order the pictures were taken... I will just insert pictures when I feel like it, discuss them (or not) and move on to the next topic... whether it makes sense or not! Those of you who know me in person know that I'm a chatterbox but actually having rhyme or reason to my chatter is not necessarily relevant .

In no particular order... I love doing "day trips" around the city and plan on doing a lot more. Sort of like being a tourist in your own city. Going to places you've always taken for granted, only to find out how truly wonderful they are. In particular, I love going to places that off photo opportunities. I have been wanting to get more into my photography. For the most part, I tend to be a "People" photographer... hence why you always see me at rehearsals or opening nights, or events where I can take pictures of my friends. But more and more, I've been enjoying taking pictures just for the sake of taking pictures. I try to take it with a slightly artistic viewpoint... it may be because a bunch of colours have attracted me such as, look at all the colour in this photo:

Colours of the rainbow is an understatement!! All this colour is ALMOST overwhelming, except it's not because it's all so pretty! And soooo striking!! This was a table set up on the sidewalk where you could (and I did) buy one of these tubes for $20. In it was a pink "Gay for a Day" t-shirt, with the definition of the word "gay" on the back, a pair of colourful sunglasses (yes, I got pink!) where the frames would light up, a whistle on a wrist band and I think there's a rainbow flag as well. The $20 went to a charity... a different one every day. The day I bought mine, the charity was for MS, the next day it was going to be Covenant House. Hahaha... I wanted to support both!! And you can find in all the crowd pictures during Pride weekend and the Pride Parade... a lot of people were wearing "Gay for a Day" pink t-shirts :) :)

Oh, but I do want to go back some... I believe this was in early June when my friends, Mark and David, and I went out for dinner and then to a play. Here's a picture of Mark and David at the restaurant...that was when we went to Society, right you two??

Hahahaha... ok, Mark has his eyes closed and it looks like he's praying! Chances are, he's praying that David and I don't make a scene and get us in trouble ... then again, he could be praying to find the extra room for all of us to finish the dessert that we got. It's a "sampler" for two... and yet, there was way too much for the three of us!!

I dare anyone to go with a friend, have dinner, and then order the sampler dessert and see if you can get through it. I don't know if we stopped laughing about this even when we got to the theatre!! LOL!! But yes, a restaurant that actually makes cotton candy on the premises!! :D

Ok... back to the "day trips". One of the day trips I did on my own was back on the July 1st long weekend. I was feeling pretty darn good and rather spunky, even though back then I was having a problem with my breathing. It was a gorgeous weekend and I figured maybe an afternoon out in the sun and fresh air, down by the river, would do my lungs good. So off I went to Steveston, BC. For those of you not familiar with Vancouver and the Lower Mainland (the municipalities surrounding Vancouver), Steveston is actually connected to Richmond, a municipality where the Vancouver International Airport sits. Anyone flying to Vancouver actually flies to Richmond and then you drive over the river into Vancouver. Steveston is on the south side of Richmond and has always been it's own little village. Lots of history there... Steveston has history steeped as being a Japanese fishing village. It is right on the river and also has the Cannery there so the fish was brought in right from the boats to the Cannery. Here are some of my photos I took while down in Steveston:







As you can see, the tide was very low on this day, so I didn't even attempt to go down the ramp. Hahahaha... going down wouldn't have been a problem, what with having my cane and holding on to the handrail... but one would have to come back up and that looks like climbing a mountain :D

So those were some pictures from down on the river in Steveston. Another day, I went to one of my favourite haunting grounds, Granville Island. My only complaint about Granville Island is the one everyone has... parking!! :D Yes, there is parking, but finding it can be a bit of a challenge, especially in the summer when every day is tourist season, rain or shine! I have to admit, having the disabled parking permit does help big time... but even those spots can go very quickly. But once you find parking (or if you come via transit, water taxi, aqua-bus, etc.), then it's all worthwhile! Especially on a sunny day! Here are some pictures taken while down at Granville Island:









Hehehe... this is a fantasy picture! Can you imagine owning a boat like this white one? And you can just come and go as you please, or sail off to other cities and their harbours? I wonder what that would be like?

Ok... let's move on.... after all this time in the sun, whether in Steveston where it was sunny that weekend, or Granville Island, where it was sunny the day I went there... time to pick up a snack :D So these next pictures are going to be all of food... I know, I know... cruel of me! I hope you've had something to eat prior to reading this blog entry :D

Siegel's bagels!! Many, many varieties and the ones that aren't shown are the cream cheese filled bagels that are soft and sweet! They also have meat filled bagels but I haven't tried those ones.

For anyone who has a sweet tooth, this bakery will drive you crazy!! They have all sorts of treats. I find that these fancy treats never seem to taste as good as they look, but then, anything with chocolate can't go wrong :)

Cherries, cherries, cherries!! You know it's summer when the Okanagan cherries are ripe for the pickin' ... and eating!! :)

Peel me a grape!!! :D Oh yum... nothing better than big, fat, juicy grapes, kept in the fridge so they are ice cold!! :D Yum!!

This lady makes her own homemade jams and jellies. Now, there's nothing too exciting about that... I mean, so many people make their own and have their own recipes. But what she made that was to die for is a homemade ginger jelly, made from young, organic ginger. That is the key... finding the young ginger, because what a difference it makes in taste!! She also makes her own "candied ginger" from the same young organic ginger and for someone who has never liked the taste of candied ginger, what an eye opener to try this. It was lovely!

Unfortunately, strawberry season is over now. Oh sure, we can get the imports, but the local strawberry season is over. It either went very quickly or it was during the time I was having all the breathing problems... needless to say, I didn't buy lots of berries to make jam with! So no homemade strawberry jam for me this winter!

Hehehe... ok, this picture was not taken while down on Granville Island... this was actually taken right downtown. Yes, there are lots of restaurants downtown, but there are also LOTS of people, especially at lunch hour. You've got all the workers in the kajillion downtown buildings, as well as the tourists and just people downtown for the heck of it. So there has been this huge competition of sorts of "food vendors" with their "carts" on the streets/sidewalks. Amazing food from all countries and cultures can be found on the streets of Vancouver. This is just an example of one of those carts... Dim Sum to go! :D

You know, I'm getting hungry just putting up these pictures!! LOL!! Nothing I'd like more right now than some Dim Sum or Shrimp Spring Rolls :D And no, I'm not about to get dressed at 11pm at night to go on a search for a place that is open this late that serves either :D

Hehehe... but now that I think about it, even a lot of my posts on Facebook all centre around "food" :D Whether it's me baking, creating new recipes, making single dinners or whether I'm getting together with friends and we go out for lunch/dinner... isn't it amazing how food always seems to sneak in there? Ok, so we all need food to survive... that's a given. And some have much heartier appetites than others, so that dictates what kind of food. I have found with all the various meds I am on at any given time, sometimes I have a ravenous appetite and other times I have no appetite. Rarely do I find myself somewhere in between. So when I DO have an appetite and I feel like chowing down on something hearty, this is what you quite often may find me making at home:

Ahhhhh! The good old toasted Beef Dip sandwich au jus. Very easy to make and very filling because of the meat.

Another favourite of mine is breakfast... and if I'm not making it at home, then one of my favourite morning restaurants in my neighbourhood is De Dutch Pannekoek House... yep, you guessed it, a Dutch Pancake House. They have the most incredible thin, thin pancakes. Everything from savory to sweet. But when I go there, I rarely get one of their pannekoek (pancakes), mainly because, by the time I get through one, I am uncomfortably full for the rest of the day ;) I usually go for the Ham Hash 'n eggs, where the eggs are basted:



Mind you... when I go through the phase where I have no appetite, I could very easily go all day without eating and I wouldn't notice... as long as I'm getting plenty of liquids. I make a point of having two or three kinds of juice in the fridge, milk, and usually a diet soft drink. When I'm on a no appetite phase, I have to remind myself to eat a little something even if I'm not hungry. Those days I find hard to go out with friends to restaurants... it's not that I'm sick, I'm not, but if you have no appetite, it sort of is a waste of money to be ordering anything off a menu when you know you are only going to pick at it. Hahaha... especially if you are given a menu such as this:

Hahaha... not sure if the picture is too small on this blog page, if you can read it or not... but that is no accident of missing decimals . It's true, that one type of abalone would cost $398!! The cheapest abalone is the Australian abalone at $88. Sheesh... I wonder how often any of these dishes get ordered? Like yes, I know, I'm making fun of the dishes and the prices, but would they actually be in the menu if they weren't ever going to be ordered?? So someone must be ordering them... and that just blows me away that anyone (I don't care how much money you have) would order one dish of food for basically $400!! And for dishes of those prices, do you not think it ironic (or is this just my warped sense of humour) that when they took the picture for the menu, they took it and there is a fly on the plate!! How the heck could the photographer have missed that???

So let's leave food behind for the time being. I think I've mentioned it in previous blog entries and of course on Facebook that this summer Metro Theatre offered a 6-day Intensive Musical Theatre course. There were two levels... Level I for those just beginning or who was interested in what all was involved in performing in a musical and then Level II for those who have had some experience, both in training and in performing and they would get more intensive training. The students would be so lucky because this 6 day intensive workshop was being led by Jeff Hyslop. For those of you involved in musical theatre for some time will already know who Jeff is. For those of you who are not involved, Jeff is one of Canada's treasures. He WAS the Canadian "Phantom" in Phantom of the Opera... which he did for 900 performances. He also was the one who originated the role of "Mike" in Broadway's original Chorus Line. He went on to perform that same role in London's West End's original production of Chorus Line.

So for anyone to have the opportunity to get training from this wonderful man, it is a real privilege... and for our very first workshop at Metro with Jeff (and two other fabulous instructors, Mark Carter and Caitlin Hayes), we had the very best group of young people. They were incredible!!

Clockwise from left to right Jesse, Allie, Mark, Caitlin, Jeff, Julia, Tyler, April, Kayla, Vanessa, and Destiny.

Now, I really think I should close this entry. It's been a wonderful long weekend (BC Day) and for once the weather has finally decided to show us some summer! Still cool for this time of the year (although, if truth be known, I quite enjoy this cooler weather rather than the hot, humid stuff). This long weekend has been particularly busy, what with the international fireworks (Celebration of Light) with China starting the competition with a magnificent display Saturday night. It really was incredible, and incredibly loud!! Wow... I mean all the countries every year, their displays are loud and living here in the West End, across the street from the barges, it sounds like we are in the middle of a huge war zone. But last night was even louder than normal... so loud, you could feel the building shaking. Now, I know Bridget is hard of hearing so figured she'd only get a muted version ... but I really was surprised when she didn't even flinch! She had no idea they were going on around her. I'm sure she must have felt the building shake but she was on the bed eating her cauliflower and quite content to just munch away. If she did feel any movement, she probably just put that down to like when the bed is on "massage" mode, which she has finally gotten used to and doesn't mind at all. So, I guess we have to accept, the little darling is deaf... not that you would ever know it. Other than you would think she is being a princess and ignoring you, if she is looking at you, you'd almost think she was reading lips . She certainly knows how to communicate to Toby and myself when she wants something... and likewise, she knows what we expect of her. Of course, she was "hand signal" trained, as well as command trained so she can still read hand signals ;)

But, I really don't think the little princess is too hard done by, even if she has gone deaf in her old age (she will be 14 in November). Obviously the noise from the Fireworks didn't bother her, and on Sunday, with thousands lining the street of the Pride Parade route, she didn't hear the cheers, whistles and hollering. I couldn't ignore them and once the parade started and made it down to our end of the route, the cheers of the crowd got much louder... so as much as I had NOT planned on going to watch the parade this year, of course I ended up going. Nowadays, I'm a little (ok a lot) leary of crowds. I don't have the balance I once did and I do have this fear of being swept along with a crowd, when I really can't walk that far. So I went across the street to the building there and up on one of their levels (where I ran into my friend/neighbour, Doug). So the two of us watched from a great vantage point, ABOVE the crowds.

Here you see some of the crowds lining the parade route. Where I am taking the picture, I'm on the second level. You see the first level right below us, and then there's the street level below them.

Here are a few pictures from the parade...















Tradition... at the end of the parade, the crowd follows, starting at the beginning of the parade route, then they pick up more and more as they go along. By the time they get to where we are, you can see they've got quite the following.

People... for as far as the eye can see!! And they are all following the parade down to Sunset Beach (which is about 6 blocks from where we are)... and that's where the Pride Festival will continue for the rest of the day.

Ok, it's now the bewitching hour... the clock struck midnight 6 minutes ago!! Time for me to pack it in and head to bed. Of course, although I've shown a lot of pictures, I've missed so much. But, there will be new pictures and new adventures to report on in the upcoming days :D I hope everyone has a great short week... and rumour has it, the sun is going to be out for some time now!!! YAYAYAYAYA!!

Happy BC Day... and Post-Pride!!! :D

Cheryl

Friday, July 29th, 2011 - Part 1: Health Update

Hellllooooo Bloggies! It's me again!!

Yep, as usual, behind in what I wanted to do, but still plugging along :) You will notice that tonight's entry says Part 1: Health Update. That's because it's time for another health update even though I promised to do a separate entry last time about social, chit chatty type activities and what I have been up to. So not only did that one not get done, we are now on the second Health Update... so you can only imagine how long the social one is going to be. I have so many pictures and things for the next entry... oh dear, where am I going to find the time but even more important, how long can that entry be??? LOL!!

Ok... not to mix up the two... this one is the Health Update, so away we go :)

First, I better clear up a little misunderstanding from the last blog post. I think I may have led everyone to believe that Baby Blood Clot has been the cause of my difficulty with breathing and also causing all the wheezing, coughing, etc. Also, I seemed to think that when I started the blood thinner (heparin) injections, the breathing seemed to get better. Wrong. The blood thinner had nothing to do with helping get rid of any of my problems. It's purpose is purely to prevent any new blood clots from forming, while we hope that Baby Blood Clot will eventually be absorbed and disappear.

So back to the problems with breathing, etc. Turns out that my poor system was/is fighting 4 problems at once. All of these conditions were separate (bronchitis, broncialspasms, asthma response to the chemo and the blood clot). So back to my GP I went because I just couldn't continue on forever having to live with this ongoing wheezing and laboured breathing. It was wearing me out... and that's without even doing anything! I was also exhausted and had no energy, which I did blame on the chemo and why I needed a break from it.

Well, my GP changed my meds around. He added a third puffer to the two I already had, put me on a week's supply of antibiotics and gave me a prescription cough medicine. Within days I could feel a total difference!! I could breathe again!! The wheezing is down to a minimum... only really affects me in the morning and sometimes in the evening before bed. The coughing is totally under control because of the prescription cough medicine. I'm sure the antibiotics have helped with the bronchitis because bronchitis is an inflammation/infection of the bronchial tubes... but I don't think it's cleared it up totally because I can still feel some rattling around of fluid/phlegm deep into the tubes. But compared to what it was like... it feels so much better!

Now, the blood clot treatment is to be taking blood thinners (Heparin, not the rat poison, Warfarin). Warfarin is the oral, pill form, whereas Heparin is the injections. Warfarin and chemo don't get along well... chemo tends not to work as well if there is warfarin in one's system. So anyone who might have to be on chemo, gets the injectable Heparin. I will be on it for about 6 months and then we will re-evaluate and determine if I should be on it or take a break. Sharlene is saying that she will probably insist on a break after 6 months unless there's reason to suspect we have to stay on it.

So now, that brings us up to today where I met with Sharlene to go over the results to the CAT scan I had done on Wednesday.

Yep, this is my good friend, Mr. CAT scanner. Every three months we get together to go over pictures, take new ones, etc. I have no idea how many pictures of me he's taken in the last 4 1/2 years, but I expect there will be many more to come. Now if only my veins would cooperate... when they see Mr. CAT Scanner, they run deep and hide! They don't want no steenin' IV set up in my arm so that the technicians can put contrast dye through them ;)

Anywho... today, I met with Sharlene to go over the results. Interestingly enough, the tumours in my lungs, compared to the CAT scan we did in May, have grown ever so slightly. BUT, they have grown and back then I was on that nasty chemo. Didn't stop that until June 21, so it's possible the chemo held them at bay and then they have started to grow since being off the chemo. Either way, the growth has been minimal and that's with me having had a 5 week break from the chemo.

Another interesting thing is my CEA readings. I gave up asking about them because they were starting to freak me out. Well, the reading for the week I had the emergency CAT scan (keeping in mind, I was also suffering big time from the bronchitis, the asthma response and the bronchialspasms), my CEA reading was the highest it has been since I was first diagnosed back in Dec 2006. It reached 68!!! When all is under control and the tumours are not being active, my average reading is 1.0 - 2.0. So this is pretty huge. BUT, having done nothing with the tumours since then (IE: am not on chemo, did not start up a new one, etc), I only have been to see my GP and he gave me the new meds mentioned above to try and aggressively kick these bronchial problems in the butt... and it seemed to work pretty good. So this week's CEA reading, only 2 weeks since the last one, had a major drop and is at 36. From 68 to 36 is a pretty significant drop and highly unlikely that cancer activity has changed that much in 2 weeks.

So, that has got me to thinking... CEA is also very sensitive to infection/inflammation. Well, for the past how many months have I been suffering from the bronchitis, bronchialspasms, asthmatic responses to the chemo, which in turn has irritated the bronchial system? And then my GP changes the meds which seem to be working? If the bronchial infection/inflammation has gone down, then it makes sense that the CEA has dropped... and dropped that quickly since the meds were only given the week before this latest CEA test.

Anywho... other than working on getting rid of the nasty bronchitis and making sure it doesn't come back... I have been off the chemo for the 5 planned weeks that we had set up for having a break. Our ongoing plan is to still start the Vectibix treatment, but Sharlene asked me how I was feeling. I told her that, since being able to breathe again, I feel much better... and since being off the chemo for this past 5 weeks, I've actually noticed my energy is starting to come back. She said the plan was that I would start the Vectibix on Tues and I asked her... if we must, then of course I will... but would I be putting myself in any kind of danger if we took a few more weeks off? Actually, if we took the rest of the summer (August) off and didn't start until Sept? She said that she felt I wasn't putting myself in any kind of danger. There are no "new" growths and the ones we know about, although they are showing they are growing, they are growing extremely slow and will not have made any progress over the next month or so. Meanwhile, it would work in my favour if I had that much more time to get over the bronchial stuff and another month to work on resting and bringing my energy level back up to par. Soooo, I'll be starting the Vectibix in Sept.

Oh, and just as a little explanation... Vectibix is NOT a chemo. Vectibix is an antibody that fights a particular protein in colon cancer tumours. That is why she had me tested (well, actually my primary tumour that was removed in Jan 2007) for the KRAS gene. If you have this gene, then your tumours have this protein so you would be eligible for trying this Vectibix treatment. The antibody will attack the protein in the tumour, which in turn will then starve the tumour...hence, hopefully, will shrink the tumour and life will be good :)

There are a few similar side affects with the vetibix to chemo, but not nearly as pronounced or severe. Other than the one that most people get and that is a rash... which can vary in strength from annoying to severe/painful. It will go away over time as your body adjusts to having the infused antibody every two weeks but it could be a very uncomfortable couple of months with this rash. We, of course, will be pro-active and start a round of antibiotics just before starting the treatment... which has been known to be helpful for some. Also, keeping the skin well moisturized so it doesn't dry and crack. But hey, if it works and we can shrink those tumours down to nothing, then a couple of months of discomfort, whining and bitching will be worth it :) But I won't think about that until closer to when I have to. For now, despite the weather Gods being cruel and not giving us much of a summer (on the other hand, thank goodness it is not unbearably hot... I can't handle the heat), I get to have the whole month of August to enjoy, rest and regain my energy so I can start the fight over again in September :) :)

Tally ho... pip pip and all that Jazz!!

Let's see if I actually get Part II: Trying to Have a Social LIfe and Breathe started tonight or if it will get started tomorrow. I have SOOOOO many pictures and things to put up!! :)

Blogger Cheryl, signing off :)

Sunday, July 17th, 2011 -- Part I: Health Update

Hello Blogees and Blogettes!

So much has happened in the last 17 days, I truly get confused as to what people know and what people don't know. For those of you on Facebook, you may have been following the ongoing Health Journey... but a lot of you are not on Facebook, so you've only been getting the blog updates, which the last one was 17 days ago! Then there are the few emails, but those are mostly just family emails... and they are very disjointed because when I try to keep too many places up to date, I end up only confusing myself and everyone else because all three places have updates only as time permits. So I really and truly want to get back to one spot for Health updates and I'll be more conscientious of making sure the title of the blog entry specifies when it is a health update. That way, for those who are only interested in the medical stuff, they'll know which blog entry contains it... and those who also enjoy my babble/rants/chats, they can read both :D

Soooooo... this first Sunday entry is a health update! I have lots of pics and chit chat for the second one (Part II) but may not get that one done until tomorrow ... we shall see how the evening goes :)

Last you all heard from me was back on July 1st.... Canada Day! The Sunday before, I ended up at St. Paul's Emergency because of the difficulty breathing. They managed to get things back to some form of normal, so I left the hospital in way better shape than I had entered the hospital. I also had seen my oncologist the day before and our new plan was to take a break from the chemo. She wanted to hear from me in a week and hopefully the wheezing/whistling/breathing problems should all be cleared up now that I wasn't on chemo. This was because we now realized that the wheezing/asthma like symptoms were a sensitivity to one or both chemos (most likely the one that I started back in February since I had been complaining about bronchial symptoms, etc. since we started that chemo.

Ok, so now starts the continuing saga of the health update. A week after my appt. with Sharlene, the breathing/wheezing/asthma symptoms still hadn't gotten better. At least, if they were getting better, I couldn't say that I noticed a real difference. I still got tired easily, I still had problems with the breathing going up/down my 8 steps from the floor my apartment is on to the carport level, etc. So, Sharlene said she was going to see about arranging an emergency Chest CAT scan (different from the 3 month Abdominal/Chest CAT scan that we do to monitor how/if the chemo is working and that I have an appt. for on July 27th). Now, when she asked to have the July 27th one bumped up, it wasn't possible... so I'm not sure what magical words she used, or if she used her "pull" but she managed to get one right away for me. The reason she wanted me to have this now is, she wanted to rule out the possibility of Blood Clots

So, this past Wednesday I went in for a "spiral" Chest CAT scan and blood work. Well, lo and behold, they found a Baby Blood Clot. I say "Baby" because it is very small and there's only one. OMG! One small blood clot can cause this much difficulty with breathing??? For the life of me, unless others react differently to blood clots in the lungs, I can't see how anyone could possibly not report them until they are too big to deal with... I'm having a hard enough time just being able to breathe and get some air in my lungs! I can't imagine how much worse it can get!

Sharlene explained that we have caught this one in it's very small stage and the treatment is to go on Blood thinners. The idea is that the blood thinners will break up the clot and then the body will just absorb the pieces. She says this clot is so small, the body may just absorb it without it needing to be broken up. Meanwhile by being on the blood thinners, that will prevent anymore from developing (and prevent Baby Blood Clot from growing). Standard protocol will be to be on the Blood Thinners for 6 months... so yes, I had to go the next day to the Thrombosis Clinic at VGH (Vancouver General Hospital) to see a Hematologist and to have a nurse teach me how to give myself a shot since I'll have to do this twice/day.

Sharlene also explained that in a healthy, non-cancer patient, if they were to get blood clots in their lungs, it would be a big deal and they would need to go under rigorous testing to find out WHY they have blood clots. But for cancer patients who have been on various chemo treatments, it doesn't come as a surprise to find blood clots. That is quite a common reaction to everything the body/system is going through and going through it with a compromised immune system.

Sooooo, of course I had questions. I have been complaining since the beginning of Feb when we started the new (to me) chemo, Irinotecan. Even from the first treatment of it I was complaining of bronchitis symptoms that started almost right away and never really did go away. I was pretty sure it was bronchitis since I know the symptoms very well, but thought it was ironic that I haven't had bronchitis for some time but as soon as I started this chemo, I was hit with it immediately. But no, both Sharlene and my GP, Sean Fay, both assured me that chemo does not cause or trigger bronchitis. The fact I'm susceptible to it, chances are I was exposed to it and came down with it quickly because my immune system is compromised and not 100% in fighting order. Ok, that made sense. Well, as time went on, the bronchial symptoms seemed to take on the new symptoms of the "wheezing" when I would exhale. Now I had NEVER had that when I had bronchitis, but apparently this is not uncommon with those who suffer from chronic bronchitis. Ok, I can buy that, but I just know I have had chronic bronchitis for YEARS and I have never ever had the wheezing. In medical terms, the condition is called bronchialspasms and people with chronic bronchitis, asthma or COPD are susceptible to this condition. Ok... but it never did go away. If anything, it became worse and the wheezing started happening when I inhaled, not only exhaled. Well, apparently if you get the wheezing on the inhale, then you should seek medical attention immediately. I didn't know this but it was shortly after this happened that I ended up at St. Paul's Emergency because it was hard to inhale or exhale... and breathing normally just wasn't close to happening.

It was at this point that I think Sharlene had decided it was time for a break from the chemo and I had decided to tell her that I NEEDED a break from the chemo. Her reasons were probably different than mine... she realized that my immune system was not keeping up with the stuff I was being exposed to. I told her I needed a break because with this difficulty in breathing, I just didn't feel I had the strength to go through another chemo session. Of course, it was at this time that she said she wanted to hear from me within a week to see if the breathing had improved... if the breathing (aka asthmatic response to the chemo) was not having to deal with the chemo, then it should show a marked improvement. As I mentioned above, the breathing didn't improve in the one week so Sharlene wanted to rule out blood clots in the lungs. When I had the emergency Chest CAT scan this past Wed, Sharlene had 3 radiologists go over it to make sure absolutely nothing was missed.

The first question I asked was, "If blood clots are common with cancer patients, why wasn't that one of the first things that we checked for when I was complaining of bronchitis? then the bronchialspasms? then the asthma response?" Well, with each of the complaints, they all checked out as being what they were (Bronchitis, Bronchialspasms, Asthma Response to the build up of Chemo and then the breathing getting worse indicated possible blood clot(s). It is not unusual for a cancer patient to have multiple conditions showing up... but what is unusual was that I had all four at once. Considering I have a compromised immune system, my system was actually doing very well having to fight 4 conditions at the same time. I doubt anyone with a strong immune system would be able to do any better than I did... so that somewhat pleases me.

The plan now of course is to get rid of the small blood clot, hopefully it will just end up being absorbed and the blood thinners will prevent any other blood clots from forming anywhere in my body. At first, it almost seemed like the blood thinners were clearing up the breathing. I have to admit, it is a lot better in that I'm not going into that panicky feeling I was getting when I just couldn't get enough air in a breath. That is all gone and I can breathe quite normally now. The wheezing is still there but the annoyance now is the cough. It's like a bronchial cough once the tight chest has broken up. With bronchitis, that cough sounds horrible but is actually a good thing. I'm not sure what I'm dealing with now... before there was a dry cough where I wasn't coughing anything up, so I wasn't sure why I was coughing. Now it's a loose cough, so I have no idea if this means it's on the way out.. or ??

Tomorrow I have to go to the Blood Lab at St. Paul's. The Hematologist has ordered some blood tests, I think to determine if there's enough blood thinner in my system or if the dose has to be adjusted. NEXT week (July 27) I will be getting the regular CAT scan so we can determine what's happening with the tumours in the lungs. Did the 5 months of chemo actually stabilize them? Let's hope so because now that I'm on the blood thinner med, I can't be on chemo. Meanwhile, if the tumours start growing, then we have to weigh the risks vs the benefits... stick with the blood thinner so no new clots form and hopefully we get rid of this single clot and hope the tumours don't grow quickly... or, go on the new (to me) chemo (Vectibix) and stop the blood thinner, hoping that no blood clots form.

Oh well, we'll deal with each thing as it comes up... no point worrying about the "What ifs..." when we don't know what will happen next until it happens. As my GP has told me since we started this journey... one step at a time, one hurdle at a time. We aren't going to worry about all the possible hurdles that can come up, only the ones that do come up and with those, we'll fight them one at a time.

So there you have it!! It's now 11:15pm and I managed to get PART I: Health Update done. The chit chatty, fun entry, I'll see about getting it done tomorrow or Tues. Give folk time to read this one first before I do the 2nd one :D

Have a great week, everyone!!

Hugggggggssss,

Cheryl

Friday, July 1st - HAPPY CANADA DAY and Update!

Happy Canada Day, my fellow Canadian Bloggettes! And an early Happy July 4th for my fellow American Bloggettes! Hmmm... and for my fellow Aussie Bloggettes... I guess it's just a Happy weekend, right?? No long weekend for those of you down under?? :)

Anywho... still 15 minutes to go before it's actually July 1st and Canada's birthday... but I figure by the time I have typed up this blog entry, it will be July 1st!! Sheesh!! JULY??? How the heck did that happen??? I'm thinking we are still facing April weather.... not exactly sure when we are going to get our real summer weather!!

Ok... let's start with the babble about the health update. As most of you know, I've been really struggling to be able to breathe. Last weekend (June 26) the problem came to a head! Starting the Fri night it became apparent that this struggling for breath was not getting better and if anything, it was getting much worse. By Sat, I was getting scared... how could something so common be so scary? There was no way I could go out anywhere because just walking around the apartment had me gasping for breath. Come Sunday, even my neighbour, Toby, said enough is enough... there's something wrong here. Not only was I wheezing and whistling and gasping for breath... I was very lightheaded... which made me think I'm not getting enough oxygen! Duh! ("Hey, but don't worry... there's no relation between the chemo and the fact I can't breathe! LOL!)

Soooo... off I went to St. Paul's Hospital's Emergency on the most gorgeous, sunny, summer Sunday. It was BEAUTIFUL out and I'm going to spend the day in Emergency! Oh joy! I figured, since the hospital is literally just up the street about 8 blocks, it would be best to take a cab. I wasn't about to call any friends, in my building or elsewhere, to have them drive me the 8 blocks to the hospital then feel obligated to stay with me (which we all know could be hours) and totally ruin their Sunday... and yes, I've heard from some of them about that, but really... I'll save my "favour cards" for another time :)

Yes, I ended up being at the hospital for about 3-4 hours. They took me in right away... something about not being able to breathe makes the Emergency staff a little nervous. They immediately put me on one of those Nebulizer breathing machines where you have the mask on and are breathing in oxygen and a medication that is similar to the Puffers. They then hooked me up to an IV and gave me the steroid Prednisone and a big old bag of Magnesium which was infused over a couple of hours. Within minutes of being on the Nebulizer machine, the panic left, I could actually breath air into my lungs and could talk again. Of course, the also took another xray and ran the gambit of blood tests. Heart and organs are all fine. Lungs are clear, no sign of inflammation or pneumonia. Everything is just tickety-boo except I couldn't breathe... how weird! The emergency doc explained it that, since I'm on chemo, my immune system has really taken a beating and of course it is compromised, meaning it can't fight off even the simplest of infections or problems. So the breathing problem appears to be more an asthmatic reaction that the bronchitis. Of course, I have NEVER had asthma in my life, so this was new to me. The difference between a bronchitis reaction and this asthmatic reaction... with bronchitis, it is inflammation or infection in the bronchial tubes, causing the congested cough and difficulty in breathing. But I didn't have the cough. With the asthmatic reaction, it's more like the bronchial tubes are spasming, hence the difficulty in breathing. Oh joy. When will this go away? Well, the bad news, it might not... as long as I'm on chemo, then my immune system may be compromised and I'll have this problem ongoing. This is NOT good news... because I could see many trips to the ER each time it flares up badly!

Ok... jump ahead to yesterday, Thursday. I had an appt. with my oncologist. This was not a regular pre-chemo appt, but an extra one for us to talk over "options". I don't like the "options" talk because that means the current option is not working and now we have to re-evaluate and see what's left for us (IE: we might be running out of options). Soooo we discussed this trip to ER and Sharlene (oncologist) is now agreeing with me that she thinks the asthmatic reaction is not just a normal, run of the mill condition that just happened, but is more likely a sensitivity to one or both of the chemos. Yes, the immune system is not able to help since it's compromised and that contributes to the problem but it could also be that at this time I've been on the chemo for 5 months and I may have developed a sensitivity to it. It could be if we had another combination of chemos with either one I was on, I would not react in the same way. Either way, I told her that I'm really not sure I could handle another chemo session with these two chemos because the breathing problem is not under control and I feel it's only going to get worse. I need a break to 1) clear up the breathing problem and 2) regain some strength and energy that I seem to have lost big time. Of course, there are a bunch of other side affects that I would just as soon have a break from as well

SOOOOO... after all of that... here's the NEW PLAN!! TA DA!!!

1) I am now officially on a 5-6 week break from chemo!! YAYAYAYA!! I'm so excited about that!! I now do not have to plan for these two week cycles where I'm apartment-bound for 6-8 days and then have about 6 decent days. I am going to be able to feel good for the next 5-6 weeks and regain my strength and energy!!! YIPPPPEE!

2) Sharlene is applying for/doing the paperwork for me to be put on a new (to me) drug called (ready for this?) "UGIAVPANI" aka Vectibix ;) From what I understand, Vectibix is not a chemo per se, although it is used as one. It is a "monoclonal antibody, a type of protein designed to target and interfere with the growth of cancer cells"

Intended Benefits:

- This therapy is being given to destroy and/or limit the growth of cancer cells in your body. This treatment may improve your current symptoms, and delay the onset of new symptoms.
- It may take several treatments before your doctor can judge whether or not this treatment is helping.

This treatment is NOT cheap! It costs approx $30,000 for 8 weeks of treatment. This is where we Canadians really must count our lucky stars and not take our medical for granted. Now, the cost of cancer treatments are not actually paid for by our Canadian healthcare, but through the provincial Cancer Agencies. So BC Cancer Agency actually pays for the chemo treatments/therapies of BC residents... and for anything they don't cover (IE: surgeries, procedures, prescriptions (non-chemo), etc., then BC Medical kicks in. The end result... other than paying my co-payment for regular prescriptions, I haven't had to pay a cent for these incredibly expensive treatments. And no , the Canadian taxpayer is not paying for them either... that's where all the fundraising for bot BC Cancer and Canadian Cancer agencies come into play. So when someone is doing a bike ride for Conquering Cancer, or any of the numerous cancer fundraisers... dig into your pockets and spare a couple of dollars. Everyone is affected by cancer, whether you have it yourself or know someone who has it ;)

Ok... so it looks like this darn blog entry is all about medical stuff! Go figure?? It's just that I'm sooooo excited that I get a break from feeling rotten and when I do start the new therapy, I may not have to feel as rotten as I have every second week for the past 5 month!! WOOT! WOOT!! Oh, then again, the one major side affect of this new therapy is an incredibly annoying/itchy/possibly painful rash on the face/neck. We are going to take preventative measures/prescription to hopefully keep it somewhat under control, but everyone is different as to the severity. SOOOO, if I do end up being one big old face rash, then I'll probably be in hiding and you all won't see me for about a month until it calms down . Of course, my two dates tonight, Mark and David, did suggest I could wear a burka for the whole time I have the rash... I'm beginning to think that might not be a bad idea :) :)

Hehehe... soooo, here I babbled on and on, and never did get to anything else!! I still wanted to talk about the Vancouver Stanley Cup riot... even though that is now old news! But alas, I'm going to have to put that off again... it's really going to be old news by the time I get to it! LOL! Maybe I'll just have to bring it up to remind everyone of it, in case anyone has forgotten or tried to put it out of sight, out of mind :)

Oh, and I'm still in the glow of having won the Jessie Award back on Monday, June 20, 2011! Not only was that night truly awesome, but it's amazing how I'm now running into people who were either there that night or have heard of the awards since... and so many people are so supportive. There are no words to describe it! Mind you, here are the words that were said when announcing that I had won the award:

Mary Phillips Award(presented by Sasa Brown):

On Behalf of David and Louise Philips, I have been asked to present this year’s very deserving winner of the Mary Phillips Prize. I should mention that the Mary Phillips Prize from this year on, will now be known as the Mary Phillips Award, and the winner will now receive a Jessie Statue. This has been a decision from the Phillips Family, in order to secure the longevity of this award and make sure that each year someone who is rarely recognized for their hard work behind the scenes, gets to finally take a bow.

This year’s recipient has been a dedicated and tireless volunteer in the Vancouver Theatre Scene for quite some time. She can often be seen volunteering in the box office for a wide variety of productions. She passionately champions the plight of small theatre companies by helping with publicity and personally getting the word out about shows. She is seen at every opening, often helping with raffles or baking for those involved in the show. If someone is in need of a pick me up, she is the first to step in and lend an ear, have a laugh or share some of her baked goods. Her generosity of spirit and enthusiasm for theatre has touched a wide spectrum of people in this community, and those who meet her, cannot help but be struck by her infectious spirit and her genuine care for everyone around her.

She is a staple at the TUTS box office every year with her little dog Bridget by her side.

This year’s recipient of the Mary Phillips Award for Behind the Scene Achievement is Cheryl Hutcherson.

Do I remember doing this? No! Do I have any idea what I said while I was up at the podium? No! :)

Meanwhile... there's Bridget who also got a mention... and what was she doing on this glorious night? Well, take a look :)

Yes... well, ok, so she wasn't really paying attention to what I was telling her :)

Ok.... I'm stopping here because now my brain has turned to mush!! Which is not unusual when I finally realize I should have gone to bed an hour or so ago . I don't know how many of you are Twitter fiends... I have basically become obsessed with Tweeting away, as well as Facebooking. Of course, it is a double whammy when I'm using my Twitter app and I can Tweet and post to FB at the same time... I feel like an obsessed thrower of stones :) :) Anywho... if any of you do have Twitter accounts... look me up and follow me @ hiyacher (or http://www.twitter.com/hiyacher)

Ta ta for now!!

Cheryl

PS: Sheryl with an "S"! I saw your comment on the last blog entry.... yayayaya.... but I don't think I have a recent email address for you!! Do send it to me (hiyacher at gmail dot com or shaw dot ca) :)

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