Friday, August 29, 2008 - More Good News!

Hiya Bloggy!

It was a good, but tiring day today! Amazing how 2 appointments can pretty much take up the whole day!! :)

The first appointment was to go do the dentist. Ack!! ::hanging head in shame:: It's been about a year and a half since I was last there. I guess I don't really have a good excuse, other than I have been so pre-occupied with doctors' appointments, cancer treatments, surgeries, etc. that I haven't really given much thought to teeth maintenance even though we all know how important that is. Well, sure enough, a back molar that has a crown on it has been bothering me for a couple of weeks now, so I had to just bite the bullet and make an appointment. The gang was all happy to see me again, along with "tsk tsk tsks" and lectures on how why have I been ignoring my mouth care?? :) Turns out, that the crown/tooth that is bothering me is going to have to be extracted completely. I have another tooth on the right side that has chipped big time... like, half the tooth, so that one is going to need a crown. Then there are about 3 cavities that are going to need filled and a couple of old fillings that are going to need replacing. Gee, it really doesn't pay to leave this for any length of time!! But thank God for Dental Plans!! Phew!!

Hmmm... which dentist to choose?? They are all female, so this works for Pattycakes :) :)


Aha! Pattycakes getting to know Sandra and Dr. Shahabaldine before she allows any dental work to be done on her little bear mouth :)

Pattycakes and the Dental Hygienist... she's starting to like the attention!




This afternoon, I had an appointment with Dr. Sharleen Gill... my favourite oncologist! Ok, so she's my only oncologist, but she's still one of my most favourite people in the world :) It was sooo good to see her again, although I was a tad apprehensive on what the results from the Tumour Marker blood test (measurement of CEA in my blood) was going to be. Just as a refresher on CEA, for those who haven't read earlier reports in the blog...

What is CEA?

CEA stands for carcinoembryonic antigen. CEA is a type of protein molecule that can be found in many different cells of the body, but is typically associated with certain tumors and the developing fetus. The word "carcinoembryonic" reflects the fact that CEA is produced by some cancers ("carcino-") and by the developing fetus ("-embryonic").

How is CEA measured?

CEA is most frequently tested in blood. It can also be tested in body fluids and in biopsy tissue.

What is the normal range for CEA blood levels?

The normal range for CEA in an adult non-smoker is <2.5 ng/ml and for a smoker <5.0 ng/ml. (In Canada, Sharlene told me that anything <4.0 ng/ml is considered normal and they do not worry about it)

How is the CEA test used?

The best use of CEA is as a tumor marker, especially for cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. When the CEA level is abnormally high before surgery or other treatment, it is expected to fall to normal following successful surgery to remove all of the cancer. A rising CEA level indicates progression or recurrence of the cancer. In addition, levels >20 ng/ml before therapy are associated with cancer which has already spread (metastatic disease).

Ok... now for my CEA history....

While I was getting my chemotherapy from March 2007 - end of October 2007, here are my readings:

July 30/07.... 1.8
Aug 10/07..... 2.1
Aug 27/07..... 2.1
Oct 4/07...... 1.8
Oct 22/07..... 2.4

So, as you can see, after my major intestinal surgery to get rid of the Stage III tumour and the follow-up treatment of 8 months of chemo and 6 weeks of radiation, my CEA levels were really good. All were well under the <4.0 which is considered to be normal and no sign of cancer or recurring cancer.

Then, in December 2007 we had another Tumour Marker Test as part of the ongoing followup:

Dec 7/07...... 6.7

As Sharlene told me at the time, that could just be a fluke and for me to continue with my plans to go to Hawaii in January and we'd re-do the test when I got back. So I did go to Hawaii in January 2008. When I came back, we did the test again in early February:

Feb 04/08..... 18.0

Well, this was worrisome, so hence the reason Sharlene ordered a PET scan for me. Now, a PET scan is a very expensive scan but lucky for me, they have it under clinical trial at the BC Cancer Agency so although the cost of the scan is approx $7000/scan, I was not affected by the cost since it's covered by the Clinical Trial. In March, I had the PET scan plus another Tumour Marker blood test. The CEA level in March 2008 was:

Mar 14/08.... 30.0

So, the rest is history. The PET scan lit up in two areas... the right adrenal gland and a spot on the right lung. And the decision was to do surgery on both areas. As of right now, the adrenal surgery has been done and we are deciding on what is going to happen with the lung surgery.

Sooooo, last week when I had a CAT scan of the lung, I also had another Tumour Marker blood test done and are you ready? The results from last week's Tumour Marker test is:

Aug 21/08..... 1.5

The lowest it's been since this whole journey has started!!! Yippppeeee!!!!

Sharlene and Dr. Yee are in conference together and, as usual, I present quite the enigma to them, but then I have since Day 1 so why should now be any different? The lesion on the lung is so slow growing that it does not follow the pattern for a primary lung cancer or a metastacised colon cancer deposit in the lung. But, the big thing is that it DID light up the PET scan and what causes a PET scan to light up are rapid growing cells (cancer). Normal cells do not grow that fast, hence do not light up a PET scan.

Soooooo... Sharlene says that she would like me to have another PET scan and see if this enigma in my lung lights up the scan a second time. That will also help Dr. Yee decide what we should be doing. I beez an enigma!!! :D The PET scan will probably be within the next month, so it's possible that if we are having the surgery, that will be delayed until the PET scan happens. But all of this is very good news as far as I'm concerned!

Oh, and it keeps getting better! Over the summer, I have managed to lose 45 pounds!! Go figure??? I wasn't even trying, but there you have it!! Not that I know for sure, but my guess is that it's because of the adrenal gland. One of the hormones our adrenal glands produce is cortisone... and any excess cortisone produces fat, especially belly fat. So, when you take away one adrenal gland, the remaining adrenal will compensate and create the needed hormones on it's own. I'm thinking that my remaining adrenal gland is now creating just what my body needs and not any excess... hence, the weight is starting to come off!! Now, that's just my personal thoughts on this... time will tell. If I continue to drop weight without actually trying, then I think there is something to my guess :)

Last night, an old friend from the early theatre days was in town. Philip lives in Toronto now and has for at least 20 years (I'm sure someone will correct me and say it's been longer, even though we all are in denial that we are getting older ). Anywho, Ian and Teddy Forsyth had a few of us over to their place for a visit with Ian and his partner, Paul. We had a fabulous visit.. all of us!! (Thank you again, Ian and Teddy), so here are a few pictures from last night's visit...

This is a picture I took of the gang --- from left to right: Teddy, Kate, Paul and Phil (in the back), Joan, Ian and Peter with Lily in front.

This one Kate took with (from left to right): Peter, ME, Paul, Phil, Teddy, Joan, Ian with Lily in front. I don't know when I got so short... how did everyone get taller than moi? I swear I used to be one of the tallest of my friends!

Teddy Forsyth and Dogma!! Oh my! But Dogma can seriously give Bridget a run for her money in the "cute" department! We are going to have to get these two together and see who will end up winning. It was pouring last night and I knew I was going to have to tackle a kajillion stairs to get up to Ian and Teddy's place, so Bridget stayed at home... but one day!!! :D

MOI, Peter and Kate! Do we not all look happy and are aging soooo well??? :)

So that's about it, I think!! I hope I'm not missing out on anything more. It was one very happy day, but now I'm going to have a stay at home night and just unwind :) The sun DID come out this afternoon (yayayaya) but now, I see it is really windy out there! Well, that's a good thing...it may keep all the clouds away and we'll actually have a sunny, clear long weekend! Do ya think??? :)

Ciao for now!

Cheryl

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 -- Hope at the end of the tunnel?

Dear Bloggy,

I just had to come here and post an entry because today was the day I had my consultation appt. with Dr. John Yee, Thoracic and Lung Surgeon. I'm actually going to cheat here. I just finished sending an email to my family and rather than type it all over again, I'm just going to copy and paste the relevant information (which is long!) here. Hahaha... and you must excuse my rudimentary art work... I drew a diagram, freehand, which I scanned and am including at the bottom of my babble... and, well, let's just say if Picasso and Michaelangelo were alive today, they would not have to feel in any way threatened .

So, without further ado... here is the latest update:

I had my consultation appointment with Dr. John Yee this morning. Right off the top, I have to say... Dr. Yee and I clicked right from our only visit (last March) to this visit. He recognized me when he came into his receptionist's office and I was there talking to her and he gave me the warmest greeting. It's the weirdest thing, but it's almost as if we were friends and have known each other for years... that's how comfortable I am with him and he is with me.

Anywho... once he was finished with the patient before me, we went to one of the consultation rooms that has a computer. He pulled up my CAT scan that I had done on Thursday. Unfortunately (grrrrr) the CAT scan department has NOT sent him their report and analysis of the scan and it's that report that he needs to make any decisions. Although he could call up the scan, the software they have outside of the CAT scan department is not as detailed as the accurate software the CAT scan department has... hence, he needs their actual report.

But, he could show me that the lesion was still there, deep in the bottom lobe of my right lung. He then brought up my CAT scan image that was taken last March... and, by the naked eye, the lesion looked about the same size. He then used the "ruler" function in the software and measured the March lesion and measured the last week's lesion. He said he had done this three times and each time came up with a slightly different measurement, but suffice it to say, the lesion has grown 2-3 mm(s) in the last 5 months. He says that this is a very slow growing growth which leaves more questions than answers. So he told me the possibilities that this lesion could be:

1) a primary lung cancer, due to my 34 years of smoking in the past. But he doesn't believe that this is the case because if it were lung cancer, the lesion would have grown much faster and would be 2-3 times the size it is showing on the scan.

2) a spread from the colon cancer, which is what we are are sort of suspecting. The oddity here is that if/when colon cancer spreads, it usually spreads to the abdomen/liver before it gets up to the lung, but it is possible to be in the lung and not anywhere else so, who really knows until it's out and pathology has looked at it?

3) a benign growth

4) a fungal lung virus, which if there is anyway of telling, then it could be treated by drugs and we could bypass any surgery.

So, the question is... how can we find out what it is? We start with the CAT scan report (which he is still waiting for). With the more accurate measurements that the CAT scan department can do, they will be able to tell him if the lesion has grown more than he is seeing with his software, as well, will be able to tell him if there are other spots that have popped up. There is one other "cloudy" spot that wasn't there in March, but that could be scarring tissue and could have been there all along. Soooo, we wait for the report to come in which should be here in another couple of days.

IF, from the report he still doesn't know one way or the other whether this growth is cancerous, then he would like to suggest a needle biopsy, like I had done on the adrenal gland when we needed to know if the adrenal growth was cancerous or just a fluke that it lit up the PET scan. Now, the problem with the needle biopsy is that the lesion is actually very deep in the lung, so it's possible that doing a needle biopsy on that area will not be feasible or possible. And there's not a 100% guarantee the needle biopsy would tell us what we want to know. He says, if the results come back inconclusive, then we are back to square one. It may or may not be cancer.

IF, from the report he figures that all pointers lean towards it being cancer, then we would forgo the needle biopsy and go right in for the surgery to take it out.

What I love about Dr. Yee is he is willing to spend a lot of time with me, going over what he knows, what he would like to know and what we will do to find out as much as we can before going in and doing the surgery. The end result being... we could do the surgery and when the lesion is sent to pathology, we may find that it was not cancer so the surgery was done when it didn't need to be... or we may find that it is cancer, in which case, thank goodness we did the surgery. Right now, there are a lot of unknowns, mainly because the lesion has grown, but not as quickly as he would have expected it to.

Ok... onto the surgery if we have to do it. I have included a very rudimentary drawing (hey, I am many things, but I can't claim to be an artist by any stretch of the imagination!) to help explain what the procedure will be. As you can see, both lungs basically consist of 3 lobes. Another analogy would be the lungs have three branches with a leaf (lobe) at the end of each branch.

I have marked in the bottom right lobe (Lobe 3) approx. where the lesion can be found. Dr. Yee would start the surgery, sort of like Laprascopic surgery, with incisions where one incision is used for a camera. Alas, the lesion is deep in the 3rd lobe, so the camera is not about to pick up anything on the outside of the 3rd lobe. So, prior to surgery, I would be taken to the CAT scan department and a tiny dot of plutanium (?) would be inserted into the lesion. I would then be wheeled to Surgery where Dr. Yee and team would be waiting for me and I would be put under anesthetic. The camera would be inserted into a small incision and now the camera will be able to pick up the plutanium dot and know exactly where the lesion was deep in the lung.

Notice on my drawing, the dotted lines? That would be the smaller area of Lobe 3 that they would take out... that includes the lesion. While I'm still on the table and under anesthetic, they would have removed the lesion and surrounding tissue (the dotted line area) and would send it down to pathology who would analyze it right then and there while I'm still on the operating table. IF the results proved that the lesion was benign, then that is it, they would sew me up and then it's a matter of recovering from the surgery with a big chunk of Lobe #3 having been removed.

IF the results prove that it in fact is cancer, whether it is colon cancer because it had spread or a primary lung cancer, I would then be opened up further and they would remove all of Lobe 3 from the right lung. The reason? Notice in the diagram I have 3 arrows pointing from the lesion passed the dotted line. If this is cancer, then it would start spreading from the lesion in that direction (not upwards or downwards). So they would have to remove the complete Lobe 3. That decision can't be made until they know what they are dealing with... which would be after the results came back from pathology.

Of course, if the CAT scan report comes back indicating that this lesion is cancerous, then we would be bypassing the needle-biopsy and the surgery to remove part of the lobe and go directly into removing Lobe 3.

So, it's not as cut and dry as say, tonsils. They are inflamed, out they come... no decisions need to be made. This has a lot more variables. After Dr. Yee finished explaining all of this to me, I told him that if we exhaust every possibility we can of finding out whether this lesion is cancer or not and we still come up with inconclusive results, then I would rather we went through with the surgery, rather than not do anything and just hope that it is benign.

Having said that, there is no immediate hurry to get into surgery. We have time to do some testings and hopefully find out what we are dealing with. It still looks like we may be looking at October for any surgery. The one glitch, Dr. Yee is off to Bangladesh for 2 weeks in October. Every year, he goes where the need is and volunteers his services as an expert in Thoracic Surgery (which makes me respect him even more! A man after my own heart when it comes to volunteering one's expertise, no matter what that is). He said that if he was gone that he would definitely get one of his colleagues to do my surgery if need be. I asked him if I waited until he came back, would I be putting my health at even the remotest risk? He said that no, there would be no risk and he would only be gone 2 weeks. I told him then the decision is a no brainer for me... I want HIM to do the surgery, even though I'm sure his colleagues are fabulous too... I just happen to know I have the best and would like to keep it that way :)

Sooooo.... ends my very long babble on this appointment I had with Dr. Yee. I am soooo excited that I have such a wonderful surgeon, and someone I feel totally comfortable communicating with. His explanations made perfect sense to me. I am not going to get my hopes up too high, but could you imagine if it turns out that this lesion is benign?? Even if we go through with the surgery... it would mean the cancer is in check as we speak!!!



Sooooo, even if the surgery is a go, keep sending those wonderful, positive thoughts!! Heck, if this IS benign and we have the surgery because we don't know for sure, well , all the more reason to have one big old party afterwards!!! That is still in the planning stages so get out those party frocks!!! :D

Huggggggs,

Cheryl

Friday, August 22, 2008 - Another Weekend???

Hiya Bloggy!

Well, the creators of Blogspot have made some new features and changed the look of the behind the scenes of Bloggy... and so far, I think I like it. Interestingly enough, when I come over here it tells me when I last updated Bloggy! Yikes!! Where has the time gone??? Last update was Aug 10th??? HELLO?? That was 12 days ago!! I swear it was only a couple of days ago that I last babbled here in bloggy-land!

Hehe... what I was going to do is come over here and put a little one-paragraph post to say that I hadn't forgotten Bloggy and that I would try to get back in tomorrow and put in a proper post. Ha!! Since when can I just do a small, one-paragraph post?? Has anyone ever known me to do just a one paragraph babble in email? Or in real life?? Nooooo... I'm a babbler, so I may as well babble here and then go to bed. After all, it appears to be a night of insomnia, so I may as well get something accomplished in case I end up actually sleeping in this morning ;)

So, how many of you are watching the Olympics?? You can post in the Comments section below this post! Anyone who knows me knows I have no patience for Sports, in particular, Professional Sports. I just think the professional athletes are paid way too much and once they become professional, they've lost that competitive edge. But what really makes me mad, and I can't talk for all countries, but will speak of Canada, we as a country do NOT support our athletes who are training to try and be the next Olympian... yet we expect them to all bring back medals. This just does not compute for me... how can we expect them to be the best in their sport when a lot of them have to leave Canada (on their own dime) to go train in other countries because we won't spend the bucks to be proud of them and train them at home?? There is all this debate as to whether the government should spend the money on amateur sports (my thoughts are YES they should), but ok, if the government were to only pay for part of the cost, where are all these professional athletes with multi-million dollar contracts. Why aren't they supporting and financing the next generation of athletes coming up? Oh, I could go on and on on this topic, but I think you get my drift. If we aren't going to support them, then we have to suck it up and realize that Canada will never be a country with a lot of medals... and bravo to those that do win without our support!

But, back to Cheryl's life, since this is what Bloggy is all about... remember, it's all about ME! :)

Today was an interesting day... kind of a back to reality sort of day. I had to be at VGH Hospital at 11am for the Chest CAT scan. I must admit, I did cause a little drama for the staff at the Hospital. Even though 11am is not considered "early", it is still morning... and my legs/feet don't work that well in the morning. Well, I got there on time and all and when I came out of the changing room, that's when the excitement began. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but my left foot was still numb with the neuropathy and my left leg just kind of buckled. I could feel myself starting to topple over, so I reached out for the wall to try and break the fall, but no such luck. It all happened so quickly and I fell, bashing my head against the wall, twice on the way down. It was the sound of the bashing on the wall that alerted the staff... within a second I had 6 doctors and nurses surrounding me

I have to admit, I was a bit stunned and found myself on my back and have no idea how I got down there so quickly. Of course, they were concerned about the head, but I was quickly back to myself, told them that I was alright and that "I just did it to get attention and it seems to have worked". :)

Right now, I couldn't tell you what is more tender... my head or my legs. Neither liked falling and I just know I'm going to pay for this today or Saturday!

But, I did get the CAT scan done and I'll be meeting up with the oncologist on Tuesday, I believe the appt. is in the morning (oh geez, here we go again with a morning appt.). I also had blood work taken today and that is for the Tumour Marker test.. the one that measures the levels of CEA in my blood. This is just a tool but it's the one now that makes me nervous. It was back in Feb when the CEA was elevated so this is why Sharlene ordered a PET scan for me... and it was that PET scan that found the adrenal gland and spot on the lung light up. Well, the adrenal gland has been taken out, so logically speaking, the CEA level should now be down. I will be seeing Sharlene a week today, and she will have the results from that test and I sure hope it shows the levels are down.

Soooo, once again, I need all your positive thoughts to be focusing on the Tumour Marker test... that the CEA levels are low to 0.

There is so much to talk about, but once again, this entry is getting long!! For instance, we closed the TUTS season and two shows last weekend. It was with relief and sadness... relief because I was starting to get tired so a good break and rest was needed, but sad because I have soooo much fun and support with this group. Of course, I'm not really, really sad because I get to still volunteer down at the office during the Fall/Winter/Spring with James and Jill. James is the General Manager and Jill is the Operations Manager and I am, well, Administration... so the three of us hang out in the office, closing off everything to do with this season and starting up the new season. Here is a picture of my two buddies, James and Jill:

I took this last Saturday on closing night, but for the life of me, I don't remember where we were or when it was taken!

Hmmm... perhaps it was at the closing night party? Because there is this picture that I took that I think is just fantastic!! All the directors, choreographers, music directors, etc. were standing up behind this mike because they were presenting the annual awards. Well, these went on for awhile and poor Gillian, the Director of Jesus Christ Superstar, was obviously suffering from standing on her feet in heels. So I don't think anyone else noticed, but I saw her slip out of her shoes to relieve her poor feet. I had to use the zoom, and then I added a few special effects... but I think this picture came out fabulous...



Hehe... for those of you who are on Facebook, I have my little bear, Pattycakes, who is starting her own adventures. Another friend of mine, Kevin Michael Cripps, has a little bear, Igor, who has been on many an adventure. Igor has gone to New York and London this summer and has the pictures to prove it. Pattycakes is not so world-travelled so she is quite intrigued with Igor. I can see something brewing here if these two ever meet up, which I know they will. Anywho, as soon as I have some free time, I will be setting up an album on Facebook for Pattycakes and her photo adventures. I won't put them all here, but here are a couple of Pattycake photos...

Bridget and Pattycakes on security duty down at the theatre.

Very sweet! Pattycakes putting Bridget to bed. The two of them really do get along quite well together.

Oh dear! Pattycakes at a bar and getting quite annoyed that no one has come to take her drink order yet!!

So, as you can see, Pattycakes does get around and I am putting together her own album of photos which will be posted on Facebook :)

Ok, I'm sure there are other things to report... like I now have my fantastic, fabulous, wonderful, perfect iPhone!!! It's everything the hype has said it would be and I find myself using if for a lot more than I ever thought I would use it. I just love it!! Hahaha.. if I weren't so tired now, I would take a picture of it and upload it to this entry, but this will have to wait until another entry! I am going to head to bed because my eyes are finally getting sleepy!!

Sooooo, until the next time, adios!!! And keep sending those positive, healing thoughts... we are going back into healing mode and preparation mode for the next battle.. the lung surgery!!

Ciao!

Cheryl

Sunday, Aug 10, 2008 - Busy Week

Hiya Bloggy,

So, "busy week" is a bit of an understatement if I do say so myself! Not only have I just finished a busy week, but I'm about to go into a really busy week, what with it being the final week of TUTS. And let's just hope the weather gods are going to be in our favour for this last week.

Last night was not really a pretty sight as those deep, dark, gray clouds hung around all day, and then the rains came. The rains did stop around 6pm so we thought we were going to be lucky, but sure enough, they had to start up again around intermission. They then stopped again but started up in earnest just before the show came down. But hey, you can't say we aren't prepared! This IS Vancouver after all and when it looks like we may be hit with some rain, we prepare our outdoor audience with... rain ponchos!!! :D

Hehe... don't they look cute?? It's actually a rather ingenius idea. A local insurance company pays for them, in return, they get to put their advertising on the back and we have the Theatre Under The Stars logo on the front. Meanwhile, if it IS a performance in the rain, people stay dry.

But even so, there are some people that just amaze me with their selfishness. When they purchase tickets, they know up front that once the ticket is purchased it is only good for that performance. There are no refunds or exchanges because the weather is not something we have control over and this IS an outdoor theatre where the audience is under the open skies. That is what makes seeing "theatre under the stars" such a unique experience. When people buy their tickets, and they purchase them during good weather, they have no qualms about the rain policy... but heaven forbid should they buy them early to get good seats and then that night it turns out to be a wet night. The names they call us and the attitude they have on the phone when they call to ask if the show is going to be cancelled because of the weather and we say no... the show will go on!

We have had everything from "You are only in the business to rip off your audiences!" to "How do you expect me to bring my 78 yr. old mother to watch theatre in the rain???" Uh... we don't expect you to do anything... we didn't twist your arms to buy tickets, this was your choice. We didn't tell you you can't bring 78 year old mothers to an outdoor theatre, it was you that chose who you were going to bring. So where is it our fault that your mother can't attend when we have always been up front and said the show goes on rain or shine and the only reason we would ever cancel would be if there were an electrical storm (hence the crew who are in the follow spot towers might be in danger) or high winds (where any number of people might be in danger from falling trees)? I don't understand where these folk get off thinking WE are in the wrong. It's as if they want to have the right to get their seats early so they can pick the best seats, but if the weather is not suitable for them, they should have the right to change their seats to a night that is more suitable for them... and who cares about the company that is putting on the show and trying to survive so that we can put on two shows again next year.

Fortunately, there are more people who are good natured and they make it all worth while! They will call up to see if the show is still going on and when we say yes, they are grateful! "Thank you!! We were hoping a little rain wasn't going to cancel the show!" Last night close to 500 people came to see the show on a night where it looked like we weren't going to get away with no rain... 500 people who were willing to chance it. So why would we cancel a show for the handful that are nasty about our decision and ruin the evening of 500 who planned to come and enjoyed themselves (by the way... the audience last night gave the cast a standing ovation and you know, besides the fact it was a good show, they were appreciating the fact the cast would go ahead, rain or shine!).

Hehehe... here we were last night... Jo and I in the box office, and Naveen who was out greeting the public and answering any questions they might have. Don't we look trendy in our rain gear??

LOL! This is Erin Hall, our Venue Manager, getting ready with making sure we have enough rain ponchos to be handed out as the audience arrives :)

Here's the little Diva Bridget with one of the Park Rangers... who is not too hard on the eyes. I don't know how Bridget does it but she seems to win over everyone, and it's not as if she is smiling at any of them ;) The Park Ranger stops in to make sure all is ok, that we aren't having any problems and if there's anything he can do for us... very nice guy!

I rather like this picture and hope it's not too dark on some of your monitors. This was taken the other day at the theatre and it could almost look like it was taken in Hawaii. I have no idea where I got the tan from because I have not had time to sit in the sun! I have been down at the theatre pretty much every day and when I'm there, I'm behind the box office counter, selling tickets and answering general questions about the Park to the tourists. The only time I'm getting any sun will be on the 5 min. drive to the park when I have my sunroof open or if I take Bridget for a quick little walk to do her business, but usually, one of the volunteers always offers to take her for a walk, so I don't even do that that often. But ever since I've had problems with the adrenal gland (and now it's been removed), it seems my skin tans way quicker than it used to and it doesn't burn. Go figure?

Ok... I don't think I managed to mention that last weekend was so busy because not only did we have the shows every night, last weekend was a long weekend (BC Day) and it was also Pride weekend. The Saturday night was the last night of the fireworks, so here are a couple of fireworks pictures that I took while we were up on the roof deck of our building ...









Fireworks are always fun... but alas, the one drawback is that if you live across the street from where they are happening, you really do have to have your car home early and parked. Otherwise, you'll never get it home until well after 11pm those nights!!

Being that it was also Pride weekend, it is one of the most festive weekends of the year in my neighbourhood! Everyone is into Pride weekend and just out to have fun! It's so neat to see everyone laughing and having a good time and everyone is friendly to everyone else! It's too bad this can't happen year round... maybe one day we will get there!

Here are a couple of pictures of the fun... TUTS had an entry in the Pride Parade and the kids from both shows had soooo much fun!! Hopefully NEXT year my feet and legs will be better so I can go in it with them... hahaha, not to dance and sing, but to dress up and hand out 1/2 price coupons to both shows and just be with the gang :)

Hahaha... this was so much fun!! Talk about good timing! They weren't even part of the parade, this was just a promotion for women's razors , but they happened to be doing their thing passing them out during Pride weekend ;)

Awwww... here's our TUTS parade entry!! Aren't the horses so darn cute! Those big old Clydesdales!! This was great fun because both casts were involved... and they sang and danced along the whole parade route :)

Here's some of the Annie Get Your Gun cast dancing/singing behind the horse drawn carriage :)

This is some of the Jesus Christ Superstar cast riding on the carriage while the Annie cast were doing their number :)

Sooooo that's pretty much it for this week's report. I'm feeling great although am still having complaints about my legs and feet. The pain is really annoying because it means I can't walk far and some days, just walking is so uncomfortable. Dr. Fay (GP) has taken me off the narcotic meds (oxycodone) because they just weren't doing anything for the pain and there's no point being on them if they aren't working because they are/can be highly addictive. He has put me on a new non-narcotic prescription (tridurnal) which sort of works. It worked to the point where I don't have to rely on my cane to walk... but it hasn't gotten rid of the pain. Mornings are the absolute worse... and the nerve damage in my feet from the chemo seems to have gotten WORSE not better, which is really strange. So, I guess we will continue to work on that and see if there is some combination of meds we can use to help.

Now, I'm not sure if in the last blog entry I mentioned that I do have a chest CAT scan appt. for Aug 21st and then a consultation appointment with the lung surgeon, Dr. Yee, on Aug 28th. I don't have a date for the surgery yet, but I guess we will find out around Aug 28th when that will happen.

Sooooo... don't be surprised if I don't get another entry done before sometime after the weekend. The shows close this coming weekend so I'll be down at the park every day this week. Then, two friends, Janet and Tracy are doing a one night show a week tomorrow, and I said I'd help them with it.... so after Aug 19th, I will be taking a couple of days off to do absolutely nothing before getting involved in another show :) :) Besides, I have a lot of dinners and lunches to catch up with friends who I said I would get together with after TUTS was finished :)

Ta ta for now!

Cheryl

Friday, August 1st - General Catch up and Miscellaneous

Hiya rain-soaked Bloggy!

Ok... once again, I'm trying to do up a blog entry and once again, I'm fighting against the clock... with yet another busy weekend ahead. Hahaha... as you can see, I just don't have time to be sick or feel sorry for myself because I don't have the time to fit that into my schedule ;)

Now, I KNOW I haven't done a blog entry in forever... not one with a lot of information so I'm not really sure where I left off and I forgot to skim over the last couple of entries before I started this one. So, I guess we'll just have to do a little summary.

- June 30th was the date of the surgery to remove the adrenal gland that had the malignant tumour. At that time, we knew the tumour was malignant because it lit up big time on the PET scan, but it was an enigma because they couldn't figure out WHY why it was malignant. If colon cancer is going to spread, the two common areas for it to spread to are the liver and the lung. It would be considered very rare for it to spread to the adrenal gland. On the other hand, I have had this growth/tumour on the gland for at least 7 years that we are aware of, probably longer. So if it was adrenal cancer, which is a very rare but very aggressive cancer, then I probably wouldn't be around now and it would have got me some years ago. So what the heck was going on?

Well, the pathology report came back and sure enough, the cancer was a "colon cancer metastic deposit". In other words, the colon cancer had actually somehow spread to the adrenal gland. I don't think they will know "when" it happened... had it been there all along and the colon cancer actually started spreading some years ago, or was this a recent spread, that happened before or after the chemo? The good news, Dr. Meneghetti successfully excised the tumour and right adrenal gland, so I think the above becomes a moot point.

- Next on the agenda is the lung surgery. They are giving me some time to regain my strength and recover from the June 30 surgery before we do the lung surgery. I have an Aug 21st appt. for a chest CAT scan. Then I will be meeting with Dr. Yee and he will go over the scan with me. We will know if the 1/2" lesion/tumour has grown or not and he will also explain the surgery. You can be rest assured I will be telling him about the bad experience I had during this last surgery where no one believed me when I said how intense the pain was and I want him to be aware that I normally can take a lot of pain before he would ever hear from me... but if I say I'm in pain, to realize that if I feel it I am in intense pain. I expect this second surgery to go much better because I now know what I need to communicate BEFORE the surgery.

I don't have a date for this surgery and won't have until after I see Dr. Yee. But from what I gather, they will probably schedule me for sometime at the end of Sept/beginning of Oct... after he thinks I've regained the necessary strength back.

- Arthritis/nerve damage. Yes, these two things are acting up big time! Arthritis can be a nasty thing at the best of times but I'm thinking that after all I've been through what with the chemo, radiation, and surgery... it's all aggravated it. The nerve damage is the damage that was done by the chemo to the nerves in my feet and shins. So this has been a real hindrance to walking from Point A to Point B.

- Pain Management. Ahhh... well, this is an interesting thing. I have been on numerous pain meds and as time has gone on, they just don't seem to be working all that well. So this week, my doctor has taken me off the narcotic pain meds (Oxycodone and Hydromorphine). Since they are not working, he's suspicious that they are causing "reflective pain", something that narcotic pain meds are known to do if you are on them for too long. The pain they are suppose to be controlling ends up being more intense. Instead of taking these narcotic meds, he has put me on "Tridural" (sp?) which is a new med that is not a narcotic and I'm only to take it once/day in the morning. I've only been on it for 3 days and so far, I think it might have promise. Yesterday, when I was at the theatre, I could actually walk around WITHOUT my cane... and when I was standing up selling tickets for the two hours before show time, I could do it without being in agony. I was tired by the end, and cold (it was freezing out yesterday), but I was pleased with the pain level for the day.

Ok, blah, blah, blah.... the above long saga is a catch up with the medical stuff. From now until the next surgery, I want to try and live my life as normal as possible. When we get into "medical mode", it can get downright scary when the reality hits as to why I'm surrounded by so many doctors and specialists. We are still fighting the battle for my life because this is a particularly nasty kind of cancer and the fact that we now know that it DID spread to the adrenal gland and we are 80% sure that we'll find the lung tumour is also a colon cancer deposit, then it is not a good thing that the cancer has spread. But damn it, this is ME we are talking about... and I have way too many things I still want to be involved with and way too many people I still want to play with... so the battle continues and I will beat it! I KNOW it is serious, but I also know that one hast to live their life and not have the monster control me and what I do.

Sooooo... somewhere around here I have some pictures that have been taken over the last couple of weeks and they will just give you an idea of what I've been up to (in no particular order)...

My pseudo-nephew and his gal, Helen, got married last weekend! So this is a picture of the wedding party, including Pat and Jerry, Jeff's mom and dad. Pat, Jerry and Dad all live together. Now isn't this a lovely picture of a lovely wedding party?

Awwww... here is Lady Bridget and Roger!! Roger is a long-term member of TUTS and has been around ever since I started in theatre. Bridget, of course, is the star Box Office dog :)

Now this is hilarious!! This is Ron, my landlord. I needed a new toilet seat so he was putting it on. Meanwhile, two neighbour pals (Mimi, Toby) and I were talking and we had the apartment door open... so Paloma, Toby's bird, opened her door and came over to see what was going on. She was particularly interested in Ron and what he was doing :)

Ok you have all seen some of my pictures of where I spend time in the park with the theatre. I have probably got a few pictures taken from this very same spot, during the year, but this was taken the other day and I think is a good example of showing why I love putting time in here at the TUTS office and this outdoor theatre. It is just so darn peaceful, beautiful and well-maintained. In other pictures, there have been bare trees, etc... but this is it in the height of summer.

Now, it's kind of hard to see since the trees are full, but if you look through the trees, this is the box office for TUTS... and you can barely see the green front of the theatre.

Ok, I just know there must be more pictures around here on my computer, but I'm afraid this entry is plenty long enough for now. This weekend we have the last night of Fireworks on Saturday. This year, the three countries competing in the HSBC Celebration of Light competition were Canada, USA, and China. My personal opinion is that China will win hands down, but we will find out tomorrow night. The neighbourhood will be shut down again to traffic, so I will be staying home and not going to the theatre... which is probably a good thing because it does give me a rest day. Sunday is Gay Pride here in the 'hood, so once again the neighbourhood will be shut down to traffic for the big parade.

Then it will be back to the theatre for the final two weeks. Hahaha... I know I owe practically everyone email!! Trust me, I have read all incoming emails. I have deleted those that don't need answering and have kept those that I really do want to answer in my inbox. But alas... I was just in there and realize I have 650 emails that I would LIKE to respond to now... and let's face it, that's just not going to happen! Soooo... for those who may be reading the blog and wondering why you haven't heard from me.. don't give up. I may not be able to respond to a previous email, but I will be in touch. According to the weather peeps, it looks like we are going to be in for another stretch of good weather, which will be fabulous for both TUTS shows. We still have 2 weeks left of both runs. Once the TUTS is over and then I have two weeks to create the Sept 1 Metro Theatre Community Theatre newsletter.. well, then I'll have some down time to hang around, catch up on email and home stuff and relax before the next surgery.

Soooooo... I will be in touch with everyone soon!! I just can't say when yet :)

Huggggggs,

Cheryl

Thurs, July 24, 2009 - Will add a real entry soon!

Hiya Bloggy,

And a big hi to everyone out there in cyberland!! I know, I know... I'm long overdue for a blog entry... and more than a couple of you have been sending emails wondering WHEN am I going to update the blog??? My bad!! Do you have any idea how often I've been meaning to come here and put in an entry to let you all know how I'm doing?? But for whatever reason, I haven't been at home, or I have and have been so exhausted that I've ended up sleeping almost around the clock... then next thing I figure I have days and days worth of entries to catch up on... and voila, here we are with still not an entry and people wondering what's happened to me.

Well, I can honestly report, I'm still here in the land of the living. Yes, I'm still recovering from the surgery, but for the most part, that is coming along nicely... just taking a lot longer than I thought... but then, duh!, I just found out this week that the surgery was considered a "major operation" and here I thought it was just a little old snip and tuck kind of surgery. So it's no wonder that it's taking longer for a complete recovery than I had planned on.

Anywho... I promise that in the next couple of days I will do a proper blog update, complete with some pictures. The next couple of days are going to be insane... what with the TUTS shows, a wedding on Saturday, not being able to come home Saturday night because of the Fireworks competition (yes, for the first time in all these years, the USA will be competing this year and their night is Saturday), a baby shower on Sunday, and then back to the theatre on Monday. Somewhere in there, I'm also suppose to be resting. Ha!!

Sooooo, if I can't do up a blog entry tomorrow (Fri), then don't be too concerned if the next one isn't early next week after all this crazy weekend activity.

Likewise, for those of you who have sent email asking if I'm ok... if I haven't answered your email, please have patience with me... I WILL get to the mail and updating the blog soon :)

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

Cheryl

Saturday, July 12th, 2008 - Quickie Update

Hiya Bloggy,

I beez bad! I realized (as well, it was brought to my attention) that I hadn't updated the blog for a few days... which is my bad since so many of you have said how you keep regular contact with the blog to see how I'm doing... and if I haven't updated it, then one doesn't know whether to worry or to assume that things are going great and I'm too busy to do any updates :)

Well, I'm happy to report that no one has to worry... I'm doing quite fine. I still have pain, but no where near what I was going through the first 10 days after the surgery. The pain I have now is pain that I had assumed I would have about 3-4 days after the surgery... not 12 days after the surgery!! But, as my friend Roger explained... when doing any surgical work around the kidney area, this is grounds for a lot of pain. So why didn't my surgeon explain this to me so that I could have been better prepared for what I went through??? And why the attitude that I shouldn't be in the kind of pain I was in, when it was obvious that this would not be unusual??

Anywho... on Friday night, I had my friend Greg pick me up and take me down to TUTS and I watched the show Jesus Christ Superstar. It was thoroughly enjoyable, even though it isn't one of my favourite shows, per se. On opening night, apparently they had quite a few technical difficulties, especially with the sound, but on Friday night, I didn't notice any of that so the show went very smoothly and was enjoyable to watch.

Hahahaha... there was a price to pay for me being out in the fresh air until so late Friday night. I pretty much slept ALL day today. I got up around 4pm... just in time to throw some clothes on and Greg was back to pick me up to go watch Annie Get Your Gun tonight.

I was really bummed out that I had to miss both Opening Nights since I just was in too much pain and not feeling up to being able to go. So it was a real treat for me to go Friday night to see JCS and tonight to see AGYG. Annie blew me away with just how pretty this show is... and obviously I am not the only one to agree... check out th review by copy and pasting this link into your browser:

http://snipr.com/2wx9w

If I wasn't so tired right now, I would code the above link so that all you have to do is click on it, but it is going on 2am and I really must go to bed. I already know I'm going to be paying for being out so late tonight, and being out in the fresh air all evening. Chances are I am going to have to sleep most of the day away tomorrow!

But being down at the Park with all my friends definitely has been the best dose of medicine since I've had the surgery done!! THIS is what my life is all about and being down with my friends actually helped me forget about the pain for awhile... well, if not able to forget about it, it was easier to cope with it. My dear friend Greg drove me to the Park both nights and my dear friend Shelley (who choreographed Annie Get Your Gun and who's husband, Stefan, is in Jesus Christ Superstar) drove me home both nights. I'm not quite up to driving anywhere yet ;)

Ok... a wonderful evening for sure!! And Toby, who had Bridget out this afternoon on their 2 hour hike, brought her down to the park. Bridget, of course, was right at home since being the Box Office dog mascot is her old stomping grounds... but when she saw me in the Garden Cafe outdoor concession area, she dragged Toby to me, whining and barking in excitement ... "That's my mom!!" It was sooo cute!! Of course, as soon as she got to me and smothered me in kisses, she insisted on my buying a cheeseburger so she could help share it with me :)

Toby and Bridget stayed for a short visit and rest stop, then they walked back home and Toby fed her her dinner which I had prepared for her and kept in the fridge. All is well and everyone is getting looked after :)

Ciao for now!

Cheryl