• Nov142009

    POSTED AT 10:43 AM

    I'm home now recovering with the boys and the hubby!  It feels so much better just to get out of the hospital and be comfortable on my own couch and in my own bed!  I have a few doctors appointments next week to see how everything is progressing and to see if I can have my drainage tubes taken out.  Once I can move my arm more freely (from where they took out lymph nodes) I will be back to school.  I hope this won't be long after thanksgiving break, but it depends on what my doctors say! Thanks to everyone that have been sending me positive thoughts, I really appreciate it!
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    Nov042009

    POSTED AT 09:04 AM

    Chemo is over, Surgery is 11-12 so I will be out of school for probably about 4 weeks.  I'm not looking forward to surgery (nobody does) but it is one step closer to recovery.  I am glad that it is a month before Christmas to hopefully be recovered in time to enjoy the holiday with my family and my wieners!  After surgery I will go through radiation every day for 7 weeks then have a 3 month break then reconstruction.  This time line is going to allow me to coach the guys in the spring which I will be looking forward to all winter! Thanks again to everyone that has been reading this and supporting me through my story.
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    Sep242009

    POSTED AT 03:30 PM

    I can't express enough how great it has been being back to school.  My classes this year are fantastic and the students and staff have been so supportive.  I have one treatment left then a couple of checkups before I have the first surgery then radiation.  After my last treatment I will have about a month of freedom for my counts and my body to recover from the chemo.  I can't wait to feel "normal" again.  The students will be putting on a big art show the first week of November and I may be out right after that, but no date is set yet.
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    Sep132009

    POSTED AT 06:53 PM

     
     Here are some of the events that I have been entertaining myself with lately.  The above pics were taken 9-13-09 at an off road event where some of the mud pits were waist high!  It was the FJ Cruiser's first event since being lifted last spring and it did not disappoint!
    The bottom pics are of our RV witch is what we enjoyed this summer and plan on enjoying well into the fall.  The interior pic is looking outside over moose river in Old Forge. The Exterior pic is at Beldon Hill just outside of Binghamton.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
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    Sep072009

    POSTED AT 01:40 PM

    After receiving the second round of taxol, I am going to start school on time!  I will have 2 more taxol treatments during school then I will have about a month of freedom for my body to recover before I have surgery. I will have surgery and radiation but I am not sure in what order (my docs are discussing it).  Right now I am just glad that I can go back to school!
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    Aug222009

    POSTED AT 04:34 AM

    On Fri.  I had my first round of Taxol. I will have 3 more of these treatments every 2 weeks then I wait for recovery then surgery.  The nurse staff where I receive my infusions are so on top of things.  They knew that I was a little nervous because of the reactions that you can get while being infused but they were all great.  It is nerve racking to see the de-fib cart and your emergency crash pack right next to you for when you go into a shock.  I was one of the lucky ones that had no reaction this time, but I have watched others not as lucky get rushed to the hospital.  They will now keep checking my blood this week and see me next week to give me a gage on if I can start in the fall.  I am keeping my fingers crossed!
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    Aug142009

    POSTED AT 01:42 PM

    We are camping near the southern boarder of NY.  Enjoying our new RV and it's perks (A/C). On Thurs. I met Brent Aguilar (& his mom), Ulyana N.(not going to try and spell it wrong), and Courtney O'Neil (& her mom) for breakfast and then to present their painted ceiling tiles to the Medical Imaging Office.  That is in the Hem-Oc. building where I get my treatments.  This has been a tradition for 8 years. I will put up a picture once I figure out how to with the changes made to teacher web!  I will have pics on facebook soon!  Thanks to all of you that have "friended" me on facebook. It is a lot easier to keep in touch on there!
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    Aug092009

    POSTED AT 07:59 AM

    So, one of my nurses at Chemo (and Jessie) told me that I had to get updated and get onto facebook.  So, I'm on, but struggling......I don't know where my wall went, not sure how or where some of the messages go, but other than that I'm doing ok!  I did find some old friends from high school, even one that moved away our senior year!  If anyone is on, I will add you as my "Friend" if I can figure out how.
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    Aug062009

    POSTED AT 09:18 AM

    During one of my quarantined days I decided to submit my portfolio and resume to a call for entries for Utica's (The Stanley) 2010 show schedule. I just received word that I will have a Duo show with an artist named Peter Rashford during the month of May and June (in the Romano Gallery).  I don't have an opening date as of yet, but I really hope that it's not to deep into regents review.  When I had a duo show there about 4 years ago it made for a great field trip with lively critique.  It is nice to have another artist to compare and contrast against.  We made a day of it and did some sketching at the Utica Zoo.......all this talk of school trips........I am ready to go back now.
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    Aug042009

    POSTED AT 04:23 AM

    I know that many of you attended my recent show at the Art Association of Oswego and this was one of the works.  It's title at the time "Portals and Caves".......because that is how, consciously I thought that I was painting it, but it may be changed in the future.  One day before the opening is when I found the lump in my breast and armpit through self exam, and being a cancer survivor I knew it was something.   This painting (one day before the show) was not complete.  It was actually meant to hang vertically and only had the blue and green "slice".  I knew something was not right, so I turned the canvas and painted a horizontal marathon to what I thought at the time, was to follow the theme of the show of "What is Your Vestibule".  

    The hubby saw the image in the painting first, because he knows that I paint in the subconscious a lot.  He did not say anything the night of the opening for obvious reasons.
    If you look at the left side of the work there is a profile of a breast with smaller masses and one darker being encircled in bright orange. This painting had been on my easel for a month, without an idea to go further and I finished it that day in about 3 hours.  It just goes to show how passion and emotion (good or bad) can bring out energy and ideas in an artist (sometimes you won't even know where the ideas come from)!   Just thought that I would share that this morning as I have been up since 3am because of the steroids in the chemo! Good night everyone.........
     
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