Stable is the word of the day

Just as I had planned, my CT scan showed that my lung cancer has remained stable.  I never doubted it.  I've been having a lot of pain on my left side so I asked them to look closely for a broken rib or something that could be causing this pain.  It appears that the lining to my lung (the pleura) is being irritated by my lung cancer and there isn't much we can do about it.  I'm ok with that.  It's always the unknown that I don't like.

Chemo went well, I got a vitamin B-12 shot for more energy (I get one every 9 weeks with this type of chemo) and I'm just a little extra tired tonight but that's nothing unusual. 

3 more weeks until I need to go back to the doctor's office (unless the fever comes back).  I'm feeling positive about this kind of chemo.  Very few side effects and it's keeping everything stable, and making my brain tumors better.  Sounds like a winning combination to me.

Love you more,
Big Dreamer Dor

I'm Back

I know many of you liked the fact that I was on vacation because you saw a blog nearly every night.  Now that I'm back home, I'm trying to face reality head on.  We returned home on Thursday night around 11:00pm (just in time to get enough sleep for Relay for Life the next day).  Amy dropped me off at the house on Friday morning and I was wiped out.  Luckily, I regained my energy and was ready to participate in Relay once again. 

I walked a few laps then settled under our canopy and visited with friends and family the rest of the night.  I had a hard time being at the event without Rick.  We've been a team for so many years (not just at relay, but in life).  Although  he wasn't there in person, we all felt his presence.  It was another successful Relay and we were all glad to be a part of it.  Thanks again to all my teammates who raised money and awareness to this horrible disease. 

Let me tell you about the rest of our trip.  On Wednesday, we toured the city again with Amy' friend Jessi (they played college soccer together), shopped at Quincy Market and Fanuiel Hall,  then met up with Lauren Amundson for a wonderful lobster dinner at the oldest restaurant in America.  We had a blast.

Our flights were smooth, we met up with old friends and laughed a lot.  I'm so happy that Amy asked me to go along on this journey with her.  It's a trip we'll never forget.

Tomorrow I start back on my daily grind.  I have a CT scan of my lungs (and hopefully we'll find out what is hurting on my left side in my rib area).  Then on Tuesday, it's chemo again.  I look forward to feeling good this week so we can enjoy Memorial Weekend. 

After my appointment on Tuesday, I'll let you all know how my appointment went.  I believe that the cancer in my lungs is "stable" and you know how much I like that word :).

Stay healthy & happy and don't forget to DREAM BIG,
Dor

A Couple of Busy Days....

Yesterday morning started out early.  We rented a car and began our three and a half hour drive into New York City.  We enjoyed the scenery throughout Connecticut.  What a beautiful state.  When we arrived in New York we drove all over the place.  We knew that we would never find a place to park... and even if we did, I wouldn't be able to walk around very long with my limited lung capacity.  Amy drove like a New York taxi driver.  I was shocked to see her holding her own on the streets.  If you don't drive like a crazy person in New York City you will never make it anywhere.  She took us to Times Square, Ground Zero, Central Park,and many other fascinating places.  We made it to Yankee Stadium early and watched a great game. 

After a long day in New York yesterday, with my daughter Amy "the taxi driver", we didn't return to the hotel in Boston until 2:00 this morning.  For all of the fun we had yesterday, we sure have paid for it today.  We slept in and then got on the Beantown trolley this afternoon for a two hour tour of the city.  It is a two day pass so we are looking forward to actually getting off of the trolley tomorrow now that we know all about the city.  Amy's good friend Jessi flies into town from Virginia tomorrow morning.  She will spend the day with us and then fly out on Thursday morning.  We are both excited to see her.

We decided to call it an early night and lounge around the room to root for the Celtics.  We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow.  Goodnight...


P.S.  I am getting a lot of questions from friends and family about my lack of oxygen in most of the pictures.  I promise that I am wearing my oxygen all of the time... except for the few photos I am in.  Please don't worry about me.  I am being good.   :)
Dream Big-
Dor 

Crazy 8's...

Today was a blast. After sleeping a lot yesterday I woke up early and was showered and dressed before the alarm went off at 7:45. I think Amy was shocked when she sat up and saw me fully dressed (shoes and all) and ready to start our day.


Lauren picked us up around 9:30 outside of the hotel. After a quick stop at Starbucks we were on our way north for the day. We took the scenic route thru New Hampshire and then up into Maine. Our first stop was a little beach town we stumbled upon called Old Orchard Beach. The little boardwalk looked cute so we stopped to shop and walk on the beach. While walking around we found an arcade. The girls looked at me funny when I said we needed to go inside and play, but they followed me in anyway.

We played a few games but on our way out we saw the "Deal or No Deal" game. I wanted us to play together. The game showed all of the numbers on the screen and then it flipped them around and started to scramble them all over the screen at an uncontrollable pace. The goal was to follow the number that said "1000 tickets" on it. When the scrambling stopped Amy said "It's #8". Lauren and I both laughed because it seemed impossible to follow but we figured what the heck. We picked suitcase number 8 and then started to play. We were doing pretty well and it got down to 2 suitcases. We turned down the 510 arcade tickets that the banker was offering and took our chances with #8. We won. 1000 tickets started shooting out of the machine. We were high-fiving and laughing. It was so much fun.

We took our 1044 tickets over to the prize station and bought a whole baggy of "amusement quality" toys and games. We left with 9 rubber (livestrong like) bands that said DREAM on them (go figure)... a whoopee cushion.... some twizzlers... and three lollipops. We were like little kids. Our final stop on the way out of the arcade was the photo booth. We crammed into the booth, suckers in mouth and laughter on our faces.

When we left Old Orchard Beach we headed further north to Portland Maine. I wasn't that hungry but we stopped for lunch on a restaurant boat. It was the best clam chowder I have ever had. We decided to save the lobster for dinner some night when we were hungrier.

We headed back to Boston, taking a detour through the Cambridge area. After a few hour nap (and rooting for the Celtics on TV) we headed out for dinner at a great place called Finale.  It was wonderful and we are already talking about going back again.

It's time to crawl in bed and get some rest.  We have a big day in New York tomorrow rooting for the Red Sox... at Yankee Stadium.  Wish us luck.  :)

Sleep tight,

Dor

Cheers for Boston

Greetings from Boston.  After a few minor delays on our trip here, we finally arrived at our hotel around 1:00pm today.  Amy encouraged (required) me to take a nap since we didn't get much sleep on the flight here.  I slept for a few hours and then we went for a walk around the downtown area.  We didn't want to over-do it so we just walked thru Boston Common, which is beautiful, and then had an early dinner at the original "Cheers".  Although it wipes me out to walk around alot, we are taking things slow and pacing oursleves.  I must say, I'm not concerned about walking too much, but I AM worried that Amy won't want to get on the plane to go home.  I think she has officially fallen in love with Boston.

We called it a night by 7pm.  We are back in the room and I'm stuggling to stay awake.  We probably slept 5 hours last night (off and on) so I need to get some rest before a big day of traveling again tomorrow.  The plan is to head north along the coast, into Maine for a day of sight-seeing and lots of seafood.  I hear the lobster calling my name.  Our friend (Lauren Amundson) lives here in Boston and she has re-arranged her work schedule so that she can be our driver tomorrow.  We are both really excited to see her. 

Well, it's time for me to wrap this up so I can get some rest.

Goodnight my friends-

Dor & Amy

Off we go...

We are at the airport waiting for our flight. We got here way earlier than we needed to.... just in case. We didn't know how the oxygen issue would play out. So far, so good. It was pretty funny when we began to check in though because the lady said "I see here in the system that you have oxygen and a service animal". She caught us both off guard. We both chuckled until we realized that the computer really said that. We didn't want to end up in the strip search line so we politely corrected the lady and tried to bring as little attention to us as possible. Maybe I am considered mom's service animal.... hmm?

After we finally made it thru the gate, we had a nice dinner at Anthony's and then did a little shopping at the "Life is Good" store. I will attach a few photos soon.

Hopefully we sleep well on the flight and arrive in Boston refreshed and ready to go.

Enjoy your weekend and stay tuned for a daily blog update.

-Amy-

Lots of stuff happening around my house these days.  On Tuesday, I finally called the doctor about the pain in my side and the extreme coughing and he said..."get down here.  I need to see you"  After a chest x-ray and blood work, it was confirmed that I have pneumonia (again) and the probability of a few cracked ribs.  Whoop dee doo!  Just how I wanted to start my vacation with Amy.   But, after a few days of antibiotics I'm feeling much better.  I've been resting (doctor's orders) and packing (Amy's orders) to get ready for our amazing trip to Boston.


We are so excited to see some friends while back there.  After the plans were made, people starting writing to us to say they were living there now, or they would be there for work....It looks like we picked a great time to go.


Colonel Kelly has been keeping me in line to make sure I'm following doctor's orders.  I do everything she tells me to or else I get into trouble.  She had a field trip to go on with her son today, so Mom and Dad filled in for her.  Mom is helping me get ready for my journey.


I haven't been sleeping well lately....lots of dreams or nightmares about Rick.  Once I wake up,  it's hard to get back to sleep.  I  know this is a phase I need to go through to heal, but I'm just so lonely without him.     The kids do their best to keep my spirits up.  Mom always tells me to call her when I'm having a bad night but why wake her and have two crybabies up all night?


I'd better get going.  I have a nap to take and bags to pack.  Thank goodness Jake and Megan will be here to hold down the fort while I'm gone.


We promise to take lots of photos and tell you all about the adventures we went on.


Dreaming Big,
Dor

What a nice mother's day I had.  The kids and my parents came by around 2:00 and we had a yummy brunch.  My body didn't feel very well though so they all left fairly early so I could get some sleep.  I'm feeling much better today.

Yesterday, Morgan (my "other" daughter) got engaged.  Her ring is beautiful.  Congratulations Morgan and Corey.

I'm really getting excited for our journey to Boston.  We don't have very many things etched in stone but we are for sure going to a Yankee/Red Sox game as well as a Lobster meal in Maine.  There are so many sights to see back east that I'm sure we won't run out of things to do.

Amy promises we'll take the computer with us so we can keep up on blogging.  We'll try and send some photos too~

I'd better get going.  I need my beauty sleep as well so I might as well get started on that too!

Dreaming Big,
Doreen

Post Chemo Day

Yesterday was an uneventful chemo day, however today I'm a little more nauseous than usual.  I'm going to really lay low the next couple of weeks so I'm feeling well for my Boston getaway. 

Happy Anniversary today to my brother in law and sister in law, Jeff and Dawn....

I also want to wish you all a happy Cinco De Mayo.  Have an enchilada and margarita for me.  I don't think it would agree with me today so I'll take your word for it.

Mother's day is coming on Sunday so if you're lucky enough to still have your momma, don't forget to give her all the love you can muster up.  My mom is going to be covered with hugs and kisses.

Time to take a little nap and get rid of my nauseous stomach.  I just took another dose of anti nausea meds so hopefully they'll kick in soon.

Keep Dreaming Big,
Doreen

Time flies by....

I can hardly believe that it's been a month since Rick has been gone.  I swear it was just a day or 2 ago that we were in shock making arrangements wondering how we would be able to handle life without him.  We're still working on that, but we have each other and great friends and family surrounding us so we're managing as best we know how.

I've been extra emotional this week.  No particular reason, just a lot more tears have fallen down my cheeks than I'd like to admit. 

This weekend is going to be laid back since I've been doing lots of running around lately.  Next week is chemo so I want to be well rested for this round.  I've got an exciting trip coming up soon and I want to be feeling at the top of my game.

Don't forget...the Seattle Storm Women's Basketball team is getting ready for it's opening season.  Our little Shannon has been working hard to make this their most successful year yet. Shannon's job is in marketing and game management.  It's going to be a fun year for us watching her in action. 

I think I'm about ready for a little afternoon nap.

Keep dreaming big,
Doreen