It's a MAC Thing!!!

OK VP's...we've all been talking about the magic of the MAC...well that applies to its other products as well....like the iPhone. Doc Vic has one of those tricky devices and also has some fun applications...games...that you can play while you waste all that free time you have gained because you transitioned to an efficient MAC computer!!! Yes! That thread is still going! Well she has a slot machine application on the phone and Brenda has been playing it as the chemo has been dripping away...anything to break up the boredom. Now our Vic also brought her new FLIP video camera to Houston and we shot this little chip of Brenda with the slot phone...check it out.

LOVE THOSE MACS!!!!

Nurse (MAC addict) Dee

 

Stage 1 is DONE!!!

Hi VP's...Our wonderful fill-in...Doc Vic...has gone back to her daily grind, her cool little dog Andi, and her poor partner with the broken, throbbing arm. Thanks Cal for letting her come take care of Brenda, and of course, thanks Vic for being such a dear friend. It was perfect timing for all those doctor appointments to be able to translate their medical "bullets." When I'm here at those appointments I just sit there with a glazed over look in my eyes saying "What did he say? And what on earth does that mean?" All you non-med folks out there in VP-land know exactly what I'm talking about. GEEZS!

So last night Brenda finished the final round of chemo in this "stage" of her CURE. She came up with this fantastic plan to break all these treatments into "STAGES" so she could feel like something was completed and the path didn't look so never ending. YEA! We've actually finished something!!! We'll know more in the days ahead, but we're thinking that the next stage will be the surgery, then chemo/radiation combo, and then the final stage (we hope) will be "GOING HOME!!!! Now all this is subject to change but we're no stranger to that situation.

I thought I'd include some pics in this post so you could see our gal. She looks a tad puffy in the face in last few nights pics because she's full of fluids and they give her a bag of steroids on the first night which puffs ya up. I also wanted you to see how much she enjoys the blog...so if you want her to keep that infectious laugh going...look at that picture...keep blogging.

So folks...time to get the laundry and the apartment cleaning done, and then try and figure out what on earth Brenda can eat today. She's really got that overwhelming metal taste in her mouth again...NASTY.

Keep smilin and be thankful for all the great things you have in your lives. Thanks for helping us so much...you'll just never know how much your contact means to both Brenda and I.

Nurse (Back in Action) Dee

Some VP's Visit Taliesin, Wisconsin

Hi from Taliesin,

A loud shout out to all of you converted Mac users...yahoo!! This is a MacBook Air that travels with me and is about to reveal a photo of our fab five who took an auto adventure to Taliesin, Wisconsin to see Frank Lloyd Wright's former home and studio. If you're a reader, a must pick is Loving Frank, the story of Frank's love affair with Mamah Cheny. This home, Taliesin, was built for them to share, although there's a sad ending. Okay, on behalf of our beloved Brenda, we're showing our strong support while inside the gift shop by selecting our favorite Taliesin tie. It comes with our love and healing karma.

Following our tour of Frank's house, architectural studio and grounds, we headed to a the local shops, leaving our 'finds' to collect following our dinner at Pedro's. After wonderful Mexican selections and several pitchers of margueritas, we returned to Chicos to collected the waiting wares. Is the smile a little wider and the giggle a little louder...lol?

Love from all to all (left to right),

Bonnie, Vicki, Jackie, Linda (kneeling) and Jill 

SWITCHED???

OK...who out there in cyber land is a MAC user? Let me see those hands. I screamed out loud when I heard this news. NO FOLKS! I wasn't screaming in disgust because the girls jumped ship...I was screaming in DELIGHT because the girls finally jumped ship!!! I have been a MAC user since 1991 and just don't know why the world still uses PC's. This is music to a MAC addicts ears...watch the MAC/PC commercials...they really say it all. Congrats Michele, Karen, Kim and Wenda. Amanda...are you smilin? Thanks for leading them out of darkness to the light. HA! Now lets SKYPE! If some of you didn't see Michele's post...here it is again with proof of the mutiny.

Dee and Chemo Sabe,

HI ladies - Well Kim and I have some news to report. I feel a little awkward using the blog to report this as it represents making this type of change for the first time in over 20 years. Wendy and especially Karen, are not adapting to the news very well, so I will try to tread lightly. First a little background.

Cate and Amanda spent this past weekend in NYC. The Jersey girls, Kim, Wendy, Karen and I hooked up with them for a fun filled weekend. That was the plan anyway - nothing major just go with the flow and have fun.

That pretty much sums up how things were going. We had dinner on Friday talked about friends, life, family and the benefits and challenges with all of those topics. Very deep discussions peppered with a little bit of laughter.

Those conversations continued as we toured Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty on Saturday. In fact, Amanda made some very compelling points about the pitfall of staying in the same place, doing the same thing whilst expecting different results. I think she said it was the definition of psychotic. She was such a facilitator of change that she immediately got us an appointment with an expert to help us work out the finer points of any transition being contemplated. After all there are a lot of things to think about since people, finances and home arrangements are all considerations .

The result, I really am not happy with the status quo and in fact less happy with what were supposed to be positive changes. I made the decision, I need to make a change and need to do it soon. Needless to say Saturday was a relatively sleepless night. 
Our house guests, Cate and Amanda were very supportive of my decision. Who knew, when we called Kim and Wendy in the morning, they were having the same conversations and needed to make a change as well. We met for brunch to see Cate and Amanda off as they traveled back home and Kim and I were left to sort out how we would individually and collectively manage the transition. 

This past weekend, KIM and I made a decisionNot sure what you all were thinking but the news I have to share is that we each (individually) purchased iMACS.;-) 
The struggle for Karen and Wendy is the move from PC based Microsoft Windows to the MAC OS. That shift has Karen very worried. I understand Wendy has adapted a bit better. Perhaps it is the result of her "CEO job" (tee hee) being less demanding than Karen's nursing responsibilities. Or maybe Kim allows her time to use the MAC. Regardless, we have moved to the enlightened side and I am sure once we get through the differences we will all be fine. That's where the self help books are coming in handy.

My MAC buddy, Kim, keeps asking why she has not made this move before. I'm speechless. I thought Vista would be the solution MicroSoft promised, instead it turned out to be worse than any other piece of software I have ever purchased. An additional bonus is I have a lot more real estate on and under my home office desk in spite of the fact the monitor is MUCH larger than my PC based desk top. No tower and one cord, period; that is a beautiful thing and the one benefit that already has Karen thinking positively. She HATES clutter. Best of all, within one half hour of taking the computer home, it was up and running, with all my PC based files transferred - seamlessly!!! Amanda and Cate thank you for opening our eyes to a better way. 

Kim, my MAC buddy, next lesson with Nurse Dee - "skyping" - are you ready???

A Surprise Visitor

Hi Everyone...I just got through SKYPING with Brenda and Vic. That is so much fun to do. If you don't have a computer with a camera...you should get one. Brenda looks great and I can see that the tumors in her neck have even gone down more since I've been gone. Maybe it's me leaving!!!! NAW!!!

Brenda and Vic had a wonderful surprise visit from Jackie (part of the infamous Tahiti Pod) this evening. She brought a goodie package full of wonderful things. Thank you soooo much Jackie and Helene. Check out the photos.

Doc Vic wrote another medical update on todays visit with the Rad/Onc Dr. Here's the bullet.

Not too much news today but no kicks in the gut either (thank God for that).  Yesterday was tough.  Today was a little shopping excursion (Brenda picked out shoes for me to wear to my niece's wedding next month) followed by lunch out. Then we went to the medical center for a blood draw and an appointment with the radiation oncologist.  There were no major plans made there because she needs to finish round three of chemo (that starts tomorrow for three days).  After that she will most likely be scheduled for the neurosurgery in a few weeks (if the PET scan tomorrow is good).  We got a lot of questions answered by the rad/onc nurse.  The radiation won't start until she's healed from any surgery and that takes about four weeks.  Surgery won't occur until a few weeks after round three of chemo.  Then radiation will be five days a week for six to seven weeks.  Head and neck radiation is tough because your throat gets so sore and it hurts to swallow. Staying hydrated and not losing weight are very important.  We're looking at an all summer proposition here folks. Brenda is very strong but the enormity of it all is wearing on her.  Keep your thoughts and prayers flowing.  Keep the cards coming, she gets a big smile on her face when she gets them in the mail.  Please post comments on the blog.  It is very uplifting when she reads them.
Vicky 

Medical Update

Hi VP's...As you might remember, the union nurse is back on break in Arizona. Our dear, dear friend Vicky (internal medicine doc from Pittsburgh) volunteered for duty while I was home trying to keep this house running. This was the week that Brenda is seeing all her doctors who are weighing in on the recent CT scans and what to do next. They will give their input to Dr. Hong and he'll decide which path to take. Since Vic was there with Brenda when she had her appointments today, she wrote and excellent medical "bullet" for you all on how today's appointment went. Here's the update:

Brenda's lymph nodes are significantly smaller.  Her white count is good and she won't need additional neupogen for this round. This morning she saw Dr. Hanna (an ENT surgeon who specializes in cranial base lesions). He did a fellowship at UPMC in Pittsburgh.  His concern is a spot on the CT scan about the size of a penny. They cannot determine if it is up against the brain (the front part behind and slightly above the nose) or through the membrane that covers the brain (the dura). If it hasn't penetrated the dura it's less complicated.  

Dr. Hanna is proposing a neurosurgical procedure to remove that lesion. That would be done by a neurosurgeon.  It would involve an incision behind the hairline from almost ear to ear.  Then they fold down the skin and make a bone window to gain access to the lesion.  They then repair the defect with her own tissue.  It's on the surface of the brain so they don't have to cut through brain tissue to get to it (that's a good thing). It's also not in an area of the brain that controls speech or movement etc. They will be scheduling an appointment to see the neurosurgeon.  If she has that surgery (because all of this is subject to change) she would be in the hospital for five days.

The blip in all this is a CT scan of the chest that showed a "prominent" diaphragmatic lymph node. It did not show any suspicious lesions in the chest, just a lymph node by the diaphram muscle that is prominent.  We see reports like this all the time in medicine and usually they are nothing. They are going to do a PET scan to look at that.  If it lights up it's suspicious.  They are very thorough here and are leaving no stone unturned.

This afternoon she saw Dr. Gillenwater. She's the ENT doctor that saw Brenda when she first got here.  She confirmed that the nodes are shrinking. She also said if they have to surgically remove any of the larger lymph nodes in her neck they would probably schedule both surgeries at the same time.

Tomorrow she sees the radiation oncologist and maybe the neurosurgeon if they can get her in. Then a big day on Thursday.  She will have a PET scan at 9AM, an audiology appointment at 1:30PM and chemo for 7 hours beginning at 3:30PM.  Then Friday another round of chemo in the afternoon.

Hope this helps,

Vicky (AKA: Ribby)

So there you have it...the ping pong balls are still in the air, but like Vic says...they really leave no stone unturned at MD Anderson and that's exactly what Brenda needs. We're going to nail this thing!!! Can you all say CURE!!! Remember those words the psychic said..."Good as New!"

Vic will send another update to me tomorrow and I'll get it posted when the radiological oncologist weights in. Keep those prayers and good energy going Brenda's way...they are helping her heal.

Fix-It Dee

 

The True Blue Bonnet Revealed

Many of our Tahitian Pod Bloggers keep talking about "Blue Bonnet." For those of you who are wondering if we talking about margarine, the answer is NO! Blue Bonnet is a fellow traveler who has very sensitive skin that cannot be exposed to the sun. Now this persons skin might not like the sun, but the traveler really loves the ocean and beach so they have developed a sun-resistant clothing strategy to deal with this situation...Clever! We have wondered WHO this traveler was because all we see is a blue creature walking and wading around. Bonnie and Jackie as well as Jeannie have finally found out the true identity of our mystery traveler when they caught her in Tahiti unmasked. Here's the evidence. Jeannie got this photo of Michele. Here's what she had to say:

Ok,

Michele has attempted to divert the Pod from the truth about
Blue Bonnet by making a half-hearted parody of herself. Attached is
the true unmasking of BB.

Jeannie

Michele...what say thee. We all KNOW you have SOMETHING to say.

Nurse Dee is home again on union break getting the garbage disposal fixed, taking care of a friends dog ( I LOVE this part!), getting the filters on the RO system changed, getting the air conditioners serviced...SUMMER'S coming to AZ, getting the desert bugs killed, getting a blood test, going to the doctor for my annual physical, cleaning the house, doing laundry...well you get my drift...yea right...a relaxing union break!! All I can say is...HA!!! Doc Vic and Brenda are hooping it up in Houston...that's good for Brenda...so as she would say..."It's all good."

Michele?

Nurse (on break) Dee