We made it home from Boston just as the snow started to fall. It got messy really fast. Hope everyone is safe and warm.
It was a good visit with the oncologist because it was good news. Like I said before, the lung nodules shrunk and the hip tumors remained the same. Dr. Silver is happy with my progress and the fact that I don't have pain, so I don't have to see him again until May! That's 5 months! Woohoo!
This is going to be a short post because I'm tired and I'm off to bed.
Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy New Year!!!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Christmas comes early
Hi all,
Christmas came early in the LeBrun household this year. Captain Mayonnaise has been staying with us for about 3 weeks or so. On Saturday, he took us to Sears and he bought us a 52" flat screen TV! It's an early Christmas present he said. I'm still shocked. I keep looking at the TV in the living room, saying to myself, "I can't believe he bought us a 52" flat screen TV!" It's very nice and opens up the room a lot. Now I have a 56" projection TV I need to sell. Anyone want a very nice TV?
Now I'm wondering if this means I have to be nice to Mayo now. Let me think...NAH!
But Thank You for the awesome gift Jim!
In other news, I've been having some very bad joint pain, from my hips to my ankles have been killing me since Friday night. Sunday I woke up, got up to go to Church, and proceeded to get nauseous, so I was in bed for the better part of Sunday. Today at work, I called Dr. Silver at Dana-Farber to tell him about my symptoms and he gave me the results of my latest CT Scan that I had done on Friday. The cancer in my hips remained unchanged, but the wonderful news is that the nodules in my lungs got SMALLER! Yes, that's right, smaller. That's awesome news because it means that something's working. I have an appointment to see him on December 19th to discuss future treatment. If this is working, he'll probably keep me on what I'm taking now, which is the Faslodex. So everyone, keep doing what you've been doing. Thank you!
I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving because I'm going over to my Mom's and my sister and neice are going to be there. I can't wait to see Brianna, she's getting so big. And there will be awesome food, so I'm really looking forward to that! :)
So I don't write until then, Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I have lots to be thankful for this year.
E
Christmas came early in the LeBrun household this year. Captain Mayonnaise has been staying with us for about 3 weeks or so. On Saturday, he took us to Sears and he bought us a 52" flat screen TV! It's an early Christmas present he said. I'm still shocked. I keep looking at the TV in the living room, saying to myself, "I can't believe he bought us a 52" flat screen TV!" It's very nice and opens up the room a lot. Now I have a 56" projection TV I need to sell. Anyone want a very nice TV?
Now I'm wondering if this means I have to be nice to Mayo now. Let me think...NAH!
But Thank You for the awesome gift Jim!
In other news, I've been having some very bad joint pain, from my hips to my ankles have been killing me since Friday night. Sunday I woke up, got up to go to Church, and proceeded to get nauseous, so I was in bed for the better part of Sunday. Today at work, I called Dr. Silver at Dana-Farber to tell him about my symptoms and he gave me the results of my latest CT Scan that I had done on Friday. The cancer in my hips remained unchanged, but the wonderful news is that the nodules in my lungs got SMALLER! Yes, that's right, smaller. That's awesome news because it means that something's working. I have an appointment to see him on December 19th to discuss future treatment. If this is working, he'll probably keep me on what I'm taking now, which is the Faslodex. So everyone, keep doing what you've been doing. Thank you!
I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving because I'm going over to my Mom's and my sister and neice are going to be there. I can't wait to see Brianna, she's getting so big. And there will be awesome food, so I'm really looking forward to that! :)
So I don't write until then, Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I have lots to be thankful for this year.
E
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Halloween
Hi all!
I dressed up with a group of people from work as Clue Characters, check us out:
I am Mr. Boddy, the dead chalk outline on the ground! During the day, we had a real game of clue going on to see if anyone could guess who killed me, in what room with what weapon.
We won for best group costume and we got a free lunch. It was a lot of fun and we're already thinking about what to dress up as for next year. I've won 2 out of the 3 years I've been here, so I have to keep it up, the pressure is on!
Here is another picture of me and Col. Mustard.
Thom also dressed up for Halloween with his department and they dressed up as Necropsy Mice...very cute...but very disturbing...what do you think?
Good thing is, I get Thom's pink socks, they are so soft and comfy!!
I dressed up with a group of people from work as Clue Characters, check us out:
I am Mr. Boddy, the dead chalk outline on the ground! During the day, we had a real game of clue going on to see if anyone could guess who killed me, in what room with what weapon.
We won for best group costume and we got a free lunch. It was a lot of fun and we're already thinking about what to dress up as for next year. I've won 2 out of the 3 years I've been here, so I have to keep it up, the pressure is on!
Here is another picture of me and Col. Mustard.
Thom also dressed up for Halloween with his department and they dressed up as Necropsy Mice...very cute...but very disturbing...what do you think?
Good thing is, I get Thom's pink socks, they are so soft and comfy!!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Happy Anniversary
CAUTION: Sappiness ahead!
WOW! It's been 13 years ago today that I became Mrs. Emily LeBrun. To say I'm blessed is truly an understatement. I have loved every single minute of married life and I cannot imagine my life without Thom. I've actually been with Thom since September 4th, 1990. Soooo, we've been together for 18 years...that's half my life. HALF my life I've gotten to spend with my soul mate, how lucky am I?
I remember my wedding day like it was yesterday. I got my hair and nails done that day and I remember the nail lady commenting on how calm I was. Of course I was calm, I was excited, there was nothing to be nervous about. I COULDN'T wait to get married and begin my life with Thom. There was no nervousness because I knew he was the one. I'm not going to be cliche' and say that I knew it the moment I met him...but it was pretty darn close.
Happy Anniversary Thom. Thank you for your love, support and comfort. You know I wouldn't be able to get through this if you weren't by my side. Thanks for putting up with me! :)
Ok, sappiness over. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming, already in progress...
Captain Mayonnaise has been staying with us since Friday. Now he's sick too. Sucker! So the whole household has been coughing, sneezing and blowing their noses. Thanks Kleenex!
AND, I'm happy to report that we will be getting DVR!! We have crossed into the 21st century! It gets installed on Saturday! I won't have to miss my favorite TV shows anymore because I'm tired! I'm so excited, it's going to revolutionize our lives! LOL
Halloween is on Friday. The neighborhood kids finally get to go trick-or-treating ON Halloween, imagine that! Every year since we've moved in, they would hold trick-or-treating like a week ahead. And it's always at like 4pm. It's kind of crummy because a lot of people aren't even home at that time. My favorite part of Halloween is giving out the candy and seeing all the kids dressed up. And I miss it almost every single year. It really is a bummer.
That's it for now. Talk to you all soon!
WOW! It's been 13 years ago today that I became Mrs. Emily LeBrun. To say I'm blessed is truly an understatement. I have loved every single minute of married life and I cannot imagine my life without Thom. I've actually been with Thom since September 4th, 1990. Soooo, we've been together for 18 years...that's half my life. HALF my life I've gotten to spend with my soul mate, how lucky am I?
I remember my wedding day like it was yesterday. I got my hair and nails done that day and I remember the nail lady commenting on how calm I was. Of course I was calm, I was excited, there was nothing to be nervous about. I COULDN'T wait to get married and begin my life with Thom. There was no nervousness because I knew he was the one. I'm not going to be cliche' and say that I knew it the moment I met him...but it was pretty darn close.
Happy Anniversary Thom. Thank you for your love, support and comfort. You know I wouldn't be able to get through this if you weren't by my side. Thanks for putting up with me! :)
Ok, sappiness over. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming, already in progress...
Captain Mayonnaise has been staying with us since Friday. Now he's sick too. Sucker! So the whole household has been coughing, sneezing and blowing their noses. Thanks Kleenex!
AND, I'm happy to report that we will be getting DVR!! We have crossed into the 21st century! It gets installed on Saturday! I won't have to miss my favorite TV shows anymore because I'm tired! I'm so excited, it's going to revolutionize our lives! LOL
Halloween is on Friday. The neighborhood kids finally get to go trick-or-treating ON Halloween, imagine that! Every year since we've moved in, they would hold trick-or-treating like a week ahead. And it's always at like 4pm. It's kind of crummy because a lot of people aren't even home at that time. My favorite part of Halloween is giving out the candy and seeing all the kids dressed up. And I miss it almost every single year. It really is a bummer.
That's it for now. Talk to you all soon!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Update
Got my monthly shots and here are the results of the blood tests:
Again, I apologize for the lousy table.
Not much has been going on, I'm still driving. I made it to my favorite store, "The Purple Onion" in West Brookfield, so as a gift to myself for going that far, I bought some stuff. I love that store, it's all country furniture and decor. Love it love it. AND I stayed by myself at the house yesterday while Thom went to work (he was on call). I'm pretty proud of myself! I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel...let's just hope it's not a train!! :)
| Monthly | 10/15/08 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/21/08 | 9/17/08 | Normal ranges | ||
| CEA | 10.8 | 13.7 | 13.4 | 0-5.0 ng/mL |
| Cancer Antigen | 257 | 147 | 239 | 0-31 u/mL |
| CA 27-29 | 277 | 316 | 346 | 0-37 u/mL |
Again, I apologize for the lousy table.
Not much has been going on, I'm still driving. I made it to my favorite store, "The Purple Onion" in West Brookfield, so as a gift to myself for going that far, I bought some stuff. I love that store, it's all country furniture and decor. Love it love it. AND I stayed by myself at the house yesterday while Thom went to work (he was on call). I'm pretty proud of myself! I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel...let's just hope it's not a train!! :)
Monday, September 22, 2008
Today
HiHo!
Got my Zometa infustion and Faslodex injections today. Infusion went fine, the injections...well...I bled through the bandaide on my right side and it soaked through to my denim skirt. Not too happy about that.
Today I thought I would entertain you with my monthly bloodwork results. They follow 3 cancer markers: CEA, Cancer Antigen 15-3 and CA 27-29. They kind of give an overview of how I'm doing. If the markers keep going up, that's not a good thing. The lower the better, but they fluctuate so much from month to month.
So 2 went up, and 1 went down. Like a yo-yo. Sorry, not the best of tables, but the HTML language is hard to do. Can't figure out how to make the columns wider without messing everything else up. HEY!! You computer geeks out there, help a girl out!! ;)
Also today, I got weighed in for Weight Watchers. I'm trying to lose at least 20 pounds, that's the goal anyways. I lost 3.6 pounds. Go me.
Going swimming at the gym today too. I look forward to swimming, I enjoy it a lot.
My old friend, Roberta, from High School found me through Facebook. That Facebook is an amazing thing! Getting in touch with lots of people I've lost touch with over the years is so nice.
Been driving still. I think I'm almost up to 15 min one way. It's weird, I should be very happy, but instead, I feel more down. Yesterday, I was very depressed and I couldn't put my finger on why. Yes, I'm still very nervous driving, yes, it's hard, but I'm doing it...so why don't I feel better?
Got my Zometa infustion and Faslodex injections today. Infusion went fine, the injections...well...I bled through the bandaide on my right side and it soaked through to my denim skirt. Not too happy about that.
Today I thought I would entertain you with my monthly bloodwork results. They follow 3 cancer markers: CEA, Cancer Antigen 15-3 and CA 27-29. They kind of give an overview of how I'm doing. If the markers keep going up, that's not a good thing. The lower the better, but they fluctuate so much from month to month.
| Monthly | Normal ranges | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 8/21/08 | 9/17/08 | ||
| CEA | 10.8 | 13.7 | 0-5.0 ng/mL |
| Cancer Antigen | 257 | 147 | 0-31 u/mL |
| CA 27-29 | 277 | 316 | 0-37 u/mL |
So 2 went up, and 1 went down. Like a yo-yo. Sorry, not the best of tables, but the HTML language is hard to do. Can't figure out how to make the columns wider without messing everything else up. HEY!! You computer geeks out there, help a girl out!! ;)
Also today, I got weighed in for Weight Watchers. I'm trying to lose at least 20 pounds, that's the goal anyways. I lost 3.6 pounds. Go me.
Going swimming at the gym today too. I look forward to swimming, I enjoy it a lot.
My old friend, Roberta, from High School found me through Facebook. That Facebook is an amazing thing! Getting in touch with lots of people I've lost touch with over the years is so nice.
Been driving still. I think I'm almost up to 15 min one way. It's weird, I should be very happy, but instead, I feel more down. Yesterday, I was very depressed and I couldn't put my finger on why. Yes, I'm still very nervous driving, yes, it's hard, but I'm doing it...so why don't I feel better?
Friday, September 19, 2008
Avast, me hearties!
Today is International Talk like a Pirate Day! www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html
My pirate name is Mad Jenny Rackham and all day long I was going up to people saying, "Arrr, ye scurvy dog, swab the decks or ye goin' be walkin' de plank and meetin' Davy Jones, savvy?" One girl brought in eye patches for people to wear. Next year I hope to bring in some pirate booty. :)
More importantly, today, I drove by myself. I drove for 10 minutes. I was very nervous, but I did it! Baby steps. I will do it again tomorrow. I'm very happy about this, I haven't driven by myself (except to the gas station 1 min away) in over a year.
People take it for granted, but driving is not so easy for me. It's one of my biggest panic triggers. That and traffic. Well, just the feeling of being trapped, of not being able to get away if I need to. So, like the Mass Pike is a problem for me because the exits are pretty far away from each other, and I feel like I can't get off that road fast if I needed to. But these are things I'm working on getting over. Or getting used to dealing with. If I can get control of this panic, a whole new world can open up for me. I'll be able to do so much more. I've been feeling pretty sorry for myself the past year, and I didn't realize it until recently. That's a hard realization to come to. I can't control the cancer, but I can take back the control that the panic has taken away. I have the power, I have the control. When I learn not to fear the sensations I get when I have a panic attack, I will no longer get them. Seems simple. In theory, it is. Putting it into practice will take, well, practice. Lots and lots of it. I will keep you posted on my successes.
Got another low-grade fever last night. I'm going to be calling my doctor on Monday, it may be nothing, but I want to make sure. It may just be the medication, or the hot flashes, who knows. The fever only lasts for less than 24 hours. It's strange. Maybe I have cat scratch fever. LOL, that's for you Thom!
My pirate name is Mad Jenny Rackham and all day long I was going up to people saying, "Arrr, ye scurvy dog, swab the decks or ye goin' be walkin' de plank and meetin' Davy Jones, savvy?" One girl brought in eye patches for people to wear. Next year I hope to bring in some pirate booty. :)
More importantly, today, I drove by myself. I drove for 10 minutes. I was very nervous, but I did it! Baby steps. I will do it again tomorrow. I'm very happy about this, I haven't driven by myself (except to the gas station 1 min away) in over a year.
People take it for granted, but driving is not so easy for me. It's one of my biggest panic triggers. That and traffic. Well, just the feeling of being trapped, of not being able to get away if I need to. So, like the Mass Pike is a problem for me because the exits are pretty far away from each other, and I feel like I can't get off that road fast if I needed to. But these are things I'm working on getting over. Or getting used to dealing with. If I can get control of this panic, a whole new world can open up for me. I'll be able to do so much more. I've been feeling pretty sorry for myself the past year, and I didn't realize it until recently. That's a hard realization to come to. I can't control the cancer, but I can take back the control that the panic has taken away. I have the power, I have the control. When I learn not to fear the sensations I get when I have a panic attack, I will no longer get them. Seems simple. In theory, it is. Putting it into practice will take, well, practice. Lots and lots of it. I will keep you posted on my successes.
Got another low-grade fever last night. I'm going to be calling my doctor on Monday, it may be nothing, but I want to make sure. It may just be the medication, or the hot flashes, who knows. The fever only lasts for less than 24 hours. It's strange. Maybe I have cat scratch fever. LOL, that's for you Thom!
Monday, September 8, 2008
A man and his Dummies
Thom and I went to see my favorite comedian (next to Bill Cosby) on Saturday night, Jeff Dunham. OMG, he was HILARIOUS!!!!! I didn't stop laughing for the entire 90-minute show, plus the encore. I'm still laughing about it today. He brought Walter, Jose the Jalapeno "on a steek", Achmed the dead terrorist, Peanut and Bubba J. We were 6 rows from the stage, center, perfect seats. Jeff tried out some of his new Christmas material on us. Achmed came out wearing a Santa hat, saying it was his "disguise" and proceeded to say to Dunham, "Merry Christmas! I KEEL you!". Achmed had his own rendition of "Jingle Bells" called "Jingle Bombs". If you don't know Achmed, he is a failed suicide bomber who is all bones. He told Jeff that he was at the doctor's and was told he had Scoliosis. The doctor wanted to take an Xray. Achmed said that he should've just taken a Polaroid, it was the same thing! It's so politically incorrect, it's hilarious. Walter, the crumudgedy old man is my favorite puppet, who always exclaims, "What the HELL!" and "I don't care."
Check out his "Very Special Christmas Special" November 16th on Comedy Central, it's going to be awesome.
Then on Sunday, we watched the Patriots play, and Tom Brady got hurt. To me, it looked like an ACL tear in his left knee, which could be, depending on the severity of the tear, season ending. And although Matt Cassell did a decent job filling in (they won), he's no Brady. But we could have a Cinderella season with Cassell, he'll have to step up. He'll get better as the season goes on, but this is a bitter pill to swallow. We've been spoiled, and I'm sure that there are many people out there that are happy that he's out.
I also got a gift from Captain Mayonnaise, my very own camel. Isn't he cute?? He's even got a hump! I think I will name him Cemal, it's Arabic for attractive and can also be unscrambled to spell camel. How clever!
Check out his "Very Special Christmas Special" November 16th on Comedy Central, it's going to be awesome.
Then on Sunday, we watched the Patriots play, and Tom Brady got hurt. To me, it looked like an ACL tear in his left knee, which could be, depending on the severity of the tear, season ending. And although Matt Cassell did a decent job filling in (they won), he's no Brady. But we could have a Cinderella season with Cassell, he'll have to step up. He'll get better as the season goes on, but this is a bitter pill to swallow. We've been spoiled, and I'm sure that there are many people out there that are happy that he's out.
I also got a gift from Captain Mayonnaise, my very own camel. Isn't he cute?? He's even got a hump! I think I will name him Cemal, it's Arabic for attractive and can also be unscrambled to spell camel. How clever!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Huh?!
Yeah, so I don't think my hearing is so good, no matter what that quack doctor told me (see blog entry on 4/9/08, Say What?). My friend Melissa and I took our friend Chris out for lunch for his birthday and we were sitting in a little cafe chatting. He was talking about what one of his friends gave him for his birthday...
Chris: "I got a great gift from Peter!"
Emily: "Oh yeah?! What did he give you?"
Chris: "Two years worth of porn!"
Emily: "What?! Two years worth of porn?? Wow, that's some gift! I didn't think you two were that close."
Chris pauses and just looks at me. Melissa can't talk because she's laughing so hard.
Chris: "Umm, no, he gave me two EARS worth of CORN!"
I can't make this shit up folks!!
Maybe I had those 2 ears of corn in my ears!!
Chris: "I got a great gift from Peter!"
Emily: "Oh yeah?! What did he give you?"
Chris: "Two years worth of porn!"
Emily: "What?! Two years worth of porn?? Wow, that's some gift! I didn't think you two were that close."
Chris pauses and just looks at me. Melissa can't talk because she's laughing so hard.
Chris: "Umm, no, he gave me two EARS worth of CORN!"
I can't make this shit up folks!!
Maybe I had those 2 ears of corn in my ears!!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Beach Time
Thom and I finally made it to the beach yesterday, the first time the whole summer. We went to the Scarborough State Beach in Rhode Island. It was a beautiful day and we had a nice time. The waves were rather high and Thom and were trying not to get knocked down by them. The water was a bit nipply and full of seaweed. I hate the feeling of seaweed wrapped around my ankles. Eeeck. Scarborough is a nice clean beach with a little ice cream shop at one of the pavilions. I love the smell and sounds of the beach, it's so relaxing. I remember as a kid that we got up early in the morning to be at the beach by 8 or 9am. And we spent the whole day there! Those are great memories. We would get home totally spent, but happy.
I got my bone infusion and my 2 injections and today it really hurt. I could hardly walk for about 2 hours after. My joints hurt and I'm an overall bitch. Took some Advil, so I'm feeling a bit better. The nurse who administered it did so rather quickly, and the faster you inject it, the more it burns. We had to do it in the bathroom because there were no free rooms. She's telling me to hold on to the sink, and being the public bathroom germaphobe that I am, refused to touch anything in that bathroom. So that was interesting.
Not much else to report except that I can't wait for today to be over with. Tomorrow is another day!
I got my bone infusion and my 2 injections and today it really hurt. I could hardly walk for about 2 hours after. My joints hurt and I'm an overall bitch. Took some Advil, so I'm feeling a bit better. The nurse who administered it did so rather quickly, and the faster you inject it, the more it burns. We had to do it in the bathroom because there were no free rooms. She's telling me to hold on to the sink, and being the public bathroom germaphobe that I am, refused to touch anything in that bathroom. So that was interesting.
Not much else to report except that I can't wait for today to be over with. Tomorrow is another day!
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