Sunday, August 1, 2010

2010 Summer Run


This year we had 101 team members and raised over $8,000 toward finding a cure!! We had a great turn out and lots of fun at the race. After the event we had a Party at the Casa to celebrate.


















After Party at the Casa







Happy Birthday Cori and Steve













Wednesday, July 14, 2010

April 2, 2010 post- and Swedish Summer Run 2010






Around midnight I can begin to feel my stomach muscles again—besides the contraction/crunches I’ve been dealing with daily dry heaves. I believe this time it is anesthesia from yesterday’s surgery (shunt implant in my head to alleviate pressure), headaches, and vomiting.

12:35 AM my blood pressure is sounding off as it has elevated to 163/89 from a previous 143 over 80 something. The nitro patch is still on to help lower my blood pressure. I am resting but not sleeping. Perhaps an Adivan would be good, but I don’t know if my brain surgeon has approved the medication. I wish I could get my favorite nurse in here.

I am trying to position my head so as not to lay on my incisions, and it seems to be working. So I’m glad to say I’ve been successful on this. But I have problems getting tangled in my tubes and my blood pressure cuff and monitor go off every half hour.

Everyone has been so kind to me and I am feeling great. Thank you all for helping me heal. God bless you. You are all invited to join me on Team Sussex at the 2010 SummeRun raising monies to find a cure for ovarian cancer. This is my fourth competing and each year more cures become available. Your donations and participation are getting us closer to finding the cure.

Please check for race details and sign up for Team Sussex. www.summeRun.org or call Marilyn 206-669-2120





Thursday, June 17, 2010

4th Annual Summer Run

We are off to a great start and new horizons with the Ovarian Cancer summer run. My "Team Sussex" is growing every year as I continue (thank God I am still alive) my battle with this demon. Every year with all new research and screening, new hope for early detection and new cures ,my life gets extended, so I am so grateful for this venue. We had our first kick off practice walk this last Wed at 6PM, you are all welcome to join us, and will continue until walk/run day-challenge yourself to be your best-July 25th, Sunday. If you can't make make race day, join Team Sussex with a donation (www.SummeRun.org), smile and think of me as you challenge yourself to reach a higher level with whatever activity makes you feel best(I am not talking about drinking folks).

My summer is busy. Dan's parents and brother are coming from Australia to see their granddaughter! We are all excited to show her off and have her meet her family. She will be 5 months old when they get here and is smiling and such a great baby they can't wait! I couldn't have waited this long, but they will get much better weather in July (I hope).
Then comes the summer run on the 25th, and then my nephew is getting married at our house Aug.1. Great to have uplifting and fun events to look forward to.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Plumbing problems

For the past 2 weeks I had been producing small hard balls and thank God they were small because they seemed to be backed up all the way up the entire pipe. I have been spared the colonoscopy ordeal because of all of the other test but it has been so uncomfortable that I was beginning to think I should go see another specialist. I had tried stool softeners, all the natural remedies like the Doctor recommended but finally decided to get a bit more serious and bought 2 laxatives. Just like the movie, Dumb and Dumber, the concoction worked, but I could go nowhere for a full day and I spent the day cleaning up. I have to admit, I feel much better and I have a new empathy for digestive diseases and cancers.

I have tried a couple of new healing techniques just to round out all of my options. Last week was my drumming session which was awesome, but I am afraid it wasn't as effective as it could have been if I hadn't been so constipated. There were 8-10 people there with Kristin Salerno leading the session. Soon we were all feeling the vibrations of 8 drums, singing bowls from Tibet, and rattles. Following was a restful, hands on Reiki session where I was the center of attention for all those wonderful energies.

Today I walked with my weekly pair of girlfriends and we dodged the bikers training for the STP (Seattle to Portland) bike ride. I was jealous of all those bikers riding when I cannot trust my balance to even get on my bike-in fact my bike was moved over to the waterfront house where we reside now (7550 E Mercer) and it is laden with rope, kayak paraphernalia, and other things that make it appear I will not be using it anytime soon. So this afternoon I capitalized on an opportunity to have an in home chiropractic visit from Dean Sanna. It was inspirational-reminding me of how good I have it, and what I need to work on to get better.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Updates, Doctor, and Baby

Most of the questions I get these days involve "How are you doing" and the usual response-"Fine" though I continue to fight new spots that crop up, and how is Dyllan? Is she home if come over now?

So to catch you up Dyllan was born to Erica and Dan on Jan 24, 2010 (9 week premature-nearly 4 lbs) and she has more than doubled her weigh and is strong as a horse. Seems like she is only steps away from crawling and mostly a near perfect baby though Erica calls her "Miss Fuss" a lot. We think she is the most beautiful thing on this earth and are loving having her expressions, both smiles and pouty lips. She seems to have caught up with the rest of the bunch at 4 months.

My visit to the doctor today turned into some more testing (EKG, to make sure my heart will withstand the next chemo treatment). So yes, the cancer has spread, to the lymph nodes, stomach, and lungs) but I was given a wonderful sunny Sunday, Mother's Day to gather my strength and prepare for the next round. Sunday we went to the baseball game (Mariners) and they won! First win in over 8 games, and it was 8-1
Then the kids put on a great evening as the sun set on the waterfront. Sean set a beautiful and cooked lamb, roasted potatoes, cut up pineapple and had a huge bottle of champagne. As a finale, they brought out a picnic canvas bag with snacks, plates and silverware, and drinks.Perfect for the boat, or most any excursion-which we will have to plan more of.

Disabilities or Challenges? April 27

It has been brought to my attention that I haven't kept up with the blog, so I thought I would tell you what has transpired. I have had a few physical setbacks, stemming from the fact that I was dizzy and seeing double so immediately we were back at Swedish Hospital in the radiology department for a lumbar punch (spinal tap). That is where they sample the fluid out of the spinal cord-3rd vertebrae, and then run a test to see if there is cancer running up to the brain they radiated the last month.
So after patiently waiting 4 or 5 days, I called the Dr office to get the results. The Dr came on the phone (best man in the world) and said "how is the double vision"
and I answered that it had really gone away. So he must have been just as ecstatic as I was and said I didn't need to have any more chemo for this week. So now I get a week off, and am that much closer to being cancer free.
Meanwhile I have had fun with long time friends, Susan and Maggie, from 7th grade from Japan. Have been swimming at the Bellevue Club and tying to regain my strength (not to hard with 4 personal trainers, Sean next door, and Dan downstairs, Mylo, my service dog who has to go out daily, and Earl who pushed Emily last year in the Marsha Rivkin Summer Run). It is coming up soon so start training now and I will let you know about all the details and after party.

Time to make more magic cookies

The idea of these cookies is that they are gluten free and very easy to make for the ones you love who are gluten intolerant-My intent is to get them in the store with the packaged Don't forget to comment on how the magic cookies effected you and let the comments come in when they get in the stores which will be soon? Have you tasted them yet? I am grinding the nut (I think i HAVE CASHEW FROM COSTCO)) AND WILL grind them in the coffee grinder. We shall see how the turn out. The always disappear so fast. Yum.
remember only 3 ingredients: 1 lb ground nuts, 1 1/2 cup of sugar, and 4 eggs. And lots of LOVE. After the eggs and sugar beat for 10 min, heat oven to 350 degrees and cook for 15 to 20 min. on parchment paper (so they don't burn). Add whatever other tasty ingredients you like (dried fruit) almond extract, etc. I would like to give upmost credit to Lynnette Johnson for the fabulous photos. Didn't she do the best job? What a love.