It's almost March!

Like, tomorrow. Tomorrow, it will be March.

I have no idea where this month has gone!

Oh, wait. Yes, I do.

This month has gone to... chemo. I've been hanging out in bed, flat on my back (because something has changed inside of me and I can't lie on my right side anymore... the broken rib banned me from my left side in the fall, but the right side is a recent change, so it still makes me crazy on a regular (read: nightly) basis). And I've gone to acupuncture and the cancer shrink. And to Jo's for dinner once this month, and went to Logan's with my Crossmen the night before I did chemo again.

Oh, and Maggie was baptized. I left my house the weekend of her baptism. ... But, uh... that's about it.

So much for this "mild, with very few side effects" chemo that I've been on for the last two rounds. Ha!

I mean, this second round has been ABOUT A THOUSAND TIMES BETTER than the first round was. I had fevers and pain that I've NEVER had on anything else, and the nausea... oh my gosh, it was brutal. Homsi changed my premeds on this last round (flipped Zofran out and replaced it with Emend). Best move he's ever made in his professional life, I'm pretty sure, because I could control the nausea in that first week after the infusion... not something I could do with the first round. The pain is still... bad. (I mean, you guys. It's crazy.) And the fatigue is still... all consuming. But I upped my (don't worry... it's all legal) drug usage at the end of that first round, which has helped me sleep through the night. Being able to sleep has made a world of difference with the residual pain. So, it's still not awesome. I'm basically never NOT in pain these days. I don't love it, but the last two weeks have been monumentally better than the three before that were, so... I'm hoping this chemo is working, now that I don't think it's out to actually kill me with abdominal pain anymore.

(I like to think that the pain is the cancer dying. ... It may be a lie that I tell myself, but I don't care. I can't get it to go away, so my coping mechanism is to think that I have this new, special, pain inside of me because that's the tumor(s) last stranglehold. We'll see.)

Which brings me to... this is scan week.

Yes, I just had chemo two weeks ago. Yes, tomorrow is Day 14. ... And yes, we're flying to Texas tomorrow. On Day 14. To have a scan done on Day 15.

This was not my idea, fyi. Because this chemo is "mild, with very few side effects", Dr. Z wanted me to come at the end of my second cycle so we could know it it's working asap. (My gut feeling? She's pregnant and is due in March. I'm pretty sure I'm traveling now, so I'll be able to see her before she goes out for maternity leave. I think she's cramming as much in as she can before that baby comes. And I love her, so... whatever. Also, this will keep me on track to have chemo next week, so I'll stay in a true 21 day cycle and not go a full 21 days without any chemo in my system... like I did between the chemo I did in Nov & Dec and starting this at the end of January.)

Steve and I are flying out tomorrow morning. All of the tests and the follow-up/results appointments are on Wednesday. (Should a real winner of a day. ... Insert eye roll here. ... I'm tired, just thinking about it!) So, I'll post something Wednesday afternoon/evening with an update on whether or not this cocktail is doing something.

It's a little trippy to be doing medical travel with someone who isn't Judy, but... it was brutal to be there without him in December, and I'm not doing that again. So, he's coming. And I'm glad.

Come back in 48-72, and I'll have an update (and probably some awesome tumor pics from my scan... who doesn't love those?) on what's coming next.

Houston Play Day

This morning, Jan came to get Judy and me, and took us to...

The Houston Museum of Natural History.

Seriously, the best dinosaur exhibit I've ever seen. Like, anywhere. (And I've seen a lot of dinosaurs. Dennis is my father.) The way they had them set up was super cool... and freaky. Predators were in chase, sea monsters had been hung from the ceiling. The lighting was... eerie.

It was awesome.

The very best part of the exhibit was that I made friends with a docent (you know how sometimes I just randomly smile at people, esp older men, and then they want to be my friend? well.... that happened), and he gave us a personal tour of both the dinosaur and Egyptian exhibits. It was really cool to have a subject matter expert showing us the highlights of the exhibits.

But the, hands down, coolest part of the day was when he brought me over to see this bad boy. He could not have possibly known what it would mean to me, when he told me the stories of how forensic paleontologists can often tell how a dinosaur died, by looked at the bones. (Breaks in a T-Rex's tail could cause them to bleed out and die. If the fossils have scar tissue, it's an indicator that a dinosaur healed from a fight that caused tail-breakage, whereas if there is a clean break in the vertebra, and the break is high enough in the tail, it's a likely assumption that the dinosaur bled out and died. Crazy, right?) But this little dude (uhm... not actually so little, I can't remember his name, but he's a T-Rex progenitor)... he had cancer. Most likely brain cancer (they found fossilized masses inside his cranial cavity) that metastasized to the bone. If you zoom in in this pic, you'll see the calcification on his breast bone.

I sat there, in amazement. You guys, cancer has been around forever. It wasn't always diagnosed, or treated, the way it is now. But cancer has been around forever. Like, it's a prehistoric disease. Crazy. And awesome.

Also, at the Museum of Natural History...  A FREAKING FABERGE EXHIBIT! (Which is actually why we went in the first place. This girl loooooooooves sparkly stuff. And Russian Tsarists history.) Because who wouldn't want to see an exhibit compromised almost entirely of eggs and jewels made for and owned by a royal family? 

This was one of the big eggs. Like, the ones you see on TV or in movies when someone's trying to pull a heist. It was massive. Maybe 6 inches tall? (8, if you include the cherub) All real gold. All real jewels.

These big eggs were the original Faberge eggs, with the treasure within the egg. Typically crafted as an Easter gift, for women in the royal family.

These minis were about the sweetest little thing. They were about an inch in height. Same incredible details in the design that the large Faberge eggs had, but these were made to be worn as charms. (Necklace or bracelets.)

The eggs in this display are... well... "egg sized", for the most part. Some are a  little larger than a standard egg that you'd buy at the store in a styrofoam container, but most of them are, seriously, chicken egg sized. There were three or four panels like this against one wall.

And here's a close up of some of the eggs, so you can see the detail.

I swoon.

And... did you know? Faberge made more than eggs. Like, say... jewel encrusted opera glasses.

Custom jewelry.

This is a pendant created for Alexandra Romanov. 

Cigarette cases and snuff boxes.

It was, seriously, so awesome. I love museums, like, with my whole heart. So, when I found out that the hotel had free/serious discounts for all the museums in the Houston area, it was my heart's desire to spend as many hours as I could stand walking the halls of a museum. ... Too bad I only lasted about 25 minutes standing, but Jan was a helper and went out and got me a wheelchair. All told, we were in the museum for about three hours. I made friends with the security guard at the Faberge exhibit, who told me which of the eggs was a counterfeit purchased by the collector in haste, and caught by the museum's authentication process. (It's the purple one in the top right corner of the multi-pic.) The materials were authentic, but it was a recent forgery -- not a treasure that was 100+ years old. The collector didn't take issue, since the relative value of the egg was close to the price they paid. (Maybe not the "deal" they thought they were getting, but they weren't totally swindled, either.) They keep it in the exhibit for the story.

Man alive, I love my life. I'm so glad we traveled yesterday for my appointments tomorrow, so today could just be a play day. I'm so far past tired that I can't... even. But today has been so great.

What happens in Vegas...

Last weekend, Jo and I went on a little roadtrip. To G's. For the weekend.

Lucky for us, the Kirks had gone to Utah via Vegas for Conference, and they ran across this random little wing place (that's also a gas station) in Kingman that... sells Dole Whip. Totally legit Dole Whip.

It may not be a great picture of us, but don't let that discourage you from stopping, should you ever be in Kingman. It was awesome.

We spent the weekend at G's. Mich flew in Friday night, about an hour after Jo and I pulled into the driveway. I didn't take pics at the house, but couldn't help but have our server commemorate the moment when we had lunch at The Grape Street Cafe. 

I seriously LOVE this place.

When I was going to Vegas, the ONLY thing I wanted to do was eat here.

And order this.

It didn't photograph well, but man alive... I'm telling you. Their Hawaiian Ahi Tuna is, like, my favorite meal. On the planet.

And, of course, we had to have a spy-ish photo shoot with Mich once she saw the super cool (bathroom) door at the restaurant.

It was a fabulous weekend, full of downtime. Saturday morning, Jo, Mich and I hung out while G went to a training. That afternoon/evening, the four of us went out to eat, then pillaged a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Shop and had more Dole Whip (because Genevra knows how much I love it, and how hard it is to come by). Sunday morning, Jo and Mich went to church (like the good little Mormons they are) and G and I went to Starbucks (because when I'm on vaca, all religious rules are suspended) and sat and chatted for hours. Sunday night, Jo and Mich made us some sweet chicken tacos for dinner. ... And then, Monday, we drove home. 

It was a quick trip, and a short weekend... but it was awesome to spend hours in a car with Jo, and then a couple days with two of my oldest and dearest friends.

The Utah trip

I drove to Utah last month. For the first time in ten years. (For real. That's not an exaggeration. I moved to Mesa in 2006, and I've lived 10 minutes from the airport since then. The last time I drove to Utah was in 2005, when I was going from Taylor. Crazy.)

Because I knew that well... my body is broken, and my energy level is pretty crappy, I planned to break the drive up into three days. Judy agreed with, just in case I got to tired to drive. I left my house Saturday morning and went to Flagstaff, where my dad had driven down to give me Judy. We met with Brett and his sweet family for brunch before hitting the road.

After lunch, Jude and I got in the car... planning to get as far as Page that night.

Uhm... until we had to stop at Cameron for a potty break and they had one room available in the lodge. 

Sold!

And if the scenic views and incredible rock work wasn't enough to make us happy... The restaurant on site was AMAZING. Such fabulous food, and an awesome variety of traditional Navajo and boring American fare.

Sunday, we drove from Cameron to Cedar, through Jacob's Lake and over Cedar Mountain. It was an awesome drive. Beautiful, breathtaking scenery... but since this post is already going to be about a million pages long with the pics of the people, I'll skip posting the pics I took on Cedar Mountain.

Monday, Amy and Holli were off, so we got to just hang out ALL DAY. It was awesome! I got to see their new house, and meet their new baby, and Aunt Cindy bought me an all-I-could-eat salad bar for lunch. It was the best day ever!

Sadly, I forgot to get a pic taken before Holli left for work, and before Rae went down for the night. (Or at lunch, when we were all seated around a table and could have gotten a group pic.) But Amy took this pic of Baby Owen and me on the sly, and I just love it. He's the sweetest little dude. I love him!

On the way to Provo, I made a little stop in Spanish Fork to have a sleepover at Mich's house. 

Knowing I was in Spanish for the day/night, our old pal, Stacia, came by to say hi. And then we had a group photo with Michelle's scarecrow/boyfriend. (Because Mich gets real attached, real fast, to her Girls Camp props.)

Shelly was on her way to Hawaii in the morning, so I didn't get much time with her, but I dropped Jude at Shell's the night I was sleeping at Michelle's, so I could give her a quick H&G hug. Love that girl!

And then... the next morning, I went to Rachel's for a couple nights.

Rach lives in our grandparents' house, so it's always fun to have sleepovers there. I get to sleep in the downstairs, where the bathroom still has light switches that Grandad labeled, in the room that has smelled the same... for my whole life. I love it there!

And because Rachel is the most laid back, accommodating, person I know (outside of her mother, who can also handle having large groups of people thrown at her at a moment's notice), she totally let me invite all the cousins (and Kathy U) over for a last minute get together Thursday night.

Friday morning, on my way out of Provo and up to Kaysville, I stopped by Jule's to say goodbye to her girlies. I love those weirdos! It was so great to get to see them, to hang out at the house for a few hours, and take them all to see Inside Out. (Nothing like dropping $50+ on concessions at the movies. ... That is not me complaining, btw. I so love to make children's wishes and dreams come true when we're standing at a candy counter!)

Friday afternoon, the Jude and I got to Spencer's house for the weekend, where we met up with my dad, who'd come up for a friend's funeral. (Lucky timing, right?)

Saturday morning, Hilly and I went and got matchy/matchy mani & pedis.

Front porch selfie with my sweet Hilly

Saturday afternoon, Conman introduced me to his favorite drink place, Fiiz.

Yeah, we ordered (and drank) all of those.

We started with the two 32 ouncers in the bottom right, and then he started listing all of the other drinks he thought I should buy. Uhm... okay. (We may or may not have filled an entire punch card in one day, and then when we tagged ourselves at Fiiz that afternoon, they reshared our pic as the customer of the day.)

Best Laurie/Connor bonding day. Ever.

Sunday, Seth (and Hillary) sang for us.

Brea made some rocking awesome salsa.

For real, look at the bowl. We basically drink that stuff. It's freaking amazing!

Sunday night, we had a Cousins dinner at Nikki's house with Lindsay's family and Spencer's family

Good times were had by all. 

And Sethie and I were photobombed by Jesus.

Monday morning, breakfast at Granny's. 

Spencer and me in our matchy outfits with our matchy short, salt and pepper hair.

It was a super awesome trip. Exhausting, but exhilarating. I had multiple breakfast, lunch and dinner dates with old friends (no pics exist of any of those... I blame the chemo brain), and was able to see, like, every single cousin who was in town that week.

I am tired, but I went on a trip. I'm glad to be home, but I'm also super glad that I went. I saw people and places that I love. I'm so grateful that I am well enough, that I was strong enough, to do this. I'm so grateful that so many of my favorite people were gracious enough to make time in their busy schedule for me when I was in their city.

Did you know?

MD Anderson was a person! 

Not, MD, as in Dr. Anderson (though he was a doctor), but Monroe D. Anderson.

He was a person. And he started this amazing thing. (Well, him and some other awesome people started it.) But he was a person, and he wanted to help people who had cancer. ... I sort of love him.

I love him and his red brick buildings. They were gorgeous, and I SO didn't get enough pics to show you even half of what was the Houston MDA campus.

Both of these shots were taken from the pedway that connected the hotel (above) to the hospital itself.

Judy and I walked from the hotel to my Monday afternoon appointment, and when we turned the corner and saw this sign, it was... well... it was amazing.

A Sarcoma Center. 

An entire department, with multiple doctors dedicated to people with sarcoma diagnoses.

Here, I was not an anomaly. Here, I was just a patient.

(And I mean that in a good way.)

And, oh my gosh... the hotel. MD Anderson owns an adjacent hotel, on MDA property, specifically for the use of MDA patients and their caregivers, managed and operated by Marriott.

Hello! This is the view of the lobby, from the restaurant on the 2nd floor.

Also, can I tell you how much I love a hotel that has a self-serve frozen yogurt station that's open 24/7?

Uhm, no. No, I cannot. Because there aren't words for that kind of love.

And, hello! ... Best froyo flavor. 

Of. All. Time.

I seriously couldn't even tell you how many free samples I had of this stuff. It was amazing.

And there's a little restaurant across from the froyo stand that has a breakfast and lunch salad bar.

Amazing, beautiful, GLORIOUS fruits and vegetables (and grilled salmon), by the pound. This was the first time I'd had oranges and strawberries since chemo. Oh, my. The agony and the ecstasy. (But it was worth it. ... Mostly, because I had a toothbrush only 6 floors up, and I could get that acid out of my mouth asap.)

Oh my gosh, Houston was awesome. (I say that like we saw the city. We so didn't. But the hotel and the accommodations - oh, right, and the medical facility - were totally awesome!)