Monday, May 28, 2012

Memorial Day - the unofficial start of summer!

I can't believe its already Memorial Day. This year is flying by and we've been busy having fun. Last weekend we went to the local zoo. We had a fun day but halfway through Cassidy got tired and then she was just as happy to see a stick as to see a bobcat.
The flamingos had eggs!


We couldn't find any actual wolves but Cassidy was happy to see a stone one. And there was a secret passageway through the cave and she ran through that about twelve times!


On Saturday of the long weekend we headed up to my parents cottage for the day. The weather was perfect and we spent a few hours at the beach. Cassidy wouldn't go near the water unless someone held her. She loved digging in the sand as usual.



On Sunday we did our traditional Newburyport Spring Festival. Cassidy did some fancy dancing to the band (OK, really she spins in a circle until she's so dizzy she can't stand up). We relaxed in the park and browsed all the shops. We had a really fun weekend.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Sick all week

When I went to the support group, other cancer survivors fell into two camps. Either hated going to the doctor or liked having regular checkups as verification they were still cancer free. I personally didn't feel strongly either way. I'm definitely not worried about my cancer coming back. This past week (or two) I had an awful cough and went to the doctors. Firstly I learned that once you're a cancer survivor they don't just write you a prescription and send you on your way. You get the full treatment! Chest X-rays for a cough! Lesson learned, I'm not going to the doctor unless I'm really really sick. Secondly, I hated being there. My primary doctor is at Lahey which is where I was originally diagnosed but not treated. I don't know if it was having to talk about my cancer diagnosis & treatment with the doctor or being in the same place where I heard that news but I really didn't want to be there. It's a part of life and I'll suck it up but I was surprised to feel that way.

Happier thoughts are we've been enjoying the return of summer weather. Playing outside is a lot of fun.



Cassidy helps us find dog poo! She was walking up to her swings when she came across one, she turned around yelling "Poop Poop" LOL. She's a really big help.



Our neighbors have a 2 1/2 year old daughter. Cassidy always wants to say hi to Nina over the fence but doesn't understand that I can't pick her up that high. Even Bill has to stand on a rock!

My cousin gave us her son's old Play Doh tools and stuff! We've played with it every single day since we got it. We love using the cookie cutters to make shapes!


Saturday, May 12, 2012

Mother's Day


I don’t know how my family would’ve managed this past year without my mom.  She took care of Cassidy when I couldn’t. We must’ve looked pretty funny at times and would joke about other people’s comments about us (Look at that lazy girl making her poor mother do everything). Like the day we brought Cassidy to a museum and to Friendly’s for lunch after. There’s my mom, hefting Cassidy in and out of the car, the high chair and carrying all the heavy items while I stroll along with the Styrofoam box of leftovers.  She made this past year possible and a “Thank you” isn’t enough but it’s all I’ve got.
Here's a video of Cassidy and my mom golfing this week.


Happy Mother’s Day mom! Thanks for being the best Grammi ever!
Yippee I figured out how to get video's on here!!
I'm a proud mom that Cassidy has started choosing her own clothes. She's been wearing dresses a lot. She has pretty interesting skills with accessorizing. Last weekend we went for a walk like this:

She makes me laugh so much!  I hope everyone has a great weekend and Happy Mother's day!


Sunday, May 6, 2012

Boring Week

After getting home from Bermuda Monday I still had the whole week off. I knew it would be a pretty boring week but with rainy chilly weather it was worse than I’d expected. I’ve been happy to leave Breast Cancer in the dust and I had a bunch of cancer related things to take care of this week that pushed cancer back to the front of my mind.

On Tuesday I had an appointment with my oncologist to check-in to see how the side-effects of Tamoxifen are treating me. They took some blood which was all normal. I got a prescription to stop the hot flashes that I get at night so we’ll see how that works. I’ll have to go see him yearly while on the Tamoxifen.

On Wednesday I had an appointment with the plastic surgeon. The final part of reconstruction is nipples. I didn’t want to have more surgery so I decided not to have nipples reconstructed (create a  nub). Another option is to have a 3D effect nipple / areola tattoo. That’s what I did and I felt blah about getting it done but now I’m happy I did. They look truly awful because she used an old style tattoo needle. I’m black & blue too! I’m sure in a week or two it’ll look better.

On Thursday night I went and got a fun tattoo on the back of my neck. It was a tattoo filled week.

Now it’s the weekend and my husband abandoned us and went to CT. Cassidy and I have kept busy but I miss having an adult to talk to. Cassidy is very helpful. She cleans the counters.


She gave Jake many check-ups. He's very healthy! I think he's scared of the doctors bag now.


She ate lots of salad. She's obsessed. And she wants "my own salad". Lite Caesar dressing and she loves the croutons (of course).

Cassidy is pretty good company though we were happy to get out for a little while today over to Renee's house where we colored and played with Play-Doh!


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Bermuda

Bill and I just got back from Bermuda. We had a wonderful vacation. It's so relaxing there. Our hotel was awesome. We had a lot of fun and we have to go back because there were lots of things we didn't even do!
This was the view from the patio on our room.
Our hotel had a really nice beach and two afternoons we relaxed under an umbrella.
Somers Garden in St. George


From Fort Hamilton



It seemed like a big thing to do in Bermuda is shop. I don't shop on vacation. I never have, it's not my thing. So because of that I thought the cities - Hamilton & St. George - were just OK. Though there are chickens & roosters wild everywhere which is cool!

We did the touristy Crystal Caves. Which were interesting. 88 steps down and on my way back up (I was leading of course) a rat ran across a step ahead of me. I screamed like a girl!

My favorite thing we did was on Sunday. We took a bus to the smallest drawbridge in the world and then walked 8 miles on the rail trail to the Royal Dockyard. On the way we climbed up to Fort Scaur and got to see things you wouldn't see just riding the bus to the main town. Like bananas growing on a tree!
smallest drawbridge

bananas


We're already trying to figure out when we can go back. We did miss Cassidy though and she missed us too. We have all week to spend together since we're still off from work so we'll make it up to her.