Race for the Cure

What a great day for the race. The forecast said yesterday today would be raining or thunderstorm. We prayed for a better weather for the race and we got the best weather and finished the race before the storm. Most important of all, I had wonderful time and great team support. Our team of 34 "Triple Fighters" raised total of $2470 for the cause of ending breast cancer!

I ran and walked to the finish line in pride knowing there are so many wonderful people caring and supporting me. I must win this fight, not just for me, but for all women and men in this world. My grandparents, aunts and uncles have died of cancer. I want my children live cancer free. I am living for a bigger cause.

I am proud of Bert who ran his 3rd official 5K - for a man who never ran in his life before this past July. He can now run much easily than I can. For better health and spirit. He gave me courage and support constantly in my fight.

My girls can run without any training. They both finished in less than 30 min. Official results are not out yet, but I think Bert finished in about 35 min ish and I finished in 37 min ish. I did not sleep at all last night, but I did not stay up knowing the race today. I rested in bed trying to falling asleep. I think having steroid in my body probably gave me some boost to the run.

Friday chemo round #11 was uneventful. My blood test results were great on all accounts. One more to go before switching to a different chemo medicine.

Team Beanie

Team T-shirt

Back at the battle field in full power!

I seem to like to start every sentence with an "!" mark. That is just how excited I am every time I start to write.

10 down and 2 more to go before I am given a break, more tests and switched to a different chemo medicine. I must confess that last week was one of the hardest week mentally and physically. My allergic reaction to Taxol peaked at the highest point last weekend. Although the rash was under control by Monday with the new medicine from the dermatologist from Mayo, I still have numb toes and slightly tingling finger tips, but not as bad as my oncologist told me what the numb finger would feel like so I think I am OK on that front. My over worked liver made me very tired on Monday and Tuesday. My sore throat and congested sinus system did not help the situation. I chose to work two 1/2 days from home to isolate myself. There were tons work I could do from home anyway. All in all, my physical condition knocked my mental cheerfulness down a little, but I am still thankful that I can cheerfully complain about all of these:). I hate to be sick. I rarely get sick. When I do, I sleep and typically only take 1/2 day off work and I would be better and back on the go again. I am taking the same attitude. If I have a bad day, I go to bed.

Sleeping and good food still helped a lot. Besides Bert's chicken noodle soup, Chinese egg pudding is always my favor food to cure sore throat. Don't ask me why, I just believe in it. They worked again this time in combination with sleeping. The egg pudding is easy to make. I simply beaten one egg in a small bowl and add some water to double the size. Put the content with the container in boiling water to steam it in low heat for 5 minutes or until it solidified. Add soy sauce and sesame seed oil and serve it hot. I don't have a picture, but this photo from the website looks just like it.

The good news is that my rashes are now under control. My liver function came back nearly normal. My blood counts are low but in good range to continue my chemo. I am given the OK to be back on full dose of Taxol again this week. Yes, having been able to get full dose of chemo medicine is a good news!! I am back on full fighting power again!!

I also had a very pleasant chemo experience. I met and talked with another patience who is in the same clinical study and 2 weeks ahead of me on treatment. She had rashes too, but they look different and are all on her arms. She has the similar tingling feels on her fighters and numb toes. So we had a lot in common to talk about. We are also grateful to have Mayo's "Pink Ribbon Mentorship Program" volunteers visiting us. They are all breast cancer survivors who trigged my last week questions about when one should be consider a survivor. They come to visit chemo breast cancer patients and share their experience and answer our questions while we do chemo. They are very open. We were able to ask questions from how they feel at certain stage of treatment to very personal questions like what kind of breast surgery or reconstruction surgery they had and why they chose that route et al. There are so many volunteers while we do our chemo. There are even people coming over to massage your fingers and toes if you choose to. Bert and I set our goals that when we are retired, we need to spend our time helping other people in the hospital too.

Earlier in my treatment, I thought I would wear a wig all my time when I am bald or may be even wear it for the rest of my life. Things did not go as I had wished. The hot flash and hot weather make wearing wig not as comfortable as I had hoped. And the cool breeze of the fall also makes it cold. God created hair so it can breath through hot and cold weather for us. I have more appreciation now for the little things we take granted for. Anna and Jenny now are so used to my look, that they no long worry about my baldness. They commented many times how much they liked my look with scarf or even without anything. At home I simply running around with a hat or nothing. I am less surprised seeing myself bald in front of mirror too:).

I should have learned in life that I can't say "never". Every time I say "I never...", God always finds way to show me HIS power and I always ended up do the opposite of "I never...". The good news is that God is always right. I enjoy more of these opposite of "I never..." more than I would have never done it. I said, I never would want to live in Michigan before moving here, now I truly enjoy living in this state (maybe I should not say this too loud). As a new mother, I said I would never know how to love another child after my first born baby was born, now I enjoy the blessing loving four wonderful children including two adopted daughters - we just talked about how much we forget they are adopted today!! Bert said he would never consider to date a girl who speak a different language (when someone suggested him date a japanese girl before he met me), now you see what God made him do? I believe he is as happy with me as I am with him now!. We always wanted to buy a house with big acreage and circular drive way. For those who knows where I live, you know God had different plan, but we are very happy with that plan because we simply can't image when we would have time to take care of what we wanted otherwise. I have tons of stories like these. So between the wig and scarf, I enjoy both, but I get more positive comments with scarves. I learn my lesson this time not to say I would never do without scarf, but who knows what God has in plan for me. Time will tell. All I can say is that so far, I have been truly enjoy his blessings!

I am continue grateful and blessed to have my fighting crews from Gentex. They continue to inspire me in every way. They never give up the fight. I am so grateful. I wanted to say everything happen for a reason. Having cancer makes me realized how lucky I am to have this group of friends. Thank you God for showing this to me in this unique way and thank you God for making me strong in the process. I can't fight alone. I need my friends and family to fight with me! I know I will win with their help.

Since I mentioned scarf, I had been surprised with scarves and hats - all my favorite type and colors. Tonight, Anna, Jenny and I had great time play with them. Here are some videos. Anna is the camera girl (with my iPhone) and Jenny is my model.

First pictures only -

Some of the scarves and hats from my Gentex friends. There are many hand made items here.

Some of hats and bandanas from Mayo Clinic via volunteer groups such as loving care. They are all hand made.

Thanks to the Pollack's for this delicious dinner! Corn Chowder, Bread and Carrot Cake!

Here are the videos. We are inexperienced. LOL, we are taping these in our bathroom and with sleeping wears:)) and we made them too long to upload directly here. So I made them in Youtube format to make upload easy. And because they are in Youtube format, at the end of video, it will bring you to other video of the same category. All you have to do is to use the "back" button to go back to my video. They are unlisted that means if you want to share with others, they need to send them the link address. I am no expert. All of these are combination of what I created and what I learned online. I always love to do hairs, either it is hair cut or  braids, now scarf. I also have my own collections of scarves. Many of them are silk scarves collected by my sister for me from China. Unfortunately, these require more time and skills to tie. I can't wait for winter now to have more options for scarves. Who  knows, by then God may have different plans for my head:).

How to tie a long scarf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT1IWg2lRuo

How to tie a tube scarf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8CuOqveZGE

How to tie a square scarf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5ThVZwOQ1M

How to tie a thin scarf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlY0mTUWZ1U

Enjoy. Anna and Jenny both said they wish their school would allow them to wear scarves. You can wear them even you have hair!! Who knows, it may be a new fashion for this year:)

10 more days

Calling all runners, walkers and cheerleaders!! 10 more days before the Susan G. Komen Race for Cure Event in River Town Crossing on September 22. Help me to achieve my goal by either joining my team for the run/walk or make a small donation. Here is the link! THANK YOU!!

Mt. Baldhead 5K

Just had to do this for its name sake. They must name the run after me:). Bert actually ran faster than me. He finished 5k in 37 minutes, 30 seconds before me. I am so proud of him. As you can see, I started the run with a head (in Bert's hand now), but when it gets hot, I took it off. What the heck. It is a bald head run anyway.

Feel good to be able to run a 5K again.

In two weeks, we will do our Susan G. Komen, Race for Cure, 5K. I am so proud that we now have 29 runners on the Triple The Fight team. We raised $1185.00 as off this morning. $15 short of our goal of $1200.00. I know we are going to beat it!!

If you still want to donate and donate it in my name, please click here. - BIG THANKS!!!

News - from not so good to good and great!

This is the week that is full of good and not so good news and some great news of all!

The first not so good news is that the allergic reaction I have is getting worse. I had blister like rash on both of my hands by Monday and they traveled up all the way to my arms. I also got rashes on my legs which I believe are different type - the type I typically get when I get infection by going into public hot tubs. With my immune system is low, I think the few minutes I stood in Lake Michigan last weekend caused me the same type infection even though I had taken a shower immediately after. Long story short, I had hard time to coop with the rash and lost some sleep last week. My family doctor here referred me to a local dermatologist. Sadly I had to decline their appointment offer because they could not see me until the first week of October despite the fact that I explained her my situation needs immediately attention. By October I would have already done this round of chemo!

The good news is that I could see a dermatologist at Mayo Clinic. I am always amazed at how I could not get a local doctor to see me, but Mayo Clinic could. After failing to get a local Dermatologist, I called Mayo. Two hours later, I got a call back and was told me that an appointment had been added to see a dermatologist on Friday after my chemo. I got new and stronger medicine from the dermatologist. I also got a biopsy of the rash to rule out if it is not something else coincidently appears with the chemo cycle. I should know the result in a few days. I truly love their scientific approach. No guessing. Let's collect some data first - absolutely my type of thinking!

The 2nd no so good news is that although my blood counts are continuing to be good, as good as someone who is not on chemo according to my friend, my liver function results are totally out of the range. From my unprofessional, non-medical doctor's understanding is that my liver has been working extra hard to get rid of the toxic substance in my body (chemo drug), it is too stressed now.

However, the good news is that I still can have my #9 chemo, but at a 50% reduced dose. Next week, we hope my liver function will be better. If not, I either get a more reduced dose or take a break. As a result, Today's chemo was very uneventful. I did not get a chance to sleep this time. Bert and I played two rounds of Yahtzee(sp?) game and he let me win both times:). Also after the premed of these anti-allergy medicines, my rashes went down drastically. I think if my prediction is right, these rashes will come back on Monday and Tuesday when my chemo effects are the highest. The smaller dose may produce less or no rash this week. And more good news yet is that even if my allergy reaction is too sever to continue this chemo, I am already on my 9th round and stopping it will have little or no effect on my overall prognosis! The next round chemo is different drug. My body will not have the same reaction.

The 3rd not so good news is that my left wrist hurts me because of all the infusion so far has been on my left hand. The good news is that an ultrasound was performed and I believe the result shows all my veins are still good with no clogging. Some heat therapy will help to heal. The rest of chemo will be infused on my right hand. It is just fair game - 8 on the left and 8 on the right:). Now think of it, I am 1/2 way through my chemo by he number!!

All these added appointments delayed my return to home today. Thanks to my friends Elizabeth for taking care of my girls after school. They had a great time participating some fun activities with her children.

And now for the great news -
The first great news is that I am told I am a survivor!! I have never labeled myself as a cancer surviver. I still have the tumor in my body. I figured, I would not call myself a survivor until, maybe one year after I am cancer free or five year perhaps. So today, I tentatively asked one of the nurses who is in charge of my infusion when someone could be considered a survivor. She turned around and looked right into my eyes and said "you are now!". She then said anyone who is diagnosed is a survivor. Although no one can guarantee my prognosis, for the first time, I truly believed that I AM A SURVIVOR!! - that is one of the best news of today!

The 2nd great news is a great service my company is offering to all female employees and qualified dependents. Thanks to our HR and medical team for this wonderful connection. This team also put together a Healthy Mom and Healthy Baby program for all pregnant female employees and qualified dependents. I think soon we will be one of the best companies for working women!

There will be a celebration to the end of my first round of Chemo the first week of October. By then, I wish and pray that every female employees at Gentex and qualified dependents all have a clean bill of health and is well educated about women's health!

Labor Day Weekend

Because of the long weekend, we decided to make chemo#8 a family vacation. We left Holland on Thursday after wook. We stopped by Chicago to pick up Natalie who was one of the 8 girls adopted at the same time with Anna. Anna was extremely excited to have Natalie with us for this trip. I could not image how she would feel or behave if Natalie were not with us.

Me and Bert after Chemo#8. Chemo went well without any complications

Besides hair loss, I still don't have the common major side effect of chemo such as nausea or vomiting. However, I am getting some of the minor side effect such as tingling of fingers and toes, leg pains and fatigue.  Of course, I have to get some special. A very small percentage of people get this rare form rash as a result of allergy of the chemo. The chemo drug I am getting is called Taxol. Taxol itself was first discovered as extrant from yew tree bark. In order to deliver this drug through IV, the drug is dissolved in Cremophor EL. One of the rare form of allergic reaction to Cremophor El is rashes. On week #4, I noticed a small patch of blister like rashes. My local doctor thought it was from some kind of allergy and treated it as such. As weeks went by, I noticed my rash came and went as my chemo schedule. For example, rash got worse on Monday and Tuesday and got better by Friday - very similar to my tireness schedule. I finally got my oncologist attention and she comfirmed that this is a side reaction of Cremophor. She assured me that besides discomfort, it does not impose any life threaten danger. I think I can handle this. So taxol continues:).


 

Rashes on both of my hands and arms. They come and go with the cycle of my chemo, that is more rashes on Monday to Wednesday and less on Thursday and Friday.

After the chemo on Friday, we headed to Mall of America. We stayed at Homewood Suites by Hilton right across street from the Mall. We did some shop of course. Kids had a great time with all the roller coasters.



Double heart necklace - a surprise gift from Bert. These days, we are attracted to anything pink.

Anna, Natalie and Jenny on our way to the Mall

Fun Time in the Pool

Rex took my place and he knows that is not his place

On our way back, we stopped by Milwaukee to visit our Friends Donna and Nick and their daughters Cela, Kelan and Rosie and meet up with Natalie's parent Cindy and Craig and her brother Adam. Cela is another girl who was adopted at the same time when we adopted Anna. In a way, we had a small adoption reunion. Donna and I did our version of triathelon (bike, run and swim). We biked 10 miles along Lake Michigan. Unfortunately we did not run or swim much, but we did a little bit of it so we can say we did all three events.

Meet the Wesses and Migans - two of the anhui families. Here are 8 adopted children.

I took off my wig this weekend. Actually I have been taking it off as soon as I walked in the house since the beginning. Everyone at home has seen me running around without hair. This weekend, the weather was so hot. I decided to wear a simple head wrap or scarf even when we went out. This reminds me to tell you a story - a running joke in our family is that Bert has a girl friend without hair - for more than 20 years!

About 20 years ago, Bert took Toby, then just started to speak, out shopping. They came home much later than I expected. So as soon as they walked in the door, I joked: "What took you guys so long? Did you go to visit Dad's girl friend again?". "Yep!", Toby was eager to answer. "Oh, what does Dad's girl friend look like?" I played along with Toby. "No hair!" He said seriously. We have been retelling and laughing about this over and over again for 20 years. Last weekend, when Bert and I retold this story again, we realized that this is true now. He does have a bald girl friend now!!

Head wrap