YAY I AM HALF WAY THERE!!!!!!!

Like the title says i am half way there baby........ so now i will begin to count down! Like every other thursday my dad picked me up and drove me to work (my mom came this time) and we stopped at einsteins so i could get something to eat then made it into the office. Anyway hung out and did my thing till 1pm when barby came to get me. We stopped for you guessed it....LUNCH and i must say it was quite yummy then we made our way over to the chemo lab. Today my stats were all real good and Jeff came and stayed with us and he was quite pleasant. And i must say they even had yummy treats and barby donned plastic gloves to get us some cookies and they were not bad.

The conversation was pretty good although barby did some weird elf thing and the 2 of them were in stitches other than that though there waws nothing to exciting to report.

Next time i go they told me i would be there for 5 hours as i would be using a different concoction but more on that later.

Anyway not much else to report but i will be back on monday with my new years outing!!

Oh ya the kids are in winter camp this week and next week and i have to tell you they are loving it, everyday they go on different trips to different places and today (friday) zappa tried to get them to ride there bikes but we will have to wait and see.....

Anyways i will wirte again soon.

Mich

Rest of the day!

And here is part II.

After Mr. Food, we went back to Michelle and Jeff's to drop the food off, where we saw Grandma and Zappa with Justin and Jordana.

Justin was getting ready to sleep over at Joshie's, and Jordana was going to come with us for lunch!

After we dropped Justin off we went to Einstein's for lunch, then went out and about.

Tonight the 6 of us (mom/dad/jeff/mich/nana/me) went to Houston's for dinner and had some laughs .. Dad got to show Jordana the boats and the bridge went up! They had a great time!

Here are some pictures from tonight and I have to say Michelle really looks great! She is feeling good with the usual tiredness, but overall I am happy to report doing wonderfully!

As always thanks to Mom, Dad, Jeff, Susie, Shayne and everyone who keeps checking in with her to keep her spirits at their always high :)









Have a good night everyone!

Luv-
Barby

Mr Food - No Fuss!

Ok well today there is going to be 2 entries! The first one is today's events.

For hanukkah Shayne and I got Jeff a gift to go to Mr. Food - No Fuss Meals! This is where you go and choose a bunch of meals, then go to their kitchen stations (Mr. Food) to assemble the foods to freeze then all you have to do is cook it! The best part is each meal can serve 4-5 people. We did a package where they chose (7) dinners and a veggie side dish, oh yeah and cookies for dessert! Michelle accompanied Jeff as his helper.

Well this morning I called Michelle, as I wanted to go and watch the 2 of them in action. They are to cute and I was waiting for them argue and catch them in action! But low and behold, all they did was laugh together as I sat in the chair at the front and watched. This was really fun and I think the (4) of us may do this together sometime in January!

Here are some pictures of their cooking prep!








As I watched on in amusement, all Michelle kept saying was Jeff thinks he is at home! Jeff at the beginning was only letting Michelle put the cooking instruction labels on the outside of the completed meal! But she got in there and they prepped together in typical Rapaport fashion -- TEAMWORK! In Michelle's usual cooking manner (but I didn't tell you) .. she was munching on the white chocolate chips while they did the prep work for the cookies! .... Shhhh!! ;)


See you in a few with tonights blog!

Luv-
Barby

Day 4 of Hanukkah!

Ok so tonight Jeff made his feasts-of-feasts! LATKES!! ... These are like Shayne's FAVORITE dish in the whole wide world.

Everyone gathered at the Rapaport household this evening to munch together and here are some family shots ..













As usual we all had our laughs and tomorrow Michelle has another follow up appointment so I will be meeting her then back to work!

Till then enjoy and continue enjoying your HANUKKAH festivities!


Luv-
B

Last night Sunday, December 17th was our Holiday party. Gift of Life held their 3rd annual party at Benvenuto's in Boynton Beach for the 2nd year in a row!

Jody, Suzanne and Michele did a great job making this a very special evening! We even had the priviledge of witnessing a donor-recipient meeting! The warmest part is that the donor was Jody's brother! .. and they also hired a great magician. Jeff did a great job doing photography and even prepared a year in review of clips of everyone. It was really nice! Kudos.

Thank you to Jay, Jack and Arlene from all of the Sloven's - Pilpel/Rapaports for a great party..

Anyways here are some pics from last night ...






Enjoy!

HAPPY HANUKKAH !!

Well today is Saturday and been a while since I have written on the blog so here is the scoop!

Michelle is doing AMAZING .. did I say AMAZING! ... As she mentioned in her last blog Susie and I went with her for her last chemo, and she is now a pro!

When we went on Thursday it was pouring out and my hair went caput .. not that it looks very good any other day .. but it was so bad I asked her for a shmata to put on it .. so we walked in like twins (of course she is the better looking one!) .. so when we saw Susie we asked her if she wanted one also so no one felt left out .. I took pictures you will see below .. but Susie didn't want hers up .. and she did look quite cute. We were the sisters grim :)





Well tomorrow night is our office holiday party and other than that not much new to report.


So from all of us to all of you we wish you nothing but the brightest, healthiest and happiest hanukkah!



ONE LAST NOTE: 5 TO GO MICHELLE !!!! --- WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU ... KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK !


Love,
Barby, Shayne, Princess, Hershey, and Pletzel
Michelle, Jeff, Justin and Jordana
Linda, Neil and Susie

Session 3

Well good morning everyone it is almost 5am and i have been up since 3:45am so i figured i would update my blog. Although i cant explain why i am up so early it might have to do with the fact i had to go to the bathroom or that i have heartburn (dam that brownie bite!!!!) Anyway yesterday was session number 3 (YAY ONLY 5 TO GO!!!) and i went with both Barby (the regular) and special guest Susie (who was starving) but i think overall a enjoyable time was had by all. The Emla cream (numbing) worked fairly well although the colleague who helped me put it on didnt put it low enough but i am not going to complain as in the grand scheme of things it went better then the previous session. But i must say the weather here yesterday was AWFUL and by the time barby and i left the office it was pouring and my sandwich got soggy :( and she made me eat it anyway (blech) but on the up side my hair looked great (lack there of) as the do rag covered it nicely.

At the office we had a white elepant party whre we all brought in gifts and got to pick or steal someone elses, it was very good time and i ended up with a signed football which i am going to give to justin (once i get a lucite box for it of course!!).

On Tuesday nite i got together with an old friend Lauren and we had a really nice time and hopefully we will do it again, sooner than later!

Today i have to go back to the dr's for my neulasta shot so mom and dad are coming to get me and they will shlep me there - hopefully the drive will be not-so-exciting as my previous outings with them have been well how do i say EXCITING! Tonite we have jordanas brownie badge ceremony where i believe she will be getting 5 badges or so. Also this afternoon we have justin an jordanas karate belt ceremony, he is going for his red belt (yay) and she is going for her orange (yay) no messing with the rapaport kids! After all that i will hopefully get a good nights sleep since the current one wasnt so hot.

Ok cant think of anything else at this hour except to wish everyone that celebrates a very happy hanukkah and enjoy the latke eating.

Later,
Mich

And here we are ...... another sunday

Well it is now sunday december 10th and i know i havent been on lately so let me think if i have anything exciting to tell you.........well last nite we went out as a family (minus barby who is in orlando at a convention...i miss u) to mccormick and schmicks for dinner for my moms 63rd birthday and i think everyone enjoyed themselves. But beffore that i had a doctor appointment on tuesday just as a follow up and it went quite well and i am still counting down my sessions so as of today i have 6 left, hopefully the time will fly. It is also official that my hair is almost completely off my head and i must tell you the shock was not even there, once i shaved it i was well over any shock and now its no big deal. I wear my wig when i have to go somewhere (like last nite) but otherwise i wear a do rag and it is totally fine. My kids are used to my lack of hair and when i wear the wig they ask me why ...go figure!

Yesterday jordana went to see the play sleeping beauty with her brownie troup and totally loved it.

Yesterday i also had lunch with an old colleague and we had a really nice time and she even suggested that her, barby and myself do the "walk for a cure" next year so be ready to cough up some pledges y'all!!!

Now i am going to say goodbye but i will be back on friday after...session 3.

Till then......

The day after turning 41

Well for starters i want to thank the following people for remembering my birthday:
jeff, justin, jordana, mom, dad, susie, barby, shayne, the puppies,jay, the offman family, the naimer family, the needle family, the korum family, the mansoor family, the perry family, auntie corrine and uncle barry, baubie, auntie adele and uncle philip, suzanne, the yanes family, lynda, alice, nelly, dov, michelle and tony, and bonnie it was very sweet to hear from all of you :)

As you know i had my 2nd chemo session on thursday and after the episode at the beginning it went quite smoothly. Both yesterday and today have been rather normal and with no real feelings of sickness. Although i did get up this monring at 6:30am to go to the bathroom but took a nap a little bit later on. The only thing i find is tought is drinking all the required liquid but i am plugging along.

Last nite jordana had brownies and upon her return home i had to model my new do as she told her girlfriend that for my birthday i shaved my head, but much to my surprise they werent thrown off guard at all in fact one of them was like "nice hair" go figure :)

Oh and i almost forgot that yesterday i went back to the drs office for my neulasta shot and i must say my drive on the way there was quite exciting, i dont want to mention names as i think that the person will be EMBARRASED as they ran a red light but O M G this was the 2nd time this person has done this....can u imagine ??!!

In anycase today was low day with really nothing planned and nothing to do but tomorrow we are going to do the birthday cake thing with the family and i will put some pictured up, so until then.......mich

ps. did you know that my bat mitzvah was 28 years ago today - now i am beginning to feel my age ;)

Happy Birthday Michelle !!!!

Well I know it's a little early but I wanted to make sure Michelle saw this when she got up in the morning.

I cannot believe she is going to be "41" tomorrow! It's been a whole year already and I just got my song down pat today for her :)

Michelle just called me that Jeff cut her hair and she wanted me to share it with everyone, does she not look CUTE OR WHAT! I am very impressed with Jeff's work and think she looks adorable!




Today was #2 of 8 chemotherapies which she will be having, so for those of you who are counting down with is "6 TO GO"!!.

Today was a little bit hard for Michelle as they couldn't get the line into the port. After 2 jabs at her, the nurse realized she needed a longer needle. Needless to say Michelle started to sweat and they had to track down the 1.5 incher! As usual she stayed composed in between her moments .. BUT there was an elderly man that took her mind off everything. He was to cute!

This man was there the 1st time we went, and he always looked sad and alone .. well today the nurse came by his seat and asked I am thinking if he wanted his chair reclined, so when she pushed on it to get it to go, he looked like he was on a ride going up and down and he was just SMILING AND BEAMING -- it was so cute! I was ready to go and take a picture of him .. he looked so happy!

So back to Michelle ;)

We were just under an hour later starting and by the time we were done she was still doing good .. I think the key was this time I took her to eat before we went. This really made a difference in addition, it says with the meds to eat first (ALTHOUGH NO ONE TOLD US).

Oh yeah .. did I mention they lost her paperwork from the 1st session? So it started off rough but she did great.

On the way home we went to get Shayne, stopped at the Mc D's for the kids then dropped Mich off and said hello then to dinner with folks for a quick bite.


Thats a wrap!


Michelle:
Shayne and I want to wish you the best of the best birthdays .. and I am so proud and honored to have you as my BIGGEST sister! Keep up the GREAT work and know after this you can do ANYTHING!

We love you and hope 41 is the year of all good things!


Nite Nite.

Luv-
Barby and Shayne


PS The gurls wanted to wish you a happy birthday to so here they are!

The early birthday :)

It is now sunday night and i must say i have been quite busy the past few days. On thursday we celebrated thanksgiving at our place with my parents, sisters and shayne and i must say jeff really outdid himself in the cooking department...it was totally YUMMMMMY and i even had the tastebuds to go along with it.

Friday was a somewhat boring day as the kids and i hung out while jeff went into the office but they had a good day (who wouldnt have a good day...being out of school). Saturday night we had the babysitter and we went with my family to the blue moon fish company for a pre birthday dinner and it was quite delicious and they even ordered me a dessert which i must say i was surprised but thats another story on its own. I think we all had a nice time and am glad we did it.

Today i went back to the wig lady and got my wig, barby and shayne met me there. I must say that i wore it home and jordana didnt notice the difference, justin said "nice hair" and jeff said it looked pretty good. The funniest part is that after i took it off i put a headband on and nobody even noticed that i had taken the wig off...so it must really look ok :) Then this afternoon i took the kids to see the santa clause 3 which they loved and it had some really funny parts so overall it was a good day. Tonite we met barby and shayne (thanks you thank you)for dinner and then came home to just chill.

Tomorrow i am going into the office (yay) and am hoping i will be there all week until i have my chemo session again (thursday) and then i will work from home, but like i have said before it will be 2 down 6 to go so keep on coounting.

Anyway going to go catch up on some tv so i will chat soon.

luv,
Mich

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well here we are at November 23, 2006 already! Can you beleive it.

Happy THANKSGIVING everyone .. and we all know we have alot to be thankful for this year.

With that said, tonight the Slovens, Rapaports and Pilpels will all be having dinner together at Michelle's. Jeff is the SUPERB cook and takes care of everything as far as the cooking.

Now we cannot forget our SOUS CHEF Michelle, MINI SOUS CHEF Justin and last but definitely not least the MINI MINI SOUS CHEF Jordana!

Today is one of those lazy days where everyone gets to chill and we look forward to tonight to being with everyone.

Michelle is starting to feel less tired and doing great .. she even says her taste is coming back as some items were tasting yucky (YEAH MICH!!).

So from all of us to you hope you have a great one!



Luv-

The Wig Event

Well it was sunday morning around 10ish when barby and shayne came to take me over to the festival flea market for my big WIG outing so off we went. Upon arrival we had to find where we were going and once there barby and i scoped out the joint. We found 3 tht were kinda my style and waited for our rep to help us. I musttell you that it is not the most fun experience as they put a tocking on your head to hold down your hair and i must say it felt like my brain was beginning to crumble. After getting over that she let me try on a few wigs which were pretty close to the hair color i have now (reddish/brown) and the style was also semi close. For those of you that know the type of hair jeff normally has one of the wigs was like that (very bushy) so they were going to thin it out. I also picked out some do-rags which i think i will end up wearing most of the time. So we go back again next sunday for another fitting and then i believe that should be it. Aferwards we went and had a little something to eat and then they dropped me off at home - so in the grand scheme of things i would say the day was fairly successful.

Later in the afternoon jeff and the kids and i went to bjs to do a little shopping, the exercise factor worked very well for me so i was very happy. After this we came home and just kinda hung out.

Anyway nothing else to report.

Later,
Mich

The day after the day after

Well i must admit that the first day after chemo was not as bad as i though but the 2nd day after chemo was a little rougher. Luckily they gave me great meds so nausea and vomiting (thank g-d) weren't an issue but the fatigue now that is something else. I woke up yesterday feeling kinda blue for no inane reason but as the day wore on i just kept getting more tired until i had to go lay down and of course i fell asleep for 3 hours.

Barby and my parents came over to visit but i think i ducked out on them but thanks for stopping by :)

Jordana had her scrapbooking party yesterday afternoon and she didnt return till 6:30pm and then jef and i took her out for dinner to roadhouse, as she won an achievement certificate so she wanted to go there. Dinner went well and afterwards we went to get justin from his buddy joshs.

Well now its sunday morning and i must say i feel pretty ok but i will check in later to see if it remains that way.

More later.....

The Morning after

Well it is now 8am and i have been up for an hour and i have to say i feel pretty good. I got the kids ready for school and my girlfirend annamaria picked them up for me (thanks) and then i popped 2 pills and honestly i feel pretty ok. I will keep changing todays post as the day goes on but as of right now i feel ok and am going to go back to bed and get a little sleep.

More later......

So here it is almost 8pm and i have to tell you i feel pretty good. I actually ended up sleeping most of the morning (till noon to be exact) then i got up made some eggs and toast then waited for my parents to come take me to the drs for my neulastin shot. Now i will tell yoou the shot wasnt as bad as i first thought but it is still a shot but alright i will get over it. Then they brought me home and i have been chilling since. The kids had judaica class then karate and then justin is over at his buddy josh's for the nite and jordana is ata brownie event. Jeff took me out for soemthing to eat and now i am going to take my meds and probably hit the hay as i am a little tired.

Anyway again thanks to all of you for everything and to my colleague diana the bear is a big hit!!!!

Love to all,
Mich

So after all the bullshit....i had my first chemo treatment

Well hello everyone,

Today was quite an interesting day, first the chemo was off as we were still waiting for the insurance to life some pre-exclusion clause which they finally did at 12:00pm and after that everything happened very quickly. We had to call my parents to go to my place to pick up my anti-nausea pills and they had to meet us at the dr's office by 1pm so it was a little rush rush. Once we saw them and i got my pills i took one and then hung out with barby waiting till we were called in. Then i got called in (barby had to wait in the lobby) and they took a finger prick so they can get my cbc (which btw was all normal) then my blood pressure and then he waved to barby to come join us. We then went into the transfusion room which for those who have never been to a center like thi, its a room filled with chairs and more chairs. We picked out seats in the corner and then we waited....and waited and then Nurse Karen came over and the fun began. For starters she felt the port and said it was very nice....then she swabbed me with 2 types if cleansers and then she jabbed me (it did hurt!) and then she proceeded to try and draw blood but as the port has never been used it was a little tough so she was going to try it at the end of the treatment. She proceeded to put up various bags that contained various meds (saline, adavan, and the chemo meds themselves) i must say in the grand scheme of things it wasnt so so bad (besides the jab thing) and then at the end she was explaining all sorts of things to me andd gave me some more reading material and then we booked our next session and made our way home.

Did i mention they had food there?? Well they did but we didnt eat any as we came with our own stash! (we are the sloven sisters - we never go anywhere empty handed)

I must say thank you to barby for coming with me she was great company, to my parents for being around for all this chaos and even if i dont say thanks all the time i just want you to know it is greatly appreciated :). To shayne thanks for picking up my meds and stuff. To Jeff......what can i say....you are my world. To my kids who dont even see this blog they need to know that part of what keeps me going is that i will be there for them and they are always in my heart. To susie you epihanys make me smile. And to all my friends and colleagues thanks to all of you for being there and helping me to smile.

So now that treatment 1 is over i only have 7 more to go!!!!!!!

I am going to write again over the weekend to keep everyone abreast of whats going on with me.

Later,
xoxo
mich

Chemo on hold ..

First off thank you to everyone continuing to check on Michelle and sending your warm wishes. As always very appreciative.

Unfortunately doesn't look like chemo will be starting tomorrow as we are still having insurance issues .. thank g-d its not urgent but is a necessity and I will continue yelling and fighting til this happens.

Did I tell you I HATE PEOPLE and most of all INSURANCE COMPANIES :(

Well I will keep everyone posted as to the start date and as always thank you!

Oh yeah and the patient is holding up well considering this not needed stress.


Barby

I'm Back !

Hi Guys,

Well it's been a while since I have posted (or so I have been told within the last few days!!) so I thought I would take a few minutes to send a quick update.

Well besides being DUPPED with my haircut (yes Michelle .. that would be towards you!) we cannot complain.

Michelle's spirits are great and as always I am truly in awe of her, and I am not just saying that.

Michelle as everyone knows is to start chemo on Thursday, and unfortunately the usual hay-shmay with insurance is on the brain for all of us right now but we hope to have everything rectified before then so keep your fingers crossed!

Even with all that going on, Michelle is back in the office and looks great! It feels weird to see her after these few weeks out and all she wants to do is work! Go figure :)

Mom and I got back from Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon and we all had dinner, it was nice to catch up with her and hear how her doctors appointments went (I felt terrible I couldn't be there for them last Tuesday) and they went VERY WELL as you all saw.

Well I am leaving work now but Michelle know how very very proud I am of you and continue to marvel at your strength throughout all of this. You truly are my HERO!

I love you!
Barby

Busy couple of days

Well i know its been a while so let me tell you whats been going on:

Monday - i went back to work for a few hours and i must say the welcomes back from all my colleagues was wonderful - i felt truly missed!!! I stayed for almost 5 hours and got some stuff accomplished but have quite a bit waiting for me upon my grand return (i can hardly wait - i mean it!!) so it will be great. I also want to say thanks to Bonnie for the yummy cookie - the kids and jeff loved it :)

Tuesday: i went to dr. tranakas this morning for another follow-up appointment and it went real well. He removed (ouch) the remmaining steri-strips and gave me the official "it looks great and i dont want too see yoou for 6 months! He also gave me my pathology results which he said if i had to get a certain type this was the type to get (although NO type would be the best answer but i will take it). After this jeff and i went for breakfast and then came home for a while before we set out to the oncologist.

Our appointment was for 1:30pm but in true jeff fashion we got lost first so we made it on time. Once in there we didnt have to wait to long and then they called me in and took my vitals and my weight (ugh) and then told me to go sit outside and wait. So after waiting a little bit they called me in and we both went in and waited for the dr. She came in with her assistant and proceeded to check my war wounds and listen to my lungs and declared i was looking great and we could begin chemo sooner than later (depending on yoour personality type you can take this either way). I asked a bunch of questions which she answered and then she told me to get my anti-nausea meds and make sure i take them 30 minutes before i start and reminded me to get fitted for a wig (hmmmmm - o the variety to have to go pick and choose) and remember to eat (not a problem). for those of you who want to know they tested 4 nodes all of which came back negative, clean margins and the type is ER+/PR+/HR-.
So upon leaving her office i felt pretty good and told her i would see her next week (16th). The one thing she did tell me is that on day 2 or day 3 to be prepared for that i will feel like crap, not so much from nausea but from fatigue, this is part of the reason i chose to do my sessions on a thursday so i can havethe weekend to recoop. The only down fall is that the way the sessions fall (once evry 2 weeks) is that this year wont be a very happy birthday but i intend to celebrate 2wice as hard next year :)

After leaving the ofice we went and got the kids and then proceeded to (surprise) cheerleading (the absolute final final event is friday nite)for practice. Once we finished we did a quick walmart run and came home.

Well thats it for now hopefully it answers everything but if i have forgotten anything just let me know and i will answer it or update this blog.

Nite,
Mich

I can't believe its November

Today is sunday the 5th of november and i have been home from the hospital for 2 weeks. I must say that i feel 110% better today than i did when i first came home and life here at the rapaport home is definately back to normal. Yesterday Jordana had her Allstar game so we were at the field from 8:30 - 12:30 but lucky for us the weather was windy and cool so it wasnt bad at all. Once we finished there we met friends for lunch and then headed home. Jordana had a brownie outing last night so she was gone from 3:15pm - 8:30 when we picked her up, she stunk like fire and was so wound up it was really quite cute. Jeff and i dropped her girfriend off then took her home and the we went out so you all know i had a good nights sleep. Justin in the midst of all this had a sleepover at his buddys house and was less than thrilled to come home because that meant CLEAN UP and he hates that - o well! Today we all slept in and just took it easy, i answred various emails did some work on the computer and am preparing everybodys stuff for tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow i am going back to work - yepp its true. My mom is going to pick me up and drive me there for around 11:30 or so and i am going to sit at my desk and see everyone for the first time in 3 weeks, i am very excited and can hardly wait! But the rest of the week i am going to work from home as i still get tired in the later part of the afternoon (i wonder if this is a sign of whats to come in my aging years ;) I am hoping to return on a regular basis the following monday so i think its all good.

Tuesday i have 2 dr appointments which i will update once they happen and other than that not to much to report (without being real boring). Anyway kids are fighting (big surprise) so i need to go seperate them.

Till Tuesday.
xoxo
mich

Another Day...another doctor appt

Well it is Halloween and i started my day going to Dr. Tranakas's office. Jeff and i took the kids to school and then met Barby at Einsteins for a quick breakfast. After eating we headed over to his office for our 9:15am appointment. We were taken in almost right away and then he came in. He proceeeded to check the wounds which he said are looking great and then he said he was going to remove my drain (yay!!!!!). Then he removed my steri-strips which are covering the port and proceeded to tell me the others will eventually fall off. I have to go back neext tuesday for another check of the steri-strips, hopefully there will be some movement. He also told me i need to do shoulder exercises to make my left arm more mobil.

Once we left there, Jeff went to work and Barby and i started the prosthesis event. We called a few places and finally decided to go to a place in Margate called "A Fitting Experience" The women there were really nice and they even had items for my size (this i will not divulge but i can safely say its not small). After trying on a multitude of bras with various stufffers - they look like shoulder pads we finally found the perfect specimen that was as close as we were going to get. I am very excited i can go out walking now!! In any event i need to go back in a month or so for the silicone version (which btw is quite interesting and yes large)which will be the one i wear for the next little while.

As we made our way back to the apartment for our afternoon appointment we went to get haircuts. They came out quite cute but i have to say i hackeed off quite a bit, but in the grand scheme of things its longer then it will be 2 months from now so who am i to complain. Barbys' looked very cute as well. Hopefully mine will look just as good once i dry it myself :)

Tonite Jeff & I took the kids over to our friends Stacey & Jeff's so they could go trick or treating it was alot of fun and the kids greabbed alot of yummy candy.

Anyway thats it for now. I am feeling good and hope to be out and about real soon.

XOXO
Mich

HAPPY H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N !

HERE IS WISHING EVERYONE A VERY HAPPY AND SPOOKY HALLOWEEN!

LOVE,
MICHELLE, JEFF, JUSTIN AND JORDANA

NEIL, LINDA AND SUSIE

BARBY, SHAYNE and of course Princess, Hershey and Pletzel!

Pig Pen in the House ..

Ok for all of you who may not already know this, Michelle's nick-name by her loved ones is "Pig Pen", so for Halloween I thought this image was great!

Now back to Pig Pen did you know:
Before grunge was cool, Pigpen made his debut in the Peanuts comic strip on July 13, 1954 and since then has been the butt of "dirt" gags. He walks around in a cloud of dust, sprinkling dirt on all he comes in contact with. Pigpen is happily messy. He doesn't try to explain it, hide it, fight it. For him, it's just a fact of life. His slovenly ways paid off in 1993 with a series of television commercials for Regina vacuum cleaners which combined animation with live-action.


Well after Michelle mentioned a few times time tonight I have not posted I told her I would go on and do so .. sheesh! Is she pushy or what ;)

Tomorrow morning I am meeting Mich and Jeff at the surgeons office for her post-office visit which I know will go great as she really is doing wonderfully. I know she can't wait to come back to work!! We all miss her.

Next week she also has the oncologist which is where they will tell us what type of chemo they will be giving her. I am trying my best to move the appointment up and see if any cancellations come up as I really want to be at the appointment. So far no luck .. but I am quite persistant and will continue calling the office !!

Mom and I leave for Minneapolis next week so you know my cel phone will be pinned to my ear. Wish me luck in getting our appointment sooner!

Also as a treat, Michelle and I will be getting our hair cut this weekend! Micheal my hairdresser is to much and I know she will love him .. he is very funny.


Well to all of you happy halloween and I will make sure Michelle updates everyone with the details of her appointment.


Nite Nite,
Barby (aka linus)

Friends

Well it is now Thursday nite and i am watching ugly betty with justin and decided to give a little update. The home health nurse was here today and again said everything looks and sounds good (yay) and then my friend Barbara (Barbie to me) flew in from Toronto to spend some time with me 4 hours to be exact! Talk about a whirlwind but it was great it was like old time, just the two of us talkking and laffing and best of all GOSSIP!!. In anycase Barbie thank you thank you thank you it was a nice treat.

My little one (nana) got strep throat so she is at my folks having a sleepover and will be back home tomorrow afternoon (24hours) WE MISS YOU!!! Feel better.

Tonite is Greys anatomy andd i am trying very hard to stay up so i can watch this, i mean lets be real the eye candy is totally yum yum!

Anyway i just want to say thanks to everyone for all there emails and gifts, it really means alot...so kudos to all of you.

Anway gonna go and get ready for Greys.

Chat soon,
Mich

The days go by

Good morning,

Well its now tuesday and i have been home for a few days and i must say its been nice. The kids have been great and my parents have really been very helpful so thank you thank you. Sunday night we had the family over for bday cake for justin it went very well. On monday my mom came over and kept me company which was very nice although justin had to picked up from scholl early as he threw up and once home he just slept and slept :(.

Last night i watched the movie "i wore red lipstick to my masectomy" which was really a very good movie but i have to say that watching her go though chemo sort of made me uneasy but hopefully my turn wont be so bad (pray for me!) anyway my home health nurse came today and said everything looks and sounds great (almost feel like a car) but good news is the only news to get!

My parents are taking justin to the dr to make sure he is ok and then will get jordana and bring them home.

I must also tell everyone that Jordana made the All-Star team for Cheerleading - for those who dont know 3 girls per team are picked and they go on to learn a new routine and perform at the cheer-off - she is totally psyched! GO NANA!!!

Anyway thats all for now. Speakl or see you guys soon.

xoxo
Mich

Sunday

Good morning,

Well i must admit i had a great nights sleep - i slept from 11 till 7:22 without having to get up to give my blood pressure or have my temperature taken - this is livin! Anyway the home health nurse just called to advise she would be here between 10:30 - 11:30 this morning.

For those of you who dont know today is Justins 8th birthday - happy bday baby!!!! He even made me breakfast this morning and who knew toast could taste so good. They are going to wilt's this afternoon for lunch and to play games and then later today the family is coming over for cake.

So the home health nurse was here, she was very nice, told me my war wounds are looking nice and that she would be back on Tuesday. Ok see you then :)

Jeff took the kids to Wilts for lunch and then they were going to hang out and play some games - wish i was there but there will be next time, so my folks are here keeping me company.

Anyway not much else to report so ciao for now!

Mich

Happy or what!

As everyone read Michelle came home yesterday!

Everyone got together last night, although Shayne and I showed up a bit later, but none the less we were all there to visit!

She is looking very good as are her spirits.

The next week will continue to be the healing process then we will follow up with the surgeon hopefully a week Tuesday so we can make sure all is healed and good to go.

The next step as we all know which is in early November is for Michelle to follow up with the Oncologist. At that time they will advise us what type of chemo they recommend her to go on. Right now they are still waiting on the results of the actual type of cancer (e.g. hormonal..) this will depend what type of treatment she will receive.

I am sure the blogs will be intermittent for the next few weeks, but keep checking in as we will continue to let you know as things progress.

NOW WE CANNOT FORGET "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN!", TODAY HE IS 8 YEARS OLD, AND MOM'S LITTLE HELPER ;)


Again from all of us to all of you, thanks!

PS Sima, Neomi and Lauren - Very cute cookie bouquet!



Love,
Jeff, Mich, Justin, Jordana
Linda, Neil, Susie
Barby and Shayne

Well i am finally home!!!!

Hi everyone!

It is me, Michelle and its official i am home - yay!!!!!! Whoever said the hospital was a restful place really needs to have there head examined, the true rest starts now. I know that the updates have been updated daily so i am not going to repeat it as barby has done a great job and left no stone unturned so a big hug and kisses to her for doing such a great great job....if i havent said it enuf i say it again THANKS for being who you are without you i would be lost. To my husband jeff you have truly gone above and beyond your call of duty and hopefully the ride from here is a little less rocky. To my parents thanks for everything and yes daddy they gave me some pills to take the edge off! To susie thanks for stopping by and NOT wearing your big glasses! To Shayne a big thank you for helping out with the kids and well i still dont see the resemblence. To my friends and co-worker i say kudos to you for all your well wishes and thoughts as they made everyday a little lighter when barby read me your emails and stuff and i look forward to seeing or speaking to you all real soon.

Anyway i am going to go rest a little but will blog again soon.

Luv to all of you,
Mich

GREAT NEWS!!

I first want to thank Jeff very much for coming as support on Thursday when I had my ultra-sound. It was not expected but greatly appreciated.

Here is Friday's rundown:

Unfortunately I didn't get to the hospital until late afternoon but Michelle ha a decent day in the morning with discomfort.

She walked the halls several times and sat in the chair for a while which is great!

By the time I arrived the chest tube had just been removed ... She looked like a HUGE weight was off her and starting to come back to the Mich we all know.

Jeff was with Michelle the whole time and again has been a great support for Michelle during this time.

While I was there her surgeon came in to give the GREAT news they got the pathology report results which confirmed the LYMPHNODES WERE NEGATIVE and her MARGINS WERE CLEAN. This was AMAZING NEWS to know it didn't spread. He also advised and confirmed that 2 of the cancers were invasive and one was in situ, which means if they didn't take care of it now it could have spread.

I also got my own ultra-sound results back from my mammogram which also came back negative which was also a great stress releif for the family.

Mom and dad stayed most of the day til dinner, and Susie came after work and the 3 sisters went for a walk down the halls .. It's truly amazing to see everyone come together as a family at times like these.

Shayne came around 8:30pm and the nurse first thought he was Michelle's husband, then when they questioned why she said they looked alike .. then when we told her he was MY husband she asked if he was Mich's son ... OK so she is not the brightest bulb what can I tell ya!

Michelle said to me "I guess the hardest part is done now, I guess it's just the chemo". She is right .. she can do anything and will continue to be positive moving forward.

Before I left Michelle was talking to Rochelle on my cel and I could see Michelle coming back to her spirits etc .. she was even basically booting us out so she could have one of their chat fests! .... I joked .. but to be honest I thank you Rochelle as she looked so happy and couldn't wait for the latest updates from you!

Today (Saturday) they are planning to do another x-ray and if all good she should be coming home later this afternoon.

I'll update everyone once we know.


Thanks and have a great weekend ... just getting ready to head to work.


Barby


P.S. ALL GIFT OF LIFER'S IT IS WITH HOPE THAT MICHELLE IF UP TO IT AND GETS DOCTOR APPROVAL WANTS TO BE BACK BY NOVEMBER 1ST ! -- Thanks again for all your support and concern for Michelle. I told her all about your educational lunch yesterday on Breast Cancer hosted by Dori, Merna, Sarah and Nelly. I also gave her everyone's well wishes! Jeff - I even told her you needed your blog!

Rough Day ...

Here is today's update:

Michelle still has the chest line in, which is causing her a great deal of pain. This was the first time since her diagnosis date that I have seen her cry. The hardest part is all the pain is coming from this not even the surgery site.

I told her I wish I could take the pain myself so she wouldn't have to be going through this .. Today was the first time as well for me where I felt helpless as I couldn't do anything to make her feel better.

Although I did figure out where her room mate from last night was from. We have actually seen her in the streets before .. I tried to show Michelle where .. then she started to laugh .. was in pain .. then we had to stop!

Her nurses over the past few days April and Norma have been so sweet and even told Michelle that she is their favorite patient. April even told her that she is the strongest person she has seen and its ok to cry, she doesn't have to be strong all the time .. she has done that for the past 3 days. (What did I tell ya --- shes a bulldog and takes NO CRAP!).

They gave Michelle some meds to help throughout the day.

Now note, even though she is having this pain, she is still holding up amazing .. this is just a ditch in the road which I truly hope she will be out of by Saturday.

I left her shortly after Grey's Anatomy as we were still waiting to see if we would get her xray results. I wanted to make sure we got whatever we could before I left.

So as I say my goodnight, and asking her if she needs anything which she says no .. I am about to walk out the door and then I see her getting up to go to the bathroom .. now realize the IV drip is still plugged into the wall!! -- NUT JOB.

We help her then we get her re-positioned for bed and they gave her some painkillers to help her sleep.

I hope tonight she sleeps well and tomorrow we hear the line can come out.


Well I am tired and tomorrow I am going back to work .. so speak to you all tomorrow night.


Nite Nite,
Barby

Special Guests!

This morning we have a few special guests that wanted to visit Michelle (mom) and share their halloween get ups!



Are they cute or what!

For those of you who may not know they are the FAMOUS DUO of Justin and Jordana ... or as I call them Munchkinpuss and Moodle-babe, and as Susie likes to call them Pooks and Nannas!

We also have a very CUTE voice message from each of them which Jeff also prepared for Michelle which we will be bringing to the hospital for her to listen to.

Way to go Jeff :)

Speak to you all later.

Barby

We have P-H-O-T-O-S !!

Well I wanted to start off tonight's blog by saying THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for making Michelle smile this morning!

I told her how we corrected the blog and created an email address for everyone to write to, as well as a link to click on to email her.

I read her EVERY email this morning .. she was sooooo happy and sends a very heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who sent emails in for us to read to her since the first day! This of course includes:

From the Gift of Life Family:
Jeff, Suzanne, Dori, Merna, Rusti, Regina, Eddie, Bonnie, Nelly, Nelson, Jay

Michelle's Special Friends and Family:
Aunty Corinne, Hadley and the Baumol Clan, Uncle Freddie and Auntie Francie, Ava and Uncle Ronnie, Shayla, Doreen and Alf, Bonnie, Stephanie, Anamaria, Sima, Neomi, Laurie and Marc

Today was a pretty good day for Michelle. She is still having discomfort on the left side due to a drain but hopefully that one will be removed tomorrow. They will be doing an xray, then removing it for a few hours to make sure the air has come out and then re-do the x-ray again.

Her other drain will remain in until she goes home from the surgery site, and may remain with her at home, in which case a home health care nurse will come to assist in the maintaing of it.

Michelle's appetite is coming back slowly, and I was happy to see her eat at each meal. Not alot but enough. Her drinking is very minimal, but with the fluids they give you at least we know she is getting what she needs.

She was all smiles to day after we read the emails to her, then her NEW room-mate was non-stop talking (poor thing). It was terrible. If anyone knows the Sloven girls, all we have to do is look at each other and its over. It got to the point where once again she was gonna kick us out of the room again for making her hurt!

Again, we are all in amazement at how well she is dealing with this and being so positive, direct and doing what she has to do. She is really amazing.

As Susie, mom and I left tonight, that's all we kept saying to one another. This is a woman on a mission to get home, get better, be with her kids and get on to bigger and better things!

Well we took some pictures of us with Michelle today so I hope it brightens up everyone's day as it did ours.

Now remember this is October, "Breast Cancer Awareness Month". Please make sure to get yourself tested and perform self tests as well at home. This could save your life!


Til tomorrow, sleep well.


Barby