Japanese or Bust!: Tuesday, October 20, 2009

As many of you know, I am not really into cars...at all. I drove a Toyota Corolla from my second year of college until March 2008, so for about 12 years. The only reason that I got rid of it is that I finally started having to put more money into it on an annual basis than if I had a monthly car payment. It was hard to say goodbye but I did. Forutnately, my parents were willing to give me a *great* deal on their third car -- a Volkswagon Passat -- so that I could replace my Corolla. While it's been pretty good to me up until now, I've had to put about $2,500 into that 2004 Passat over the past two-three months in order to keep it running. No joke. The latest repair was a wopping $1,400 to replace the damaged heater core. (Apparently, it is very dangerous to drive a car with a damaged heater core because you engine can overheat easily and it is very difficult to fix.) Needless to say, I'm not happy. I'm pretty sure that I've decided that I need to go back to my roots, so to speak, and sell the Passat (quickly, while it's working...) in order to purchase either a Hondo Civic or Toyota Corolla. I love how easily those cars handle. I love how cheap they are to fill up and that they get great gas mileage. I love that they are easy to parallel park. I love everything about them. My Passat might be nicer to look at but it's a royal pain in all other ways!

Speaking of pains, I had a lot of them last weekend, including the big car repair. They included leaving my cell phone in a taxi cab Friday night (I recovered it from Alexandria Yellow Cab yesterday afternoon), loaner dog puking on my bedroom rug on Saturday morning, and having my father discover that my neighbor's bathroom plumbing drains into mine. When it rains it pours! And it sure did pour last weekend. Despite the rain, I had a lot of fun catching up with T.C. girlfriends at Vermillion on Friday night and attending the Sigler's annual oyster roast on Saturday afternoon.

Alright, off to begin a serious cleanout and reorganization of my upstairs. Oh, and even though it may have taken me exactly a month to post them, I finally posted the Southern Swing photos I promised you long, long ago. Please refer to the "Southern Swing" post back on September 20 to find them!

Just Do It: Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The tagline worked out pretty well for Nike so I'm following its message myself. As I mentioned before, I've decided to compete in the U.S. Women's Triathlon Series' sprint triathlon, which will take place in San Diego on October 14, 2010. The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund is the official charity of the U.S. Women's Triathlon Series so when my friend Jori, who lives in San Diego and has done this particular tri before, suggested we do it to celebrate the one year anniversary of the successful completion of my treatment, I was in! And others were too! So far, my cousin Heather, Krista, Jori, Jill, and perhaps one or two others are also planning to do it next fall.

Believe it or not, but I'm already starting to focus on training for the half mile swim in the San Diego Bay, the 12.5 mile bike, and the 5K run. The first step is rebuilding my surgery-ravaged core muscles with some Pilates reformer training. The next step is to sign up for swim lessons (no joke!) at the city's indoor pool. I think I'm going to tackle this in January. I know, it's kind of pathetic that I need swim lessons to better learn the freestyle stroke and proper breathing but I do. Then, next spring I need to get my friend Pete's extra bike from him so that I can start cycling on the roads. The running will be easy except for the fact that it's the last leg of the race and therefore, I will be exhausted by the time I start to run the 3.2 miles.

Here's the official site for the race, which includes a link to the race course. Check it out and let me know if you have any training tips. I'm all ears if you do! Oh, and just a heads up, there's fundraising for the race so I'll be hitting you up in the new year.

Two Week Hiatus: Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Well, it's been nearly two weeks since I last posted and three weeks since my last treatment. I believe the two week hiatus is a record for me since launching this blog. So, how am I and what I have been up to?

I'm pleased to report that I'm feeling great and haven't been blogging because I'm super busy just living life. As you might guess, I'm up to my old tricks! This includes helping my Aunt Kathy celebrate her birthday two times before heading up to Vermont to serve as maid of honor in Ali's wedding on October 3, co-hosting Jori's baby shower this past Sunday, babysitting for a few friends several times over the past couple of weeks, attending a TWIG coffee to say hello and thank so many of my TWIG friends who have been so nice to me over the past six months, helping Melissa S. prepare for her annual fall oyster roast that is this weekend (the forecast isn't looking good...boo!), working on a few design projects, and running around with Michelle -- either at the dog park with River and Lucy or doing wedding errands.

Despite all of the things I'm doing with and for others, I'm actually making some time for myself. I'm walking every morning with my mom and River (always the 45-minute route now!), I've rejoined the gym and am starting Pilates reformer classes this week, and I'm planning my first annual holiday shopping fundraiser at the end of the month to support ovarian cancer research (I need to get the Evite out for that today!). Oh, and Alison and I are going to have a spa day on Friday at...you guessed it...Sugar House. I'm finally going to start using all of the fantastic gift certificates I've accumulated over the past several months to get some much needed massages and other treatments to try and spruce myself up.

Since we're catching up, I thought I'd give you a brief medical update. I had my last chemo planning appointment with Dr. E on Monday, September 28. We went over a long laundry list of topics but here are the highlights:

1. He recommended that I get both a regular flu and H1N1 vaccine this fall. I've never received a flu vaccine before (nor have I had the flu) and am highly skeptical about doing so, particularly since I'm not on planes or trains or any other form of public transportation these days. I don't know what it is but I'm just not into flu shots. I'll let you know what I decide to do about this one.
2. He wrote me a prescription for Tamoxifan, which is an anti-estrogen drug. I'll take 20 mg of it for at least the next five years but probably for the rest of my life. Fortunately, because my tumor was 92% estrogen receptive, taking an anti-estrogen drug should help suppress future tumor growth. Tamoxifan is particularly effective on microscopic cancer cells so I started taking it last week, which was two weeks after my last treatment. I figured if I'm going to take it I might as well get it started when it's most effective. No time like the present, right?
3. He wants me to make sure I get 1500 mg of calcium everyday to help ward off osteoporosis (you know, since I don't have any estrogen anymore at the age of 32 I'm at increased risk for that too...). Have any of you tried to do this? It's hard to take enough pills to get this amount and when I come close to doing so it causes other problems...if you get my drift. So, I'm taking what I can and hoping I get the rest from dark leafy greens. Oh, and my weight training should also help with the osteoporosis too.
4. Finally, we discussed when I'll see him next, which is in December. I'll have a CT scan, mammogram (good times!), and blood work before I go in for an exam (more good times!) with Dr. E. Depending on how things look, I probably won't have a CT scan every three months (too much radiation!) but I will have blood work done and see Dr. E every three months for the next two years. Then, if I'm still doing well, I'll see him every six months for the next three years. I'm considered cured at five years and I go back to being a normal, healthy person who only sees their doctor once a year.

Okay, I've got to go. The dog is barking for attention and I need to clear out to run several errands before heading over to hang out with the Pryzstawik kids for the afternoon and evening. I will be back tomorrow to give everyone an overview of another BIG project I'm going to work on over the next year. And don't worry MPR...pictures of various celebrations will be posted before the end of the week!

The Cowgirl Cure: Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Today is Christina's and my Aunt Kathy's birthday. Mom and I traveled to Murlin (you know, Maryland) to get "Brenda" cleaned up for the weekend and treated Kathy to lunch for her birthday. As usual, we had a great time -- it was fun celebrating her birthday and the end of my treatment. I had many errands and tasks to do throughout the day to prepare for Ali's wedding weekend but I ended the day with a wonderful dinner with about 10 girlfriends to celebrate the end of my treatment. The dinner was held at Christy's restaurant (Food Matters) and we all had the pasta night special. Yum! Coincidentally, we all had the chance to meet and talk with the Democratic candidate for governor, Creigh Deeds. He was holding a fundraiser at the restaurant and took a moment to come over to our table, which was decked out with teal, green, and purple balloons (thanks MPR!). I took the opportunity of our introduction to make my ovarian cancer awareness plug and he shared his wife's own scary ovary story with me (she ruptured an ovary while pregnant and had to have emergency surgery to have it removed...the baby lived and just graduated from UVA). Anyway, it was a joyous celebration and I'm so appreciative of all that my friends did to make it so special -- from the balloons, to the teal ribbon sugar cookies (thanks Mary!), to the cake, to the Fodor's British Virgin Islands book Layla gave me (have I mentioned that's where I'm going for New Year's?), to the "what I love most about Jennie" toasts. It was so much fun! Group picture to follow.

I thought that after I put those sobering statistics up for all of you yesterday, I'd be a bit more positive today and feature a cool ovarian cancer survivor (you know, there are many of us out there...). Check out Gina DePalma. I may not be a kick ass pastry chef but I think I'm a bit of a cowgirl, too!

I have so much to catch up on with you all -- from the Souther Swing photos to Monday's appointment with Dr. E to a shot from tonight's festivities. Where does the time go? Well, I'm off to Vermont at 0500 hours tomorrow morning, which is when my parents will pull up to load my stuff in the car. Wish us luck on the New Jersey Turnpike and 95...it's a jungle out there! I'll be back with all of my updates on Monday or Tuesday when I've returned from the festivities.

The Grim Statistics: Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The education campaign continues! I found all of this data on the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance's Web site. Here goes:

• Ovarian cancer is the eighth most common cancer among women in the United States (2004).
• Ovarian cancer has remained the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death among U.S. women since 1999. Mortality rates are slightly less for minority women than for Caucasian women.
• Approximately 174,236 women living in the United States have or have a history of ovarian cancer.
• One in 72 women will develop ovarian cancer (lifetime risk). One in 95 women will die from ovarian cancer.
• The overall five-year relative survival rate for all women with ovarian cancer is 46 percent. This means that compared to women in the general population, five years from the time of diagnosis only 46 percent of women with ovarian cancer are still alive.
• However, the survival rate improves greatly to 93 percent if the cancer is diagnosed at an early stage before it has spread. Only 19 percent of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed at this local stage.
• Approximately 75 percent of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage after the cancer has spread beyond the ovary.
• The five-year survival rate for women with ovarian cancer has not significantly increased in the past 30 years—a mere 8 percent.
• Women diagnosed with ovarian cancer from 1975 to 1979 experienced a five-year survival rate of approximately 38 percent. Today this rate is approximately 46 percent.
• The issue of ovarian cancer recurrence is complicated. Research suggests that between 70 percent to 90 percent of all women with ovarian cancer will, at some point, have a recurrence of their disease. The risk of recurrence varies based on multiple factors, including the stage at diagnosis. For example, approximately 70 – 80 percent of patients with optimal stage III ovarian cancer will have a recurrence. In case you're wondering, I'm optimal stage IIC (30 percent recurrance rate)/IIIA and have the desirable synchronous primaries as well, so realistically, I'd put my odds somewhere around 50 percent.
• From 2001 to 2005, the most recent period for which data is available, the median age at diagnosis for ovarian cancer was 63 years. Approximately 13 percent of women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer are 45 years or younger.
• Over the past decade there has been a slight decrease – less than 1 percent per year – in ovarian cancer incidence rates, however, during the same time, the actual incidence numbers increased by approximately 3,000 women.
• During most of the past decade (1996 to 2005), the ovarian cancer mortality rate has remained stable while the breast cancer mortality rate has decreased 2.2 percent per year (1990 to 2005) and the cervical cancer mortality rate has decreased 3.4 percent per year in a similar time period (1995 to 2005).

In case it wasn't clear before, now you know while I'll continue to try to live life to its fullest everyday from here on out AND why I'll be crusading so hard against this cancer for the rest of my days.