Battlefield Update: Round 2 of Chemo Over

Hi there Imaginarians! Happy Tuesday. I'm finally getting around to posting an update about my battle here with that old bastard, cancer.

I had Round 2 of chemo and this one did not go as well as I'd hoped. I had an allergic reaction this time. Talk about scary. When you get chemo, they start you off with a cocktail of drugs designed to prevent any kind of allergic reaction. However, with chemo it is all in the timing of delivery. They started my main chemo drip right after  giving me the cocktail and it hadn't had time enough to work through my system. My whole body suddenly got hot, turning fire engine red. My temp rose so fast that I thought I would spontaneously combust.

The nurses came running as my poor sister nearly freaked out. The drug was stopped and a saline drip administered ASAP. The whole thing felt as long as a wait at the DMV, but really only lasted a few terrifying minutes. Still, it was more than enough to bring home the fact that these are chemicals going into my body which are killing my healthy cells right along with the cancerous ones.

It's been a tough go, but I'm hanging in, keeping my levels up as best as I can.

This fight isn't just physical, though. Cancer is a hell of an expensive fight and I've been out of work these last few months. I'm really facing some financial burdens here. To help, my friends have started this fundraising page for me at Go Fund Me.com If you could share this link, it would help me tremendously. I know times are tough so I'm not expecting donations, just share this so that maybe I can reach the help that I need. I would be forever grateful. Thank you all very much.

Get Healthy Blog Hop

Our health is the most important thing and for a voluptuous chica such as myself, who LOVES food period, getting healthy and overcoming the bulge is a constant struggle. Today the awesome and truly caring quartet of Michael Di Gesu, Alex J. Cavanaugh, L. Diane Wolfe and Stephen Tremp are hosting a Get Healthy Blog Hop encouraging all of us to post health tips, recipes, etc. to encourage all of us to get healthy. It's a wonderful way to inspire and I thank them profusely for putting this together.

Yours truly has been fighting weight since birth, really, and when I was at the lowest point in my life, I tipped the scales at 360 pounds. Wow, did I just write that out loud? I've admitted it to friends, but never completely in public before. 360 pounds is 3 people. Three. I used food as a crutch, a comfort. I had been bullied in school and ate alot. Those Twinkies sure made the insults feel better. So did the extra slices of pizza. And  when you spend your 20's and part of your 30's taking care of catastrophically ill family members until they pass, you also need a lot of comfort.

Anyway, over the last 2 and a half years or so, I've managed to lose 110 of that. I did that by forcing myself to move, to change eating habits. At 360 you can't exactly jog, so I would walk. Around my neighborhood, park the car in the back of the Walmart lot and walk, take stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. Anything that made me move. I would eat carrot sticks, blueberries, grape tomatoes instead of chips, pretzels, etc. Small changes that netted some great results. If I can do this by making small diet changes, so can you. Going cold turkey only encourages failure, I think. Big pictures start off small.

Now I need to find something else, dig deeper, as I have hit a plateau. Getting healthy means keeping going and always staying alert. Michael Di Gesu pointed out that I need to push myself no matter how tired, bored, depressed, etc. I may be. And he is right.

Monday Morning And Good News

Since I am feeling inspired and happy at the moment, I'm sharing a pic of Mt. Rainier, one of my favorite places on the Earth.

What is happening my Imaginarians? Sorry I was absent for much of last week. I appreciate all the wonderful comments that you left and I am slowly, but surely making my way through them and onto all of your amazing blogs. It was a tough week as I had some doctor appointments to keep, but so far good news. My diabetes is back under control. My sugar has been holding at 112-118 and my A1C level is at 7.  Yay! And I am down 8 more pounds. Can I get a Hell Yeah?

And if my good news isn't enough, there's more from my good friends around the blogosphere. Vics Caswell over at Hairnets and Hopes has just launched her amazing new venture, Sketcher Girl Studios. Yay!!She does truly astounding artwork and will be designing book covers as well as other illustrative work like iTunes album covers, tattoo designs and children's book art. Julia Phillips Smith, author of the brilliant Saint Saguinus, is being interviewed over at Simply Infatuated. Author Rick R. Reed just received a stupendous review for his latest, Caregiver, over at Seductive Musings. I also want to say that my friend M Hufstader over at The Smoking Pen has an incredible clip of Joss Whedon and a little speech he gave to Equality Now about strong female characters in film. Like I said on M's blog, I am forever grateful that girls are growing up with this man as a cultural influence.

How was everyone's weekend? I got see my nephew play baseball. His team lost 8 to 2, but they played well considering only three of them have prior baseball experience. I also finally saw Battleship. I'll be posting a review shortly. What a rush that was.  Have a great Monday, my friends.

Thoughts and Goal Check Time

This week has been a bit rough for me as I received a huge reality check. Someone I had known in childhood lost her fight with breast cancer. She fought so hard, for over a decade, and that enemy just kept right on coming back. Carrie fought on, no matter the odds, just like I remember her doing when we were kids. A couple of years older than me, I was always just a little intimidated by her. I wanted to be like her; confident, smart and indomitable in spirit.

I came home from her wake full of sadness and realizing my own mortality. So I took out my list of goals for 2011. Man, what was I drinking was my first thought when I looked at them. Holy hell, I've still got a long way to go was my second. However, I was pleased to realize that I did meet two of my goals. One in getting Byzantine Provocateur published and the other in being more active in social media.


I am losing weight, but I've stagnated some. Lazy is an art form for me on occasion and it is hard to get my ass in gear to work out. I have made no inroads on my monstrous caffeine addiction, which needs to be nixed. I have so much trouble functioning without it, though.

Carrie didn't get to live to a ripe old age with her daughters, but she did a lot in her life. I'm instituting a do-over and getting in gear. I plan on walking a couple miles today and as often as I can. I'm even adding a zumba class. Maybe if I work out with others, I won't be able to make so many excuses like it's cold, I'm tired and blah, blah, blah...I'm setting a limit on my caffeine intake and paring it down til I no longer need it. I only had one glass of soda today, not my usual outrageous number and absolutely no coffee. Needless to say, I have a huge headache, but it will be worth it.

The image at the top of my sidebar goes right to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer site. Please click for more information on how to help fight this disease and please remember Carrie and her two young daughters in your prayers. Thanks.

How about you? Any goals you've met? Need to work on? I'm a good cheerleader.