Light Beams

Mom's only got one more herceptin treatment left! I don't know who is more excited!

It's been a long time since I've posted. Life gets pretty busy sometimes.
Mom's doing good. She's lost a lot of weight and is feeling really great!
The weight has come off slowly, but she tries not to miss her exercise classes.
She's so strong now. She practically runs the exercise class and has been asked to be interviewed for an article about "Fit Steps".
She's also started sewing again. In fact, this past weekend she had her first sale in about 2 years! She loves to sew coloring book bags. She's so talented! Now she's making purses and backpacks too! Anyway, she feels good most days. She has her bad days, of course, but I think we all do.
I really enjoy spending time with her. I'm glad she chose to go through the hard treatments, because she wanted to live. I don't know that everyone would go through that kind of sickness. She's pretty much my hero.

Here's a couple views of mom's new hair. It's really curly and has taken so long to come in. A few weeks ago I just had to tell her, "Mom, you need a haircut! You look like you have an afro!" We both laughed because it's been so long since she's needed a haircut at all! I think I did a decent job but now her hair keeps growing faster and faster! She probably needs to go to the salon sometime soon. I'm just thinking about how much money she's saved in haircuts over the past year! <--- I'm just looking for the positive side of things here! :)

On another note... mom had another muga scan where they check her heart and the effects the herceptin has on it. So far they say there's been minimal change. That's good. I just hate that there is any change at all.

A few months ago she started taking B-12 as well as a lot of other good nutrients. She has been running around like crazy and putting the "young 'uns" to shame with all the energy she has! Good to see my mom in such great spirits.

So, I had to share this.

Yesterday after the hilarious time mom and I had in the car, mom and I went on with our day without really thinking about what happened in the car. Until.............

Joshua was in the other room playing cars. He wandered over to mom's desk and picked something up. A few minutes later he went over to grandma and TRIED TO DRAW ON HER FACE with a PEN!!! Another round of gut wrenching laughter to bring the day to a close!

My mom has a sense of humor. She makes me laugh and smile all the time. Of course, she can be serious too, but not yesterday. Nope.

She's been taking B12 shots. Well, apparently they give you energy. I tried to read about them and it said something about red blood cells and oxygen. Well, her cells were in overdrive yesterday. She looked like she had taken speed or drank a few red bulls!

So we got in the car to go grocery shopping. She pulls the visor down and says, "Oh! I didn't comb my hair! I got so busy doing things and forgot!" I reminded her that there was a brush in the glove box and then put the car in drive. Now, remember, we're still in front of the house with two kids in the back and us in the front.

Mom combs her hair and then shrieks! I'm like WHAT?! She says, "I don't have my eyebrows on!" First, that made me giggle because I've not gotten to that point where I have to "put my eyebrows on". They're just there. But THEN she made me laugh so hard I thought I'd pee my pants! She took a pen out of her purse and started DRAWING eyebrows on! It was SO funny! The pen wasn't working well so she dug through her purse for another pen! She tried that one and while she did that I was laughing and trying to help by making the first pen write! Oh yes, I'm HELPING my mother draw on herself! Well, at this point we were both laughing not just a little, but so much so that Josh was in the backseat and staring at us while the car was bouncing!

Well, both those pens didn't work very well, so mom got out her "good" pen. She started drawing on her "eyebrows" again and realized the pen was BLUE not black! Bwaaahhahhahaha! At this point I was laughing so much it was at the silent point where your mouth is just open and no sound is coming out because you are SO GONE!

I tried to compose myself and wipe the blue pen marks off enough to try the black pen again... I'm drawing on her eyebrows and she's like, "Ow. Ow. OW!" She said that as if it wasn't bad enough to have no eyebrows, but the blood squirting from the puncture wounds would be a nice touch. HAHAHHAHA!!!

All the while Joshua is looking at us girls up front and trying to figure out what the heck is going on. He doesn't know whether to smile or cry.

Finally, after catching our breath and trying to let her eyebrows stop being so red, I said, "Mom, you know... we're still in front of the house. Why don't you just go INSIDE and put your brows on?!" She's like, "That's a good idea!" Insert rolls of laughter again!

Well, long story longer, she went in and fixed up herself, came back, and we were on our way. I didn't even mention the lipstick part of this whole thing, but that's entertaining too!

I had to share all this because mom has really bounced back to the mom I grew up with. I've missed her this past year. Welcome Back Mom - now PUT THE PENS AWAY!!!

So, I guess the way I work is that when things are going good, I don't worry. Therefore I don't obsess about things and have to have an outlet - aka writing in the blog.

That's a good thing, right? :)

I did want to post a picture of mom though. This is an ok picture of her hair, but I'll try to find a better one. Mostly this picture shows how she feels. I don't think any words are necessary!

She gets all miffed when she smiles and all her teeth show as well as her eyes "disappear" she says. I say that's just my mom at her happiest! I love those times! They're so much more often now!

On another note, kind of, I tried to cut my hair a few weeks ago. BAD idea. Very bad. I just hope it grows out enough by my sisters wedding. Ugh. Anyway, even after that butcher job, my mom wanted me to cut her hair! I'm like, "Are you kidding?" But I made little snips here and tiny cuts there. This picture is the result. Again, it doesn't show the cut, and it looks like there's a bald spot, but she was playing with Josh - 'nuff said. :)

Throughout my life I've always heard that you go through things and maybe something good will come out of it, like being able to help someone else go through the same thing. Well, I thought it would be a while before that happened. However, one of my dear friends is having to start on her own journey through the pain. Her mom has been diagnosed with bc (I can't even type it out or give it proper capitalization because it doesn't deserve it!). cancer - YOU SUCK!
While talking to her today I got really emotional. The feelings are so raw. It seems that because mom is on her way to the finish line of the treatments, I've pushed the memories far back. Well, they came flooding back today. Actually, this was a good thing. It made me go back and read the journal and made me have a renewed sense of appreciation for all mom went through and still has to go through.
She's still not 100% but she's a lot better. I know some women don't come out of it well, or even at all. She's one of the blessed ones.
She still has anxiety, hot flashes, pain, fatigue, and some other effects of the ordeal, but... she loves life even more.
Here's a recent picture of a picnic at the park. She didn't need to wear the hat for her hair... she wore it because it was cute on her!