rose and pit stop 1

rose and the bra truck. i was never sure the purpose of this truck but it made for a good photo op :)


















pit stop 1...finally!!























there are no words to describe this necklace

day 1 of the 3day 09

the banner that bobbies mom made for my mom


















the survivor circle on the morning of the walk


















the LONG row of people as we started the walk


















the 1st pit stop sign























2 awesome ladies from the buttercups


















the buttercup team

day one eve and day one morning

these first few pictures are of us at dinner. mom opening a scrap book that bobbie made for her from the past two 3 day walks that becky and bobbie did. the rest of the pics from dinner are of my, my mom, becky, bobbie, rose, my grandmother and my bug :)

the ones further down are of us at opening ceremonies friday morning. wow, what a powerful moment!

why i walk

for my favorite girls :)

he holds her purse

Dad, OB, David. Thanks for holding moms purse over the years. You are the best :) We love you!!

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Will he hold your purse?

"Everything I know about marriage I learned in my cancer clinic." I've been known to say this to my friends, maybe more than once, maybe even causing some of them to grind their teeth and grumble about Robin and Her Infernal Life Lessons.

I can't help myself. I've worked as a breast cancer doctor for 20 years, I've watched thousands of couples cope with every conceivable (and sometimes unimaginable) kind of crisis, and I've seen all kinds of marriages, including those that rise like a beacon out of the scorched-earth terror that is a cancer clinic.

It's a privilege to witness these couples, but the downside is I find myself muttering under my breath when my single female friends show me their ads for online dating. "Must like long walks on beach at sunset, cats," they write, or "French food, kayaking, travel." Or a perennial favorite: "Looking for fishing buddy; must be good with bait." These ads make me want to climb onto my cancer doctor soapbox and proclaim, "Finding friends with fine fishing poles may be great in the short term. But what you really want to look for is somebody who will hold your purse in the cancer clinic."

It's one of the biggest take-home lessons from my years as an oncologist: When you're a single woman picturing the guy of your dreams, what matters a heck of lot more than how he handles a kayak is how he handles things when you're sick. And one shining example of this is how a guy deals with your purse.

I became acquainted with what I've come to call great "purse partners" at a cancer clinic in Waltham. Every day these husbands drove their wives in for their radiation treatments, and every day these couples sat side by side in the waiting room, without much fuss and without much chitchat. Each wife, when her name was called, would stand, take a breath, and hand her purse over to her husband. Then she'd disappear into the recesses of the radiation room, leaving behind a stony-faced man holding what was typically a white vinyl pocketbook. On his lap. The guy -- usually retired from the trades, a grandfather a dozen times over, a Sox fan since date of conception -- sat there silently with that purse. He didn't read, he didn't talk, he just sat there with the knowledge that 20 feet away technologists were preparing to program an unimaginably complicated X-ray machine and aim it at the mother of his kids.

I'd walk by and catch him staring into space, holding hard onto the pocketbook, his big gnarled knuckles clamped around the clasp, and think, "What a prince."

I've worked at cancer clinics all around Boston since then, and I've seen purse partners from every walk of life, every age and stage. Of course, not every great guy accompanies his wife to her oncology appointment every day -- some husbands are home holding down the fort, or out earning a paycheck and paying the health insurance premiums -- but I continue to have a soft spot for the pocketbook guy. Men like him make me want to rewrite dating ads from scratch.

gma and her bug

come cheer us on!

if you want to cheer on a breast cancer 3 day walker (like me) this weekend, you can do so here!

Friday, October 23

8:45 am - 10:45 am
Downtown Buford
89 Main St.
Buford, GA 30518

12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Suwanee Station
Station Center Blvd.
Suwanee, GA 30024

Saturday, October 24

9:15 am - 12:00 pm
Oreck Vacuums Store & Plaza
5005 Peachtree Pkwy
Norcross, GA 30092

11:30 am - 6:00 pm
Duluth Monarch School
3057 Main St.
Duluth, GA 30096

Sunday, October 25

7:45 am - 9:30 am
Lowe's
4950 Peachtree Industrial Blvd.
Chamblee, GA 30341

10:45 am - 1:30 pm
Atlantic Station
171 17th St.
Atlanta, GA 30363

the reason

she is the reason we walk.

our upcoming 3 day walk!

so in a few days, october 23, 24 and 25, me {kristas daughter}, becky {kristas sister}, bobbie {kristas friend}, and rose {my best bud and a fighter for her own mom, who has the same EXACT cancer as my mom} will be walking 60 miles around our beautiful city of atlanta!

please pray for safety and good weather. the forcast calls for a little rain. a little rain when you are walking equals very wet shoes, which equal messed up feet. trust me. the 1st walk i ever did {the only other one i have ever done} it rained and rained and rained. my feet were toast. so just pray for that. i am not really worried about anything else :)

so here we go :)

its been a long time :)

so wow it has been since july since i posted here. well things are good. krista is doing well. the last dr appointment she had showed NO CANCER IN HER ORGANS! and her bones are actually HEALING! how amazing is that!!

recently the sister of a friend of mine climbed mt kilimanjaro! christine carried flags up the mountain and on the corner of one of those flags is my moms name!! christine climbed with an organization called LOVE HOPE STRENGTH FOUNDATION.

you can read more about what they do below.

Mission

WHAT IS OUR MISSION?
LHSF is an international, music-centric cancer charity dedicated to providing support for cancer centers, and inspiration to those affected, throughout the world. The mission is to save lives, right now, with the advances that have already been made in cancer care. We do not fund cancer research, rather we use our funds to purchase medical equipment and supplies, raise awareness through special events, documentaries and media, build cancer centers and find bone marrow donors.

WHY IS THIS OUR MISSION?
By 2010 cancer will be the world’s #1 killer and will touch each and every one of us in our lifetime. It is a global issue in need of support from a worldwide network. In 2007, LHSF was co-founded by leukemia survivors Mike Peters of the Welsh rock band The Alarm and President of CSI Entertainment James Chippendale who believe that awareness, early detection and proper treatment should not be a luxury and wanted to find a way to ensure that all people have access to the same resources that saved their lives.

HOW DO WE ACCOMPLISH THIS?
With headquarters in Denver, CO and chapters in Dallas, Peru, United Kingdom and Australia, the Love Hope Strength Foundation has performed concerts on 6 continents in just two year’s time. We led musical pilgrimages to remote venues such as the base camp of Everest, the top of The Empire State Building, the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu, and the glacier of Kilimanjaro and reach out through the universal language of music. We have also teamed up with DKMS to expand our reach by conducting bone marrow drives at the largest music festivals in the United States so that people, like founder James Chippendale himself, can find the match that will save their lives. .Joining the Love Hope Strength Army in the battle against cancer are musicians from every corner of the globe. High school bands and Nepalese folk singers, to legends in rock n’ roll such as members of The Cult, The Stray Cats, Gin Blossoms, The Fixx, Tokyo Police Club, Squeeze, Candlebox, Seether, Smithereens, Dick Dale, Everclear and hundreds more have done their part to help spread the word through music. Each event is documented under the guidance of critically acclaimed producer, Alex Coletti, to build awareness through programs like Everest Rocks, now airing on MTV’s High Def channel, Palladia.

WHAT HAVE WE ACCOMPLISHED SO FAR?
Funds from recent events have:

• Purchased the very first mammography machine for the country of Nepal.
• Purchased the first Nucletron brachytherapy afterloader (internal radiation) machine for the country of Nepal.
• Funded a mobile cancer unit in Peru which will educate, screen and treat up to 30,000 patients per year in remote regions of Peru.
• Funded a new wing for a cancer care center in Wales.
• Supported the Valerie Fund in New Jersey, USA, a center for children with cancer and blood disorders.
• Added over 2,000 people to the national marrow database.
• Brought supplies to cancer centers in need around the world.
• Sent cd’s and dvd’s to cancer centers around the world to brighten the day of patients through music.
• Created an army of LHS volunteers who perform amazing acts of kindness and generosity in their communities.
• Released the “Everest Rocks” documentary on MTV’s HD channel Palladia

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
Go to “Get Involved to check out all of the many things you can do bring love, hope and strength to the world.
Join the Army to be the first to know about our upcoming concerts and events.

my 2 favorite people

best buddies :)

from Erin:
my 2 favorite girls!

Turning Point!

Told by Krista:

Went to see my Oncologist today for checkup and treatment (chemo). He came in the room all smiles and said he thinks I have turned a corner!! My blood work was all in the normal range, all of my counts are good.

After seeing the pain management doctor, I seem to have gotten the back pain under control and they concur that it is side effects from the radiation and not the cancer causing the pain.

I don't think I can go into remission, BUT, I can maintain where I am. The treatment seems to be working. Like my Dr, says He can't put a finger on any one specific medication, drug, etc., but the combination of all things seem to be working in my favor.

I will take that ~ any day of the week.

{So will her family!!}

Pure Joy

GOOD NEWS!!!

Told by Krista:

I had an MRI done on my T-spine {that is the middle part of the spine} done a couple of weeks ago to find out why I was having so much pain in that location. We were hoping for the best but anticipating bad news. When we got the results back, and the results are that the lesions in that area look good. Some have shrunk, some are the same and some show actual healing!! {emphasis by her daughter} NONE HAD GROWN!!!

The pain is coming from nerve damage and muscle inflammation. My oncologist has referred me to a pain management Doctor. This new Doctor has changed some of my medication. Today I had a Facet injection ~ he gave me a pain medicine with steroids in my spine right in the location of the major pain. Okay, so that wasn't all that great {actually, it really hurt } but it is working.

We are all so excited that it is just pain that can be managed and treated! The cancer although it is still there, is not getting any worse. Yipee!!!

Oh yeah! and my hair {on my head} is coming back. I have actually had it trimmed a couple of times just so it is growing out with some type of style?

Once again it is great news in my world.

Krista

Here are 2 people that love her alot: her daughter and her granddaughter.

need a haircut?

how is it possible that my mom who gets chemo every week needs a haircut? well she did. this is my cousin brooke giving her a trim. we swear by her hyperbaric chamber treatments :) an update from krista coming soon. more info on hyperbaric below:





Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy uses greater than atmospheric pressure oxygen as a drug to treat basic disease processes/states, and their diseases. This therapy increases the oxygen concentration in the body up to 20 times normal at the cellular level, which promotes healing. When there is a restriction in blood flow due to surgery, illness, or injury, the red blood cells block the blood vessel and are unable to transfer oxygen to the cells on the other side of the restriction. This causes swelling and starves the area of oxygen, causing hypoxia (a lack of oxygen), when this occurs the tissue begins to break down.

Breathing 100% oxygen under pressure (up to 3ATA, 29.4psi, a depth of 66 ft.) causes the oxygen to diffuse into the blood plasma. This oxygen-rich plasma is able to travel past the restriction, diffusing up to 3 times further into the tissue. The pressurized environment helps to reduce swelling and pain, while providing the body with up to 20 times its normal supply of oxygen to help repair tissue damage.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy forces more oxygen into the tissue, encouraging the formation of new blood vessels. As these new blood vessels develop, the red blood cells start to flow, delivering even more oxygen to the affected area. This creates the optimal environment for the body’s natural healing processes to repair damaged tissue.

All is well

Sorry it has been such a long time since I have written, but like most people the holidays and everything else crept up and now it is almost Valentine's Day.

So- Where was I ?

I have been receiving Chemo treatments once a week 3 times a month since late September. I get Abraxane every week and Avastin with it every other week . 3 weeks on, 1 week off. Fortunately, I don't have any major side effects from the treatment with the exception of being really tired by the time we get home. Part of the reason I am so tired is the treatment. The other reason is my wonderful friend Jody, who ALWAYS comes to the appointment with me, along with my husband (who, by the way has never missed a Dr's appointment in 12 years). After treatment we go and do a little shopping and out to lunch. It makes it seem more like something to look forward to rather than being sick and getting treated.



















{here's the hubby that has never missed a treatment :)}

The good news is my hair is starting to come back, which is strange since I am still being treated with chemo. My weight has stabilized, also a good thing since it stabilized at approx 50 pounds lighter than when I started , (Trust me, this is a really good thing). My blood counts are good I don't have a lot of pain although I continue to take the medication to keep ahead of it.
I am going to continue to see the naturopath also for the Vitamin C and Amino acid IVs and the hyperbaric chamber. I just feel really good.

My cancer tumor marker is down from 25 to 17. My white blood count went from: 1.9 to 3.6 ~ 4 is normal.

Erin has told me that she and her good friend Rose will be walking this year in the 3 day with Becky and Bobbi and Crystal, so it should be a good time for all and I am so proud of all of them for doing this for me and all of the other women with this disease.















Our little granddaughter will be turning 2 next month and she is the light on all of our lives, so for right now all is well in Krista's world. I am 2 years into this diagnosis, going strong,
and looking forward to the future.


I feel truly blessed.