Chemo Round 2

Hey All! Chemo went well. Lots of pics. today. Funniest moment, while getting chemo I said to the nurse..."I'm going to be a butterfly tomorrow!" There was a very, very long pause and a confused stare from the nurse....then all of a sudden she said, "Oh.....I forgot tomorrow was Halloween!!!!! I was going to say to you, 'Hey, You can be anything you want to be girlfriend!' " It was so funny! We got a big laugh at that!

My pal Victoria drove me to chemo in her BMW with heated seats, which was awesome! We listened to Nora Jane Struthers the whole way down and back.
 

Please check this amazing singer/songwriter out! You will LOVE HER!

http://www.norajanestruthers.com/upcoming-dates/

N.J.S. - LOVE HER!
 

 Before we left, Victoria helped me with a few things in the house. She is a very nice girlfriend! She has twins, ten year old boy and girl, plus a gazillion horses....and yet she took the whole day to help me out....we had fun catching up with each other!

Me and Victoria

 

Then I had to get a tiny bit of blood drawn to make sure my white blood cell counts were up enough to get the chemo, which they were...

 

 

Carmen and Annie

 

Then I had to get my blood pressure taken and my weight...yuck

 

 

 

Cute nurse, forget her name, but she looked like Amy Adams the actress
"Sing a happy little working song!"

 

Then I met with Robin Nurse Practitioner...and one of the Penn interns..

to see how my last chemo went and how I was doing...Robin is so cool!

 

Robin, Me, Intern

 

Then the chemo started in ROOM 11! Since I am one of eleven kids I thought that was pretty cool...I felt like all my sibs were there with me in spirit...

 

Then Gert showed up with all these cute scarves and hats

and we had fun trying them on!

 

 

Me & Gert

 

 

Then Chan stopped by to make me sign a ton of papers which I will do later, Chan! Wasn't up to it, needed to chat with my posse!

 

 

 

 Chan and Me

The we had fun with a borrowed wig.....I don't like the blond too much...my wig I ordered has more red!

 

 

  

 

Then we left. My hair is falling out all over the place including my eye lashes and brows. I still constantly thank the Lord for my good fortune...I have a gazillion blessings to be thankful for.

 

I imagine so many worst case scenarios all over this entire world where people and esp. kids are especially suffering greatly, and I know just how truly blessed I really am. This is nothing compared to many others' problems. It doesn't even come close! I'm saying this not to be brave or like a person trying to score points. I am dead serious. If I was dealing this in another country I could be dead easily...

 

I am blessed beyond all measure.

 

Love to all, Annie

 

 

Farewell Follicles!

Greetings!

Our awesome family friend, Nancy Landers, came over yesterday all the way from Philly, and picked Eli up from school, took him to Mickey D's, then to Chuck- E-Cheese and then back home - where he promptly crashed in the back seat of her car for a "Power Nap"! Thank you, Nance, you are so generous with your time! Please send me a photo of you so I can post it here for all the world to see your loveliness!

Then my friend from work, Theresa, made me this killer pea soup with homemade croutons and it was scrumptious! Thank you T! I'm gonna post a pic. of you too so get eady to smile for the camera. THEN my sister Heidi, who lives in WI, sent me a GI-HUGIC package of at least 20 little wrapped gifts for me to open along the way on my journey. My fave gift so far was a set of eight little glass girls she got in Hong Kong, one for all of the seven sisters in my family and one for my mom...Thank you, Heidi, that was so sweet &  thoughtful I can't wait to open all the little gifts...Plus Heidi sends me these hysterical cards with all kinds of animals wearing these funny hats! They (the animals) teach me what is fashionable in head wear these days. Laughter surely is the best medicine of all! I have such awesome sisters!

I have also been receiving many sweet cards from so many of you! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Some of you I have never even met! Some of you live as far away as Europe! I love getting your cards so much so I thank you again. Please also send some to Chip, it's hard being the caretaker so he would love cards or even e-mails from you!

I went back to school yesterday and am also going in today. Seeing the kids and teachers was such good medicine!!!! Then, after school my sister Judy treated me to an acupuncture session to help with chemo side effects and it was awesome, very relaxing and I know it'll help me. Thank you Judy! Judy is coming  all the way across this whole country from California this weekend to help me and take care of me. Then my sisters Gretchen & Lisa sent Chip & Eli cards and gift cards! So thoughtful! Now those are what I call sisters!

ALL: Please come to my "Farewell Follicle!" party this Saturday, November 2nd at 6 pm at Point Pleasant Baptist Church in Point Pleasant, PA, 18950. If you care to do so please bring a food that begins with the letter "F" to share...such as felafel, fritters, fricassee.....you can Google foods that begin with F and you'll find a whole list! I will cut my hair then do amazing things to it, then shave my head and try on my new wig for you all! (ugghhhh....) The doctor said "Just to warn you, this is a hard day..." so I want my gfs and  buds to surround me with their love and prayers because I am really not looking forward to being bald at all....and wearing a wig...uggh...even a nice wig.....

Okay so this is kind of sad...last night I was plucking my eye brows. I noticed after plucking just a few that it didn't hurt at all like the usual little pinch. The hairs just slid right out easily and I thought, "Oh...it's happening...the hair falling out part..." It made me kind so sad and I realized that this is the hardest part, not even going through chemo is as bad as losing one's hair...tough on a girl. But I will persevere and thank God every day for my countless blessings and choose the positive side of it all....

"The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; my father's God, and I will extol Him" Exodus 15:2

Thank you, Lord, for another day of LIFE!

Dragons, Monkies, Arugula, and Black Pumpkins...

Hi! What blessed friends I have! Since today was a "good" day I tried to get some stuff done since I go back to school on Monday & Tuesday and since I will get my next chemo on Wednesday. "Aunt Sue" came over early in the morning and helped me sort through a gazillion papers, bills, letters, etc - we kept calling it "Phase One" whenever we felt overwhelmed. It's one of those things that gets done over time as you chip away little by little. But getting it done made me so happy because the living room's where I crash on my "bad days" It (the living room)  looks much better now with a certain someone's desk more organized!

                                                              Sweet Sue, sortin'     
Then my awesome friend, Margret, from school came & took Eli for the day to play with her son Jesse. They went to paint pumpkins in Princeton and of course Eli painted his pumpkin black (like a NINJA!) I didn't even know Eli was a Rolling Stones fan! Anyway Margret brought the boys back at 6 ish then Eli decided he wanted to do a sleepover at Jesse's so he got all his stuff together including his Glow pet named Eli Junior and his new Angry Birds slippers...and they were off again!
 
Margret brought me, not only some killer homemade veggie soup which we all scarfed up in like 3 seconds, okay 4, but also rustic wheat Panera bread, organic butter and arugula salad which I love! She even took a huge bag of my dirty laundry home to wash for me! Now that's what I call a GIRLFRIEND!

 

                                           Pretty *Margret & the Monkies
                            (*Teacher of the Year Conley School, 2012/2013)
In the meantime, my little brother Matt, his new wife Tara, and our friend Melissa painted Eli's room (another place where I crash sometimes - I have a single bed in there all to myself) a lovely, mellow, soft shade of blue. The room is so nice to be in now. Very soothing and relaxing. I am so grateful for the help!

I tried to stay out of the painters' way so I washed three cars and made homemade pizza and two apple pies and to top it all off I even took a shower! You know it's a good day when I get a shower in. Good for everyone around me not just me!

             
     Matt & Melissa (w/her breast cancer cap on!)                    Matt & Tara

 

       Tara tapin' on the top bunk w/dragon         Chip doin' dishes between talkin' music

 

                            *Tara & Matt                                         Matt & *Tara
                        (*Voted "Best Sister-in-Law Ever" by the Bauerlein Girls, 2013)

Margret also brought, from school, " I Miss You" letters from the kindergartners at my school and when I read them I cried. I can't wait to see them on Monday! I'm going to bring my banjo in and play it for them!

                

Wiggin' Out!

Hey! Andrea and I went wig shopping yesterday and let's just say it was a hair-raising experience! See photos...they speak volumes....Thanks, Andrea, for taking me - you are such a great friend. You took me even though you have a bum knee. That's true friendship. And as a bonus you gave me a hug! Czech Republic girls do not like to hug but I've been making Andrea hug me anyway because I need it and now she's cool with it, I think....