Memorial Day

We had a wonderful time this past weekend...hope you did too! Our neighborhood has a delightful parade every year and then a fun block party. Here is Oscar and his friend Jack on the "happy train".



And Angelica watching the parade on our blanket.



But for my kids the real fun came the next day when I decided, in all my mommy wisedom, to give the kids their nightly bath outside. It was a gorgeous afternoon/early evening. I turned on the hose, got everyone lathered up and promptly lost all control. The water ran into the dirt under the trampoline (where they are normally forbidden...notice all the netting). It created a glorious mud puddle. And the rest you can view for yourselves.

After hosing them off for 15 minutes they got into the real bath inside the house. But somehow half of the dirt from the yard managed to end up in there too despite my thorough hosing off outside. Needless to say, my great idea turned into tons of laughter and mutliple baths!

xoxo

The big kahuna!

I promised the kids we would have breakfast at iHop and then go fishing this morning. iHop was fun & yummy for the kids.

Fishing was an adventure! We had the perfect bait - hot dogs. And the perfect spot - a little city park near our house. And the perfect anglers - Oscar & Angelica. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that the second the kids would put their line went in the water, we were reeling it out with a fish on it. The kids were ecstatic! We could not pull the fish out fast enough (and then of course promptly let them go). All 3 of us were cackling like fools and drew a crowd. LOL And Oscar was so kind to Angelica and helped her. It was a glorious morning!!!

The only slight hiccup we had was when Oscar loaned his pole to another little boy, who caught a fish...pulled it out...and it smacked Angelica across the head. It dampened her spirits temporarily. And I don't blame her. Getting hit in the head with a wet, slimy fish always puts me in a bad mood.

Here are some of the pcitures from my cell phone. You didn't think I would post a fish tale without proof, didjya?!
















It feels like it is 4:00 in the afternoon. I am exhausted, but it was so worth it. I'm headed down for a big, fat nap. Enjoy your Saturday...wherever you are!


xoxo

Moons humor

I saw Dr. Grant again on Monday and got the rest of my drains out. Oh my gosh, what a relief! I feel so much better. The right one was definitely sitting on a nerve and the pain was terrible. Not any more!



Yesterday was a Dr. O'Shaughnessy (my oncologist) day. Priscilla and Dr. O came marching in the room like a parade...clapping and hugging me. Michele joined in by shaking her maracas (my 1/2 filled Lapatinib bottles). They were so happy for me and incredibly pleased with the pathology report. So it dispelled any lingering worries I had about the stubborn cancer that was still remaining when I had my mastectomy. Dr. O explained it was just one milk duct. Again...not any more!!! She is very pleased.



According to Priscilla and Dr. O. the work we did in the clinical trial has meant changes to dosages for other patients and other good things regarding Tykerb neoadjuvantly. So that was a very proud moment for me.


We had a good laugh with Dr. O. We talked about my radiation oncologist who (whom?) I will be meeting in the next week or two. Then I will start radiation in June. Dr. Grant recommended Dr. Cheek and Dr. O agreed. My witty sister Michele got a chuckle that Ms. Moons will be working with Dr. Cheek. Get it?.....Moons...Moon.....Cheek? Do you get it? Okay, I will just tell you that Dr. O cracked up (ha! sorry) and Michele was laughing....and I was faking laughing because it took me a full 2 minutes to get the joke. LOL Anyway, Dr. O. said he is wonderful and funny (he would get the joke right away) so I look forward to meeting the next member of my awesome care team.



Yesterday was also a chemo day. It was a very long day. We left the house at 8:20 and left Baylor at close to 3:00. Lots of waiting around. But the chemo took longer too because I got what is called a "loading dose". They gave me 3 times as much as normal to kick start this process. I feel okay. I will definitely be going back to bed soon though.



I haven't posted pictures in a while so below are some recent ones.


This one is Oscar and Angelica playing while I was in the hospital. Megan & Suzanne took this so they could bring it up to me in my hospital room.



So here I am blowing a kiss right back to them. Too bad I look so scary! LOL







Here is our newest pet....a bullfrog tadpole. A "Texas Croaker" to be more specific. I had to include a shot of my hand next to it to show its size. The thing is HUGE...and almost a full bullfrog now. It is a wonderful science project right here at home as we watch it turn from tadpole into frog.








xoxo

Tests, Drains and Drugs...oh my!

HI!!! I am so happy to be back blogging and feeling this connection with everyone.

I am doing great. I have to say, as much as I feared it, I really enjoyed my hospital stay. I was in a beautiful room with kind nurses and a completely awesome bed. Sleeping on my back sorta sitting up is MUCH easier in a hospital bed than at home.

My sisters have been completely awesome...!!! It has to be so hard to be on their side of this cancer. They love me and do not want me to have to go through this. I am so incredibly blessed to have all of them. Megan and Suzanne being here was truly a gift. My kids adore them both so this time was very special and some lifelong bonding took place. We will all be sad with missing them. But Michele comes in this weekend so we will have a nice time to look forward to.

I saw my surgeon, Dr. Grant, to have my yucky, painful drains checked. In typical Grant fashion he casually mentioned my pathology report while removing one of the drains. LOL (I do love him). My brain did not really comprehend what he said but I had already had a hint about good news from his sweet nurse/assistant...she was giddy and could barely contain herself. He said there was still some small DCIS cancer remaining in the right breast (it is the lesser of the evil cancers…not invasive). So my response was, of course, “Okay, let’s get going….what do we need to do. Let’s get rid of it!” He laughed and said…”it was in your right breast. You don’t have a right breast anymore”. So, really, technically, I am TRULY cancer free now. YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I go in again Monday to hopefully get rid of the rest of these dreadful contraptions coming out of my chest wall and from under my arm pits (sorry to be gross…but the drains are not for the faint of heart…lol). Then Tuesday I will spend the day at the chemo infusion area to get the first treatment of the next phase over with. And I see my oncologist that day so I am excited to hear if she is as happy with how things are going as I am.

I am off any and all drugs (pain killers, sleep aids, chemo pills, etc) as much as possible now. Yeah!!! This is such a big deal to me. I really want to detoxify my body. I am drinking tons of water in the hopes of flushing my whole system out. I want to be back to the old Maureen in the sense that I have no need to take anything except the rare Advil. My body still has evidence of the chemo doing its thing. My fingernails all look like I slammed them in a car door...kinda purple/red/blue/black. Actually a couple people have said it looks like black nail polish...very "in" right now :) . But the feeling is nearly back in all my fingers and toes from the chemo. This is huge. Some people don't lose the neuropathy for months. I still feel like my fingers in toes are asleep and it makes some tasks, like typing and buttoning buttons, more difficult but I feel it is better and that is SOOOO encouraging. The deep bone pain and really extreme muscle aches have been very difficult for me because I am so impatient. I want to feel 100%.....now! lol It does not work that way. But I am getting better everyday and doing my best to savor each victory. As far as my actual surgical site, it is doing great too. Once I get the drains out I will really feel like I am on my way!!!!

I have SO INCREDIBLY MUCH to be thankful for. Everyone of you checking in with me on this site has played a part in my healing. All of our family friends and my friends and the children's friends...near and far...have been a part of my care team. There are not enough words to express my gratitude!!

xoxo

slacker

I have news but no internet or energy. lol

I promise promise promise to post later today or tomorrow.

xoxo

Guest Blog Entry #2:

I'm sitting here with Mimi (a.k.a. Maureen), Suzy and Julie Mason, a family friend from the "Catholic Ghetto" in Michigan. We've know Julie our whole lives...she lived down the street from us and our parents played bridge together. Julie lives in Texas and she has been a faithful friend to Mimi through this whole cancer process.

Anyway...we're sitting on the back porch getting a little sun...it's breezy and warm in Dallas and we're enjoying the company of one another.

Ever the optimist, Mimi found yet another "up side" to chemo. "My feet are so swollen you can't even tell I have bunions!" If you know Mimi well enough, surely she has share the story about going to the foot doctor years ago for a consultation. After gasping at the sight of her feet, the doctor inquired about the accident she had been in which caused such deformity in her feet. Actually, she had never been in an accident, she was just blessed with "Moons" feet...lots of veins and bunions..it's a family trait we all share...hideous feet. The doctor helped her off the table and asked if she could walk...she almost slugged him! This story has served great comedic fodder for years, especially between Carrie and Mimi.

Enough happy feet talk. Now an update on Mimi. She is doing remarkably well and is in great spirits. She has a follow-up appointment with the surgeon on Monday and is hopeful that some drainage tubes will be removed. Suzy is tending to Mimi's medical needs, and I'm grateful for that...because I'm no Florence Nightingale.

Oscar and Angelica are doing really well, too. They were so well behaved while Mimi was in the hospital...although they missed their mommy very much. All of us are enjoying this special time to be together. LOVE and family really is what it's all about. And the icing on the cake is that Oddie hasn't peed in the house once!

Lots of love to one and all...thanks for your continued support (no pun intended!)

To all of Maureen Moons' Fan Club Members:

I'm Maureen's (much younger) sister, Megan...and I will guest blog tonight while she is recuperating at Baylor. Herein I will refer to her as Mimi, because that's how I've know her for the past fortysomething years of her life.

I'm not nearly as eloquent as Mimi, but I want to give you an update on her condition. Her surgery started around 1:00 and the doctor emerged around 4:15 stating that things went well, with no surprises. Dr. Grant was especially proud of Mimi because she didn't try and get up from the operating table to help him!

We all know how amazing Mimi is...but she topped herself today...she really did! She's already "working" the phones...I'm at home with Oscar and Angelica, and we received a call from her around 5:45. She couldn't wait to speak with kids, and to update me on all the cute doctors at the hospital. "There are Dr. McDreamy's everywhere...I want them to wheel me into the hallway to see all the eye candy," was her direct quote to me!

So...she's on her way to recover from this phase of her battle and tackle the next! As Junie B. Jones would say "wowwie wow wow!"

I know I can speak on behalf of all the Moons girls in saying "thank you" for all your well wishes, love, prayers and show of support! You are amazing friends to our amazing sister!

p.s. woohoo...the blog surpassed the 10,000 hits mark today!!!

My new normal

I am 43 years old and have never spent a night in a hospital. I am scared.

I have had the hardest time deciding whether or not to write this post. And, if I did write it, how much I would share about my surgery. You know how I love idioms and the obvious one here is the elephant in the room. I have wanted to post & get it all out there...and on the other hand I have experienced some really unbelievable people lately that seem to want to point out all the errors in my logic (regarding my surgery decisions). They have no qualm about sharing their unsolicited opinion. Please know that I do not mind the questions. Truly I do not. You guys know me....I am a chatter box. What I do mind is the unsolicited opinions about what is a VERY personal decision, one that I agonized over. And one that I am very happy with...more on that later. I have been hesitant to write this part because I would not want anyone to feel the need to sensor what they say around me. But, seriously, I am SHOCKED by how liberal some people are - relative strangers - with their opinions on what I should be doing with my body. I think we have all encountered this in some way or another in our life. It makes me really conscious of how NOT to be if I have the opportunity to help others in the future.

Okay...that last paragraph above sounded crabby. I am sorry. I am just a tad raw from the input.

Back in October when I was diagnosed with breast cancer I had a knee jerk reaction: cut them both off and, oh, while you're at it take the rest of my female organs too. Sorry to be graphic. Like I said, this is going to be a tough but honest post.....I am laying it all out there. Well, most of it.

Anyway, I suspect that that knee jerk reaction is not uncommon. They tell you that you have cancer and you just want it cut out. But getting your brain around the enormity of the surgery is something else. Then add on all the decisions that have to be made: single mastectomy, double mastectomy, lumpectomy, skin-sparing, reconstruction, no reconstruction. It is overwhelming. Remember my post called Relief... After meeting with the doctors and determining how big my non-focal tumor was and other information, it made my decision to have the bilateral mastectomy much easier (modified-radical on the right and simple on the left).. What a gift, right? I thank God for the peace I have feel!

Well, the hardest of all decisions was yet to come. To reconstruct or not. Whodathunk?? Of course I would reconstruct! Again, knee-jerk. Then life & doctors & fate slowly revealed to me ALL the specifics I needed to make the right decision for me. I am grateful for the gradual spoon-feeding of information.

Following surgery, I'll have 7 weeks of daily radiation. Radiation destroys the tissue, etc of the area it treats. I am very slender. All the plastic surgeons I spoke with indicated that I would need one of the procedures that basically takes tissue, blood supply, skin and muscle from somewhere else on your body to create a pocket (autologous tissue reconstruction) for a fake breast. Just some of these options are:

• Latissimus Dorsi Flap
• Transverse Rectus Abdominis Muscle Flap
• Deep Inferior Epigastric Perforator Flap
• Gluteal Artery Perforator Flap
• Superficial Inferior Epigastric Artery Flap
  

Whichever one I choose, reconstructing would mean multiple surgeries over the next couple years. Aughhhhhh!

There are no less than 30 items on my t-bar, Ben Franklin, whatever you want to call my decision-making list of pros and cons. I will not share them all here but suffice to say that NOT reconstructing won by a mile. I want my life back...sooner rather than later. I want to get back 100% to my kids, my family, my job and my life.

I will grieve this loss. Make no mistake, this will be life-altering in ways I cannot yet imagine, hard as I try. I won’t really know until they are gone. I know I will grieve. The surgery will be an amputation of, really, one of my favorite things about my body. It is intensely scary and overwhelming, but the start of my “new normal” and I am ready for it…more than ready for it. I am really excited (albeit scared) to get the surgery over and move on to the next phase. And get better each day!!

I question whether I would have reconstructed if my mastectomy occurred before chemo? Up to now, I've had 7 months of treatment and I'm exhausted....and I still have radiation and 6 more months of treatments in my port!

At my 5 year mark, risk of cancer re-occurrence drops dramatically. I can look into reconstruction then if I want to.

AFTER I had made my decision and was basking in the peace I felt and thanking God for the gift of gratifying contentedness (LOL...is that a word?)...and I came across this video. I love her!

See what good friends you all are...near and far...physical and virtual!!! I feel safe enough to post this with you!

Thank you for being with me. I am truly humbled daily by the outpouring of support. I know you will be with me on Tuesday, which makes this all bearable!

xoxo

p.s. Megan and Suzy will be my guest blogger while I am out. They will update the blog after surgery and let you know how I am doing.