New Year

Me & Mark Acker of Medi - Stat RX at their Christmas Party where he presented a check for $2,000 to the Realy for Life Sponsorship/ECGS After Xmas Blues Dance.



2010 LOBBY DAY -JANUARY 27
MONTGOMERY, AL/CAPITOL

• AGENDA
• *Funding for Alabama Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program
• *HPV vaccination education for 6th graders

15th ANNUAL RELAY OF SOUTH BALDWIN - APRIL 23rd
Held in the Heritage Park by the Train Depot
Souvivors Reception begins at 5:00 PM at the Foley PAA Art Center

Get a Team together for information contact :
Allison Faircloth
ACS Community Representative
251-928-8650 allison.faircloth@cancer.org

Cancer Survivors Reception - contact me: 251-943-1124, zaazaa53@gmail.com

The American Cancer Society:

The American Cancer Society:

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Back to Taking Names & Kick'n @$$

2009 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

of Mobile/

Baldwin

Saturday,

October 24,

2009

8:00am

Bienville Square,

Mobile, AL
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is the American Cancer Society’s premier event to raise awareness and dollars to fight breast cancer. More than just the name of a walk, it describes the amazing progress we’re making together to defeat this disease. This is your opportunity to join your community to celebrate breast cancer survivors, educate women about early detection and prevention, and raise money to fund lifesaving research and to support programs to help us reach a day when no one will have to hear the words “You have breast cancer". Please walk with us.
For more information and to sign up, click on your event below and sign up for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk near you.

It has been three years this week that I received "THE CALL" that my mammogram had shown a tumor that they were 95% sure was malignant. I can't say my life is better for having stage ll breast cancer because of so many who have lost their own and continue to fight. however the lives of my family and myself has certainly changed through the course of treatment and now remission. I have been doing Aqua Aerobics for about 4 weeks, 3 days a week, I have lost 20 LBS with the help JENNY CRAIG since April, my print broker business has really been busy the past few months. I feel like I have taken charge of my life somewhat again.

I am due for my BIG ANNUAL CHECK UPS this month. My annual GYN Dr. Shannon Gilmore, my yearly mammogram with my favorite "BooB Girl" and my visit to my Oncologist Dr. Thomas Tan my HOME BOY. You can't help but get a little apprehensive about these visits. You think about where you have been, what you have come through and the fact that now you know so much more about this insidious disease. And the Fear that it can reoccur. I am so glad these annual appointments come during a very busy time of year for me so I do not have time to think about them too much. It's football season, PTO Varsity Concession Stand to stock and get workers. Prepare for Trim a Tree at the PAA and get my house racked out for Sheila and her family to come for Christmas for 3 weeks.

I had the honor and pleasure to speak as a Breast Cancer Survivor Sept.1 at the Making Strides Kick off Breakfast at the Mobile Convention Center. I was humbled by the young survivor who spoke first. Her courage and heart was amazing. She is the kind of survivor that makes me feel so very inadequate, her battle is so long and hard.

I shall post more later. I am on Face Book.

Trip to St John VI for my sister Tammy & Skip Busby's wedding on June 6, 2009. We stayed at the Maho Bay Camp in the Harmony Suites, sorta like a 1950's state park cabin built high up on the mountain/hill overlooking Mayo Bay. It's about a 30 minute drive up from Cruz Bay where the ferry from St Thomas comes in. They were married at 9 AM on Cinnamon Bay with sunset photos taken at Trunk Bay. Denny & I snorkeled at Maho Bay, went into Cruz Bay for dinner w/ Ian (Skip's son who he has custody of) Kevin & Ashley Glackmeyer from Troy Univ via a wild Taxi ride. We met Tammy & skip at Fishtrap. We had a very relaxing 3 days, hated to come home.
I ventured off my Jenny Craig program and must get back to program due to the amazing results I have been having. Finally, since treatments ended I have found a way to loose weight and not be hungry. I have gone down two sizes in pants over the past 3 months. Now that pool season I can swim and get in some activity that does not cause me to sweat anymore than I do from the Hot Flashes from the hormone blockers I must take for 3 more years.

I have been busy "Living" Not Cleaning House!!!

It's hard to believe it's been two years since I ended my chemo treatments and started the 36 radiation treatments. It's like giving birth, you do forget about much of the fear, emotional roller coaster, side effects and the overall sense of having no control over your body.

I have recovered much of my mental acuity and some of my energy and stamina. I am back to taking names and kicking @$$.

In January I was diagnosis with sleep apnea and now have a C pap machine. I was stopping breathing 43 times an hour at night. It has done wonders for me to once again have rem sleep and dream again.

I have been on the Jenny Craig program for 6 weeks and have lost 14.6 pounds and from my last measurement session over 11 inches . I admit I am not the most consistent participant, my crazy schedule with my volunteer activities often sidetrack me from eating all of the food that is outlined in the program. I am making healthier food choices, learning portion control, and eat 2 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, plus dairy (for me in the form of lite yogurt.) I find I am not hungry, I even resisted all of the festival food at Art in the Park last week end! Not one corn dog or even a bite of funnel cake for me. It's crazy but I loose more weight when I eat all of the recommended foods for the day instead of skipping servings.

I also have been using the Rodan & Fields Reverse skin regiment for about six weeks. Jamie is a consultant and I wanted to try something to reverse the dark spots on my face that came up during chemo. It was like the mask of pregnancy or when you are on Birth Control pills and go out in the sun. Well the Reverse Program has really started to make a difference, even Dr. Tan noticed that the dark spots were fading at my check up 2 weeks ago. That with my weight loss he said to keep on doing what I am doing. All of my test came back great, my mamo was clear, no redo's!

I have developed Lymphodema in my left arm, hand and upper left quadrant of my chest! It seems the upper quadrant of my chest has been swollen, tender and with fever for over a year and it was only after I started physical therapy for my fractured wrist in March that my arm & hand became extremely swollen and I sought help from the Cares Health Services in Daphne which is based in Mobile on Air Port at University Blvd in the Big Lots shopping center. In just 2 1/2 weeks they taught me how to do the manual drainage therapy and fitted me with the proper compression arm sleeve, glove and bras. Blue Cross & Blue Shield pays for all of it. It was a life altering experience. My quality of life rose by 25%. I just thought that since I had a lumpectomy that I would have to live the rest of my life with a painful, hot, hard swollen boob! Not so, thanks to Cares Health Services, I now have two matching 56 year old ones that are equally floppy. YEA!

I am blessed to have my family, and many friends that have supported me through the past two 1/2 years. Also the excellent health care provided by my physicans and their staff.

I never thought I would be one to stop by the Chemo room at oncology about once a month to just talk to the patients. I don't know if it makes any difference to them but it allows me to give a very small portion back to others as they fight their personal battle. As my mom said "we are all family" in that room.

Update March 14,08 On the Go! Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Photos: Keeping my hair short & sassy, trip to Montgomery on Lobby Day, Trey w/ his crown & our trip to Disney in December.

I am feeling so much better these days with the reduction from 250 mg Effexor XR to 150 mg. I am feeling Feisty again! Also, the new drug Megace is positively affecting my hot flashes; however I constantly want to eat the paint of the woodwork. I seem to be getting back to my old passionate, inspired self, concerning life and issues.

A few weeks ago I received the monthly mail out from AstraZeneca the manufacture of Arimidex. I am always receiving some big color envelope filled with expensive, full color, marketing agency printed material. Telling me "They are in My Corner" and asking "What am I doing & How am I doing?" with this time with a large magnet that says "Laughter is a mini vacation" They always include a trifold questionnaire brochure with a postage paid return envelope. Well it just hit me the wrong way and I wrote across the front of the trifold color brochure questionnaire "F#@K YOU! You are not in my corner you are in my pocket for the next 5 years. You do not care how I am doing or you would ask on your questionnaire about the side effects women have from your medication. And “No” I am not exercising because every bone in my body aches some days! You need to STOP mailing out this high priced printed material and reduce the expense of your drug that women like me must take for 5 years! “I enclosed one of my pink "I Gave Boob" business cards and mailed it all back in the postage paid provided envelope. Well, last week I received a nice little form letter from some representative informing me that I had been removed from their mailing list. Score one for patient's rights.

Two weeks I went to Montgomery with the American Cancer Society and a few other survivors for Lobby Day concerning the Smoke Free Alabama Bill. After our meeting with Sen. Trip Pittman and his no vote against the bill in committee I wrote a pissed off letter to the editor. Could you believe that the same day the Cancer Society’s Photo w/ us Cancer Society people from last week with the non smiling Sen. Pittman (the lone nay vote for the bill) is printed the same day as my letter to the editor? http://www.al.com/opinion/press-register/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1204625728260490.xml&coll=3&thispage=4
The Cancer Society said they had several calls and emails about the fact that the ACS photo and the fact that Sen. Pittman did not support the bill. The photo was taken before he told us he would not vote for the bill. I ask him to please just abstain in the vote. http://www.al.com/news/press-register/baldwin.ssf?/base/news/1204625766260490.xml&coll=3The folks that contacted the ACS office were not happy with his choice and said they felt like he was not representing his constituents. I think it is great that the photo has created a dialogue amongst people. If we had appeared in a smiling photo w/ a supporter there would not have been a ripple.
Pittman is a closet Libertarian he told us that if he could vote today he would not support the SEAT BELT LAW. God help us the next 6 years.
March 2, 2008
Dear Editor, I hope our elected officials will educate themselves to the fact that the Smoke Free Alabama bill is a chance to move Alabama into a new era. This is a health care issue, pure and simple. Government action is needed in the same way it was in the past to ban lead paint, DDT and asbestos, and to create seat belt laws. This bill will affect every single Alabamian from the womb to the grave.
Clearly, secondhand smoke is no longer something that people can shrug off. It’s been classified as a Class A carcinogen by the California EPA, and new research is constantly being published about how smoke-free laws protect public health and save lives.
Children exposed to secondhand smoke have higher rates of respiratory infections and irritations, and exposure to secondhand smoke increases the number and severity of asthma attacks in children and adults with asthma.
State Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, voted “no” in committee, saying that “from the health side, obviously smoking is terrible, but adding, “From a philosophical side, we need to provide these people with an option, where (if smoking is allowed) they can vote with their feet.
”Children do not have the option to “vote with their feet,” nor is it an option for most employees. We know that there’s no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure. A statewide indoor-smoking ban will be perhaps the most profound decision our elected officials will make in their administration.
ZANA S. PRICE Foley
http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/1204280179205250.xml&coll=3State Senate panel approves indoor-smoking ban- al.com
Figures' bill passed the committee 7-1, with state Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, voting no. Pittman described himself as a smoking opponent who has seen family members suffer from its effects. "From the health side, obviously smoking is terrible," he said. But he added, "From a philosophical side, we need to provide these people with an option, where (if smoking is allowed) they can vote with their feet."
Please take 10 minutes and call your Senator so they’ll know that you want smoke-free put on the fast track. Tell them you want smoke-free on the Special Order Calendar!
Email him and tell him your personal opinion.
Trip.pittman@alsenate.gov

Soccer, Snake & Spinning Plates Oct. 18, 2007

Lana and I at Star Bucks in Maryland last month.



Trey, center, running after ball.

Baby Rat Snake!
It has been over two months since my last BLOG update. Life has been SO BUSY!

I am doing well! Regaining my strength, attempting to manage my time (NOT!) Delegating many jobs, receiving lots of help! Thank GOD! The NEW Concession Stand at the stadium is wonderful! Everyone has been so very helpful in getting the final touches taken care of, M & M Electric, ceiling fans, lights, City of Foley filling in the drive, Randy Harden w/ the shelves. And all of the willing volunteers who work each week before and during the games.

There have been 5 home games in a row, including the BIG ESPN2 Daphne game. The Foley Lions Varsity is undefeated and currently the region champs. Our last regular season game at home is Thursday, Nov. 1 vs. UMS-Wright.

SOCCER: Trey is playing his first team sports. He is on a soccer team with Isabel Acker (Vicki Cuellar's daughter) He turned 5 Oct. 5.

Over the past 6 weeks, lost a long time friend Peggy Kruger to her year long battle w/ cancer, was the GRAND MARSHALL in the FOLEY Homecoming Parade, had my purse stolen out of my unlocked car in my front yard w/ all credit cards, drivers license, checkbook, we have been to the Troy vs. FL game in Gainesville, I have been to Baltimore, MA w/ Tammy and Lana for 4 days, attended the Daphne Jubilee Art Show, Shrimp Festival, planned Trey's B'day party, cooked his B'day dinner of "Pa"sgetti. Had my annual GYN check up / ultra sound (all is well), Mammogram, all is well, flu shot, blood work with tumor markers, (good results) 3 month check up with Dr. Tan, my oncologist. He said I was doing GREAT!

That I should perhaps take the Ativan a bit more often and slow down.

Calendar of events: Halloween Up-Town Foley w/ Madame Zaazaa is next week, next month, my long time friend's brother from Maryland is stopping by on his way to Texas, Trim a Tree is coming, Heritage Harbor Days and Play off Games, then Dec. 1 we are going to Disney World for 5 days.

SNAKE: Back in Sept. I was taking the white clothes out of the washing machine and saw in the bottom some sort of cord I thought. I was very surprised when I scooped it up to see it was a DEAD snake. I must have put it in the washer with the towels that had been on the floor by the back door. YIKES!


SPINNING PLATES! If you’re old enough you probably remember this act on the Ed Sullivan Show.

A man would come on stage. He would spin a whole bunch of plates on the end of a series of sticks.

His main objective was to get as many plates spinning atop as many sticks as possible, and keep them that way.He would begin by spinning one plate atop one stick.

More and more plates were added to the spinning equation.When one of the plates started to wobble… the man would scurry over and set it spinning smoothly once again.

What started out as a scurry ended up in a chaotic, mad dash from one spinning plate to the next to make sure that they did not crash to the ground.

As the man attended to the “wobblers” he left all the other plates at risk. While all this action was taking place he would attempt to get even more plates spinning.The act combined entertainment value, excitement, and high drama.

In your daily life you are faced with situation after situation that calls for you to keep your plates spinning. You may even get caught up in the excitement and drama of keeping all of your “plates” spinning rather than concentrating on the most valuable of your projects and priorities.When so many expected and unexpected tasks are thrust upon you each day you have no choice but to handle these “projects” the best you know how.

The best you know how is usually less productive than you would like. As you get closer and closer to a state of overwhelm you fall back on the way you usually handle this bombardment. Humans have a tendency at this point to focus on the plate that gives off the “I need attention” sign. Unfortunately some of the “plates” in your lives are more important or valuable than others. Still, you have a tendency to tackle the task that is staring you in the face.

During these hectic moments when you sense that events are leaving your control, you revert to action-based habits that you acquired as you grew up. You scurry. You make mad dashes to protect or maintain a project. How you manage your responsibilities today is probably not that different from the way you handled your responsibilities when you were younger.

These action habits and the results they generate are directly tied to your productivity, or lack thereof.

I seem to be dropping more plates these days than I am keeping spinning!

Get your Mamo!