Dear Snow,

My 3 Day Virtual Trainer has informed me we are 24 Weeks out from Michigan 2010. This means it is now officially training walk season and no longer winter. 

Please immediately cease and desist your shenanigans.

Love,

Me

Reminders

Sometimes I need to stop and remember why I devote so much time and energy to the fight against cancer.  Its really easy to get stressed out and discouraged when trying to organize a team and multiple fundraisers.  Sometimes its like trying to manage a full time activist job on top of the regular ole full time job!  When you are so passionate about what you are doing though, it sometimes takes an extra emotional toll too. So back to the topic of this post…

Today I was sitting in the parking lot of Walgreens waiting to do an Inspiration DVD hand off with fellow 3 Day walker Vanessa Dekoekkoek when a woman walked to a car a few spaces away from me.  As I watched her I noticed her sad expression, her puffy face, the bulging pharmacy bag, her knit cap, and her complete lack of hair… 

I knew she was a cancer patient. 

Immediately I felt a connection to this woman and part of me wanted to jump out of my car to hug her while the other part of me was fighting back tears.  I don’t know what kind of cancer she was fighting and I don’t know if her story is similar to mine, but seeing her in that moment reminded me why raising funds to fight cancer is so incredibly important.  Men and women across the world fight for their life daily against this thing called cancer.  It doesn’t matter where it starts or what type it is classified as, your life is never the same after diagnosis.

Join me today in the fight against cancer by donating to the 3 Day.

Do You Want To Walk?

Do you like a challenge?  Have you known someone who battled cancer? Are you a survivor or co-survivor? Do you have a passion for raising cancer awareness and research funds?  Have you ever thought about walking in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure?

The 3 Day is an absolutely amazing event that can change your life forever!  You will smile, laugh, cry and create friendships and memories that last a lifetime.  If you have ever thought about doing the 3 Day, there is no time like today to sign up! 

If you register by March 9th and use the discount code: RESOLVE you will get $25 off your registration fees!  To join the Pink PediCures on their Michigan 2010 journey just visit our website at: www.the3day.org/goto/pinkpedicures2010 and register to join our team!  We would love to meet you!

Fundraising Push!

In the next 10 days or so the Pink Pedicures are pushing out 4 different fundraisers! 

The first was tonight – a wine tasting fundraiser hosted by my teammate Heather at the Hudsonville Winery.  I know I had fun and there was a steady stream of people there so I hope it turns out well for her!  Also the winery was kind enough to print some wine with personalized labels for us soooo if you decide to give a generous donation to my fundraising account you may just get a generous gift in return!

One week from today (Tues. March 2), my teammate Mayme and I are hosting a Dining for Donations event for our family and friends.  It should be a fun night and we get to test out our cooking skills with 4-5 courses!

On Saturday March 6th the team is hosting the Rockers for Knockers event at Play N Trade in Comstock Park, MI.  This is a Guitar Hero competition and we are still accepting contestants!  We have several prizes being offered and your $15 registration fee includes a t-shirt!  If you are interested in signing up, email Mayme at: maymejoy@yahoo.com for more details.

And the last one is a fundraiser for yours truly and my teammate (& BC Survivor) Murt in the next week is the order for our Cooking Up A Cure, Volume 2 cookbook!  Volume 1 sold over 200 copies and we have already had a great response for Volume 2 pre-orders!  Cookbooks are $10 each and if you pre-order, the books should be here by Mother’s Day – gift idea anyone? If you are interested in placing an order, email: ckleymeer@gmail.com

The Quick 7

One. I just got back from 4 days in Florida and I want to go back. Pronto. It definitely didn’t help that we left a balmy 60F+ degrees to come back to 30F and 6-12 inches of snow…

Two. My two furry friends were surprisingly good while I was gone – I'm looking forward to some crazy bit of retaliation sometime this week.

Three. My grandmother isn’t doing so great down in Florida and can use a lot of prayers.  My grandpa can use some uplifting too as he is trying to help her through this.

Four. After 5 days with a baby in tow I'm completely exhausted… and I didn’t even have to change a diaper.

Five. I started and finished 1 book and started a second all while only on flights to and from Florida.

Six. My posterior left lung has been hurting pretty bad.  I was trying to ignore it but its gotten to the point that I have stabbing pains multiple times a day when moving or breathing.  Time to call the doctor… just hoping it isn’t the same locale as my mets…

Seven. I’m happy to report that two friends of mine who were recently diagnosed with cancer (breast and uterine) came through their surgeries well this week.  Its a long road through chemo/radiation still but these are two extremely strong women and I know they have a lot of support.

Cancer Outbreak

In the last 5 days, 3 people I know were diagnosed with cancer. It’s like an epidemic or something.  Has it always been like this or am I just hypersensitive to others with cancer since my own diagnosis? 

That could be it actually - hypersensitive.  Once you have this diagnosis you become part of a club with exclusive membership that you never wanted to be part of… but you know that only other club members can truly understand what you are going through.  It is completely impossible to describe the emotional whirlwind you go through on a daily basis – yes, even after you have been treated.  “I’m feeling rundown – is it a cold or is my cancer back?” “My lung hurts when I breathe, have my mets grown?” “The cold air hurts when I breathe it in – what does that mean?”  It might just be my overactive imagination but it seems I'm just so much more aware of every ache and pain in my body. 

I know things are fine right now but there is always a little nagging voice of doubt in the back of your mind.  Maybe its just because it was lab rat day and now I'm waiting on results once again…

That Crazy Card Company

Everyone is gearing up for this weekend and Valentines Day… well most everyone that is.  It seems to me there are a growing number of people that just don’t really care about this “holiday.”  How much of a holiday is it really?  I mean you don’t even get the day off work.  Maybe its the economy, maybe people are realizing they should tell that special someone how much they love them everyday, or maybe I just know too many people who will be without a sig.o for one reason or another this year?

As for me, I have some big plans for the weekend!  I’m going to a weekend scrapbook-a-thon out of town to work on my 2007 & 2008 Breast Cancer 3 Day albums! (yup I'm a little behind) Maybe if you remember to tell your friends and family how much you love them this weekend I will post a few pictures when I return.

Unique Ideas

Anyone who has done fundraising for the 3 Day for the Cure events knows that sometimes you have to get a little… creative to reach your goal.  It is common to see restaurant nights, scrapbooking weekends, car washes, garage sales, canning, letters, and items for sale of every shape and size!  Its those who find something really creative to do or sell that can really stick with you.

Take for example, the 60 Mile Men. Every year, a group of 12 men are chosen for a very special fundraising calendar.  While claiming to be “average” men they agree to pose semi-clad in various situations and are all dedicated to helping find a cure for cancer.  If you read the bios of these guys you realize they are much more than the “average” man.  They are passionate about the cause for various reasons, many of them with personal connections to cancer. 

So visit the site and check out the goods!  Or, sign up for the 3 Day and get a chance to meet one of these handsome hunks!  I can tell you, these guys are anything but “average.”

New Week Please!

So I'm thinking the week has officially ended, right?

Apparently I needed one last thing to be the icing on the cake.  After being at my parent’s all day I arrived home just after 10:30 pm to find that one of my tiny hairballs has puked all over my bed… and not only has it soaked through the duvet cover, it has completely soaked through the down comforter… and my last set of clean sheets… and the mattress pad…

Sigh… its back to the parent’s house tomorrow to do some laundry and in the meantime I'm using my radioactive isolation comforter to sleep tonight. Hopefully it is no longer emitting radiation…

I Spoke Too Soon

Just as I thought the week was turning around, more stuff hit the fan.

**warning for those with a weak tummy**

My sister had a tonsillectomy on Thursday and by Thursday night she was back to the doctor because she was throwing up blood and they needed to cauterize her throat.  She went to bed bed then as my mom headed over to watch her on Friday she got a call saying she was throwing up blood again.  So my mom called the doctor on the way to my sisters house and the doctor called my sister and told her that a little bit of blood was ok… forward to my mom’s arrival at my sister’s house where she was greeted by a nonstop stream of bright red blood coming from my sister’s mouth accompanied by the occasional vomiting episodes. It was at that point my mom put her in the car and started speeding to the hospital.  On the way my sister makes comments such as “I can’t see…” and “I feel like I'm not here anymore..” and starts slumping in the seat so my mom pulls off the highway into her office so the Drs there can assess her and give her life saving measures if needed. 

After a quick check of oxygen levels and a few other things they get back into the car and speed to the hospital only to find the lineup to the ER is 5 cars deep… apparently they can’t get the patient out of car no 1 so security is coming to the cars on the road and seeing if they need assistance.  The guard grabs a chair for Kate and speeds her into the ER as my mom tries to find parking.  Once in ER she got pain meds, anti nausea meds, and 2 liters of fluids while waiting for the ENT. The ENT never showed.  Apparently he was too busy throwing a fit because he wasn’t supposed to be on call so they discharged my sister and told my mom to bring her to the ENT office! Seriously?! They get there and they cauterize anything and everything they can and then tried to charge her for a copay – excuse me, someone from your office was supposed to be on call for ER but instead you made them drive to the office and you have the gall to try to charge extra?!  My mom said no way! She also got the Dr to give my sister a different pain script because the one she had was basically liquid Vicodin. If you remember, I had a really bad reaction to Vicodin after my first surgery… Apparently we can’t hold our pain meds.  After all that she finally stopped bleeding and fell into an exhausted sleep and she seems to be feeling much better today.

Lookin’ Up!

Today was a MUCH better day than the last two.  Thank goodness!! Actually I think it started looking up last night because the team made some decisions, I got our logo designed for Rockers for Knockers, I vented to an old friend and drank a glass of wine…or two!  Then today I sent in over $900 in donations to the 3 Day, was productive at work and then managed to clean my whole house (minus the bathroom…yuck!). 

Tomorrow I have meetings all over the place so I will be in my car a good chunk of time but that means I get to see the sun if it happens to peek through the clouds and can sing at the top of my lungs for approximately 3 hours while I'm commuting! YAY!  Then its on to cleaning the bathroom and making some goodies for my Tastefully Simple Fundraiser on Friday and possibly designing invites to my dinner party fundraiser and flyers for Rockers for Knockers…

Its definitely a packed week but I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Do-Over

Its only Tuesday and i'm sitting here wanting to start the week over. Sunday was great so we can go right back to that day and continue that feeling the rest of the week ok?

Monday I knew would be packed because I had meetings from 9a-5pm straight through...although I did manage to find 10mins to scarf down my leftovers. But of course being a Monday in healthcare everything was just NUTS. People were bombarding me with questions and yelling at me for doing something one way when they wanted it another... uhm here's a tip: if you have clear expectations of what needs to be done then TELL THAT PERSON what you expect! It makes everyone's lives much easier, ok? Then I ended my day with a meeting 40miles to the north of my office which is 30 miles north of my home making for a very long commute.

When I finally got home, I found some papers duct taped to my door. It was an eviction notice - uhm WHAT?!? I looked closer and found it wasn't my name but was my apartment number... then I looked even closer and saw that the building number was wrong too. So it isn't for me BUT these papers from the court were taped to my door (not in an envelope) for God knows how long for all my neighbors to see!! I was embarrased and upset to say the least because you had to look really close to realize it was the wrong apartment so now my neighbors think i'm a deadbeat who doesn't pay my bills. This makes me so angry because I have NEVER - not even when going through cancer and on a reduced income - I repeat NEVER been delinquent with my rent. Then I start thinking, ok this is a court summons so the district court has idiots working for them that can't read an address... what if this happens when they come to get rid of this other lady's stuff?!  She has to appear in court on Feb 16th and if she doesn't and they come to throw her possesions in the dumpster... are they going to come to MY apartment?!  Of course this has me freaking out - especially because I won't be there the 18th-22nd to stop them from being complete idiots!  I'm seriously considering putting a post it note on my door clearly defining my full address to make them pause before destroying my home.

And here we are at Tuesday 10am... I was late for work because I thought the apartment office opened at 8am...nope doesn't until 8:30a so i'm going after work now... then I spun out on a very busy road on the icy drive to work... our major program to work out of has gone down twice already for a total of 2hrs work lost... and the entire hospital lost power for a bit - and I work in the basement with absolutely NO windows!  Thank goodness the generators finally kicked in...

So yes, I would like a do over starting back at Sunday please!