A very dear friend passed away this week after battling brain cancer for 17 months.  She was the kind of friend that you feel incredibly lucky to have, a great role model and a truly amazing person.  She will always remain one of my personal heroes and words can not define how much we all will miss her.  Our grief is tempered with the example she set for us in life: easily embracing the joy in all things.

Zoe & Faye 'Hitting The Books'

Speaking of heroes, another very dear friend and member of our soccer community was recently diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma and began chemo cycle #2 this week.  With a huge sigh of relief I tell you that her prognosis, like Faye's, is most excellent (and she's a real trooper, amazingly up-beat).  I've always expected to encounter increased maladies and illness as I get older but this is just freaky and unfair.

Port Removal Pre-Op

Faye is starting to act like a teenager again after all these months, and though it is annoying as hell it is also a relief.  I consider that part of her attitude could be due to radiation fatigue which should be peaking today and tomorrow (it is kind of confusing but her first round of radiation was 'wide field' radiation which is expected to cause more fatigue than the narrow focus radiation she is currently undergoing).  Faye had labs drawn on Wednesday and her counts are actually back into the 'targeted range' which means normal! Faye's oncologist mapped out the next five years for us in terms of scheduled check ups and tests.  Instead of having the PET scan at the end of April Faye will alternate CT and PET scans for the next several months.

Zoe, Faye, Lydia & Claire 

 

After a weekend mini-vacation in the mountains visiting my sister and brother-in-law, Faye started back to school this week.  She was able to finish up two of her first semester courses on time but she continues to work on finishing the others while keeping up with second semester work and going to radiation every day after school.  Spring break can not come quickly enough: I was able to score decent airfare to Florida and we will finally take advantage of my Mom's empty condo on the beach.  Just thinking about it is therapeutic for us. We will start with the requisite day at one of the Disney parks in Orlando before driving over to Venice for some major beach time.  There are times when it is easier to embrace the joy in life - beach time is definitely one of them!

Next week Make-A-Wish will be visiting to interview Faye.  The process is slow but interesting and I will keep you posted along with photos as Faye's hair grows back in - it's already growing so quickly! - and scan results - which of course we hope for the best possible; clear, clear, clear.   ~Lolly

Wow time is really flying fast - especially in retrospect. We had a wonderful, relaxing and fulfilling Holiday break with family and friends (which the bathroom scale sadly attests). Faye has been going in for radiation daily, on week days, and up until this past week it's been the 'walk in the park' that experienced patients have described. It's still very much a 'walk in the park' compared to chemo but the cumulative side effects are beginning to manifest; aches and dry skin in chest and back, sore throat, fatigue... So far Faye has completed 11 of the initial 14 doses which she will finish up on Wednesday, then she will start the additional higher dose or 'boosted' radiation on Thursday.

Faye has surgery scheduled this morning to remove her port followed by radiation this afternoon. Maybe by tonight the day will seem to have flown by!? The surgery should take only about 20 minutes; it's the check-in, pre and post surgery stuff that drags on. The port happens to be in the main 'area of concern' and apparently it has the potential to mess with the next PET scan results. Faye hates IV's and would much prefer to keep the port for the radioactive glucose they will infuse for the next PET (which won't be until the end of April, after the radiation flushes out of her system).

Faye has been working, working, working, on school work but is still not quite caught up and she may end up finishing up one or two of her classes during next semester. She is still planning to go back to school when second semester starts on January 17. Faye is looking forward to getting back in shape for soccer and Heidi Onda, who has already done so much for us - especially in these last five months, and who is a fantastic personal fitness trainer, started working out with Faye last week (what a reality check that is!). And more good news: Faye is showing signs of hair coming in, and in the sunlight it surely looks like it will be red!  Well I really need to scoot out of here and take Faye in for her surgery.  Healthy -and Happy- New Year to every one! ~Lolly