Top Ten Awesome Things About The Last Few Weeks

10. Cleveland will make major bucks in 2016 off the Republican party.

9. Mom/Kathy's surgical incision is healing nicely.

8. Cleveland weather has been lovely.

7. Mom/Kathy has been walking daily to prepare for the Outrun Ovarian Cancer 1 mile.

6. Dad/Jack and Karla are getting ready to help out and particiapte in the Gay Games (a major international event coming to Cleveland)- as their motto goes "You don't have to be gay to play!"

5.  Mom/Kathy has finished her first of four post-surgery chemo cycles!

4. Mom/Kathy's CA125 (the tumor marker) is down to 65 (the high was 1493; normal range is <35)

3. Lebron is coming HOME!

2. Mom/Kathy may be the only Clevelander that didn't burn her Lebron James jersey 4 years ago!

AND the number ONE awesome thing about the last few weeks....

1.  We have raised $670 for our Outrun Ovarian Cancer team.  Our goal is $1000, so please consider donating if you haven't already. 

https://fundraising.active.com/fundraiser/Gilda_sGang

On a side note, chemo is on hold due to low platelets.  Hopefully it will resume next week.

Howdy,

I've created a fundraising team called Gilda's Gang to support Outrun Ovarian Cancer (and my mom:-). We are participating in the OROC 5K Run/1 mile walk on August 2, 2014 in downtown Cleveland. Please consider joining us. I will be running the 5K, Jack/dad & Kathy/mom will be walking the 1 mile, and Angela, Dave & Greg will be virtually running/walking the 5k (since they will be out of town).

Having a great Father's Day at the Chalet!  Some news & thoughts from the week:

• Mom/Kathy's staples are out!
• We've received and read the pathology report; no surprises.
• Dad/Jack has gotten some good practice giving Mom/Kathy blood thinner injections.
• They are blessed with very supportive neighbors.
• Chemo is scheduled to start up again this week on Friday, and continues for 4 cycles/12 treatments. 
• DIE, CANCER, DIE!!!!!!!

On a side note, for Father's Day we went to Mitchell's Ice Cream, where Dad/Jack, Mom/Kathy and Karla succeeded in getting their hands (and tongues) on the elusive GLBC Porter Ice Cream (Edmund Fitzgerald porter ice cream with chocolate chunks).  Much happiness was had! 

 

Walkin' on sunshine!

 

 

Mom/Kathy is home from the hospital and doing great!  Hurrah!

There were a few issues delaying her departure - such as:

• the nurses liked her too much to let her leave;
• her room was so huge that she kept getting extra visitors who thought it was a lounge area; and
• she wasn't allowed to go home till she had farted.

All true!

This led to an entertaining series of messages between the rest of us, reproduced here for your entertainment:

First, some of the inspirational mantras for FartWatch 2014:

Beans, beans, the freedom fruit.
The more you eat, the sooner you toot.
The sooner you toot, the sooner you scoot!

Give a hoot; give a toot.

Could you,
would you,
fart on a boat?
Fart with a goat?

Could you,
would you,
fart in a crowd?
Fart out loud?

Fart out loud in a crowd?

Then, when she was released today, we had this series:

Dad/Jack: She needs to be on a brat diet.

Angela: Wait, she only gets to eat brats??

Dad: Yes, a bland soft diet with pictures of brats to look at.

Greg: Here's one:

 

Angela: Here's a better one!:

And the photo of the week:

We have also all farted in celebration of Mom/Kathy's homecoming - feel free to do the same!

Not much new to report for today, other than Mom/Kathy is more than ready to go home!  (For one thing, she thinks the food is MUCH better when Dad/Jack is cooking.)  She's progressing well, and may get sent home ahead of schedule - everyone think happy thoughts!

As we were leaving the hospital, we spotted a lovely rainbow over one of the CCF buildings, though I couldn't get a good picture of it.  We'll take it as a good sign, though!

- Angela/Elfrhys

Nothing major to report.  Mom/Kathy has been up for 3 short walks.  We are working hard to figure out the Diane von Furstenberg hospital gowns, they are proving to be quite difficult.  Maybe we'll figure them out by discharge.

For now, mom/Kathy continues to rest comfortably in her lavish suite!

Surgery was a success!  Kathy/mom entered the operating room at 7:24 this morning, surgery began at 8:16 and she was in recovery by 11.  Dr. Rose was very pleased. He was able to get all the disease out with no complications.  Kathy/mom is resting comfortably in her palatial suite in the G building at Cleveland Clinic.  She's expected to be here until Thursday or Friday.

Dr. Rose gave the greenlight for surgery.  Mom/Kathy is scheduled for surgery Monday, June 2nd at Cleveland Clinic (with a start time of 5:30 am:-0). Dr. Rose is very upbeat about current lab results.

Stay tuned for updates. 

Nothing new to report on mom/Kathy's health.  More chemo this week and surgery to come.  In the meantime, we are living life with gratitude & joy!!!

 

We spent a lovely Mother's Day picnicking by the family tree at Lakeview Cemetery followed by a visit to the Garfield Monument.  Mom/Kathy wasn’t up for the long trek to the top, so she relaxed with dad/Jack while the rest of us explored.

 

 

Dad/Jack & Karla enjoyed and “Evening in Ohio City”, touring beautiful Ohio City homes while enjoying local cuisine and delicious wine.  Mom/Kathy was worried it would be too tiring a night for her, so she had dinner with her baby brother and sis-in-law (Mark & Cora), but managed to wait up for us so she could hear all about the evening.  She ended the evening comparing her beautiful bald head with another fantastic bald head, that of Karla’s old friend, Christopher.

 

 

The family dogs found a little joy in snuggling.

One final picture for mom/Kathy’s Beaumont friends…  During mom/Kathy’s Beaumont years, she had a friend named Anne.  Several decades later, Karla (me:) worked with an amazing social worker named Anne who turned out to be the same Anne from Beaumont.  Anne has a daughter, Molly, who has a restaurant in Ohio City called SOHO (www.sohocleveland.com).  SOHO was one of the only restaurants on the Ohio City Home Tour that considered there might be vegetarians on the tour, making Karla (me:) VERY HAPPY and filled with gratitude (and mac-n-chesee!)!!!  SO, I leave you with a picture of the daughters of the Beaumont girls :-)

Mom/Kathy's platelets increased from 74 to 269!!!  This increase was enough to resume chemo this week!!!  Dad/Jack deserves some credit for this increase.  Following some diligent diet research he learned that beans (specifically black beans, lentils & kidney beans) are good for increasing platelet levels.  So, dad/Jack spent the week crafting delicious bean medleys.  Hippocrates stated "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”...wise words!

More Good News!!!

Blood work shows that the chemo is working to eradicate those nasty cancer cells.  We won't go into detailed lab results, but the tumor marker levels are going down.  Dr. Rose seemed pleased and his treatment plan is back on track.  The 3rd cycle of chemo started Thursday.  If all goes well this cycle will end May 22nd and then he can proceed with scheduling surgery. 

Mom/Kathy found the perfect shirt to wear to chemo.  She has found camaraderie with Randy from her favorite movie, A Christmas Story.  Much like Randy on a winter day, she can't put her arms down during chemo.

For anyone looking to help out/get involved, here's an idea :-)

OutRun Ovarian Cancer 5K/1 Mile Family Fun Run is taking place Saturday, August 2, 2014 @ the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.   Jack, Kathy, Angela, Dave, Greg & Karla will be participating in this event (Angela, Dave & Greg will be participating virtually since they won't be in town).  If anyone is interested in participating let me (Karla) know via email, karlareese@gmail.com.  If enough people want to join us, we will form an official team.  If anyone wants to participate virtually by walking a 5k on their own home turf, let me know.  If anyone just wants to donate to the cause, there will be more information coming :-)

For now, cheers to all the moms out there for Mother's Day!!!