5 weeks left!!!!!

i am almost giddy with the knowledge that i only have 5 weeks left of "active" treatment left. while 2 of those weeks will be chemo sucky weeks, the fact remains that i am getting close to being done with it. stage 2 will be over before i know it!

am mostly just more tired than had been. my dr's office wants me to try and rest for a bit during the day and slow down on the workouts. that's something that's kind of hard for me to do happily but i am walking more and running less and moving slower.

yesterday was herceptin. went in with karen c...it's so funny. the other women who were being treated are ones that i know / have seen around the office a few times at this point and it's a nice, warm, supportive group. as i said to karen, who commented on how nice everyone was yesterday, "you don't want to be part of the group but if you're in the club, it's a nice one."

silver lining, right?

am meeting w/therapist today. don't really know what to expect with that. i'm going in feeling like i don't have much to say but i'm sure i'll end up with some tears...always.

5 weeks and counting down!

round #4 sucked

lest it be lost or i forget (all too common with chemo), round 4 totally sucked. i don't know whether it's the cumulative effect but i just didn't feel well...my stomach and aches were all worse. not fun. it's the first time i had to leave an event because i didn't feel up to staying which is probably more upsetting to me than anyone else.

glad round 4 is pretty much done and that i can red "x" another week off my schedule.

chemo sucks...don't let anyone tell you differently.

ooh....maialino....

i had herceptin today and followed it with a visit to danny meyer's new restaurant, maialino.....

wow. i think i may have a new favorite restaurant. maialino is so beautifully done.....from the bar when you walk in all the way to the back room - what a pleasure. it's located in ian schrager's newly redone gramercy hotel - at the very end of lexington on the border of gramercy park. (trying not to date myself i did stay there when the hotel was a dump. i remember the mattress being on a slant)

the location still puts you in the center of the city yet in a quiet, slightly remote part of the big apple....the new entrance is subdued yet subtly elegant. when you walk into the restaurant, you feel as though you've found a little bit of europe in nyc.....while it's not quite roman in feeling i do believe the menu is geared towards rome...... rome (to my best recollection) has more of frenetic, crowded feeling which you totally do not have at maialino.

i want to talk about the food before i forget it (due to chemo)....we started with the fried artichokes, dandelion greens and the bottarga salad with the egg. while the dandelion greens were kind of small for a portion, they were deliciously dressed. the artichokes were the crowed favorite. perfectly done! we followed that with the salumi misti... a perfect assortment of cured meats with olives.

we then had 3 of their pastas, the cacio & pepe, the bolottini and the ravioli's....all yummy....and that was followed by the baccala, the chicken & the lamb...along with the potatoes, the brussel sprouts and the cippoline onions....a perfect assortment of food for the 5 of us....lucky everyone agreed to sharing!

dessert ...well some at the table wanted to pass but there was no way. i'm a huge fan of affogato (perfect dessert!) and it was superb. we joined that with the poached pear and the chocolate bread pudding....which were 2 of my friends' favorites. i still go with the affogato ....

i will say the service still needs a bit of help...they are eager and more than happy to oblige you but there were many mistakes throughout the course of our meal....we started with no pepper in our mill and continually needed to ask for serving pieces (we were 5 people sharing) for all our courses. our salt & pepper disappeared off the table at one point and we had to ask them to retrieve them. additionally, they were a little too eager to clear....we were still contemplating whether to mop up the remains on various plates when the servers came to take the plates away and it would have been embaressing to say, "wait - i'm still going to mop that up!".

a little less hurried service would probably solve that problem along with a little more attention to what should be on a table - ie. salt, pepper mill (filled), napkins, serving pieces, utensils.....because of the friendliness of the help, though, it never became a real issue. it just should be corrected so it can be in line with the rest of meyer's restaurants.....

cancer be damned, it was another great meal. not for nothing, but my companions made it alot of fun....thank you!!

onward. remains of sucky chemo round 4 are pretty much gone....hoping for 2 relatively good weeks......

he shoots, he scores!!!!

can i just brag for 2 minutes about sam? his team was featured at the rangers game on thursday and in the little game they played after the first period, sam scored the only goal. big highlight of the week:)

charlie's rock

i got a piece of charlie's rock today from dan & jane in vt.

sometimes you get something from someone and it totally breaks you up. charlie died jumping off Lone Rock Point in Burlington. He was surrounded by friends and family but it was a tragic death. Charlie was 22 or 23, i think, and he was dan's younger brother. dan doesn't say alot about sickness or death - he's a doer. i like to tease dan ...he's always "the man with the plan" so his carving from charlie's rock is huge to me.

it's a heart.

in his note which (typical of dan) he included the geographic history of the rock formation and added an historian's point of view, and these words, "may it bestow you with some of its mystical qualities and may you belike the cedar trees that grow on it - a truly resilient and hearty survivor"

thanks dan....xoxoxoxox

i've been to lake champlain many many times and we always go by charlie's rock although i'm too chicken to jump off. maybe this summer i'll do it.

chemo - round 4

more than 1/2 way done!! had chemo on monday and went to locanda verde after for lunch. i realized i'm basically eating my way through treatment. how many good restaurants can i include in this??

am happy to report that i did not get in trouble for having too many guests at chemo....was afraid i would get booted if i did. this week i went in w/ my soccer girls, naja & coco, my mom & howard. howard stays just until we know the blood count is good to go...so i was ok w/ the number. phew! it's kind of embaressing but i do like to have my peeps there.

anyway, at lunch we met up with my friends, elena, sarah & my sister-in-law, philippa. my mom loved meeting them and treated us all to lunch...so it turned into a pretty nice day, all-in-all.

today is my "hump" day. am trying desperately to beat the drugs at their own game. sam's hockey team is skating at msg tonight in between the 1st & 2nd periods so i walked early, took a nap, ate my anytime bars, yogurt and soup and am hopefully good to go to msg. that'll be a big outing for me. normally i just sit my ass on the sofa and catch up on videos and "mad men".

go mariners go!

bday :)

so - today is my b'day....glad i made it :)

had a scare this week ...started out w/ a stomach virus on monday at 5:30 am that had me more nauseous and sick than the chemo i've been on. it was coming out of both ends and i swear i felt like i was a spongebob character. suffice it to say that it was not pretty and the saying"oh, i crapped my pants" definitely came to mind.

ended up with me having to go into my oncologist's office to make sure that i wasn't sick enough to be checked into the hospital. i was running a fever of about 101 and their worry got me worried.....packing my bag, i didn't even know what to pack. what do you pack for the hospital? i guess i need to relook at my bathrobe & pj's, just in case. kind of like having that bag packed for the hospital when you're pregnant only this time it's not a good reason.

also reminded me that as great as i might be feeling most of the time, i'm still a bit fragile and i'd been pushing that envelope a bit too much over the vacation week....so. no more late late nights and no more than my social occasional wine. bummer. knew it was too good to be true!!!!

despite all those good resolutions, went to union square cafe today for lunch for a b'day meal ....can't even count how many wonderful meals / occasions i've had there. it was where howard and i went for his first b'day we celebrated together way back in 1987 i think. (november). there was a snow fall that night.

we've had a few anniversaries there and a few b'days and many many great meals just at the bar.

to be honest, our waitress today was a bit bitchy but the food still rocks and the place is still a stand out.

looking forward to my cake later w/ the kids.

ciao!

2010

had too much champagne last night but it was good champagne so not feeling the effects. probably too much for someone on chemo but what the hell. you only go around this popsicle stand once, right?

had a fun night, hanging with my buds, shooting pool and eating caviar and drinking champage. finding that with the chemo / metal taste that only some foods can cut through...and champagne is one of them:). i like the bubbly effect too!

i know that no one really follows this on the blog spot but wanted to wish those of you who do a happy, healthy year filled with great moments of joy.

best day ever

so....this one's for you, marilyn!!!

here we are, ben, emma, me, bryan, sam, lauren and marilyn at MOMA.

We braved the crowds and went into Tim Burton. How crazy is it that i got 10 of us in with my one membership?? we bypassed all the lines, met sam & my friends from hockey, irene & jack and also another friend, katie. exhibit is awesome but was way way way too crowded. ben got yelled at for doing what you would think they would want kids to do, which is draw on the little booklet they hand out. the guard yelled at him for leaning on the wall.

sam & jack sam, bryan & lauren

sam was thrilled to get that fleece herceptin blanket from my oncologist's office. it turned out to be really helpful in keeping him warm all over the city. thanks beth!!!:)

we went to Co and ate pizza. of course, we hit Co the day it was written up in the Times for best bites. The meatball pizza is totally worth eating!