Halloween at Our House

Cara invited friends over for Trick or Treating. I loved the costumes they chose. Of course, Colonel Mustard made another appearance as well as Frankenstein's Bride, a baseball player, the Butler (from the Clue Mystery party), Mrs. Lovett (from Sweeney Todd), and a psychedelic panda. Just another day at our house...

Colonel Mustard, I Presume?

Cara was invited to a Clue Murder Mystery party. Each person was assigned a character and had to arrive dressed for the part. Cara loved playing Colonel Mustard and had a great time at the party. I think it is a great party idea and the kids can't wait to have another one.

Hats for Zimbabwe

The DiLeo's are traveling to Zimbabwe over Thanksgiving break to the Melfort Orphanage to dedicate Jonathan's irrigation project. It was his request when asked by the Make A Wish Foundation. Cassy asked if I could make hats for the medical staff at the orphanage. I was thrilled to be able to participate in some way. I will not bore you with individual pictures of each hat. Here are all 14 hats ready to make the overseas trip to Africa.

Who are These People and Why Do They Live in My House?

Today was an eventful day at our house. Everyone had some place to go this evening. Lately, I have been the homebody, but this evening you would find me at the Ballet. Kathy treated me, as a birthday gift, to the Ballet to see MOMIX. They are a very cool, modern ballet group. You can pull them up on YouTube. The show we saw was Botanica. Wonderful! Phillip, Cara, and some of her friends headed out to a Halloween party given by our friends. Phillip and Cara decided to dress up. Phillip said he was a hippie. I think he looks more like Juan Valdez. Cara threw a cape on and she was set. They had a great time going through the haunted house and eating all of the goodies at the party. Tonight was fun for all.

Girls' Day

Both Cara and Robyn needed to spend time with their girls. Cara had her peeps over and Robyn had Shelby. Robyn and Shelby did their traditional "Let's make a cake while we hang out" cake. It was a "We Love College" cookie cake. Lots of silliness was shared and the cookie cake was history. I love days like this!

This Just in...an Update on My Hair

Well, the hair is slowly coming in and it is still very platinum blonde. Now back to whatever you were doing before reading this...

Have You Ever Been This Tired?

Cara came running in today to get me to come and look at Whiskers. She started coming out of her "Ker Cube" and fell back asleep before she was all of the way out. Now tell me...were you ever this tired?

Chemo is Done!

If I had a picture of fireworks, I would post it here. I am finished with chemo. These last 4 rounds were harder than the first 4. It is usually the other way with most patients, but then again I will find a way to be difficult.

The worst parts of chemo were losing my taste buds for the past 2 1/2 months and my lack of energy. Almost everything tasted like nothing and what little I could taste, didn't taste the way it should. It was the pits. Instead of curtailing my eating, I found myself eating things just in hopes I could taste them. The worst was not being able to taste donuts or a Hershey bar with almonds. I really wanted those two in the baddest way possible. There are supercentenarians with more energy than I have, but it will come back. I also have the lovely side effect of having blackened fingernails and toenails. All but one of my fingernails has a blackened area on it and both of my big toenails are black. I lost part of one toenail and will possibly loose the other. Oh joy. One other toenail has a tiny bit of black, but the rest are ok. My side effects could have been worse. I only felt nauseous twice and both times I forgot to take my medicine to combat that. I have some neuropathy in my fingers and feet. It is annoying and hopefully it will go away. I didn't have many of the other issues others had.

My greatest source of support was my family and friends. Phillip was amazing and did what he had to do without a single complaint. The Oncology staff at Ochsner Clinic Covington was wonderful. The nurses did a great job and I especially loved the nurse practitioner, Michelle Anthony. The ladies of the May Chemo 2010 group at BreastCancer.org were a tremendous support as well. No topic was taboo and believe me, there are some questions you might be afraid to ask. From here, I will be taking Tamoxifan for 5 years and then an Aromatase Inhibitor for another 5. At least that is the plan at this point. I will have periodic visits to the Oncologist and lab work and tests as well.

It is all up from here...