Any Time of Life, It's Good To Be Alive!

Day 16 of 20!

 

Cancer Update

I will be done with radiation in less than ONE WEEK!  I am counting down the days until next Tuesday!  Usually I can recover to feel somewhat better on Saturdays and Sundays when I don't have radiation, but this last weekend I continued to feel bad.  :(  I am trying to post this after sleeping for two extra hours today.  These gigantic naps seem to be the norm for me these days.  My skin now looks like I have a really bad sunburn, but I know it could be far worse as some people get bad radiation burns with blisters and such.....so thank heavens for that.

 

On Thursday (tomorrow), they will switch from giving me the extra-dose radiation to my entire breast to what they call boosters, which will be four days of an extra-dose radiation that will only go to the cancer site.  I am not going to get into the science-y thing here, but this booster radiation is different in that it does not penetrate as far into your body as "regular" radiation, thus they use it for these boosters.  I am just excited to get to this booster phase because it signals that the end of radiation is nearing.

  

So, after my radiation treatment and a final appointment with the radiation oncologist (both on June 30th), I will say farewell to the Radiation Oncology Department (and one of my favorite doctors in the whole world, which is sad, but in a way it is not)!!!  I will blog about the next stage of treatment in two weeks when I go back to see Dr. P (my oncologist, whose name is hard to pronounce so I have taken to calling him Dr. P).  More "fun stuff" in store, I'm afraid.

 

Cool Friends Update

 

I must know some of the most creative people on the planet judging from the cards I have received over the weeks.  This week brought me a card from Barb, my SBS26 sister, and it is so sparkly and beautiful!  It has a lovely butterfly image stamped on it that is highlighted with glittery goodness, and even my husband commented on how pretty it was when I opened it (you all know how much it takes for anyone in the male gender to "notice" these things).  Thank you so much, Barb....I totally love it!

 

Also, thanks again to Cindy for the blogging award! (see post from yesterday)

 

Creative Update

 

Wow, I actually have something to post!

 

These are some projects I did in January/February for The Stamping Studio, but the stamp set wasn't released until now so I couldn't post them.  The stamp set is part of the Flower Of The Month Series, and the set for July is Cherry Blossom.  The artist Brooke Smith draws all the flowers for the series and I just love her artwork so much!  I used Shimmerz paint to fill in the stamped flowers, which I think is just so lovely in person.....I hope you can see some of the beautiful effects you can get with it in my photos.  Also, I must have been thinking Cherry Chocolate when I was doing the color scheme!

 

Please check out all of the Flower Of The Month stamp sets at The Stamping Studio by clicking on "The Store", then scrolling all the way to the bottom to click on the FOTM stamps.  A new set is released each month, so there are six already and the July one will be posted soon.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Card Recipe:

FOTM7 - Cherry Blossom stamp set by The Stamping Studio

Timber Brown StazOn solvent ink pad by Tsukineko

Van Dyke Brown ink from Nick Bantock by Ranger

Cranberry Adirondack dye ink pad by Ranger

Brittle and Crushed Berry patterned paper from Bittersweet collection by Basic Grey

Magenta and Pink Poinsettia paint by Shimmerz

Kraft, pink and brown cardstock by Bazzill

Floral Lace border punch by Martha Stewart Crafts

Tan Copic marker

Other:  Jute

             Small and medium plastic jewels

             Corrugated cardboard

             Smooth white cardstock

             1/2 inch brown grosgrain ribbon

             5/8 inch brown suede ribbon

             Flowers

 

And The Winner Is....

Me!  I received a blogging award from my sweet SBS26 sister, Cindy.  I usually don't see these awards until way too late, so I am happy I saw this one in a timely manner.  Thanks so much, Cindy!

 

 

Here are the rules for this award:

Thank the person who nominated you for the award.
Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
Link to the person who gave you the award.
List 7 things about yourself that people may find interesting.
Nominate 7 new Kreativ Bloggers.
Post links to the new nominated blogs.
Leave a comment on their blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

Here are 7 random things about me:

1.  In the 5 years I have been submitting cards and projects for publication, I have had over 65 things published.

2.  I love using highlighter pens!  My favorites are the Sharpie Accent pens.  Actually I love all Sharpie pens.

3.  I am tall at 5 ft. 9 in.  This came in handy for playing volleyball in high school.

4.  My husband and I will be married for 29 years on August 23rd.

5.  I go to Sporcle.com every night before I go to bed to do the trivia games.  It feeds my addiction to know all things pointless.

6.  I love Life Is Good t-shirts and own 6 of them.

7.  My favorite band is Def Leppard, hence the name of my blog which are lyrics from one of their songs. 

 

I want to nominate the following ladies for their cool blogs, which I think are super interesting and so fun to read:

1. Melody   

2.  Kriss 

3.  Alex

4.  Gina

5.  Kelley

6.  Cheryl

7.  Kate

 

I'll be back tomorrow with an update!

 

   

Day 10 of 20!

Cancer Update

Day 10 of 20 is tomorrow!  That means I will be halfway done with radiation treatments tomorrow!  Woohoo for me! 

Here's some info for you, since I have had questions about this.  I go every weekday to the Mayo Clinic to receive radiation therapy, and then have the weekends off for my body to recover a little (which you really need because of the fatigue and skin reactions).  The effects of radiation are cumulative, so as time goes on here I can expect to feel a little worse.  On Monday and Tuesday I have felt okay......by Friday I am putting in some serious nap-time!  By June 30th (my last day) I expect to be sleepwalking. 

Anyway, that is where I am right now!  I am trying to keep positive and stay away from negative thoughts.

Cool Friends Update

Thank you so much to my SBS sister, Shell, for the gorgeous purple-y butterfly card I received in the mail the other day!  I so appreciated the ladybug tag you included and plan to use it as a bookmark (coolio technique you used, too, by the way).  You also win the prize for having the prettiest decorated envelope I have ever seen!  Thanks again, sweet sister!!!

Creative Update

Nothing.  I've got nothing. {sigh}  When I feel like doing anything I do a load of laundry or something mundane like that.  I can't wait......CAN"T WAIT......until I feel up to doing things again!

"Come On Over!" and "Welcome!" To My New Sisters Update

My Sisterhood Of The Blogging Stampers group #28 never really took off except for a small group of us.  We were invited to join the sisters of SBS26 and I finally joined up with them tonight.  So, I just wanted to welcome all of my new sisters to my blog!  Here are a couple of links where you can read weird factoids about me, and get to know me a little bit:

Random Junk About Me

Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants?? 

Day 4 of 20

Wow.....radiation is kind of kicking my butt big time. 
I basically have done the same things every day
because I really don't feel like doing much. 
Naps are my best friend. 
The fatigue is already crazy. 
Good thing they give you the weekends off to recover a bit. 
I know this is temporary, and so does my family....
they are treating me with lots of TLC.

Cards are only a figment of my imagination right now {sigh}.

Looking forward to June 30th (last day of rads).

P.S.  To people wanting my address......I can't find most of your email addresses easily to give it to you.  My brain is not navigating blogs and such very well right now.  I was only able to find a few before petering out.  Sorry!

And So It Begins.....

Cancer Update:

I start radiation tomorrow, and will be receiving treatments through the end of June.  I opted to do a newer course of treatment and will receive 4 weeks of a more intense dose each time instead of 6 weeks at a regular dose.  Apparently because I didn't get the most severe side effects last time I did radiation, I am a good candidate for it.  My radiation oncologist just started offering this to patients because she has been waiting for a while for good data to come out on how effective it is to do this.  At any rate, I can still look forward to skin reactions and severe fatigue, etc.....I am just not sure how awful it will be this time.  But anything it takes to wipe out this stupid cancer is worth it!

Creative Update:

I am going to share a card that I made recently that I actually did take a photo of!  Will wonders never cease?!?  I swear I am super forgetful lately, and I can't even blame it on Radiation Brain yet!!  All the sparkly gold makes me happy.  It does kind of look more autumnal than summery, but that's okay.

 

 

Card Recipe:

 

It's Good To Be Queen stamp set by The Stamping Studio

Gold ColorBox pigment ink pad by Clearsnap

Jumbo Java VersaMagic chalk ink pad by Tsukineko

Clear and Gold Super Fine Detail embossing powder by Ranger

Brighton, Bristol and Rochester patterned papers from the

     Windsor collection by SEI

Coin blanks by Pine Cone Press

7/8" gold wired ribbon by Michaels Stores Inc.

9mm gold jump ring by Jewelry Essentials

White opaque pen from Inkssentials by Ranger

Other: Ivory, Gold and Brown cardstock

           Medium and small plastic jewels

 

I am slowly getting around to people's blogs today, and hope to visit all of my SBS Sisters by the end of the day.  I just feel so far behind and out of the loop!