Saturday, November 13, 2010

Vancouver Fashion Week, Doc appts










Hi everyone


Well, I was part of the Vancouver Fashion Week - and what a lot of fun this was - this was the first year they included the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and some breast cancer survivors. Brian and I went to the Opening Gala on the Tuesday evening, November 2nd and met up with the designer who was going to be "dressing" me - Patricia Fieldwalker. What a wonderful lady she was! She was quite excited as to what she was going to be doing to me the next day. So, on Wednesday evening, the 3rd, we went to the hotel and were shown backstage to the dressing area. I had three hair dressers descend upon me - oh stop laughing, they had stuff to play with! Dylan, Katie-Rose and a few others had a blast playing with the french silk lace that Patricia had provided them along with an emerald green silk rose she had made. There were lots of bobby pins holding it all together and all had sparkles on them. Then the makeup artist got her chance with me. She did a great job but one of the head makeup gals came over and told her to make me more smokey - and she did - I suddenly had eyebrows again and beautiful green eyes, though she did have a heck of a problem with the eyelashes (mine are not very long). Then it was sit around time, Brian was asked to leave the room after being there for 90 minutes but he didn't mind, you can only look at the ceiling and your shoes for so long. With lots of 20 year olds clad in very little clothing all over the place. I had no real idea as to what was going on. All I knew was that one of the models would be in the robe before me and come off stage and I would get to put it on. It was so beautiful - wish I could have kept it. Brian was out front at this point watching the show and waiting for me to come out. Now at this point I am in the robe and waiting in the wings with the models and Patricia. She took a look at the robe and retied it to lay flat. And remember, I am also in 3.5" spike heels!!! The models did their last walk of the runway and then they introduced Patricia and myself - I couldn't hear this from where we were, but once she took my hand and led me onstage, it was exciting, there were people applauding and cameras flashing and down the runway we went!! It was a lot of fun and would do it again for them next year! When I came off stage, I was approached by the gal from the CBCF telling me that Black Out Productions wanted to do an interview of me! Told her ok, I needed to find my husband - who was in the media room at this point and they were waiting for me - no one told me that and I had gone backstage and changed into my jeans again, leaving my head wrap on. I quickly made to the media room, had a picture take with Patricia and then the organizer of the event, Jamal wanted pictures with me and with some of the models. There were cameras everywhere! Then it was time for the interview with Lauren. And of course I couldn't make it through without some tears but that was ok, They have included my blog on their website and I think that is awesome! Blackoutproductions.ca and then look for Breast Cancer Survivor Walks the Catwalk at the VFW. I can't get it to embed on this page, so you will have to do a little work and you can hear the interview and watch me walk down the catwalk!!!.
I lost a very dear friend on Wednesday afternoon - Samantha passed away at the age of 19. Even though I knew it was coming it was a very hard death the accept. This young woman became an instant friend two and a half years ago and she will be sadly missed. She was such an inspiration to other people, including me, to not accept the word can't. I was glad that I got a chance to visit with her at the hospice and to talk with her on the phone when I was in the hospital after my surgery - even then she was encouraging me to go forward. May you RIP Sam and you will always be in my heart.

Brian and I went to see Dr. Sasha on Wednesday and told him that I had had to call the FVCC to find out if I had an appointment - which I did - and my comment to the the clerk was, when was someone going to phone me? My appointment is Monday morning at 8:15. Dr. Sasha said he would send another email to Dr. Kwan telling him to get the treatment going - I was already three weeks behind and 2 months behind in my chemo. You can't do radiation and chemo at the same time - so this has been a major road block. I plan on telling him as well to get the treatment going this week. I want to get my health back as it has deteriorated considerably - I get winded very easily and find it difficult to walk up and down the stairs. This is all so new and a little nerve racking to say the least. But hopefully this doctor is good and knows what he is doing and gets into action quickly.


Hugz
Roni





That has been about it for the last few weeks. Will update next week with what Dr. Kwan has to say and also what Dr. Klimo has to say as I am to phone the clinic with my appointment dates and then go from there.
































































Monday, November 1, 2010

Just an update

Hi everyone

Just an update to keep everyone in the loop! Not too much has been going on over the last three weeks other than healing - and that is what s important!

As mentioned in the last post, Dr. Mutat took out his handiwork and it is healing wonderfully and he did a pretty good job at it as well.

I go back and see Dr. Klimo on the 10th for the change in protocol and then more than likely on the 12th for chemo - at long last - I am way too past due for my chemo (was due Oct 1 and well it kinda got pushed back) and need to get the nasty drugs into my system to start battling the tumours again. I also have an appointment with the BCCA to see a Dr. Winkle Kwan who is a radiation oncologist - Nov 15 - long time away at the FVCC where I had been previously. We were hoping to have gotten the radiation information and got the process going. But guess will have to wait to see him and see what he has to say.

On a real bright note, I will be part of Vancouver Fashion Week starting at the gala tomorrow evening. My designer, Patricia Fieldwalker is talking with the organizer and seeing if she is making me two outfits or one. I had thought just one for the fashion show on Wed but she seems to think she needs to make something for me for the gala - heck, I will take whatever she suggests! She sounds very bright and upbeat and that is real nice to have right now. At the end of the month, Brian and I will be attending the 2010 Grant reception for some of the top achievers within cancer research and I am very proud to be a part of this.

I want to send out some thank you notes via here - I know, cheating!!!! Anita - from UWLM - you make awesome banana blueberry bread!!! My friends from England want the recipe!!! Pink Angel thank you so much for the Cancer Vixen book - I am enjoying reading it and can relate all the way through, as can you I bet!! Annie, my wonderful older sister - thanks for the lottery ticket - it is a winner as you told me and has a few more draws to go - maybe a few more bucks would be nice!! Rae & Wilkie - thank you so much for the M&M card - it will go to good use for sure. Lori - the scone lady - they are amazingly good - one box down and another to go. NJ - your cake as always is so good - I really do want the recipe!! Other gals from UWLM for the chili and the pasta sauce - thank you so much - they are coming out next!!! All the flowers that came to the hospital and to home - they made my days even brighter. Especially the ones from the wedding in Hope!!! Long story on that one!!!!

Well that is about it for today - good news for a change and that is nice to have. Soon enough we will be back to ct scans and xray reports to see how the chemo and the radiation are working together in getting rid of the damn tumours.

Love to all
Roni