Happy Birthday Mom...

Today the greatest person in my life is celebrating her birthday. As much as my mom hates birthdays because it reminds her of her age I think birthdays are pretty cool and awesome. Out of the goodness of my heart I will not disclose her age. Since her 35th birthday, her age has been as much of a mystery as the existence of the lochness monster. LOVE YOU MOM! I think like wine you have aged gracefully. :D

Tomorrow will be the last (I hope!) EPOCH treatment that I will be getting. I have an appointment with Dr P and then off to the treatment room for my chemo. Wish me luck that everything will go smoothly!

xoxo,
rina

No rain is going to ruin my parade...

So today was the day of the garage sale. My mom being the dedicated person that she is started to set the thing up at around six thirty this morning. More help started to show up at around seven which is when I got up and "helped" out as well. I put the word help around a quotation mark because you could not really say that I helped out much because im such a weakling. blagh! So back to the sale, it was doing really well around morning time with alot of customers showing up and buying stuff.

Then there was a big damper at around ten. The sky started to pour cats and dogs. It was ridiculous but Cara came prepared she brought clear plastic bags to cover the items so it doesnt get wet. We waited for the sky to clear up which it finally did an hour or so later.

I was fortunate enough to have lunch with Dr Salim, he's a forestry professor here at Oklahoma State. Such a nice man and he reminds me so much like my uncle. During lunch he shared stories from all his world travels, which I hope to do one day. Go out and see the world! Experience ohther culturs and see what they have to offer out in this big world. Plus, its really sad that a man from Turkey can speak better Bahasa Indonesia than me.

I really thought that the rain would slow down the sales for the rest of the day, because although it stopped raining it was definitely cloudy. I would be happy if we were able to pull off $200, but the total of the day was ....(drumroll please..) EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY SEVEN DOLLARS!!! whoot whoot! that my friend is what you would call a success story!

Ninety percent of the items that were being sold today were from donations. So thank you so much to those who donated, who helped me sort/priced the items, and those who were there today during the garage sale. This wouldnt have been possible without you! I really wanted to start naming names but im afraid that the music will cut my thank you speech off just like they do during the Oscars. hah! But in all seriousness you know who you are and I owe the success of todays sale to you, GOD bless you for your kind heart!

xoxo,

rina

PS: thought I share some pictures with all of you the beautiful men and women of the best frickin G Sale ever!

If Human Cloning Was Possible...

I havent been able to post the past couple of days because not only my cough has been so terrible that it tires me out but also because with the energy I have left, I have tried to help out with the garage sale process. It made me so happy to see that many people donated wonderful items for the sale. I feel like I could open up my own second hand shop with the immense amount of items that we have for the garage sale tomorrow. I'm feeling very optimistic with the sale tomorrow, I really don't see how anyone could pass up buying these wonderful items. They really are not junk, but simply treasures! treasures that will help me reach my transplant goal. :)

Even with help from wonderful people for the past couple of days, we're still not done setting up. But I know my mother and those who are helping her set up in the morning will make sure that the place will be up and running tomorrow morning. They are simply the most wonderful and kind people that you'll ever meet. I feel really blessed to have these kind of people in my life!
I wish I was more help, but this cough is unbereable. Especially with this heat, it definitely makes my cough alot worse! I hate it because it makes me feel useless. Maybe if there were five of me, it could equal one decent healthy person. Hah!

The "Cancer Schmancer Comedy Jam" was tonight. In fact, its going on right now. It really makes me sad that im not able to make it. But I really cant be there tonight and have the strength for tomorrow's sale. I would be too wiped out. Also the drive and with the 10 PM -1 AM time, its simply too much for my old weary body.

We just got done sorting and getting stuff ready just an hour ago. My mom needed to get some stuff for the lemonade/bake sale tomorrow from wal-mart. I thought I should give her some company and so I went with her. We just got home and my body is worn out. It's needing some hardcore sleep, but I thought I should update just to let everyone know that i'm doing alright. :)

xoxo,
rina

PS: If anyone is from around Stillwater...

Community Garage Sale --- 8 AM, Sat Morning!
1909 E Duke Ave.

Be there or be square! (that's where all the cool kids will be...) :p

le sigh...

I am feeling tired today and in need of some rest. Tomorrow I will write something more than just this.

Good night.

Viva la Vida...

I love healthy days and being productive! I slept like a baby last night. My night was not interrupted by my coughs and felt wonderful this morning. Seriously, healthy days they are wonderful and I am thankful that im feeling better every day.

I was able to help my mom sort out the stuff for the garage sale today. We created piles for women, men, and children clothing and things that needed to be hung during the garage sale. I must say that we did a pretty awesome job in sorting. Regina dropped off three tubs of stuff, but they were not just "stuff" though. Some of those were things that you wouldn't find around here, they were stuff from all over the world. She is a wonderful woman not just for donating all of these stuff but also for being very helpful with the whole fundraising process.

Sarah, a friend of mine, also dropped off some of her stuff. She is in the process of moving and decided to donate the things that she no longer needs to the garage sale. But she also brought a little something else for me. A copy of the new Coldplay cd! Lets just say that made me really really happy. I have been so busy with the treatment, being sick and the fundraising that I have not had the chance to get the new copy of Coldplay. I am such a fan of the band and I definitely recommend the CD to everyone.

My friend and former roomate, Nicole, will also be featured on the Tulsa Channel 8 morning news this Thursday for the benefit show she is hosting for me. It's called the "Cancer Schmancer Comedy Jam" and all the money will go towards my transplant. I am so happy that she will be on TV and quite flattered and thankful that she is putting all of this together to help me out.

Right now im typing while Coldplay is playing on repeat and surrounded by stuff that we're selling for the garage sale. I am really looking forward to Saturday, there sure are alot of stuff that will be sold and all we need now is just a big turnout. I am a pretty optimistic person and I think this will be a successful garage sale!

I hope everyone is having a lovely 'coldplay' evening! ;)

xoxo,
rina

Oh Monday...

Today I went to the cancer center to do my weekly dressing change for my PICC. I am glad that they still work great through all those chemo, blood draws, and even through my clumsiness that resulted in breaking the line twice! I cant believe how long the line used to be (in the picture) that its gotta be about 20 in, now its barely about 5 in. out of my arm. I really would take a picture of how it looks right now but I am already in bed as im writing this. Maybe some other day I will.

Dr P came by to feel the tumor in my neck, he really didnt say much about it, but from the looks of it he seemed pleased. Barbara (the head nurse) complimented my picture and said that I looked really cute in the paper's article that was published over the weekend. It was pretty uneventful day in rina's cancer world today.

So later on the afternoon I decided to help my mom out with a little laundry, those little buggers sure do know how to pile themselves up. My mom has been so busy with my me and medical appointments, the fundraising, and everything in between. I really do feel bad that she has not been able to catch a break, so I thought it would be nice to help her out with that. It wasnt much of anything, but its the best that I could do.

Cara came by this afternoon and brought me strawberry milkshake. It's one of the things I love these days especially on those days when I couldnt hold down my food or when the sores are just unbereable.....milkshakes always make me happy.

xoxo,
Rina

A persons trash is someone else's treasure...

Slowly but surely I have been feeling better. With each night's rest my body is rejuvenated and aches are starting to disappear, fevers are no longer a problem, and if it werent for this cough still being here I would begin to feel like myself again.

But I have predicted all of this. I would usually feel bad about the fourth and last day of chemo and would continue on a downhill slope through the week after. Then towards the end of that week I would start to feel healthier and would continue to climb up for a week before the whole process of chemo would begin again. So basically, Dr P would like to give chemo whenever my numbers and my health is good enough for those evil toxins. I know he means well, but I wish I have more than just one week of feeling healthy. But I shouldnt complain, I would be in pain 24/7 because of those pesky tumors if it werent for Dr P's treatment plan. You start to learn how to give and take.

I am really looking forward to the transplant. With the high dose chemo it would blast those pesky tumors out of here! As far away from me as possible! With it comes freedom. I will then be able to have healthy days lasting longer than a week. Everyday I pray that everything will work out and that I will have my transplant procedure done during this window of opportunity. I cannot let this slip by me, I really cant. Sometime I dont know how im supposed to feel, relieved that the transplant is in three weeks which means that I am THAT much closer to a cure or worried that three weeks is not enough time to come up with that large sum of money. I dont know. I really dont.

Anyways....

I know that I cant just cry about my problems and expect them to go away without doing anything about it. So if all goes to plan, I should be feeling much better this week. Which means that I should be able to be more active in helping out my mom and everyone involved in getting the community garage sale going. Which I hope we will have lots to sell and lots of people coming out to the GS.

I hope everyone is having a sunny sunday! :)


xoxo,
rina

More to life than cancer...

We cancer patients can be self-absorbed and single-minded. Death looming over our heads can really take over our lives. We count on you, our family and friends, not to let it.

I've had friends talk to me about their everyday problems with their parents, significant others, coworkers, and then they stop themselves and say, "I shouldn't be complaining about this stuff! This is nothing compared to what you're going through!"

Or they're chit-chatting along about themselves and then suddenly realize they have a dying cancer patient in front of them. "Listen to me going on about this silly stuff! Tell me about you. How do you feel? How's the treatment going? Let's talk about you."

I know there are some cancer patients who want to talk about nothing else or think that whatever anyone else has to say isn't as important as what they, as cancer patients, have to say. But I'm sure they're the minority. And if it weren't cancer, it might be something else that makes their troubles more important than anybody else's. But most cancer patients, including myself, want to hear about what's happening outside of Cancer World.

A bad break-up with a boyfriend might sound trivial compared to a life-and-death struggle with cancer, but we human beings feel what we feel. If the break-up is what's consuming you and keeping you up at night, let's talk about that. It's probably a lot more interesting than the details of my latest test results anyway.

It's true - I could live, eat, and breathe cancer 24/7 if I let myself. Cancer can be as big or as little as I let it be. When I spend an entire day at the hospital getting tests and treatments, cancer takes over the day. But even then, I don't sit waiting for my echocardiogram thinking about cancer. I'm usually thinking about the same mundane things everyone else thinks about while waiting in line at the bank or supermarket.

Yes, cancer is right up there on the list of things worth complaining about. Yes, it probably trumps a family squabble or a bad hair day in terms of seriousness. But that doesn't mean other problems aren't important. Think of it this way. If you want to complain to me about the horrible haircut you have to live with after spending four hours and a week's salary at the hairdresser's, I can comfort myself with the thought that at least I don't have to worry about silly things like haircuts anymore.