happy (belated) 4th!

Hello everyone,

So it ended up being a fireworkless 4th of July for me. The Longwood Gardens show was sold out, and then Dan's family fireworks display had to be postponed due to the rainy weather and tornado watches that we had here yesterday. I still had a great holiday though.

On Tuesday we went to the Farmhouse at Loch Nairn golf course up in PA for my parents' 25th anniversary. It's always such a treat to go there. I had lobster bisque, the house salad with strawberry vinaigrette, and maple glazed salmon with an apple crepe of some sort. Dan came and we all had a great time. Our waiter was the same French waiter we had the last time we were there (Aunt Pat, you and Kate may remember this guy). When Dan mentioned that he had just returned from traveling in France, they got into a lengthy chat about French history and movies...lol. He was nice though.

Yesterday I went to Dan's for 4th of July dinner and fireworks. Every year he, his Dad, and his brother Jon put on a fireworks show in the driveway (with the small kind that are legal in PA, of course). Unfortunately there were tornado watches and thunderstorms, so we had to postpone the festivities until this weekend. But it was still a nice night. Dan and I got to talk and relax for a while after dinner.

Dan is back to work today at Bournelyf Special Camp, a day camp for children with special needs. He has worked there for the past 2 summers and loves it. In the fall he will begin teaching English at Nativity Preparatory School in downtown Wilmington. Nativity Prep was established in 2003 by the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales as a school for low-income boys in grades 5-8. It is tuition free, and students have to be very hardworking and disciplined to get in since classes are limited to 10-15 students. Once they graduate, the students win scholarships to local college-prep high schools. It should be an amazing place for Dan to begin his teaching career. I am so proud of him.

Anyway, today I'm finishing some cleaning in my room. I'm trying to purge as much as possible from my closets to give to Good Will. My room is just too packed for me to function anymore. I figure I should make good use of my job-free summer and get it cleaned out. So far I've filled 6 trash bags with clothes, shoes, purses, and more. It feels good to be rid of the clutter!

I also got an absolutely fantastic package in the mail today from one of my best friends, Kristen! She is living up in Boston for the summer where she is majoring in pharmaceuticals at Northeastern. A few years ago when I was going through a tough time, she made me a "Fuck It Bucket", which is an idea she got from the book "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris (an absolutely hilarious book). The package I received today contained an even bigger "Cancer Edition" of the Fuck It Bucket filled with cookies :) She also sent me a Boston Redsocks mascot, funky band aids, and a box of ghetto slang flashcards to make me laugh. She decorated the whole bucket with pictures of us and stickers and all sorts of cute stuff. I have the world's best friends. I really do.

I also have the world's best family. I got a gooorgeous vase filled with flowers from Uncle Will's sisters, Nora and Rosemarie. I'm not sure if they knew it, but lilies are my favorite! There are several yellow ones in the arrangement and they just bloomed. It's so nice to see them brightening up the kitchen.

Last week I got to have lunch with my mom and Grandmom at a great Mexican restaurant, Don Pablo's. I had a strawberry margarita (I can have a teensy bit to drink once in a while) and a huge chimichanga covered in cheese. I haven't found many Mexican restaurants that live up to La Tolteca, but this one was great. I'm going to have to take Dan there and see what he thinks.

....Is it just me, or do my journal entries tend to be very food-focused??? haha I think it's all this Prednisone talking. I'm back on that for 5 days now that I'm done my 3rd round of chemo, and it's making me hungry constantly. I'm trying to stay more active though. I've been power walking a lot with my mom around the neighborhood and going with my dad to Bellevue State Park. My 3rd round of chemo was Tuesday and it went very well, although it took longer than last time because the center was so packed with people getting treatment around the holiday. I didn't get sick, just very sleepy from the Benadryl, and I got a visit from one of the PAWS dogs, a golden retriever named Sadie. She was adorable, and I fed her a treat :) I really enjoy seeing the dogs when I'm there.

I had a physical and a meeting with Dr. G before my treatment, and I am doing very well. My white blood cell count was almost totally normal and my lungs are sounding better than ever. I got an x-ray which showed that about 2/3 of my tumor is gone. It is going to take another round or 2 before it will be totally wiped out since it was such a bulky mass to begin with, but we're making good progress and I'm handling treatment very well. Dr. G warned me that I'll probably start to feel a lot more exhausted and have more memory problems as the weeks progress. I may have problems with hand-eye coordination and just lose my mental sharpness in general. I have been feeling better as the chemo drugs have been attacking my cancer, but now that there is less cancer to attack, the drugs will basically just be attacking the rest of me. I'm nervous about what that might mean, but I suppose there's nothing to do but keep going with the flow.

In about 6 weeks, Dr. G wants to sit down and talk about whether I look like I'm headed for a complete cure, or if things are still "iffy"...depending on where I stand, we will be deciding if I should receive a stem cell transplant. That procedure would help safeguard me against a relapse, since I'm in a risk group for relapsing due to the size and stage of my cancer, but it would also mean a 3 week stay in the hospital after my chemo finishes up in October. This would pose a problem if I am intending on starting law school in the fall, so I have to get in touch with the dean at Widener and decide if it would be best for me to start or put off my enrollment until spring semester. I honestly don't know what to do. I really want to start school, but I also want to do whatever it takes to kick this cancer for good. There really isn't an easy solution to any of this, but I'm sure whatever is meant to be will be.

All right, I'm going to wrap this up now. I have a coffee date soon with Chiya, Colleen and Sara at BrewHaha, so I'm off to get ready. I hope everyone had a lovely 4th!

Lots of love,
Lauren