Life, continued

I hate that I haven't had time to update my blog... things have been quite demented around here. Okay, in a good kind of way, I guess :-) I do have some updates on THE Cancer diagnosis. (I refuse to call it "MY" cancer because I'm not claiming it!) I met with a medical oncologist and a radiation oncologist to find out more about the treatment process. I also had to have a second surgery because the margins weren't clear after the first one. The good news was that the second surgery left a nice pocket of "nothing" and I found out I qualify for a newer radiation procedure called "brachytherapy". It's a High Density Radiation therapy where they insert a catheter of tubes inside the breast (picture an eggbeater here) and radiate the tissue from the inside. Fewer side effects and it only takes 5 days-twice a day rather than typical radiation therapy which is usually daily for 5-6 weeks. I've had the catheter in for about 10 days now and in a few hours I will have my last treatment and then the catheter will be removed. I tell ya, I'm looking forward to it. It's not easy to sleep with a bunch of tubes sticking out of your body! But then... Viola! Radiation treatments are over with. Woohoo!


Life is going to speed up from now on... next week I have a heart scan, chemo class, and a port put in my chest. On January 10th I start chemotherapy. I hope the folks in the chemo department are as nice as the folks in the radiation department. They helped me laugh and forget the reason I was laying on that table connected to "The Source" of radiation. Big shout out to the techs, therapists, nurses, physicists, and doctors at CDH Cancer Center in Winfield! 


So anyway... chemo will now be 18 weeks long. A big dose (TCH) every three weeks for 6 cycles and a smaller dose of just Herceptin every week in between. After the initial six cycles are over, the Herceptin can be scheduled for every three weeks until January 2013. So next step is getting through that ordeal... 


I've been dabbling in some art work here and there, in between filling orders and ordering merchandise for Artistcellar. We are working on adding some fantastic new art journaling supplies, coming soon. I'm trying to keep up with Wild Precious Studio, this is something I made during a livestream video that Effy Wild does called "Church of Art."  It's highly layered, something I need to practice :-)

And then there's the fear of Copic Markers. I love Copic Markers. They don't smell like the toxic markers I used to use in my younger days. They blend and are bright and colorful and I have a mess of them I've collected over the past year, a few here a few there a few on sale... I had the opportunity to buy some portrait colors at wholesale prices at CHA last summer.  I also still have a fear of drawing faces... so I decided to challenge myself and put the two together. Markers are unforgiving so it was a huge challenge for me. This face was done in ONLY markers. It might not get me an A in art class but I think it's pretty good for a Marker Portrait Virgin :-D 

My hands are twitching to some more art. I think I NEED to do something... so I'll keep you posted. I need to get going now... I hope everyone has a happy and safe new year celebration! See you in 2012!