Rats win district title!

Naomi and Tyler. Tyler is wearing the district champs t-shirt that they all were given at the end of the game

AA News photo in the paper today of the girls rejoicing with their trophy.

AA News photo of Naomi hacking away at her girl

The big game was very high energy. A bus was arranged to bring the fans in-mostly consisting of the men's bball team who made lots of noise. The opponents, the South Lyon Lions, were a much bigger team. We do have 2 girls 6 feet and over but one is in the hospital recuperating from surgery. Jasmine is the other but she too is recovering from an injury. She did sub in for Naomi a couple times and did very well. Tyler was left to defend against a girl 5 inches taller and who was very skilled at blocking shots. Naomi took the other big girl. But Tyler was her amazing self sneaking in shots-24 points. In one of her baskets, she threaded under the big girl's armpit to get a basket. We went out to a quick lead but SL soon almost caught up. Our many energetic guards pressured them the whole night to take weak shots. Naomi actually did some good things on offense even though her strength is defense. The last 4 minutes of the game consisted of the guards playing keep away to preserve a 10 point lead that was whittled down to 8 at the last second. There is no shot clock in high school bball. Lots of happy tears and positive vibes at the end of the game. Everyone was hugging each other. The athletic director had made up Championship shirts in advance. I guess she had alot of confidence in the girls. Steve, Josh and I had found Coach Steve earlier in the day when we had gone out to lunch. He was busily preparing a game plan and was very nervous but it all worked out. Next stop: Lansing on my last infusion day, Tuesday, to play Niles, a town in the southwest corner of MI. From what I read, they have a good chance against them. The regional final is Thursday. The winner will most likely play East Lansing, the top rated Class A school. Anything can happen.

The temp was in the high 60s yesterday and sunny. After our lunch with Josh, we took a nice walk along the river. Lots of people out. Today it is supposed to rain most of the day but I will try to run maybe.

An old friend from work, Rick, died yesterday of a brain tumor. He was diagnosed almost 3 years ago with a glioma-a type of brain tumor. During surgery to remove it, he had went into a coma and it was suggested to his wife that since he wasn't going to survive anyway that they not feed him. She insisted on the feeding tube and he did awake from the coma. Brain tumors are very hard to treat with chemo as few drugs can go across the blood-brain barrier. I did visit him several months after the surgery and his mind was as sharp as ever. He still could not eat and it was very difficult for him to move as the tumor and/or surgery did alot of damage to his motor skills. For the past year, the tumor was destroying his cognitive abilities too. I feel very guilty that I didn't visit him more during the year he still had most of his mind.

I hate cancer!!!!!!

My Mom

My mom at 57 with Josh, 2 and Shanna, 4.5. She would later have 4 more granddaughters. "Shayna" Shanna is now carrying her 2nd child.

My mom in her early twenties.

Today would have been my mom's 82nd birthday if she not had Alzheimer's Disease. She had survived breast cancer at age 64 only to have AD ten years later. None of her 4 siblings who survived into their 70s had either cancer nor AD. Indeed, the 3 remaining are very healthy and alert even though 2 of them are older than she would have been. She had a very hard life living with an abusive husband. AD is a cruel disease slowly destroying what makes you you. At one point, she became violent and unmanageable, which was so unlike her. During the last two years of her life, she could not speak (except for the word 'yes') or walk. When I first had to put her in a home in 9-03 (a nightmare in itself-my father was still alive and wanted her to continue to wait on him hand and foot), she would be so excited to see me saying to anyone she saw," Look, look, my mother's here!" This quickly turned to her only being able to say-"Mine, mine" pointing to me. After 2005 or so, it was questionable if she knew who I was other than a vaguely familiar face. In 9-07, she suddenly refused food or to swallow if it was placed in her mouth. I had just seen her 2 days before her hunger strike and she seemed normal. Her 2 remaining pleasures were treats and being able to move. The latter was severely curtailed by the staff as she quickly got into trouble setting off alarms and breaking things. I would take her outside where she'd be free to shuffle herself non-stop in her wheelchair and bring her treats that I would have to ration as she would shove them into her mouth all at once. It is said that AD is childhood in reverse. Indeed this is true. At the point that she needed to be in a home, she had the speech of a 4 year old. She would excitedly show me that she could recognize letters. Her remaining skill was that she could tie shoes-something that few of the 7 year old boys I had coached in soccer had mastered.

When I first was diagnosed with TNBC and read about its particular nastiness, I thought at least now I don't have to worry about getting AD. I really believe that there is a good chance in the next 10 years or so that TNBC can be stopped. I am not so optimistic about AD-much, much more complicated of a disease. Lots of research directed toward it though and I myself had worked on some of these projects.

Yesterday we drove up to the Thumb for one of the mom's dad's funeral. She and her sister had prepared a collage of their father's life-interesting especially with the early pix of my friend. Their dad was a handsome man. His heart attack sneaked up on them but my friend and her sister were there for him. A church lady lunch followed the ceremony-the black walnut cake was especially good. Steve and I stopped in Frankenmuth on the way home, which was built to resemble a Bavarian village, famous for its chicken dinners and the world's largest X-mas store. One of MI's biggest tourist destinations favored by bus tour groups of seniors. We looked in some of its touristy stores, one specializing in old candy that I loved in the 60's. French burnt peanuts, those waxy bottles full of colored sugar water, waxy sweet lips, marshmallow ice cream cones, cigarettes made of sugar, Dots, etc.

District final tonight against the South Lyon Lions. Wednesday this team was 2 points behind the Mounties with a second to go and a freshman made this miracle 3 pointer at the buzzer to win the game. Naomi's team had to analyze that game yesterday (they tape everything). Their big (literally and figuratively) star won't be Naomi's responsibility but she will have to do the tip-off against her. Huron should win but who knows what can happen. I was rooting around SL's website yesterday trying to see specifically what teams had beaten them ( I had knew that Salem had beaten them twice-a team we beat) but instead of coming up with their sports records, I came across their test scores. It turns out that its District's average composite ACT score is only 1 point higher than Naomi's. SL is full of middle to upper middle class kids-no projects. Maybe I am underestimating Naomi's abilities. Once the season is over, could be tonight, I need to focus more on her future. I keep comparing her to a typical Huron student (the school was ranked recently as the top school academically in the state) instead of the population at large. Last night I helped her study for her big Government test today. She is improving quite a bit. I am not sure she is mature enough for college.

I finally received my doctor's excuse from jury duty today along with another beautiful card from Lesa, who makes homemade cards to cheer up bc patients. See LittleLifePreservers.com if you know a patient who needs cheering up.

Blessings and mascots

Yesterday was a good day overall. Blessings in particular:

1. Harold's (Steve's brother) lymph node was benign. It had shown some activity so they biopsied it. He had been diagnosed with primary brain lymphoma.

2. More insurance issues resolved all due to me having to switch plans twice since treatment.

3. I am in LiveStrong for sure. Furthermore I get to use the Y any time I want during those 3 months

4. Above freezing temps and I walked 1% faster than the day before.

5. The salon will refund my money for that awful wig episode.

6. Despite a badly mangled right hand, Naomi had a fantastic game starting from the openning tip-off (using her left hand) to T who scored with 5 seconds on the clock. Got lots of rebounds-notably offensive ones, steals, and assists. The other Rats did well too handily beating Dexter.

The game was northwest of Jackson at a school aptly named Northwest, Home of the Mounties. Mounties eh, are they Canadians? My freshman (in college)boyfriend went there.They had to stay to watch the 2nd game of the night as they will play the winner: Mounties vs Lions. We left with the Mounties ahead by quite a bit but the Lions came back and won by a point as we drove home. Damn. Their center is 6'2. Naomi will have her hands full. But the rest of the team is slow and clumsy and we've beaten a team that beat them. Is there transitivity in bball games? I hope so.

In one of our many threats to make Naomi to behave, we've threatened to send her to Dexter where Josh lives. Aside from not loving their athletes, she said they have the worse mascot ever, the Dreadnaught, which is some kind of pirate boat. This year they played the Rocks, (Plymouth based-get it?Naomi didn't)the Kicking Mules, the Maples, the Indians,the Railsplitters, the Yellowjackets, the Bulldogs (very common name) and of course the Pioneers, amongst others.
My favorite name is Sharon's Terrapins. Why name your team after a turtle?

One of the moms father died and we are off to go to his funeral in the middle of the thumb. The hand is so useful as a map for Michigan geography. The thumb area is absolutely flat full of sugar beet and potato farms. Caro, our target town, refines sugar from these enormous beets.

We're Number Nine!

According to the AP poll taken Saturday, Naomi's team was ranked ninth in the state.


Michigan prep girls basketball poll
3/3/2009, 7:12 a.m. ET
The Associated Press

The top 10 teams in the Associated Press high school girls basketball poll, with records through Sunday in parentheses. Totals are based on 15 points for a first-place vote, 14 for second, etc.
___
CLASS A:
1. East Lansing (20-0) 75
2. Grosse Pointe North (16-4) 67
3. Birmingham Marian (19-1) 66
4. Detroit Renaissance (15-3) 58
5. Benton Harbor (18-2) 56
6. Temperance Bedford (20-0) 49
7. Saginaw Arthur Hill (16-4) 47
8. Canton (18-2) 37
9. Ann Arbor Huron (17-3) 27
9. Brighton (16-4) 27
Also receiving votes: Midland (17-2) 25, Detroit King (14-4) 22, Flushing (16-4) 18, Livonia Franklin (17-3) 8, White Lake Lakeland (15-5) 4, Detroit Southeastern (13-3) 4, Lake Orion (18-2) 4, Dearborn (18-1) 3, Okemos (16-3) 1, Detroit Pershing (13-4) 1, Grosse Pointe South (16-4) 1.

Sadly we had lost 2 of our games to the sixth ranked team by 1 and 2 points respectively. Very annoying as we had beaten them in the past. The districts continue tonight but Naomi's hand is very swollen from Monday's game. She has been starting for the past 3 weeks but we'll see tonight.

After today, the temps go up into the 50s and 60s. Can't wait. I continue to be able to walk faster and faster. I am thinking a large part of my improvement must be due to distancing myself from the Red Devil. At some point I will measure how far I went yesterday. Last week, the day after dosing and I still felt OK, I had 20 minutes left in my walk and 2 ladies jumped in front of me. I thought I might be able to keep up with them but no, at the end of the 20 minutes I couldn't even see them, which made me very sad. Also the LiveStrong lady thinks I can join the April class. I will be doing my rads then but hopefully that won't be a problem though my blog friend Sharon was told she can't shovel snow anymore or lift more than 15 lbs on rads.

My neighbor wrote me a nice note (received in the mail though she lives right next door)yesterday offering to help if I need it. Her husband is still dealing with the aftermath of prostate cancer but seems to be be recovering just fine despite some dire predictions. Prostate cancer, like breast cancer is usually (not for me however) sex hormone fueled. Blocking male hormones results in osteoporosis.

Steve and I went out to lunch yesterday with some former colleagues, Larry and Mary. Steve had worked in the same lab as Larry back in NJ more than thirty years ago. We had a nice time. Their son, who lives on the Upper Westside in NYC happened to look out his window and saw that plane a few weeks ago land in the Hudson River. Quite the sight! He had witnessed both planes crashing into the Twin Towers on 9-11 also.

Despite the painful hand, Naomi seemed in a good mood and I let her watch Flight of the Conchords with me. Very funny though she didn't grasp all the Simon and Garfunkel jokes.

Skinny papers

Naomi and our patio in sunnier times. This dress we got on quick-sale for $7. However our savings were negated by her insistance on an expensive hair styling.

It's the sign of the times that everyday the newspapers we subscribe to become thinner and thinner. The Free Press will become so thin that it will cease to exist except by web 4 days a week! We do get the Wall Street Journal, which I feel compelled to read because of my second career as an 'investor' but that indeed is work. I love to read newspapers making morning my favorite time as I sip my coffee (coffee aversions-all gone). I then do my puzzles proving to myself that I am not suffering too badly from chemobrain. Best of all is to sit on my patio surrounded by all my flowers watching the hummingbird while reading the paper with my coffee but that will have to wait. Today is another very cold day but it will start to warm tomorrow. Thankfully still dry unlike my east coast family who are knee deep in snow. It was all of 19 deg yesterday with a very stiff north wind when I did my walk. I am becoming faster and faster, which makes me happy. I compulsively time everything.

It was the first night of districts last night. The games were supposed to be played 45 miles away in Jackson but since it was the two Ann Arbor schools, we got special permission to stay here at Pioneer and save bus money. Even though Huron has handily beaten Pioneer for the past 8 games or so, it was a struggle. In the middle of the game, Pioneer was actually ahead. Tyler couldn't score (the state's leading scorer) and Naomi played badly. Her two subs played even worse so the coach was forced to go with Naomi. However, some of the other players stepped up and Huron ended up winning by a good margin. Their next game will be against a weaker team Wednesday-one that Naomi plays especially well against.

No I don't accept your cancer card

The Wellness Community holds a special support group for teens whose parents have cancer to help them deal with the fear of possibly losing their parent. No fear here and definitely no breaks for the cancer parent. In her eyes, there should be no reason that things shouldn't continue as normal just as long as I wear my wig, which she prefers to my real hair. I don't look all that sick to her. She continues to be incredibly difficult to deal with and in no way is she ready to leave the nest.

Brenda came over around noon with great coffee, which I am sipping as I type and tasty pastries. I asked Naomi to show Brenda her collage and she flatly refused being very rude to Brenda and then stomping out of the house leaving the door wide open. When I went into her room to retrieve it, I found a bag of cupcakes that she insisted 6 weeks ago that Steve had to buy for Tyler's birthday for $16. Now I never would have bought these overpriced, nasty things but I was furious that she has so little regard to our money and time. This on top of her going over her texting limit and her nightly 2 hour phone calls to the boyfriend. So no more funding her trips to Bubble Island with Carmel, no computer or TV. She remained unrepentant and claimed I didn't have a suitable plate to present the cupcakes. I didn't even know they had been bought at the time much less that she needed a container for them. So she just let them rot. She had to clean her room thoroughly the other day while we were gone on infusion day. She should have just thrown them out and I would have never known but she was too lazy.

Plans need to be made for her future. During my stay in chemoland, I very often lack the mental energy to deal effectively with her. She at least is doing better in school.

It is very cold here and no relief until Wednesday. Thoroughly bundled up, I did my almost 4 mile walk. It is at least sunny and dry.

My myalgia is almost gone. At times I don't feel it at all except that the bottoms of my feet feel very sore and it's not from my walks. Ninety-one days in chemoland, twenty-one to go. Maybe I'll have only a few more bad days and then let the healing begin!!! Need to get a doctor's excuse to postpone jury duty.

I hate taxol

More pictures from senior night, two of which are from the AA News Website. Steve took the one of the 4 seniors plus a teammate who graduated last year. The bottom picture of Naomi bumping bellies with Jasmine as she was being introduced as a starter was in the paper yesterday. I didn't even notice it but Naomi's boyfriend called her to alert her to it. I guess it's a good sign that he reads the papers or at least thumbs through the sports sections. She doesn't want him at the games as he is some former bball star and would be too critical if she screws up.

Later as I was flipping through the TV channels, I stopped when I saw my daughter's face in the center of the TV screen, community access had filmed one of her games apparently.

Steve accessed our cell bill. She spent 3000 minutes last month talking to this boyfriend-mostly late at night. Aaargh.

Further aargh: I got a notice for jury duty for circuit court. As I still am dealing with chemo and radiation, I need a doctor's note to excuse me and they want it NOW so more phone calls. I never have been asked to do circuit court (major cases) just district court (minor cases). Washtenaw County is divided into two districts: Ann Arbor and non-Ann Arbor. I was living in one of the outside townships (still in the school district) when I was on the district court roster so I needed to travel from court house to courthouse for 2 weeks. Mainly I was excused from every panel and I always wanted to ask why I was rejected. Finally I was empanelled for a violent resistance of arrest case as the only female juror. I was immediately nominated as the foreman as my fellow jurors wanted to see what they would call me but when the major moment arrived, they just asked, who speaks for the jury? It was interesting with some ethical issues arising. One of the jurors told us he knew the whole family that the defendant came from and they all were evil. Why didn't this guy excuse himself? He now poisoned us and I should have went to the judge but I thought the guy was guilty before this. Another juror pointed out how unfair that was as he, himself, had a criminal brother and he would have hated to be judged by that. I remembered the last name of the defendant and over the years, his family members have been involved in all sorts of evil.

Steve served on a circuit court jury a few years ago on a much more interesting case. He ended up on national TV (Cold Case Files) as his jury convicted the guy despite seemily weak evidence for a murder that occurred 40 years ago. Advances in DNA technology made it possible to use DNA found on the victim to be screened against a database of felons and they had two hits: one against the suspect tried and ultimately convicted and another for a felon who would have been 4 years old at the time of the murder. The latter really compromised the case. During that time, there was a serial murderer operating in Ann Arbor and Ypsi speciallizing in killing and torturing co-eds who was ultimately convicted of killing at least one of them. The MO of Steve's victim was completely different from the others leading some to think there was a second killer, Steve's guy. The whole murder episode had alot of press and was scary because I was planning to go to UM though the main murderer was caught right before I was a freshman. Steve was completely ignorant of the case as he grew up in NY and pointedly does not read local news stories unless they are about Naomi. I am not saying any names as this case is still on appeal and again I am subverting google.

Anyway, being on Taxol is no fun even though I realize that it may save my life. It is much more effective against preventing mets for us estrogen negative ladies than the positive ladies. During the day, my pains seemed to be minor. Indeed I went for a long walk covering 10% more distance in the same amount of time. At night however, all I could feel were my muscle aches and very sore feet and I could not sleep. I finally went back to the drugs. I was having a major pity party-poor me in so much pain, neglected by friends, bald, tired, could die a painful death despite chemo blah, blah, blah. It really is hard to be positive. I know I need to count my blessings and ignore that 25% figure of doom but sometimes it is hard, especially when I am in pain. Sometimes I sound like Nancy Kerrigan with her infamous wail, "why me?" after Tonya Harding arranged to have her knee-capped. Why me? indeed.