Hawk Found With Nail In Head In Calif.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A red-tailed hawk that rescuers said was shot in the head with a nail gun was recovering Sunday at a Northern California wildlife center.

The hawk, captured in a San Francisco park by rescuers Saturday, was doing "very well" while being cared for at the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley in San Jose, said Rebecca Dmytryk, executive director of the Monterey-based group WildRescue.

"The nail dislodged and dropped out during transport with no sign of additional trauma and no bleeding," Dmytryk said.

The juvenile bird was trapped Saturday evening at the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. It was immediately transported to the wildlife center where specialists stayed late to receive it, Dmytryk said.

WildRescue had been notified of the injured bird nearly a week ago and had tried to trap it several times last week without success.

But observers got close enough to the bird to see the nail extending from its cheek through the front of its head. They said the hawk appeared to be in pain.

Dmytryk's group had been using a trap called a bal-chatri, a trap made of wire mesh, to try to catch the injured hawk.

Rescuers believe someone intentionally hurt the hawk earlier this month. A reward of $10,000 has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whomever harmed the bird.

She has said that wild birds like hawks are protected, and that it's a felony to try to capture the birds without a license.


http://news.yahoo.com/hawk-found-nail-head-recovering-calif-224556224.html

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Seriously... what the hell is wrong with people??

Cancer Recurrence: Catching Up (Part 2)

This is a continuation of the previous update post and is a summary of what occurred between mid-July thru to the present.

In my previous update, I forgot to include that in June after my 5th or 6th round of chemo my toenail came off. The one next to my big toe on my right foot. I was afraid I was dying or something… at least, that’s what I went out asking mom after it came off.

Here’s a photo of the cake my niece, Cianna, made me. It made me laugh because of either the misinformation or just the innocence of a child’s mind, but it read “No More Cancer” as if I was cancer free. I thought, “Well, we could always hope.”

Roughly two weeks after my oncologist declared that I may be in remission I had a large mass reappear in the back of my right arm. Aug. 4th I had a Punch Biopsy done. It came back negative for the lymphoma, but my surgeon and I both knew that was incorrect and figured we weren’t able to get deep enough with a Punch Biopsy, so we scheduled a Surgical Biopsy for Aug. 15th. He had to go in deeper than anticipated so the incision is pretty long and deep. Got six stitches... kind of looks like a Frankenstein scar, lol. Two days later he called with the results. Positive for the same lymphoma I've been fighting.

See the white ring or lighter ring around the incision area, that's because of the pressure caused by the mass pushing up underneath my skin.  It was so tight I was afraid the stitches were going to rip through.

Saw my oncologist on Aug. 24th, she referred me to a radiologist to get started on radiation treatments. She also discussed doing chemo again… she was going to a conference and was going to present my case. Saw the radiologist for a consult on Sept. 2nd. Also had a PFT (Breath Test) to check my lungs… still having extreme shortness of breath. Starting to fear there was permanent damage to my lungs from the chemo or something. Tests showed I have good lung capacity. The nurse giving me the test was surprised, she could hear my shortness of breath just walking down the hall, she also heard the wheezing. When she listened with the stethoscope she realized the wheezing was coming from my throat/esophagus area.

On Sept. 7th I went to Rex Radiology for my Radiation Simulation which is setting up for my radiation treatments. On Sept. 13th I saw my oncologist again, she was told to hold off on the chemo for if and when I really needed it. There is a new drug out now that targets my type of lymphoma, but it just came out and is very expensive. Hopefully if I do eventually need to do chemo again, this is what they want to use and at that time it will come down in cost… but for now just stick to the localized radiation. She also was setting me up to see an ENT about the lump I feel in my throat and the trouble with my breathing. ENT appt not until Nov. 15th. I started radiation on Sept. 14th and I’m scheduled for 17 treatments. I go every weekday at 1:15 pm at the Rex/UNC Radiation Oncology, Rex Cancer Center of Wakefield.

Into my second week of radiation, I noticed the mass under my armpit seemed to be getting bigger, when I saw the radiation doctor that Wednesday I asked for his opinion to make sure I wasn’t feeling more than what was really there. He said he felt something. So I called and scheduled an appointment with Erin on Sept. 27th.

On Saturday, Sept. 24th I had an appointment for my car… the brakes hadn’t been feeling right and figured I should get it in for new brake pads. Joe picked up my car on the way to work (it’s his garage), worked on it during the day, then brought it back to the house. He lives near us and knows what I’ve been going through, I’m friends with his wife also. That was incredibly nice of him to go out of his way like that… and, he ended up needing to replace the rotors too. Then he and his wife gave me a truly amazing gift, he did not charge me a dime… it was a gift from them as a way to help me through my financial struggles. At first I said, “No, you need to feed your family.” But then he went into this spiel about feeling led to do this, situations he’s been in, vague situations his wife had come up against, and that they really wanted to do this. It was so sweet and he sounded a little uncomfortable and he had me tearing up… so I told him, which I have been told, that I needed to be more gracious in accepting gifts. (I’m uncomfortable accepting gifts or help, almost like I don’t deserve it.) So I would accept their gift graciously. I am truly blessed to have people like this in my life. I am blessed in many ways.

On Sept. 27th I saw Erin, she felt the mass. I had an appointment for a PET scan already scheduled for my 3-month check-up, so we just bumped it up from Oct. 5th to Sept. 29th. Erin called the next day, the mass under my armpit lit up… so did the bone marrow in my pelvic area. The cancer has moved into my bone marrow. Fortunately it has just started, it was peppered and not large spots. So after radiation they want to start chemo with that new drug. It was tentatively set up for Oct. 10th, but they wanted to wait 2 weeks after my radiation ended and they needed to get me approved for the drug financially through SeaGen (Seattle Genetics), which I was last Friday, Oct. 7th. So now I’m tentatively set up to start chemo on Oct. 20th.

On Oct. 1st I took my nephew, CJ, driving to teach him to drive a stick shift. He did really well.

On Oct. 4th, mom had to put her cat Fluffy to sleep. She had a brain tumor. Her leg was spasming, found out her pupils were enlarged and she was howling all the time because she was almost totally blind, she started throwing up the night before and did not eat that morning.

On Oct. 5th I saw the radiation doctor again and we decided to extend the radiation treatments for (at least) 3 more sessions. We’ll reassess the situation on Tuesday.

Now that I’m tentatively scheduled to start chemo on Oct. 20th… AND since I found out that my treatments will be every three weeks… AND I’m scheduled for 16 sessions… which means approximately once a month for a year and four months… I have scheduled an appointment with a Vascular Radiologist about getting a port in my arm like I had back in 2005. There is no way in hell I’m going through 16 months of this with a PICC line as first discussed (before I knew the time table). I’m trying for an arm port first, if not, then inquiring about another chest port, then the PICC line would be a last resort… if ALL else fails.

My appointment with the Vascular Radiologist was supposed to be Monday, Oct 10th, but someone screwed up and wrote it on the wrong day, it was put in on Tuesday… but the doctor doesn’t do this on Tuesdays and Monday was all booked up now… so I had to be moved to Wednesday, Oct. 12th. Which I am also scheduled for my Chemo Education class. We also made an appointment for the surgery on Friday, Oct. 14th. just in case we get a thumbs up for the port. We can always cancel if needed.

My oncologist said I should have a bone marrow transplant, but without insurance no one will even discuss it until we have the money.  I was told it would run a couple hundred thousand dollars.  The procedure itself is about $35,000., then you have doctor fees, hospital fees, medications, follow-up care, etc.  So I need to research foundations and organizations to see if I can find any help there, I will also need to raise donations to help fund it.  I am in the process of setting something up so that anyone can donate any amount they like through paypal, with a credit card, or bank account, and possibly checks.  Even if all you can donate is $5, if I get enough people to donate $5 or $10 dollars... I might just be able to raise enough.  I will have the donation button on my blog and will post it on my Facebook page.


Special Note:

My cousin Kelly is having a double mastectomy today. Praying that it goes well.

Cancer Recurrence: Catching Up

Hello everyone… I know I’ve been out of touch for awhile, quite a bit happened and between medical appointments, work, and being so darn tired I wasn’t able to keep up with emails, Facebook and blogging.  So, to start catching you up, here is a summary of what occurred between mid-April thru mid-July.

After my 2nd round of chemo I ended up in Urgent Care with a bronchial infection and missed a whole week of work. The following weekend I was in Urgent Care again for middle ear inflammation. Even though I was suffering from a bronchial infection and middle ear inflammation, the Urgent Care doctor did not give me antibiotics. I was sick, in pain, and was having real trouble hearing. On April 19th I verbally browbeat the after hours answering service for the cancer center into having the on-call doctor call me, even though it was not technically an emergency. He called me in a Z-pak, thank God. Two days later I was in to see my family doctor for fluid in my ears and blood in my urine. I was also having bad pains in my right shoulder and neck area, especially when I coughed.

On April 25th mom had to put her boxer, Sassy, down because of cancer.

On April 27th my Missy Bug died.

Somehow, for some reason, she got over the fence and out front into the road. Mom found her and buried her before I got home, she didn’t want me to see her like that. Missy was my baby girl, it just broke my heart to lose her. I still choke up and cry when I think about her. One day at the end of August, Simon brought a young bunny in through the cat door, I rescued it and tried to warm it up to release in the morning but it ended up dying. I walked down to discard it into the woods at the back of the property, on my way back I spotted the marker mom put at Missy’s grave. I hadn’t been to see it yet, it was still too hard, I cried the whole way back to the house.

On April 29th I went down for my third round of chemo, mom had something going on so my sister, Laura, took me. When they were doing the pre-chemo blood work, I complained about the pain and having a little trouble swallowing. The nurse went and got someone to come look at me… she came, took a look, asked me some questions and said, “We think you have a blood clot.” The sent me directly over to have an ultrasound done. Yep, I had a clot! Poor Laura… this wasn’t what she expected. I was admitted into the hospital immediately with a very large blood clot in my juggler. The clot was branching up towards my head, down my arm, and down towards my chest where the Port was. I was scheduled for surgery on May 2nd to replace my Port. I was in so much pain I was crying… I was on a Heparin drip to thin my blood (which also caused me to swell even more), but the pain was terrible. It wasn’t until late that night when a nurse finally called the doctor and said they needed to be giving me something for the pain. I was put on morphine, then Percocet was added, and eventually a muscle relaxant (can’t remember the name). That went on between Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. Monday morning I had the surgery to replace my port, but when he got in there, there was so much scar tissue… he said it appeared that my body was rejecting the port. So he removed the port from my chest and put a PICC line in my left arm. When he removed the port a huge part of the clot came out with it, which caused most of the pain to disappear. I had my 3rd round of chemo that evening. I ended up staying two more days, I was released from the hospital on May 4th around 6 PM.

My PICC Line

Port Scars

My swollen feet/ankles/legs. I couldn't wear my shoes, I had to buy a pair that were a size larger so I had something to put on my feet.  I also wore my slippers alot.

These are the flowers dad sent me when I was in the hospital... came with a little stuffed cat, but I didn't get a pic of the cat.  It's on my shelf now.

My oncologist wanted me off work for two weeks, but I went back a few days earlier on a 6 hour schedule. I was on major blood thinners, one is a shot mom had to give me in the stomach every night. You should’ve seen all the bruises on my stomach. I tired very easily, which is why I wasn’t online for quite awhile... just gettin' through the day was hard enough. The biggest blood clot came out when they removed my port, but I still had three smaller ones that will take awhile to dissolve. They also switched the shots I was taking… from Arixtra to Fragmin. I developed a severe reaction from it, I had yeast all through my system, it was coming out all over. I had a vaginal yeast infection, a yeast infection on my side and under my breast, on my legs between my ankles and my knees, and in my esophagus. It was awful.

Bruise from stomach shot.
(mom felt so bad)

May 20th was my 4th round of chemo. Six days later I was in the Emergency Room for shortness of breath. It was after hours and the PA wanted to be sure a blood clot hadn’t traveled to my lungs. With each round of chemo I was getting more and more short of breath and they weren’t sure if I would notice the difference. It wasn’t a blood clot in my lungs.

Because of the PICC line, they stepped up my chemo schedule from every three weeks to every two weeks.

June 3rd had my 5th round of chemo.  This FROG was given to me by another woman receiving chemo.  Her name is Michelle Scott and she started collecting frogs, adding the handwritten ribbons and giving them to chemo patients.

FROG = Fully Rely On God

On the 6th I was back in the ER, sat in the waiting room for 5 hours. Finally got out of there about 2:00 in the morning.

June 17th was my 6th and final round of chemo. That evening /early morning, I got so sick and started throwing up. I threw up so hard I pee’d on the bed, down myself, and on the floor… I saw blood in the trash can and thought I was throwing up blood, turned out to be my nose that was bleeding (remember, I’m on blood thinners)… I also broke blood vessels in my eye. So then I had to clean myself up, clean the floor, and change my bed. What a horrible night!

June 30th I had a Nuclear Stress Test on my heart to see if there was any damage done… still trying to find out why I was so short of breath, also had swelling and pressure in my chest area. Tests came back fine… my heart was good. I was put on Hydrochlorothiazide and Furosamide (water pill/lasik) for the swelling, also given Potassium pills.

July 1st I had a PET scan. July 8th I saw my oncologist for the results and follow-up. I was informed that I “appeared” to be in remission. The mass in my lymph node had decreased significantly, although still slightly swollen in size... but that is normal because the node had been stretched very big for a long period of time, sometimes it never goes back to normal size. The lumps in my arm had also disappeared. I was set up to have a PET scan in three months time (Oct), by then it would give us a better idea. That was also my last day at work, I was laid off.

July 12th I had my PICC line removed and had a Doppler (?) to check my blood clots. They were smaller but still there. Had to remain on the crapping blood thinners that make me swell horribly. July 26th I had a D’dimer (?) On July 28th I found out my unemployment was being held up because of a mistake/miscommunication with the staffing company I worked for. I talked with the company the next day and it was cleared up, but it took until September 7th for the unemployment agency to correct it and release my payments.

In Memory of Sassy - April 25, 2011

Back at the end of April mom had to put her Boxer, Sassy, down.  She started to throw up blood clots and we knew it was going to be pretty bad.  She was full of cancer.

 

 

 

Cat Doors Galore

My dad, bless his heart, got two pieces of plexiglass and glued them together to put a cat door in so they could have an exit out my bedroom window.  I didn't want to use a piece of wood and block my whole window.

He also cut a hole in my bedroom door for me so I could put one in so I didn't have to play doorman for my cats... now I can sleep with my door closed.

And check this out... finally tolerating each other. The gray one is my mom's cat, Apollo (we tend to call him Pillow most the time); the black & white is my Simon.

CH-Ch-Ch-Changes!

December 17th & 18th I moved in with mom & dad... have to sell my house.  Actually for two reasons now...

1. Because I'm not earning quite what I used to before I was laid off from my last job and I was scrimping then.
2. To be shared soon... a recent situation I've decided to blog through.

Been trying to adjust to my new living quarters... my cats are trying to adjust too, they're not used to anyone but me being around.  They're skittish around other people... skittish is putting it mildly.  They usually beat it out the cat door if anyone came to the door... or if they heard a vehicle pull in the driveway.

Simon is doing remarkably well, seems to be asserting himself with the "natives" (mom's cats).  There have been a few squabbles.  Missy is still pretty much hiding in my room, mostly under the covers.

Well, got to get to bed... one more day and then it's a three-day weekend!

How Hot Is It?

I received this via email... I love it!  Thanks Kathy T.

When someone asks how hot it is, send them this.



Welcome To My World... I'm In Hell!

I came home tonight... it was about 9 pm.  I opened the door to an oven. It was like walking into Hades.  The thermostat needle was buried, I couldn't even see it.  I checked the thermometer in my bedroom/office and it said 96 degrees.

This is now week 4 since I started having problems with my central air conditioning.  Still haven't figured out what the problem is... although we think we may have found the answer, hopefully.  It's a part he had to special order, he expedited the order and is supposed to be in around 10 am tomorrow.  I need prayers... lots and lots of prayers... that this is it.  It's supposed to stay in the 90's all the way through Sunday!

It doesn't blow very cold, it freezes up, I turn it off to thaw, after it runs so long it only blows 'just barely cool' air so it isn't sufficient in cooling the house down very much.  So I've developed a strategy.  Although Missy and I SUFFER through the day, I wait until about 7 or 8 pm when the outside temp starts coming down, then I open the windows and put the box fans in.  This brings the temp inside down to the low 80's, it takes a few hours.  Then after midnight when the temp is more manageable, I close up the windows and put the air on.  That way it has a better chance of cooling it off a little bit to the upper 70's.

Here's some pics of the unit frozen up.

Slightly Frozen

(see that piece in the middle... that's the doo-hickey)

Major Freezing... look how thick the ice is!

These are the filters.

At first he thought it was a piece in the outside unit that was recalled or something because it wasn't working right... the part would be replaced free, but the work to get to it and make the new piece fit wouldn't be.  It was expected to run about $500.00.  So before he went to that extreme he wanted to try a few things first... which meant dragging this hell out further than anticipated.  I don't know all the technical stuff, but this part he changed out first was what allows the freon to run through to where it's supposed to.  Mine looked pretty rough and he wasn't getting good pressure readings, so it looked like it could be the culprit.  NOT!

Then he was going to try replacing the motherboard, then a doo-hickey on the inside unit that regulates the freon in there.  That was last week.  By Friday I was trying to get hold of him to tell him to do both, I can't take dragging this out any longer.  I had a feeling it was the inside doo-hickey and wanted that replaced first.  Well when he showed up this morning he tells me that he thinks it's that doo-hickey thing too and he talked to his dad (whom he took over the business from) and his dad feels pretty sure it's the doo-hickey thing too.  That's the part he just expedited... it's a $100 part.

So I'm saying a prayer and keeping my fingers crossed!  Besides, I'm tired of eating cereal all the time 'cause it's too hot in here to cook.

Here's Missy trying to stay as cool as possible.  I've been worried about her in this heat.  She's got all that fur.  I've got the ceiling fans on high and I've pointed a box fan towards her sleeping spot on the desk.

Her sprawl cracks me up.  There's a ceiling fan right above her.

Here's a pic of some weeds I picked... they were cute weeds.  Looked like tiny mini-daisies.

Here's Missy on the file cabinet.

And here I have the fan over her sleeping spot on the desk.

Here's the flower arrangement I did to replace the pretty weeds.

Missy's Chair

I've posted Missy in her chair a few times... it's always been HER spot.

UNTIL NOW...!  (uh oh)

Simon has lost his 'fear' of the chair and has decided it is quite comfy.

Then along comes Missy expecting to settle down into HER chair.

She was not too pleased with what she found!

Then later, after she got HER chair back... Simon comes back from a trip outside to find his seat had been 'stolen' back.  Regardless, he tries to also settle in.  Really cute!

Aren't they just adorable?!