Baby showers, Babies, and a Houston Texan sighting!

This past week was dubbed "Baby Week" for me.  I hosted a baby shower at my house last Saturday for my friend, Kayla, and then her sister, Sherri, had her baby just yesterday.


The shower was really fun!  There were about 25 women (and a couple of little guys) show up for the festivities.  Since I was running the show, there were two things that were most important...not playing any silly baby games and having the event over on time so people can leave if they want or stay longer to visit if they have time.  Both things were accomplished!  We played one icebreaker since a lot of the ladies didn't know each other...we had celebrity baby names and celebrity couples on notecards.  Each lady got a notecard and you had to find your match - if you had a baby name,  you had to find the person that had the celebrity mom/dad to match.  Of course I used the couples who had CRAZY baby names like Daisy Poppy or Moonblood.  What's gotten into these celebrities anyway?


The shower hostesses with Kayla:  Shannon, Angi, Melanie, Kayla, Ashley, me

Kayla with her cake:

Katie Knight with her 3 daughters Sherri, Natalie, and Kayla who are ALL pregnant at the same time!

Like I said, Sherri had her baby yesterday (Friday) and I went to the hospital to visit her and the new little guy, Samuel.  Before I went up there, I just had to get her a gift.  I went to Doodles in the Village.  I almost had a meltdown in the store.  I just have a really hard time in baby stores.  I'm always happy for my friends who have babies and I just adore kids, but something about a baby store just wants me to hyperventilate.  I guess its just that everything is just so darn cute and it just makes me realize how I will NEVER get to experience having a baby.  It's like having a dream that just gets demolished and you keep having to have it in your face that its just never gonna happen to you, but it will have to everyone else.  What was worse is that it took them forever to get the gift wrapped!!  It was all worth it though.  Little Samuel was just so darn cute and looked like he was more like a week old instead of 12 hours.
Congrats Sherri and Todd!!


Baby Samuel!!

On the way up to see Sherri and Samuel, I ran into Matt Schaub, the Texans quarterback, coming out of the elevator I was getting into.  Before everyone freaks out, this is a WOMEN'S hospital.  There is nothing wrong with Matt Schaub, unless he is having a baby or having his ovaries take out - LOL!  Anyway, when I told Sherri that I saw him on the way up Sherri says, "What's up with you and sports celebrity sightings all the time?"  When I texted Clint about it he said the same thing!!  So, I decided to end this entry today with a list of sports figures that I have seen around town.  This is in no particular order.

1.  Matt Schaub at Texas Women's Hospital

2.  Shane Battier at Benjy's Lounge and Vic and Anthony's

3.  Hakeem Olijawon at Houston's

4.  John Lucas at Houston's

5.  Patrick Ewing at Houston's

6.  Charles Barkley at Chili's

7.  Matt Maloney at Houston's

8.  Lance Berkman at Scurlock Tower in the Medical Center

9.  Clyde Drexler at Smith Tower in the Medical Center

10.  Owen Daniels at Bikram Yoga

11.  Steve Slaton or Vonte Leach (can't remember which it was) at Bikram Yoga

12.  Raj from the men's Olympic Gymnastics Team at Bikram Yoga

13.  Chris Brown the former field goal kicker of the Texans at Randalls

14.  Moses Malone at 2nd Baptist gym

15.  Warren Moon at 1st Baptist gym watching his daugher play club volleyball

16.  Jeff Van Gundy at The Next Level gym and watched him coach our friends kids pee wee basketball game.  

17.  Carl Lewis at Ruggles

18.  Some other old time Rockets at Ruggles with Carl Lewis

That's all I can remember right now, but that's a LOT!!  None of these sightings were at scheduled events.  They were all out having dinner or lunch, etc.

Just Keep Spinning...Just Keep Spinning!

Whew!  Tour de Pink 2011 is officially over and I survived!!!


Team Bella Rachel had a blast.  Of course most of the team biked the 12 mile route - me, Babs Eaker, Heather Durst (my coworker at UCB), and Grace (Heather's friend) all biked the 47 mile route.  We rocked it!  


Yes, it did rain down on us at mile 20, but only for about 5 minutes and the rest of the race was sunny and nice.  In all, we biked 47 miles, burned over 2000 calories each, ate and drank a lot at the Pink Pit Stops (including pickle juice shots, PBJ sandwiches, and DP!), and saw a lot of road kill along the way (3 armadillos, 2 large snakes, different types of birds, a skunk, and a possum).  Heather and Grace's husbands and kids cheered us on as we came out of Hempstead and headed back towards Prairie View.  We made great time and finished at 11 am - 4 hours after we started.  Not bad considering we stopped at all the pit stops along the way and spent on average 10-15 minutes at each one.  We averaged about 18 mph and at times got up to 21 mph...not too bad for a group of girls who didn't really train for various reasons.  Everyone stayed on their bikes throughout the course and there were no accidents or big falls...well, at least until we crossed the finish line.  I fell over on my bike after we crossed the finish line and we were coming to a stop.  I was so excited I forgot to get out of my clips when I braked and fell right over.  I bruised my left knee, both palms and right thigh pretty good.  I also some how spiked myself on my right calf with my bike chain - its bruised up too.  Ugh!  Oh well, it was worth it all.  Surprisingly I'm not sore otherwise.  Kind of strange!


Here are some pics of the TDP bike ride!


Grace, Babs, me and Heather at Pink Pit Stop #1 (mile 8)

Babs taking a pickle juice shot at Pink Pit Stop #7 (mile 35).  Go BABS!!  Babs is a breast cancer survivor.

Me having a DP, pickles, and grapes at Pink Pit Stop #7 (I also had a pickle juice shot).

Grace, me, and Heather after we crossed the finish line!

Heather and Grace's husbands and kids!  They had a great time!

So, I am still fundraising for my bike ride until October 18 if you have not had a chance to donate to the cause.  There is still TIME!  No donation too small!  Pink Ribbons Project is an incredible non-profit dedicated to breast cancer awareness in the Houston area.  It is a local charity and my good friend Susan Rafte is the survivor founder!  Thanks to all of you who have already donated to the cause - I truly appreciate your support.  I love you all!


Here is the link to my personal page once again:


http://www.tourdepink.org/site/TR?px=1236724&pg=personal&fr_id=1100




I have an appointment with Dr. Litton, my breast oncologist, this Friday.  I have not seen her in a few months and I'm looking forward to catching up with her.  This is just a follow-up appointment and I don't have any scans or tests to go over.  I'll let you guys know if anything earth shattering happens.  Otherwise, I am still feeling really well and sometimes even forget that I have cancer.  It's wonderful!!!

Work & Wildfires

I've been a little busy with work lately...I guess some people would complain about it, but I really like my job and the people I work with.  I'm not saying it's a perfect place or that I don't have days where I wonder what the heck I'm doing and why I'm doing it - that's why it's called work and not vacation, right?  Anyway, I have to say that I work with not only really good people, but really FUN people.  I also have the benefit of working with people who actually seem genuinely concerned about my well being and understand that there is more to life than just work.  I thought I would share a few pics and shout outs to my fellow UCB'ers.  My National Sales Director, Brad, came into town a couple of weeks ago to take some of our Htown physicians out to dinner.  My Regional Manager, Kurt, also joined him for the festivities.  One of my docs going to the dinner surprised Brad and Kurt with Tshirts - the shirts have to do with inside jokes from some ACR 5k fun run that I wasn't around for last year, but got woke up at 6:30 am in the morning to hear all about it. 

Basically, Kurt got left behind at the 5k (because he said he had bad shoes) and made fun of Martha for being a bad wingman and advised her to watch Top Gun again.  So, that's why Kurt has the Wingman shirt and Martha has the "Worst Wingman Ever" shirt.  Brad has the "Stud Muffin" cartoon shirt because of some game that they played at Rheumatology at the Beach meeting in Destin.  I'm displaying the "Do you know the Muffin Man?" shirt as Martha couldn't hold up both of them.  Of course, she got me my own "Do you Know the Muffin Man?" shirt as well.  So from now on, Kurt is know as the Wingman and Brad as Stud Muffin.  It was all fun and games until later when Brad told me to turn in my keys.  Ugh!  Good thing he was just kidding!!  Note:  if anyone is attending ACR this fall they will be at the 5k once again, but this time Kurt will be leading a group of WALKERS.  I guess he hasn't found the perfect running shoes yet.  


I also have to say that I LOVE my district.  We have a great manager and we all have fun together at the meetings.  Unfortunately, we just found out that we are going through a reorganization (again) and some of us will have a different manager, etc.  We don't know the specifics yet, but the reorganization is definitely for the best - don't worry, none of us are losing our jobs.  I'm just really sad because I thought we had such a wonderful little district - we all got along and helped each other out.  I know I have posted this pic before in my Caringbridge but I thought I would post it again in honor of my peeps.  Don't freak out about my hair - the pic was taken last March.

By the way, I would like to note that my co-worker, Heather, will be riding with me this Sunday in the Tour de Pink.  She's the 2nd girl on the left, in the front row of pic.  


As I've mentioned before, many people ask me why I'm working while I'm battling cancer.  I have to say that my everyone I work for and work with has made such a big difference - they have been so helpful and kind about what I'm going through.  I can't imagine not working!!  I know so many other people with cancer don't have the huge blessing of having a great work environment - many times I even hear of employers trying to get rid of employees with cancer or not being very understanding of appointments and not willing to make accommodations for treatments and doctor visits.  I just don't understand the human race sometimes... how can we turn our backs on people when they need us the most?  I also have to add that my medical insurance through UCB is paying for my clinical trial medication - it's an MD Anderson trial so the drugs aren't free.  Afinitor costs $10,000 a month ($70,000 total so far) and I only have a $20 copay.  I was told I was the first person in the trial that had insurance that was willing to pay for the Afinitor.  All the others that had tried to get in had been denied by their insurance.  Can you imagine if I couldn't have been on Afinitor?  Who else out there didn't even get the chance to try this drug?  These are the things I just don't like to think about but is cold hard reality.  


Moving on from cold reality to "hot" reality.  When is this drought and heat wave going to go away once and for all?  All these wildfires are crazy.  I can't believe how many people have lost their homes, farmland, animals, etc.  Not to mention how much smoke we have all been inhaling the past two weeks. I've really been struggling with constant sinus headaches since Labor Day weekend and keep wondering if I have a sinus infection or if it's because of all the smoke in the air.  I think I have felt worse the last two weeks than any day I was on chemo.  That's saying a lot!!


Finally, my next blog will be about the big Tour de Pink ride which is this Sunday.  Team Bella Rachel has 16 team members ready to ride for breast cancer.  I've raised about $2000 so far.  It's not too late to make a donation and no donation is too small!  Here's the link to my personal page:


http://www.tourdepink.org/site/TR?px=1236724&pg=personal&fr_id=1100

Hats off to Tina and Pink Petals for Pat!

Hey all!  I hope you have enjoyed your labor day weekend.  I'm loving the cooler weather.  I can actually sit out on my balcony and type my blog out without sweating my rear off.  I'm also looking forward to starting up my half marathon training this week with the morning temps in the 60's!  


I'm kind of behind with my blogging so forgive me for writing about something that happened last weekend. I got the privilege of speaking at a special brunch called "Hats off for the Cure" that is put on by my friend Tina Grimstead-Campbell's non-profit, Pink Petals for Pat.  Tina's sister is Pat.  Pat was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer a few years ago and sadly passed away only 3 months after her diagnosis.  Pink Petals for Pat honors Pat's memory by educating and bringing breast cancer awareness to underserved women in Houston.  It was such a beautiful brunch with about 100 women and men in attendance.  I met so many wonderful, strong breast cancer survivors and also one emotional woman who was diagnosed earlier THAT WEEK!  Again I was so honored to be invited to speak about my breast cancer and my experience living with Stage IV cancer, but I really think that it was more of a learning experience for myself.  It left me even more inspired to get out there and help other cancer patients and to keep pushing for Suites of Hope.  What a legacy for Tina and Pat's love for each other as sisters.  Here are some pictures from the event.


Me and Tina beside a picture of her late sister, Pat.

Me and my new friend, Michelle, who is also a breast cancer survivor and was also a speaker at the event.

Me and my friend, Jasmine!  Educating them at a young age.  Such a big heart for such a little girl!

I also got to attend a Komen networking event a couple of weeks ago.  It was for organizations that were interested in submitting grant proposals to the Komen.  It was really fun meeting so many people that are dedicated to the same cause.  While I was there, someone asked the American Cancer Society representative if they still take donations of slightly used breast prosthesis.  I was excited because I have a really nice, expensive one that I obviously don't need since I had my reconstruction surgeries.  Just so everyone knows, mine is made of really cool gel-like material that is easy to clean and looks brand new.  It cost around $350-$400 and I got it at the cute little store at MD Anderson.  Of course mine was paid for by insurance, but many women aren't so lucky.  I'm really eager to donate it as soon as possible!  But I have to admit, I was a little annoyed when I heard that donated used prosthesis are shipped overseas to other countries.  I asked why, of course.  I was told that women here only want brand new prosthesis...WHAT?!!!!!!  So let me get this straight, women will go to stores or online and buy slightly used purses, clothing, furniture from complete strangers but no thank you to a really nice breast prosthesis?  Especially when insurance won't cover the cost or you don't have insurance and can't afford one?  These women expect someone to buy them brand new ones and are too good for used ones?  I don't know, maybe I grew up on hand-me downs and have a different perspective?  What do you guys think, does that bother you as much as it bothers me?  I'm still gonna donate it... I guess some woman in Honduras or Russia will be really excited!!!