Made it to the year 2013 and 24 years old!

Made it to the year 2013 and 24 years old!

Happy day everyone! I am pleased to say that I have a couple accomplishments to brag about today on my day of birth! 

First of all, many thanks to my mother for bringing me into the world today and for both my mom and my dad for raising me. I know I gave them hell while I was growing up but I only did it so that when I mellowed out they would view me as an angel :) (but seriously, I was a huge handful and my mom would cry to my Bucha about how if she had me first she would never had any more children...sorry mom!)

I now have a 1 1/2 year old immune system that I am so VERY proud of! I have not gotten sick for an entire year! Even as people around me (those older and those my age) get sick I have managed to stay clean and clear of it! This is a big accomplishment for me and I am looking forward to another healthy year :) 

I guess the main accomplishment of making it to today is that I made it to 24 years old! It is crazy to think that less than 2 years ago I was a young girl of 22 going through cancer treatment. Now, at age 24 (on 4/24/13) I am one semester closer to being a college graduate, one step closer to getting married and one step closer to figuring my life out! I still have a lot to do but I am looking forward to it all. Except paying the bills. I would much rather NOT do that. But everything else, yes. I am ready! Maybe. I still don't know what I'll be doing by next summer but I do know that I will have my degree by next summer. And that is all I need to know and plan for now :) 

Also! As I have been working at Fernandez Sports and Physical Therapy for about 3 years (give or take for the time I was away in Texas) Linda Fernandez (my boss who gave me my old job back when I returned to Hawaii...which I will write about in further detail later :D) is going to help me get my BASI Pilates Teaching License this coming fall. It is an extensive program composed of 3 long weekends and a total of 10,000 hours of learning the main Pilates exercises on the various types of equipment and how to properly teach them. Since I have been working with Pilates at the physical therapy clinic I have some background on what an amazing program this is. Even with all that I have learned these 3 years I have maybe learned 2% there is to know about BASI Pilates. This will be a HUGE stepping stone for me; there are a lot of different Pilates clinics that I will be able to attend that will teach me more about anything; dancing, rehab, cancer patients, etc. Guess which one I want to do? You guessed it! Pilates for those who have gone through cancer treatment. This year has been a huge eye opener to how insurance is royally screwing us physical therapists and patients! HMSA (Hawaii's BCBS) has regulated the S*** out of physical therapy to the point where they don't even look at what the doctor prescribes for the patient; we have a very exact form we must fill out with numbers and then some doctor somewhere on the mainland decides how many visits the patient should get....like 6 visits. Since the new forms are all about numbers, HMSA is now only really focusing on acute injuries that you can rate the pain and degrees of movement. But what about those who want preventative medicine or who need to strengthen their muscles after surgery or cancer treatment, you ask? Maybe they will get 4 visits because these types of patients have issues that they can't really "measure".  For example; After I was out of the hospital (post-SCT) and feeling ready to get back on my feet and wanting to get stronger I went to the MD Anderson physical therapy clinic to try and get approved for some good old fashioned out-patient physical therapy. Since I had been working in PT I knew the benefits to having someone create a program for me and help me make sure I do it...I needed to get stronger! However, since I was able to walk fast, do all of my exercises easily enough (on the first visit), had no pain, and no real restrictions I was not granted physical therapy. I had lost 20 lbs, most of which was my muscle, and if you knew me before cancer you would know that I was strong and very fit. This was so upsetting to me because I didn't even realize that was the reason until I found out this information about HMSA. Everything made sense then. With all of this in mind I want to be there for cancer victims who want to get stronger and better without the hassle of insurance screwing them over (like you are supposed to build up your pelvic floor and get stronger in 4 visits?!?! yeah, right.). I want to work with them to help them move past their pain, stiffness, weakness and be the strongest they can be, physically! I mean, they are FIGHTERS and SURVIVORS! They deserve to give BACK to their bodies what cancer took away. 

Whew. Sorry about that rant...got carried away ^_^ Guess I found what I'm passionate about!

So this next year will be a big year for me and when I'm 25 I hope to tell you all what my next big step will be :)

Anyways...where was I? Oh yes...IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! YAY!!!!! And even though today is a rainy rainy rainy rainy day after my class and a much needed haircut (I like it super duper short now) me and cassidy are going to hang out with our beloved Zoe. I don't have much planned...probably go see a movie...hopefully have some cake and ice cream...but the fact is that I have the day off with my little family and will be very happy to hang out with them :) I am hoping this weekend will be nice so that my girlfriends and I can go on a hike and go to the beach. We shall see!

I wish everyone a happy day on this rainy day here in Hawaii. I am so close to finishing up with this semester I can almost taste it! Almost...I still have a couple projects and papers to write...boo. But I should be getting A's in all three of my classes. BOOYAH CHEMO BRAIN! guess who's awesome?? ME! :D

LOVE YOU ALL AND THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME GET TO 24 YEARS OLD!! I could not have done it with out all of your support!! 

- Savvers, the 24 year old. One step closer to being apart of the mid-20's group :D     

Beautiful beach days :)

This weekend Cassidy, Zoe and I are hitting up the beach. We both have the weekend off, which is a rare occasion for us to have. Luckily it has been gorgeous out and we found a good spot for Zoe to swim in shallow water. She is so funny as she leaps through the waist deep (waist deep on her is ankle deep for us) water. It is crazy how much we love to hang out with Zoe; it is what we look forward to do on our days off. She is such a wonderful and loving dog! And we are so lucky to have her :)

So lets go back to a year ago....I'm sorry for the lack of details but my chemo-brain at the time was pretty bad so I don't remember a whole lot.

In April 2012 I had an amazing 23rd birthday at Jan and Janet's house with all of my Texas friends :) We had a wine tasting party with delicious food that my friends brought and my dad made. It was a wonderful night and I will always remember it!

In May I think I tried to start looking for a job. Summer was working its way back into Texas and was starting to get hot again. I tried to work but if it was outside it was too much for my body to handle. It was around this time that I started thinking about going back home. I was having a really hard time dealing with the heat. If I got too hot my body would itch and get extremely uncomfortable; even my scalp hurt. I told Cassidy that I was thinking about moving back and he said that he would look into it with Apple to see if there were any openings on Oahu. As it turned out there was an opening at the Royal Hawaiian Apple Store in Waikiki. After talking with the store leader there Cassidy was offered a $7 riase to work there. With that in mind we started seriously looking into moving back to Hawaii.

June 2012

Since our lease to the apartment was coming to an end we had begun a search for a place that would be a little cheaper since I didn't have to be as near the hospital anymore. Our lease at Versailles ended mid July so by the time that we had found a perfect townhouse for our family of three (me, cass, and zoe!) we had decided to move back. With only a couple of weeks to sort out the details of moving back, time was of the essence! We started packing things into boxes, putting most of our stuff into storage and was thinking of a plan for the next couple of months. Cassidy had to go to work on Oahu but my 1 year checkup at MD Anderson was scheduled for September. Since I was having such a hard time with the Houston weather I was starting to look at other possible options. My dear friend Lori (who was suffering with cancer and was about to start home hospice care) was coming back and forth to my place and a friend's place in Colorado (Keystone) where she was going to be able to have home hospice care for free. Since it was taking so long to get settled she had to come back to Houston to get a refill of her pain medication that she needed. She was getting so weak and could barely walk so I was helping her as much as I could and keep her as comfortable as I could so that she could rest and be pain free. It was so wonderful to have her living with us for a couple of weeks. Since she was going to be living in Colorado, we were talking about having me move up with her so that I can be with her through hospice care until she passed away. I was so excited to go on this adventure with her; living in beautiful Keystone and being with Lori so that she didn't have to go through it alone. As June came to a close she told me that she was going to have to stay with us in July so she could get a refill on her pain meds and then go back up to Colorado and finalize everything with the home hospice care.  Of course with us, nothing ever goes according to plan.

July 2012

The first week of July I picked up Lori from the airport and got her settled at our apartment in Houston. That Monday we drove to her doctor's office for her appointment. What we found out was that he gave her a new prescription for her pain medication but he made it for a week later; meaning Lori was going to have to go through a week without any pain medication. Since she was expecting to get a refill that day she didn't try to save it and was out by that Monday. That week as we waited for the next Monday to come she went from talking and being herself to not being able to move or breathe without pain. Since she wasn't getting any transfusions anymore she was low on blood and extremely weak; she could barely make it to the bathroom. As her health declined we just counted the hours until we could fill her prescription. Unfortunately on July 7th her time of waiting ended. I was at home letting Lori sleep when I noticed that she was having a hard time breathing. I quickly came to her side and Lori looked very pale and kind of blue. Not knowing what to do I came to her side and asked if she was okay...if she needed help with something. She was having a hard time breathing and collapsed into my arms on her side. I quickly called 911 and told the lady on the phone that Lori had stopped breathing. I couldn't believe that she wasn't breathing. The lady told me to start compressions while she sent out a unit to help. As I tried to make her breathe I knew that she was gone....even as the paramedics charged in and took control I knew that it was too late. Cassidy showed up and together we followed the ambulance to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. My friend who I was so close to and loved very much had finally gotten her wings and was no longer in pain. That was what I had to keep telling myself to make it okay. She was preparing herself to move on and it just came faster than we had anticipated. I miss her so much; she was such a good person to talk to and she could relate to everything that I was going through. I think about her often and wish that I could talk to her still. I hope that she is resting and happy wherever she is now. 

Since I was no longer going to go to Colorado Cass, Zoe and I packed the car full of stuff and hit the road to go to California where I would stay with a friend until September. When September would come I would go back to Houston (flying) and see my doctors for my 1 year check up.

My next post will be about our road trip across the country :) I love you all and will be back soon, promise!

I'M BACK!!

Good morning everyone! It has been exactly 1 years since my last post and my blog has FINALLY decided to work again!!! YAY! soooo I will be updating (much more often I promise!) and keeping in touch with you all!

I have been back in school and doing well. I have 2 weeks left before summer vacation! It has been great (but exhausting) being in school and I am happy that my brain can still function well and my chemo-brain seems to be leaving me as well.

I have been working a lot of Fernandez Sports and Physical Therapy (where I was working before I was diagnosed) and it has been a wonderful place for me to help others with their physical problems while also giving me therapy as I help them. I have been working out, starting to run again (very slowly hah) and doing Pilates to help get my posture back and my body strong again. I have been feeling great and even managed to NOT get the flu this bad flu season!

I am taking the summer off to just focus on work and I'll resume school again in August (for 3 of my last 5 classes!). I am planning on graduating next May (2014) with my Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences degree :)

Anyways, I am in class so I will go. I will update soon to let you know more about my future plans and where I have been this past year

Aloha!

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