I Love to Travel

(Picture of Me and Wayne in Amsterdam at a beer garden)

Hello All,

Our trip was truly amazing.

I love, love, love Amsterdam. The people are wonderful, the city is lovely, extremely walkable and the beer is awesome. Wayne was working while we were there so I was alone during the day exploring the city on my own. I enjoyed every moment.

Paris has some of the most beautiful art and architecture I have ever seen, but for my money I'm headed to Amsterdam every time.

If you have never been to Amsterdam you must add it to your list of places to go.

If I had my way (so far) I would work remotely and live one month of each year in Amsterdam, Rome, Positano, Marco Island and Chicago. As we continue to travel I am certain I will be adding cities to that list.

The next countries on our list are Spain and Portugal. If anyone has been and has some fantastic tips please send me an email.

Much love to you all,
Maria

(Picture of Me and Wayne in Paris at a lovely Cafe)

Chemo - Yesterday

Hi there,

Yesterday was my first day back in the chemo saddle and it was fine.

The nurses were hysterical when they asked if we had any fun weekend plans. I said, "actually we are headed to Paris and Amsterdam tomorrow." I got a number of "you go girls", "that's the way to live", and my personal favorite "of course you are."

My schedule so far is:

September 20
September 27

Then the next week I will be off to San Antonio to run the COMMON Fall Conference & Expo, which fits in just perfectly because that is my off week for chemo. I will begin losing my hair that week (if everything is on track) so I may just shave my head in San Antonio. That would make the third city in three years for head shaving. The good-times never end : )

I will blog about our trip when we return.

Afscheid amd Au revoir,
Maria

Those CT / Bone Scan Results Stink!!!

Hello All,

I had my three month scans this week and well the results weren't horrible, but they weren't great.

The most important thing to know is that there is no evidence of disease in my bones, which is awesome. The cancer has not spread beyond my right lung, which is awesome.

Unfortunately, the tumors have grown. The tumor that disappeared has returned and is 2mm. The other two tumors have both grown. One grew by about 50%, which is not so good.

I spoke with Dr. G and Kelly and the next course of treatment is...............

They are adding back in the Taxol. So that means I will be starting chemo AGAIN, UGH!

You may not be aware of this, but Wayne and I are headed to Paris and Amsterdam this Saturday. You may wonder when am I going to start chemo. Well - I'm going to start chemo this Friday at 9:00am - OF COURSE. Who wouldn't want to start chemo and then head to Paris the next day? I'm sure the people on the plane will just love me.

The chemo will be once a week for three weeks with one week off. This is the same drill as the last round of chemo. I'm not sure how many rounds I will have, but they want to at least do three months.

Folks, I'm going to be honest I am going to need a little extra support. I'm already tired heading into chemo. The nurse at the hospital said, "at least we were able to give you this long break" and I would agree with that statement if I hadn't had back surgery twice since March. I'm a little beat up.

Wayne and I are ready to fight. We are gearing up for chemo, but more importantly we are gearing up for Paris and Amsterdam. We still have our priorities in order and our priority is to live.

Once we are back (September 14) and I have my chemo schedule I will let you know. I will be looking for volunteers to go to chemo with me. I figure everyone should join me for the good times.

This is a bump in the road. Don't get discouraged. I'm still strong, still fighting and still livin the good life.

I love you all very much,
Maria