I~ INTENSE!

Following up my post on "Home" comes the letter I for INTENSE! Spring has arrived in Texas and with it comes our spring storms.
We were woken up at 1 AM last night to the sounds of hail pounding against the glass and strong winds. The power was out and the only light we all had was from our cell phones. In this part of the country you have a designated spot to take cover in the case of tornadoes. This storm had all the makings of a tornado with the hail, winds that sound like a train coming, green skies and the outside moving around in all different directions.

We grabbed our cat, dog, pillows and blankets and headed for the pantry, our "shelter". The storm came and went quickly, but left our yard in shambles.
We all went outside to evaluate the damage. Several of the neighbors were outside as well. Fortunatly all the damage was to the yards. No homes or people were hurt that I am aware of.

Our backyard was hit the hardest. We lost 2 trees. The first one was planted for me on my first Mothers day when we moved in 13 years ago. This tree has always been special to me. It was not just my first Mothers day in our new house, it was also my first year with cancer. The tree has always represented life to me. As I sit here and write this I am looking outside at what is left of it. It is battered and torn but...still standing! Maybe a better way to look at it.

 I also lost my wooden chair swing..also a Mothers day present from many years ago with so  many special memories.

 Our tree landing in several neighbors yards. I am sure they just love that!

 The winds were so strong, the tops of the onions in the garden were torn right off. The yard smelled of onions when we were out there at 1 AM.

 The second tree split right and half, crushing the swing.

I~ is for the Intense Texas spring storms! My daughter-in-law (to be) just left me a message with the word "INSANE"! I think that fits as well today.

H~ Home

Spring 2011

 Once again, I had a different topic I was going to write about today but as the day when on and my husband and I worked in our yard, I felt this was better suited for today.
Tomorrow marks the day we moved into our home 13 years ago. At the time, my youngest son was 7 with his 8th birthday just 2 weeks away! I remember setting out their Easter baskets in the kitchen for their first morning and Easter in our new home.
We have watched our kids grow up here, literally going from boys to men. As with any family, we have laughed, cried, celebrated and said good-bye during these past 13 years.
Home has been a place of love and comfort for me. Especially during the difficult times going through all the treatments, surgeries and challenging moments. It is a place of refuge where I feel warm, safe and loved.
There really is no place like HOME!

Winter 2011

G~ Grandparents

My sons still talk about those special memories they had when they were younger with all of their grandparents.
From swimming at G&G Ski's house with all their cousins to sneaking more Dr. Peppers than they were supposed to have.
The funny times when G&G Ski would come over on Halloween to help us "haunt the house". Grandpa Ski even played along as a scary monster sitting under a tree and scaring the kids who dared to poke him to see if he was real.

Each summer the boys traveled to Tulsa to spend a week at G&G Minichs. These grandparents, sadly are no longer with us but the memories will be there forever.
Like G&G M. opening up a world of different experiences for them. From the musical "Oklahoma" to photographing the buffalo and visiting with a local artist. And who can forget "the camper ghost" with Grandpa M. or helping at meals on wheels with Grandma M.
.
We now find ourselves getting ready to take on this role of Grandparents to our first grandchild who will be here in October! We look forward to loving and creating new and special memories with each of our grandkids!

At age 34 I prayed God would let me raise my kids and be here till they were grown. At age 43, when my kids were all grown, I prayed I would be here to see them get married. At age 46, we have skipped right to praying to live to be 96 and be Great-Grandparents!

F~ Fatigue

Fatigue~ not the topic I had planned to write about today. Unfortunately Fatigue is a very common and frustrating side effect that I ( and most survivors) have to live with.

It interferes with many parts of your life and the daily plans you may have, as it has done today. Sometimes you can feel it creeping up on you and other times it just hits you like a ton of bricks.

After I finished teaching my 5k class tonight I planned to go home and take it easy, as today has been one of those days that it has been "creeping" up on me. However, tonight was supposed to be a "run" night with my husband. So, I told him I was ready to go but it wasn't going to be pretty.

Off we went for a 3 mile run. Although I didn't feel good, I consider myself very Fortunate just to be out there running. Even if it isn't pretty :)

E~ is for Elisa & Nathan Bond

Elisa & Nathan Bond are a young and loving couple with an adorable 18 month old daughter.  I have been following their story of struggle, life and most of all, extraordinary  love.

They were featured on The Today show this morning.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42450455#42450455

Their strength and positive attitudes are exceptional. Please keep this beautiful family in your prayers. To visit Elisa's blog go to;

http://familybondingtime.blogspot.com/

D~ Determination

There were many "D" words I wanted to use today, but I am going to go with DETERMINATION!
I chose this word on my way home this morning from teaching my Outdoor Fitness Group, basically a boot-camp. I could not help but think of how hard all my clients work. They do or try anything I ask of them. Including  army- crawling through sand. Not their favorite :) Tonight I will be introducing a longer run with more hills to my 5k class. I am sure they will attack it with the same determination.

It is the essence of living a strong and healthy life as a survivor....yup, DETERMINATION!

C~Cancerversary!

Cancerversary! I am not sure where I first heard someone use this term, but I decided I liked it! Your cancerversary is the anniversary of the day one becomes a survivor, which is from the moment you are told you have cancer. A day you will never forget and one which you will come to celebrate year after year.Some people make it a very special day, like a birthday, others simply acknowledge the day in smaller ways. I like to go for a run, a swim at the lake, things like that. Just enjoying the fact that I am healthy enough to do it.

       I am happy to tell people which birthday I am celebrating or how many years I have been a survivor, as it means "I am still here"!
My next Cancerversary is August 21 and it will be 13 years!

  Happy Cancerversary to all of you that will celebrate your special day of survivorship!

B ~ Blogging, should I or not?

When I received the 2nd diagnosis nearly 4 years ago that the cancer had spread to my bones and was now considered Stage 4 metastatic cancer, I had many decisions to make. One of them being who do we tell and how do we tell everyone without having to say the words over and over again?

My first thought was "No WAY am I going to start a blog"! I guess I didn't want my life to be another sad story. After thinking about it and much consideration, I decided not only would it be a very helpful tool to let everyone know what was/is going on but a great way to seek support, ask for prayer requests and maybe even provide a little healing therapy for me.
It has turned into all of that and more, which i will save to write about in another post during this challenge.

April has brought a new challenge!

 

What is the A to Z Challenge?

It’s blogging a letter of the alphabet every day the month of April (with Sundays off for good behavior.) It begins April First with the letter A and ends April 30 with the letter Z.

My first post for April is 

A is for April ( don't worry I will get more creative as time goes on 

I have entered this blogging challenge on day 4, so I have some catching up to do).April has brought a new and interesting challenge for those of us who love to blog. I have decided to take this challenge on in hopes that it will help me be more creative as I write about daily life as a person living with metastatic cancer.

2011 Komen Survivor brunch and fashion Show

I spent a wonderful morning Saturday with my friend and sister survivor, Natasha at the 2011 Komen Survivor brunch and fashion show. I am not sure if we were wind blown,in a hurry to get our raffle tickets or simply needed more coffee in this picture. But, it was the start of a fun morning!

Elayne & Natasha

A highlight of the morning for us is getting our raffle tickets and picking from all the wonderful prizes! We always try to win the garage door opener, kind of as a joke ...this year Natasha won it!! We laughed so hard! I won a spa package from L'Occitane for my  beat up feet :) Great stuff.

Natasha and I with our prizes!

It has been announced that this will be the first year Race For The Cure will be held in Denton, on Sept. 24th! The organization is now reaching 8 ( I believe) counties vs. the 3 it has been at for many years.
$800,000 was awarded in grant money to local organizations that are working for the cause. We watched a few survivor stories of how women and their families have been helped through Komen when there was no where else to turn.

They do a beautiful job of making all survivors feel special.From the elegant brunch to the recognition of all survivors. From those diagnosed just a few months ago, all the way to a 39 year survivor...who gives all of us hope!

I was the person at our table with the pink card..Longest Survivor :)

I ran into a special group of women who I call "The Lewisville Ladies".These were the women who mentored me from my support group back in 1998 when I was first diagnosed at 34 years old. It is always nice to spend some time celebrating survivorship with all these fellow survivors. A lovely morning brunch :)

While looking at the Komen website I found these pictures of Olympic Gold medal winner Nastia Liukin signing my race bib # after one of the races! Put on your running shoes and participate in one of the local 5k Komen Race for the Cure events...you will be helping many people!

Nastia Liukin signing my race bib!

Elayne with Nastia Liukin after the Komen race

Visit to the neurologist today

Today I finally went to the  neurologist. The appointment overall went well and I really liked him and his assistant.
The diagnosis was no surprise to me of Migraine Disorder. The part that surprised me was his concern of the cancer cells spreading through the spinal fluid to the meninges in the brain. I asked if that would have shown up on the MRI or PET scan, both of which were clean.He said no, not if it is in the beginning. I am trying not to be too worried about this, but I would be lying if I said we are not concerned.
 My sister ( who is a nurse) knows this doctor well and said if he was really concerned he would have done tests or contacted my Onc. today. There is a possibility I may have to have the spinal fluid biopsied.
"DIAGNOSIS OF SPINAL FLUID METASTASES A lumbar puncture [Lumbar puncture, also called spinal tap, is the insertion of a hollow needle into the subarachnoid space of the lumbar spine to withdraw a sample of spinal fluid for examination in the laboratory. A local anesthetic is administered prior to the procedure.]" 
 After lots of paperwork and questions he decided he wants to "observe" me for a few weeks. I am to keep a headache journal daily. He is also having me take 12 Advil a day for inflammation, as I am waking up every morning with a headache. Three at every meal and before bedtime. I will do this and log how I am doing everyday for 2 weeks. He will then assess everything again. He also gave me a nasal spray to use when the migraines get really bad.
I know it sounds kind of scary, but I will say he has to be cautious and consider this given my history. I think that is a good sign of a good doctor. I told Chris on a scale of 1-10, I would say his level of concern (to me) seemed about a 3. There are also MANY reasons I may be having these headaches/migraines from my age, meds I take, stress, teeth grinding and more. So....it will be a few weeks of trying the Advil and journaling.
In the meantime prayers are always appreciated for both relief from the headaches and future results. Thanks all~

PPE..Who knew?

I have been recently toying with the idea of running the Big D half marathon with a friend of mine. I had not been "officially" training but a few of us have been running/walking and adding the miles up.
So... I decided to go to one of our favorite places, the Greenbelt Corridor to walk and see how it would go. I had somehow hurt my shin, calf and ankle so I had no idea if or how far I would go. Tried running on it, but it still hurt. Walking however was fine, so off we went on the trail through the trees, open fields and enjoying the beautiful Texas spring day.
About 4 miles in I asked my friend, how much further do you want to go? Remember we have to walk back. She said to the half way point which was 6 miles one way. Feeling good, I said sure. All was great till about mile 10.
 At this point my feet felt like they were burning and really starting to hurt. I did have new shoes but had been wearing them for about 3 weeks both running and walking. As many miles as I  have covered I never felt anything like this. I seriously had trouble getting to the car and back into the house.
  I sat down and began to take off my shoes...they were not coming off, not with out the feeling of ripping my feet off with them. Carefully, I took them off to find blisters over both my feet. First thing I did was soak them in ice water as they were burning and the cold water felt good.
  As time went on and days passed they got worse and I could barley walk. They not only burned and stung, there was a deep throbbing and sharp shooting pains. Advil did help. But, I could not understand why it was this bad. On Saturday I gave in and let my husband "drain" the blisters. Again, the pain was so much worse than a regular blister. Just touching my foot hurt and I yelled and cried like a baby.
Today is Monday, 4 days later and I can finally put my feet down flat and walk. Have not been able to put shoes on yet. I had planned to go to the doctor this morning but I did feel improvement so I did not go.
Then...I remembered reading about a side effect from taking Tykerb.

Hand-Foot Syndrome

Other terms: Palmar-Plantar Erythrodysesthesia;  PPE
Following administration of chemotherapy, small amounts of drug leak out of very small blood vessels called capillaries in the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.  Exposure of your hands and feet to heat as well as friction on your palms and soles increases the amount of drug in the capillaries and increases the amount of drug leakage.  This leakage of drug results in redness, tenderness, and possibly peeling of the palms and soles.  The redness, also known as palmar-plantar erythema, looks like sunburn.  The areas affected can become dry and peel, with numbness or tingling developing.  Hand-foot syndrome can be uncomfortable and can interfere with your ability to carry out normal activities. 

• Avoid increased pressure on the soles of the feet or palms of hands.
• No jogging, aerobics, power walking, jumping - avoid long days of walking. 

For more info., prevention, care and advice on PPE click here; 
http://www.chemocare.com/managing/handfoot_syndrome.asp

Tomorrow I go back to teaching my outdoor group fitness class. They will be in their running shoes..I will be in slippers. I will be letting my doctor know what happened to be sure this is from the medication. For now, as much as I hate reading all the possible side effects of each drug I have to take, I am glad I remembered this one.

Inspired To Run

My journey as a runner began nearly four years ago after the loss my brother-in-law Jim. He  lost his short but heroic battle with leukemia after just seven months.I, along with five other family members decided to  train for and run The Dallas  Half Marathon in memory of our hero Jim.

I myself would be running as a cancer survivor of 9 years. While  in training I decided to have a physical due to worsening pain in my back. The results from further testing were unexpected. The cancer had spread to my bones and was now considered stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Now facing more treatments and very difficult decisions. including, whether or not to keep running. I did and completed the  Dallas Half Marathon. Thoughts of Jim in his heroic battle inspired me throughout the training and motivated me to complete the race.

Once I finished the half marathon I knew I wanted to complete a full marathon. While in High school I ran track and was introduced to the  Dallas White Rock Marathon.It was a race I had  contemplated doing since then.. The decision was made and training began. Again, the cancer roared it's ugly face. This time spreading to the pectoral muscle. More treatments, surgeries and tough decisions to be made. All this combined with the loss of several family members within a years time took it's toll. Running provided the physical and emotional outlet I desperately needed.

 I have been fortunate to have support from my doctors, family and friends. They  encourage my running and do everything to help me reach my goals.On  December 5, 2009, I completed my first marathon with my husband and running partner by my side. A highlight during the race was seeing our kids cheering us on at the finish line!

 Running has not only helped improve my life but has provided me with ,both physical and emotional healing, It has become my passion.

  I decided to become a Personal Trainer and share this love with anyone that will run with me. I now teach 5k  run groups and boot-camps. The joy I have teaching and sharing my running experiences is what gets me up each day and keeps me going as I continue to fight for my life.
By~ Elayne Minich

The right decision

One of the hard parts of living with any kind of illness that is  on-going are the side-effects. Whether they are from past surgeries and treatments or present treatments and medications, it causes day to day fatigue and problems.
With this comes the dilemma of never really knowing how you will feel day to day and week to week. Because of this I did decided to request exemption from jury duty, which was granted. 
I went to bed Sunday night with a terrible headache and woke up at 6:30 AM with another horrible migraine.Spent all day very sick in bed, not able to hold anything down including medication for nausea and pain. My BP reached 168/100, which is common when I have these headaches. This would have been the morning I would have had to report for jury duty.
I do not know what is causing these migraines. I have said before I will be seeing a neurologist. Just have to get up the courage to get started with yet another doctor.
Today I am feeling better. Wiped out but better. Thanks to all of you for your prayers.

Please Vote for my picture!

Hello everyone!
 I entered a photo in a  contest just for fun :) However, I worked VERY hard to get this picture by climbing Mount Brandon  a 952 m (3123 ft) mountain  on the Dingle peninsula in Ireland.
It is the highest of the unnamed central mountain range of the Dingle Peninsula and the 9th highest peak in Ireland.
It is a beautiful shot and I am trying to get in the top 10... I have a long way to go!
If you want to vote for my pic. just click on this link and hit vote...thanks!

http://baggagelabel.klm.com/Taggallery.aspx?image=97083&sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d769a556995cae2%2C0

What's in a name?

This has been an important question for us as we are expecting our very first grand-baby! Of course there is the traditional Grandma and Grandpa but...we don't always like to do things the traditional way so we have been pondering this.
I realize as many of you have told me that we will be called whatever the baby calls us, but we can certainaly try to establish a name...right??

Do you pick a name easy for a baby/child to say? Or one you just want to be called? Maybe something to do with family heritage? One that is a version of your own name, like Grandpa Chris, or ..just make one up, like Grandma Opal!
My parents go by G&G Ski, a shortened version of their last name and easy for the boys to say when they were little. Chris's parents went by G&G Minich.

Here are some we have looked at and the one we are most leaning towards.
Mama and Grandpa Minich ( all the kids already call me mama Minich, (so it fits).
Nonnie or Nonna, which is Italian for Grandma but Chris does not like Nonno for grandpa.
In Scotland, they call their grandma either granny or nanna. Grandpa is granda (pronounced gran-da).
"Seanmhathair" is Irish for grandmother - . It literally means 'old mother' and is pronounced like this: shan- waw - her. WAY TO HARD!
In Yiddish, they say…
Grandpa = zeyde
Pronounced zey’∙deh
Grandma = bobe
Pronounced boh’∙beh / boo’∙beh
I’ve always heard it as bubbie or bubby( ah, don't think so :)

German is Oma and Opa. With baby Minich's last name and the easy pronunciation, Oma and Opa are growing on us and leading the way!

So, what do you think or like?Are you a Grandparent? What do you go by or what do you call your grandparents??

Super Bowl Sunday Surprise!

It's official... we found out on Super Bowl Sunday that we are going to be first time Grandparents! That still sounds so weird to me even as I write it and I have had two weeks to absorb it :)
We are thrilled about baby Minich who we will get to meet in September. My middle son Kevin and our daughter-in-law Nikki are the proud and happy parents.

 We are looking forward to the blessings God is bringing us this year with our youngest son graduating from college, our oldest son getting married, our newest daughter-in-law and now Baby Minich! God is so good :)
Prayers for Baby and mom throughout her pregnancy are appreciated!

My baby is going to be a daddy!

Our Kids...Timothy, Stephanie, Nikki, Kevin & Matthew

I could have done without seeing that!

Today was my monthly Faslodex shot. This time when I went to the infusion room there was no-one at all there. Just me, nurse M ( who I think may like giving me my shots :) and this! Course mine was the big one. She opened the package, got the needle ready and then I noticed it, looking bigger than ever, or maybe I just never looked before. I laughed and said " oh, I really didn't need to see that"! The usual "stick" and I was on my way after getting to talk with M about gardening.Headaches and BP are ok once again. Told M about 'going vegetarian" and she said we will check with the next round of blood-work to make sure everything looks ok.

No stop at Starbucks today for my usual peppermint latte'. Had to hit Wal Mart instead :(

Going vegetarian, again!

• 1. Why go Vegetarian?
  This may be  the question those of you who love meat are wondering. This is not a new experience for me. I have gone through periods of cutting meat out of my diet as far back as a pre-teen. The main reason being that I simply don't like meat, of any kind. I have never liked fish so that was not an issue. I gave up red meat when I was first diagnosed with cancer 12 years ago. Since then, I have gone through periods of eating red meat but only organic. Chicken and Turkey are the last two to give up. Also, with my cancer being estrogen + and my therapy being hormone therapy used to omit as much estrogen as possible from my body, I feel it is better not to add the additional animal estrogen's.
   
• 
  2.Cookbook for Christmas
  Tim & Stephanie gave me a good, simple vegetarian cookbook. The recipes are pretty easy to follow. I have not had trouble finding the ingredients and it is filled with pictures so you can see what it is supposed to look like. I find it easier to cook vegetarian. No worries about not thawing meat from the freezer to prepare for the evening dinner.Just like planning  your usual dinner menu, I look through the different chapters of the book or recipes I find on line to mix it up.
• 
  3. New Food experiences
  So what is "seitan" anyways?? A challenge of the vegetarian diet is some of the new foods and terms you are introduced to. If I have no idea what the recipe is calling for I google it. If I don't think the local grocery store will have it, I just google "substitute" for..... Overall, we have enjoyed the new food experiences!
• 
  4.Nutritional concerns
  Between ongoing treatment for cancer and being a runner I definitely have concerns  about meeting my bodies nutritional needs, particularly with protein, iron and vitamin B12. I do take a daily multi-vitamin supplement and plan to add additional supplements as needed. I will let my doctor know about this change and continue to educate myself to keep myself healthy and well balanced.
• 
  5. Feeling Lighter
  I find I do not have the heavier feeling when you eat meat based meals but may need to snack a bit more often. I try to eat a small meal/snack every 3 hours 4 to 5 times a day. Including a protein source each time such as eggs, beans, nuts, milk, etc.
• 
  6. Other Veggie People
  I am fortunate that my husband/family does not mind the vegetarian meals. Several of our family members and friends are also "veggie people" so getting together is easy as I usually have an option for both groups of people, like a vegetarian lasagna and a meat lasagna. It is nice to have others around to share recipes and outcomes with!
Any suggestions/tips or favorite recipes are welcome in the comments section!

Super Bowl Sunday followed by Super Sick Monday

Sunday was a great day spent with family and friends having dinner and watching the Super-bowl.Monday was a whole different story. I had a really rough day that began with another headache I could not get under control. Which led to 16 hours of nausea and vomiting. Chris ended up calling Dr. A at 10:30 PM. Dr. A asked if I had anything for nausea.  Fortunately, I had some phenergin(sp?) at home and it worked. I was then able to sleep through the night. The past two days I continue to have the headache and fatigue, still don't feel well, but getting better.

This has been happening enough that we are noticing some patterns and one common trigger that we notice is; any time I have a very long, hard, day( working long hours without a break, having people over for a big get together, all day tests done at the hospital, etc.) it is almost always followed by what happened Monday, just not usually as bad. It seems to be the common link and I don't know if this is simply part of living with stage 4 cancer ( although everything seems to be ok right now from the recent testing, no evidence of disease) or if possibly there is something, unrelated to cancer going on?  Dr.A had mentioned seeing  a neurologist  concerning the headaches. 

Spoke with a few other people about what might be causing these headaches and "stress" is the key word that keeps coming up.

We have decided to "lay low" for a while and see if the headaches ease up. Keeping in mind I have already had a brain scan, which was normal and have explored nutritional triggers as well. As much as I love having everyone over and being busy with our "projects"

http://corinthminichs.blogspot.com/2011/01/this-old-houseunder-construction-again.html  

It looks like some R&R is in order. Today I made reservations for a small get a way for Chris and I in the future.

If any of you, especially those that have been through cancer/treatments recognize this pattern I would be very interested to hear from you. What you experience and what you are doing to help minimize the headaches.
For today, enjoying the snow, fire and rest :)