Home sweet home :)

My apologies for not updating this in so long! However, as usual, things have been nothing short of crazy lately.  Let's see how I do catching this all up in a somewhat short nutshell. haha. Matt made it to Alaska, finally cleared out up there, and has made his way back home to Annapolis. Which means that starting next week he will officially begin work at Fort Meade (and I will be at home by myself all day...what to do..lol) Luckily for him, timing worked out that he was able to see a lot of his buddies return home from their deployment in Afgahnistan while he was up in Alaska. This was quite the blessing, not only to give him a break to re-charge, but it was also important to him to be able to see all of his guys home safely. Thank you again to Deidra and Burley for taking care of him for a few weeks. :)

While he was gone, of course I had to find something to do to entertain myself.  Fortunately for me, I was lucky enough to have lots of family come visit. Mom spent two weeks at our house helping me clean, organize, and decorate for Fall. Our house actually looks like our "home" now, more than just a house we are in. It's funny how something so simple can be such a huge comfort. As if that was not enough fun; dad, Nancy, Luke and one of his friends made the trip down for the weekend and we took a short jaunt over to the Eastern Shore, made it downtown for a great seafood dinner, and even saw some of the awesome boats downtown during The Boat Show.

Now with all of that good news- there has to be a few set backs I suppose. Mom had initially came to MD so she could take me to my treatment on Monday while Matt was gone. Well we woke up bright and early Monday and went to Baltimore, but apparently life had different plans for me that day. Unfortunately my blood work came back that day showing my levels were too low to receive treatment, I would have to take some medicine for a week and come back again and try the following Monday. As if that wasn't bad enough, the low levels also earned me a first class ticket for giving myself a shot every Thursday after I had treatments. Yuck! I've said it a million times, and probably a million more, I hate shots and anything to do with them.

 So that day I was pretty bummed out. (I know, you would think not having to get nasty medicine pumped into ya for a week would be a good thing- but I'm an odd duck and being pushed back a week on my overall goal was hard to handle). However, after a bit of moping and complaining to anyone and everyone around (hah) I sucked it up, and low and behold it turned out to be a good thing. It's kind of funny how sometimes our body knows what we need a bit more than we do! The week off was great! I finally felt "normal" again, no fatigue, no headaches, I was able to galivant all around Annapolis with mom for a few days and welcome my husband back home, feeling good. It's the small things these days that count. :) So Matt and I went back to Baltimore Monday for treatment #5, and it all went well. Bloodwork looked great again, the infusion at the hospital went well, and my nurse even showed up on time at the hospital, AND at home to take me off of my pump! (For those of you that hear me vent on a regular basis, you know this is an accomplishment! hahah) Even more good news, our insurance company cooperated with providing us the shot that I need to take the day following treatment, so we were able to bring it home with us and administer it at home, rather than driving back to Baltimore Thursday morning just for a quick shot. Huge relief! However, that was about all that the shot was good for. lol. It was NO fun giving the shot Thursday- and believe it or not, I didn't get a pretty colored bandaid OR a lollipop for being good during it. I think I need to discuss this with my nurse. lol. Luckily, there were no side effects from the shot so far though- great news!

Since I was feeling well- Matt and I decided to pack up and head to PA for the weekend. We have a meeting with Dr. McLaughlin in Pittsburgh Monday afternoon, (he is an awesome guy- if anybody ever needs to see an oncologist, I highly recommend him!) so we decided to make a long weekend trip out of it and see some family and friends while we are home.  So far it has been a wonderful trip- perfect timing to be back in PA, it has been absolutely breathtaking seeing all of the leaves changing colors. We have also had a chance to see most of the family so far, Matt has been terrorized by our 3 nieces for an entire night, and we even took a trip to Benezette today so I could show Matt the famous Elk herd our area is famous for.  There were so many elk out today, and even more people! We tried our best to snap a few pictures for you all to see.

I hope you all are getting to enjoy the beautiful fall weather just as much as we are. Thank you all so much for your thoughts, prayers and well wishes- please know that they are certainly working, we see that each and everyday through different blessings. Please keep them coming! The love and support from all of you is exactly what we need to keep fighting the fight. God Bless! :)

Meghan and Matt

T-Shirts... continued

Wow! I'm pretty speechless after looking at all these again. It's nothing short of amazing to see all of the support from you all pouring in! I swear I am like a little kid on Christmas each time I get on Facebook and see a new picture. (Just ask Matt or my mom..lol). It's hard to explain just how much this means, and how much it helps me want to fight this nasty thing even more. I know Kalen had mentioned in his previous post that they are all on Facebook, but I figured I would put all of the ones that I have to date for you all to see as well. :) And the even better part? There is still more support coming! Some of out friends from Alaska are getting in on this next order (can't wait to see those pics!), friends from NC and SC, and even friends that I ,unfortunately, haven't talked to in years are joining in to support- Ania Terry you made my day the other day by ordering one!

I think that is an awesome idea that Team Bullers has to have a Team Meghan profile pic day if y'all are up for it, and having it as a celebration day once this chemo is over sounds fantastic! (Just a side note, I am 33.3% done with this nasty stuff... for those of you that know me, I'm terrible at math, I didn't do that calculation on my own, a fellow colon cancer fighter figured it out for me. haha) But none the less, 4 down, 8 more to go, and then I would love to see your profile pics supporting Team Meghan.

I also would like to thank all the faculty and staff at Francis S. Grandinetti Elementary School. Yesterday Matt and I received a heartwarming note with a very generous donation from their CARE days at the school. Thank you all so much for your help!

Now for a quick update- We are rounding the bend leading in to treatment #5 on Monday. I am hoping it will go as well as #1,#2, and #4....#3 was a little bit hairy and a pain in the ass. But I am going in positive! Side effects haven't been too bad this time, thank God, and I have been able to maintain my weight so far. Matt is in Alaska for a few weeks, which is somewhat of a double edged sword. It's great that we finally know he will be here with me in Annapolis for the next year, however, it is a real bummer that he is stuck up in Alaska for so long and will be missing the next treatment. I'll be missing him for sure, as this will be the first treatment without him. I don't think the nurses will know what to do without him sprawled out in the bed sleeping next to me. lol Luckily, Jim (my step dad) has been flexible enough that he is okay with me stealing mom for a few extra days, and she will take me to treatment and hang out for a few days after until Matt gets home. I will be wearing my Team Meghan T-shirt to this treatment to get some autographs from my nurse Joanne and my doctors.

On a note aside from all the medical bs- mom has been here "visiting" since Monday. I say it like that, because my mom doesn't really know how to visit or vacation...haha She has been working since she got here, which is a complete godsend for me! We now are no longer living out of totes and boxes, our house actually looks lived in, and we have a freezer stocked full of food for treatment days where we don't feel like cooking. Tomorrow, I am giving her the day off and we are getting out to at least do some "window-shopping". Also, Dad, Nancy, Jenna, and Luke are coming down Saturday morning. It will be great to see them again finally, and to show them around Annapolis! :)  I am one lucky girl to have such great family and friends willing to come visit and put up with me so I am not too lonely while the hubbs is away.

Please do take a minute to send some good thoughts and lots and lots of prayers Gary Gerber's way. This whole situation is such a nasty one to deal with, that I wouldn't wish upon anyone, and my case was even fairly straight forward. Some of the bumps and hurdles that I have heard he has had to overcome, he certainly deserves some love and support! Great news that he is home though, speaking from experience, hospitals are no place to recover, and there is nothing quite like the comfort of your own home when you're feeling down. Keep your chin up Coach, keep fightin' and it'll get better! Also, I know I mentioned this on Facebook and Kalen did as well, but if you can, please stop by Bill Mitchell's fundraiser on October 14th. He and his wife could really use your support, plus it is spaghetti- who doesn't like spaghetti!? Bill and Lara, you have all the support in the world coming from Matt and I, and we are keeping you in our prayers daily. Stay strong, and defy the verdict!

Thanks again for all of the love, support and prayers- can never have too much of that! Maybe someday, as the article from MD Anderson put it, dying from cancer will be as common as dying from pneumonia. We just have to keep searching.  Hope all is well with everyone and you all get to enjoy a wonderful weekend!

Tshirts and stuff

Most of the shirts from the first order have been handed out, just a handful left. The second order looks to be over 100, so that would be well over 400 shirts total. Crazy to think about the amount of support Meg has! There are some real cool photos on Facebook if you have access.

Matt is in Alaska, so my mom is down in Annapolis with Meg. My stepdad Jim has lost over 20 lbs with my mom being gone so much, so we had him down for dinner last night so Trish could fatten him up. I also stole a couple hours of drywall help.

Team Bullers ( Autumn and Paul) are pushing for a Facebook profile pic day of folks in Team Meghan tshirts. If things work out, we may try to coordinate that with a chemo anniversary for a little extra good vibes for Meg.

Meg seems to be doing well. Sometimes we have to remind her this is hopefully just a temporary inconvenience.

I hear Coach Gerber just had surgery and after a couple bumps in the road is back home. Try to send some well wishes his way if you have the opportunity. Also, there is a fundraiser for Bill Mitchell in Ridgway on Oct 14 for those that can attend. This is a fight for everyone, so Meg encourages you all to support anyone that is fighting this nasty disease!

Peace and good vibes to all! Keep you prayers and notes of support coming.

Checking in..

Sorry I haven't updated lately- haven't had a whole lot going on. BUT I have came up with something for you all tonight! First- I have to take a minute to brag about my hubbs for a little bit. He has been working his butt off on projects around the house for me (who doesn't love a "honey-do list"?) and his latest project has involved sanding/restaining chairs so they all match our dining room. Now he has one completed (looks great!), one sanded and ready to be stained and just one more to go. He's been working away at those, even on the days where I am sitting on the couch watching recorded Ellen episodes. lol. However, more exciting news, we finally received the definite confirmation from the Army that Matt can be stationed here. He went before the board earlier this week and was told he is stationed here for a year, and it seems like it'll be something he'll really enjoy! :) No more worrying about them sending him back to Alaska- we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Speaking of people being wonderful, I received another amazing care package last night! Rebecca Wonderly-Pombosa sent me such a heartfelt package last night that I'll be honest it brought both tears, and a much needed smile to my face. There were many neat things in there- but two I have to suggest you check out if you have never seen them before are the clinging cross, and the book "50 Days of Hope". The book is awesome. Like I said, I just received it last night, and I'm already hooked. If you have cancer, or know anybody at all who has had cancer, it's a must. The author is a cancer survivor herself, she has went through cancer with several family members, and is now a cancer patient advocate. Without telling you ALL about it, I will tell you this much- she gives you just a quick blurb to remind you that cancer is only as big as you allow it to be. Cancer is not bigger than God, cancer is not bigger than your faith, cancer is not bigger than your hope, and cancer is not bigger than your joy. All things that are nice to be reminded of daily. Thanks again, Rebecca! You were always the most thoughtful person in highschool, but it's great to know I am still in your thoughts.

Other miscellaneous news- I finally went to get my haircut! I haven't had it touched since before the wedding, and it was beginning to look like a combination of a hot mess/rat's nest. So I had a good bit chopped off, the even better news, the chic cutting my hair said it is definitely not thinning yet!! YAY. :) I'm not sure if she knows what she's talking about or not, but right now I'll go with it. I'm attaching a picture so you all can give me some input. Other than that we are just hanging around the house this weekend, prepping for treatment on Monday. Another favor to ask, could you all keep me in your thoughts Monday? The last treatment was a little more uncomfortable than the first two, and I am really hoping it's not a trend. Thank-you!

Oh yeah, T-Shirts are in!! :) I can't wait to see all the pictures of everyone. Once again, thank you to everyone for your support through those, and a huge thank you to Kalen, Trisha, Dad, Jenna, Mom, Brandy and everybody else who has coordinated this whole deal. We love you!  Anyway- hope all is well and you are enjoying the weekend. We had 88 degree weather on our first day of Fall. I suppose there are some perks to living in MD.

:)

T-shirts are in!!

The T-shirts are in and they look great! Thanks so much to Kalen  for getting the idea going, Trisha for all her time coordinating everything, also to Jenna, T.O. and Brandy at South St for pitching in to get the word out about the shirts so that even more people will be a part of  Team Meghan. The response has been so wonderful and amazing!! A really big Thank -you is owed to everyone who has helped to make this endeavor possible for Meg.
As I tried to get across earlier this wasn't exactly my original idea but it has really seemed to have taken on a life of it's own and I can see many blessings to come from it that I hadn't thought about. The first one will be  that it is going to give Meg something to do when she is too tired to do housework but still wants to feel productive....She can figure out a way to collect everyone's photo in their shirt and get them to me so that I can get that letter off to Ellen and Oprah!! 
I will hopefully be taking Meg's and Matt's down soon so that they can start to wear them and get them signed as they go to all those wonderful appointments! They may have to backtrack a little though to get the signatures from the start. But hey..what else do they have to do right now??? LOL (that comment is just for you Meg..are you giving me that look yet?)
Once again Thank-you to everyone so much and as soon as you can get a picture in your shirt, either as an individual or as a group photo with some of the other "team members" send it to Meg so that we can start to compile them all in some type of format. I know that as we do that, it will bring smiles to both of them and also create a good memory to hang onto as she goes through this and when she is done on the other side of this "bump" in her life.

Happy No-Chemo Monday! Yay! :)

So I am stealing this title from my brother. Thank God I was blessed with three amazing brothers. I always thought I wanted a sister (in fact if you ask any of my family members, they'll confirm I whined about it for many years). However, the older I get, the more and more I realize how fortunate I am to have the brothers I do.

This weekend was one of "those" weekends. I'll be completely honest, it was all just a bit too much this weekend, everything seemed too overwhelming and too much to handle, and was just one of those weekends that finding the "ups" and "positives" in this battle were challenging to say the least. As Kalen mentioned in his previous post, my third chemo treatment is here and gone, with unfortuntately a bit more side effects this time around, but we are still trucking along. But after struggling over the weekend, my support system came to my aid again and I woke up to an e-mail from my brother simply titled "Happy No-Chemo Monday" and it made me realize, you know what, he's right. If for nothing else, I need to be happy that today is a No-Chemo Monday! Today instead of sitting in the infusion center, Matt and I get to spend the day getting a little bit more settled into our house and our lives here. If nothing else, I need to count my blessings that I am here on this No-Chemo Monday, and I have to suck it up, "catch the ball life is throwing" and keep going. (Although I have to add, the ridiculously cute pictures of my nephew, Captain Chaos, that accompanied the e-mail also helped to boost this attitude..haha) So here is hoping that the rest of the side effects from treatment wear off quickly so I can get out and about some more because the weather is absolutely gorgeous right now here in Annapolis!

On a very positive note, Matt and I had another house guest this weekend! :)  His step-mom Ann made the trip out to visit us, and it was awesome, and long overdue to say the least. We did manage to show her around Annapolis a bit, although I think she enjoyed being away from "work" and "mom-role" more than anything. We did our best not to make her work TOO much- so hopefully she will be coming back soon. Thanks to my very patient husband and mother-in-law, we had a fun, relaxing weekend. Matt was even in a good mood because he had a chance to see Notre Dame AND the Red's win!!

At the polite "nudging" from the previous blog entry, I am posting an updated pic of Matt and I. Now, keep in mind we were at the airport awaiting our guest, so it's not our best of pictures, but you can at least see that we are doing well, and not driving each other completely insane, yet. lol.

Finally, I think I heard through the grapevine that the Team Meghan T-shirt order was submitted last week. I have to say again how blown away I am by the response you all put into this. I know I have said many times how much of a difference just getting cards, notes, emails, etc. help me get through day to day; seeing you all supporting me by wearing these t-shirts will be a whole different ball game! Thank you. Hopefully once everybody gets there shirts, we can get some pics snapped and posted to FB so we can see everyone sporting their shirts!

 I know a few people have asked about being able to make donations vs. buying a T-shirt; from what I have heard there will be a donation can set up at South Street Botanicals, as well as up at the Summit. I will be sure to update you all if I hear anything else on that front.  Keep the prayers, thoughts, good vibes, jokes, etc. coming. It means the world to us!

Hope you all are having a wonderful day..  Remember, we never know what tomorrow brings, so catch whatever ball it is that life throws to you today and run with it.

How is Meghan doing?

My apologies for errors, this is coming from my phone as Trish and Jenna are finishing up the first shirt order on the laptop.

Lots of people asking how Meg is doing and we have been so busy with shirts we haven't updated. It Is hard to keep tabs on her, since she is so far away.

She is in the middle of her third treatment as I type this. Long day at Hopkins, but all has been good thus far. A little more cold sensitivity this time around, but I imagine having the pump for two days is a bigger inconvenience. Bloodwork has been good so far and fevers kept at bay so no delays so keep the prayers coming.

Matt has been doing interviews getting himself squared away with the Army. That will be good for both of their stability and I am sure he is getting a little stir crazy. We are happy he is home.

Next 5 months or so should be a lot of the same. Meg has been in contact with UPMC docs in addition to the Hopkins folks. Both groups have been great. Hopefully Meg shares a picture soon! *hint hint*

Ok, thumb cramps. I feel like a teenager.