5 Years!

I am stopping into share the post I shared on my Facebook profile today. I know a number of people are not on Facebook and I didn't want to leave anyone out.

5 years ago, on this day, I put my life in the hands of my supremely skilled surgeon, Dr. Muldoon. Seriously, I put my life in his hands; in writing on paper and in the operating room. I had micro managed and controlled every nuance I could, the date of surgery, the choice of my surgeon, my anesthesiologist, my nurse, but I had no way to manage/control what happened during my 6-7 hour surgery. I surrounded myself with the positivity of family and friends and the faith that everything would be fine. After my surgery, I was cancer free.
I find myself with some strange emotions today. I am incredibly grateful to the team of doctors that have passed through my life, truly, without each of them and their care, I might not be here. My support system, my Rob, my Mom and Dad, my Ellie and Nick, my Jo and Ole; I never would have hit this 5 year mark without each of them. Friends who stopped in to share laughs, tears, and time with me. Friends and family who brought food, wine, and chocolate. Friends and family who whisked my children away to have fun.
I remember Dr. Muldoon and Dr. Marsh telling me that treatment would represent a year in my life; they were correct, active treatment was just about a year. Luckily, it represents just a mere day or two a year now. Last night was curriculum night at school, I realized as I sat in the  3rd grade classroom, how 5 years ago, was a sort of ‘lost in time’ year for me. I was physically present but mentally I had tunnel vision and a goal. The 5 year cancer free mark is incredible, it puts me on the ‘other’ side of the statistics. It is a mark that I know too many friends never got to see. It is definitely a time to celebrate.
I am hopeful that with the super organizations/agencies, the endless amount of money being raised, and the brilliant scientists in the world, one day cancer will not exist. Until that day, I will continue to volunteer time as a mentor, to tell my story and become friends with dozens of beautiful people who share cancer with me, and to live my life one day at a time.
I have learned to live in each day. Cancer or not, no one is promised tomorrow. I have learned life is precious, I surround myself with family and friends who are happy. I have learned to tell my story. It is a positive one in a sea of negativity that cancer can represent. I have learned if life gives you lemons…find some vodka and infuse them!
I wish I could send this to everyone I know because posting to Facebook only shares this with a small amount of the family and friends who have loved and supported me through my journey. You helped create the bubble around me, your collective positive thoughts and love, very much helped me get to this 5 year mark today…thank you.

Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

May Medical Update

As promised, I am posting a n update about all my May visits.

I saw Dr. Marsh earlier this month. My visit was sort of strange. Margaret, his nurse, has gone back to a navigation position and is helping out in the transition to oncology more. She wasn't at my appointment. Dr. Marsh has a new nurse, can't recall her name. My blood work all came back with my normal ranges. I asked him to run my vitamin D level which did come back deficient. He told me how I was overdue, only by a few weeks, for my colonoscopy. Anyhow, the strange part was just how  the entire appointment felt weird.mi guess it is good I don't feel like I belong there anymore. I asked him about a couple things and he told me they would be great things to talk to my primary care physician about. I see him in a year again.

I came home from my visit and scheduled my colonoscopy appointment. I asked for different prep because I cannot keep the go-litely down. I was given a prescription for Movie-Prep, it is half the amount of liquid. Prep was easy this time around. I didn't get the stomach cramps, no chills and shakes, no dry heaving or vomiting. It will go down in history as the colonoscopy of comical errors. Our power went out around 8:30 while I was still in the middle of needing to run to the washroom. Then we woke up to news that the Skokie Swift tracks had collapsed - thus the power outage. What I wasn't counting on was the 45 minute backup of traffic on Howard. Luckily, I left enough time to get to Mom's house and I had visited the washroom before I left home. Mom drove me to the hospital and I was taken back. They were running a bit late and the first nurse blew my vein when she tried to start my IV. Dr. Bianchi found one itty bitty polyp and resected it. I get to see her in 2 years.

I have an appointment in June with my new primary care physician to discuss my vitamin D deficiency and my hip Charlie horses. 

Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree 

Late

Yes, this post is late. This post is 3 days late. Why? Well, I started this blog while I was on a much different journey than I am currently on. I began this blog as a place where I could "put pen to paper" and describe my feelings and my thoughts about what was happening. As I traveled further along my path/journey, I went from daily posts to every other day, those to twice a week, and finally a weekly update. In a couple weeks, the beginning of May, I will be 5 years out from diagnosis. That is a huge milestone. I believe, for that visit, I will only be seen on an annual basis. As my visits span out, so do my thoughts about why this blog was created. Personally, I have never kept a diary or journal, and that is what this has blossomed into. I have decided that after my visit, I will only be posting as I have any related appointments...sporadically.
I have thought about this for a long time and I don't wish to have a regular post of my doings. As I grow my business, my name is out in the world, and I don't need my buyers/customers, googling and finding out my everyday life.
Last week, I listed like crazy. I had free auctions and took advantage. I more importantly, got a bunch of clothing that has been boxed and sitting in the basement, out the door. Finally, sales picked up after the tax day deadline, maybe refunds are coming though. I have a new mail carrier and she hasn't left a great impression. My packages are taken and not scanned in for days. I guess it isn't just her, as I hear similar stories from other sellers.
Ellie joined me for a Saturday morning sprint to Salvation Army and a rummage sale. We spent the evening with Dean, Lauren and the girls. It was nice to catch up and visit, it has been a long time.
Sunday we went to church and dropped off bags of stuff for their rummage sale. After I started preparing my planters for this year with some new spray paint. We went to mom and dad's to celebrate Tony's 7th birthday. The kids payed nicely together and had a fun time.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Long but Productive Weekend

nothing much to share about this past week. eBay has been slow, I am hoping it is just tax time lows. This weekend, we took advantage of the lovely weather and worked on Ellie's desk. Rob had sanded it, Ellie and I painted the drawers. She picked out 3 different shades of pink and an ice blue for the insides. Rob stained the top and her chair. Ellie and Neha sanded and painted the knobs. It was a family adventure. We got a bunch down on Saturday and we were able to finish up today.
We had enough to leftover paint to do Ellie's dresser drawers too. Rob and I moved everything in and it looks great. We had a minor snafu because the one drawer in the desk stuck...in the closed position. Rob took it out to sand off some more so it hopefully won't stick again.
We had dinner at mom and dad's, it was just us because Tony has some bug. Mom made turkey, rice, spaghetti squash, broccoli, salad, and fruit.
Visualizing my continually healing and healthy body and the new normal, Tree

Happy Easter

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter Weekend. Did a bunch of cleaning up around here this week in preparation. We had abbreviated festivities this year. We went to the GGs to celebrate Uncle Bry's 60th birthday with them. The kids loved the weather and played outside with friends. 

I must get busy this week and list. I have a nice, full, dining room table to list at. Sales have slowed a bit with tax time nearing. 

Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Happy 8th Birthday, Nick

We celebrated Nick's birthday today. Nick's birthday closes out our March Madness.

Spring Break was much needed and wonderful. We road tripped down to Brunswick, Georgia. Rob and I honeymooned at Sea Island, which is just a couple miles away. We rented a beautiful house that backed up to a tidal marsh. It was fun to experience the changes first hand. Nick loved catching crabs and watching them sneak in and out of the tunnels. Although we had a pool, the weather was not ideal. Rob and the kids did the polar plunge on our last night. 

We visited Savannah, Tybee Island, Saint Simon's Island, Jekyll Island, and Brunswick. We traveled through the Smokey Mountains on our way down and Jefferson Forest on the way home. We spent as much time as we could combing the beaches for seashells. Nick loved finding all the jellyfish. Ellie created shell artwork in the sand. 

It was unusual for us to not really have a planned out vacation but much needed.we didn't really do museums or anything terribly educational but we had a blast. We wish it could have been longer but it was still great. Although we did stop into a couple thrift stores, I didn't really buy anything. I did experience my first Goodwill outlet. Wasn't bad but too much work for me.

We celebrated at Mom and Dad's house. Mom made pork, corn, potatoes, and salads. A MineCraft inspired cake for dessert. 

Looking forward to getting back into the swing of it this week.visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Happy Spring

taking the week off to spend time with my family...catch up next week. Happy Spring!
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body, and the new normal, Tree

Happy 13th Birthday, Ellie

As I type this blog, I am now the mom to a teenager. Scary and exciting all in the same breath.

This week was so slow on ebay. Thankfully, it picked up and I am ahead of my goal by 3 days now. I did go out and shop a couple days, nothing stellar but a lot of little things.

Nick had an overnight with Tony and Teo on Friday night. Jo and Ole offered to take home for a boys night so that we could celebrate Ellie's birthday without her little brother. The boys were going to Minecraft and watch movies. Ellie invited a couple friends for dinner and hanging out at our house. 

Saturday we went to see Blue Man Group. Nick has been watching the commercial longingly for a while and he asked last month when we could go to see it. We had nice seats and I think we all really enjoyed getting to laugh, and let our inner kids escape for a couple hours. Nick and I went to buy part of his birthday present afterwards, his new bike. This was this first brand new bike. Ellie made their birthday cakes while we were out. 

Today, Ellie worked diligently on decorating cakes. She made a MineCraft cake for Nick and a One Direction cake for her. We stopped by the GGs to celebrate the kids birthdays with them. We went to Mom and Dad's for Sunday dinner. It was St. Patrick's themed with pierogis for Ellie and corn pudding for Nick. Great roasted potatoes and carrots, sautéed cabbage, and green noodles. 

Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Theresa 

16 Year Anniversary

On Friday, Rob and I celebrated our 16 year anniversary. Ellie had her middle school recreation night, but Rob, Nick and I went out for dinner. We all celebrated together on Saturday with some fresh cannoli. We celebrated at Family Sunday today. Mom re-created our wedding dinner and dessert.
I was busy this week listing. I had the free listings and got almost 100 items listed. I lost my motivation by the end of the week because sales have slowed down. I am not too far off my daily goals but I would much rather be above my goal. I have been able to list a few items locally and sell through our local garage sale site. Love cash and not having to worry about shipping and feedback.
Ellie stayed home sick on Thursday. She woke up with a headache and luckily it didn't turn into the normal migraine. By the afternoon she was better and helped me list.
I took Nick for a haircut this morning. He hasn't had one in a couple months and it was much needed. We can see his handsome face again.
We traveled West yesterday and had a fun day. Did some thrifting, shopping, and walking around. It was beautiful out...funny how 50* feels so warm.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

March Madness Begins

Flipped the calendar and entered March Madness. 

Did a bunch of listing and selling last week. I did some epic shopping Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I did my Unique round on Thursday but found out they were 50% off on Friday. Nick was my buddy on Friday and we kicked butt and found some great things. Rob was my buddy on Saturday - we started in Gurnee and worked our way around. The car trunk was packed with awesome things.

Mom and Dad came for dinner on Wednesday night. It was snowing like mad when they left.

Ellie was up and off to Springfield/St. Louis at 5:30 Friday morning. She returned this evening around 10:30. Sounds like she had a blast but I pretty much sent her right to bed when I picked her up.

Mom and Dad took Nick for the entire weekend, leaving Rob and me with time for an early anniversary celebrating. We went out for dinner both nights, Mexican on Friday and Italian on Saturday. Hours of uninterrupted conversation. Thank you Mom and Dad!

Going to list my butt off this week because I have 3000 free listings.

Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree 

Chinese New Year

I feel like my posts are becoming a bit boring...good thing, bad thing...I don't know. 

Lot of the same old stuff this past week. Fiercely cold outside, bitter wind chills. I stayed in most of the week because of the cold. Ellie woke up vomiting on Wednesday. No headache so this must have been viral. Poor girlie spent the morning on the couch with a bucket at her side. Thankfully no one else picked up the germs and Ellie was back in school on Thursday.

I was able to get a lot of listings done while trapped inside. I just got a promo today and was able to relist about 350 items. Sales have been steady, too. Ellie came shopping with me yesterday and every store bought more great items. It has been a while since I had receipts with over 25 items on them! I will be busy listing this week.

Nick has been busy with his sound unit at school. He had to build an instrument this weekend. He chose a flute and we made it from a section of pvc. He was pretty happy with it.

Happy to report we got together for Sunday dinner and no one was sick! We celebrated Chinese New Year with Chinese food and drinks. The kids loved playing with each other. Nick and Tony were very busy building on MineCraft.

Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Happy Valentine's Day

Not too much to share about this week. It was cold outside and I tried to stay inside. I took advantage of being inside and listed. It has paid off because sales continue to be strong.
I got to spend some time with Teo. Mom came down with the dreaded germs, so I picked Teo up. We played and had lunch together before I took him to school.
Did a bit of thrifting but sadly there hasn't been a fabulous find lately. I did buy a crapload of Disney plush at Salvation- already sold a couple.
We did Valentine's Day at home yesterday. Ellie helped me bake some cookies and chocolate dip strawberries. I made baked rigatoni, asparagus, fruit, and veggie meatballs for dinner. We stopped by the GGs for a visit.
Today we spent the day inside but went to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Mom made a great dinner with an equal amount of sweets for dessert.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Nothing Creative

I am stumped for a title. Finally started to feel better toward the middle of the week but could not get enough sleep the last few days.
The month has started off well for business. I had some crazy sales, an Elmo Play Doh set, bought for 5.15 and sold for 115.00. I bought and listed a bunch of pillows on Friday, all sold on Saturday. I have to get busy listing this week.
Mom and Dad succumbed to the bug this past week so we didn't get together on Wednesday. We did all do Family Sunday today. We had a belated Super Bowl party with lots of finger foods. The kids loved to see and play with their cousins...it has been a couple weeks.
Really nothing else to share, slow week.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Snow Bowl

We are certainly making up for the lack of snow this season. I am using the porch rail as a measure and it is well past 12". We have snowdrifts more than halfway up our 4' fence. And it is still snowing. The kids joyfully ran downstairs at 8:05 pm to let us know school had been canceled for tomorrow. An official snow day for them, Rob has a 2 hour late start.

I picked up Nick's germs this week and have had a drippy nose, aches, and cough. Ellie stayed home Friday with a migraine. It was that sort of a week. Tuesday, I went with Mom and Grandma GG shopping because mom's car had a flat tire. 

I finished January strong on ebay. I exceeded my goals! I maxed out my listings and buyers ate them up. February has started out equally as well. I am going to take advantage of Ellie being home tomorrow and see if she will help me list. 

Today we had church. We were on as the parents for Sunday School. Roads were gross trying to get there. Afterwards we went to Dean's for the girls 1st birthday party. The roads were no better. Milwaukee only had one lane viable in either direction. We stayed for a while and the kids played before we journeyed home. It took us a bit over an hour. We got home and had to walk through knee deep drifts to get to our door. Our neighbor, Bob, very nicely used his snow blower to clear a spot for our car. We decided to not try to go to Mom and Dad's for dinner after it took us so long to park the car.

Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Organized

Oh my, oh my...the New Years organizing has hit. The Container Store has their Elfa storage on sale, we took full advantage. Rob and I did some measuring and thinking and decided to get his closet done, half on my closet done and another shelf for the closet.
It really started on Monday. We tried to see Paddington but it was sold out. We came home and Ellie has really been wanting a desk for her room...we went shopping. We did a run around to the thrift stores and finally found one at Salvation. It is a cute, vintage, mid century wood desk. She is still thinking about how she wants to make it over - paint, stain, fabric.
Tuesday, Rob and I went to the Container Store to place our order. I picked it up on my way home from watching the girls on Wednesday. Mom and Dad came over for dinner on Wednesday. We played a couple rounds of Heads Up since the Middle was a rerun.
I was keeping up with my listing goals last week and was so happy to get a promo. I was able to relist all my unsold items and start selling them. Mom and I went out to run some errands on Thursday. It was nice to get out and spend the day together.
Poor Nick has succumbed to some bug. I kept him home on Friday and he seems to be doing a bit better now but still not himself. Rob and I put in the Elfa system on Friday. His closet has so much more functional space now. He hung my shelves and I can now fit all my sweaters and our bed sheets without them toppling down on me.
I guess all this organizing inspired Ellie because she started cleaning her room. We ended back up at the Container Store for a couple more shelves for her closet. She was a good sport and came thrifting with me. We had a great find day. Ellie spotted some great items, too.
Today, Rob and Ellie went to church and Nick and I slept in. Nick pretty much lounged around all day. I spent about an hour custom boxing a picture frame. Ebay sales totally picked up this weekend...love seeing stuff go out the door. We went to Mom and Dad's for dinner and came home and tried to get Nick to bed early.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Sunshine

It has been wonderful for the sun to shining so bright and the temperatures warming up a bit the last couple days.
I did a bunch of listing this past week. I did a bit of thrifting, too. Very hit or miss - I either find a car load or nothing. Sales have slowed...I think holiday bills have come in and spending has ceased.
I ordered new curtains for the living room and back room. They were delivered this week and I ironed them and hung them- love them!
We were notified earlier in the week that Ellie, the alternate for the Spelling Bee, would be in the Bee. I went to watch her on Friday. She made it a couple rounds and I am so proud of her.
We went to see the dance show at Niles North on Friday night. It was a nice show, a bit long.
Mom and Dad took all the grandkids for an overnight on Saturday...thank you! Rob and I had dinner at Rocanto and then did some shopping. We found major bargains at Meijer. Rob found a couple pairs of shoes and I got Ellie some, too.
Meijer was so fun that we decided to road trip to a different one this morning after picking the kids up. Had another car load of bargains.
We all have off tomorrow and I think we will go see a movie.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Back to School...

...well sort of. We finally got snow when the kids needed to go back to school. The temperature dipped quite low and the wind chill was dangerous this week. School was canceled for the kids on Wednesday and Thursday.
I was able to get back into the ebay swing and did some listing. The fast pace seems to be keeping up. I got some great buys on Friday. I think it was a combo of end of the year donations coupled with the polar vortex.
Rob has been working non stop. His big video was presented this afternoon and revived well.
We went to Mom and Dad's for dinner and the kids were super thrilled to see Tony and Teo. We haven't seen them in weeks. Great to catch up and see them happily play together. Mom made tacos and corn pudding...nice meal.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Happy 2015

I had a wonderful Winter Break with the kids and Rob. We spent time with family and friends. We spent Christmas Eve with Mom and Dad and Jo, Ole and the boys. It was themed - Christmas around the world. We had breakfast at our house on Christmas Morning. We headed up to Wisconsin for a couple days after - got to visit with UB and catch lunch with Becki and Eddie on the way back home.
December was my best month for ebay so far. Sales just kept rolling in and I was not complaining. January has been just as active. I have had 26 sales in 4 days. I am looking forward to listing. I have accumulated some winners.
This week we have really just hung low and stayed around the house. We got our first real snowfall of the winter and the kids were so happy to play in it.
I think I am leaving christmas up until the weekend and working more on organizing and business this week. I did get all my year end accounting done.
Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree