Happy Feet

We just came back from seeing Happy Feet! I was pleasantly surprised. It was a movie for grown-ups that was disguised as a movie for kids. My friend called it "a kids movie for grown-ups!"

Not only do I have an affinity for those who dance to the beat of a different drummer (especially the ones who are scorned for it,) but I love when those scorners eventually see the light (especially when it shines so brightly in their faces.)

Add a little bit of humans (aliens) needing to look at how their actions affect others who share our home . . . and there you have it . . . Happy Feet. (Not to mention the darned CUTEST little penguin ever!)

And the bumpersticker I saw in the parking lot. It was an American flag. It read,

"These colors don't run . . .

. . . the world."

Pumpkin hunting

The greatest thing about having kids is that they are really great for your outlook. Everything is so simple and fun.

Today, we had fun. What did we do? We went to a fast food place and played in the tubes. (We bought apples and a bottle of water, so we wouldn't feel bad for using their stuff.) Should I add that we went to the tubes at 2 different restaurants? And we dipped candles at a Yankee Candle. But the funnest part for Butterfly? Dancing around in their outdoor gazebo while Momma rocked in the rocker. (Gotta love a gazebo with rockers.)

In the car on the way home, she said, "Momma, I really had fun with you today." I had fun, too, baby. I had fun, too. Isn't that what it's all about?

What a beautiful Monday!!! (Not unlike our other days.) I love to see the world through her eyes. (Not too unlike my own.)

Ooops...forgot to add we got another pumpkin, too.

Why I Wore Lipstick to my Mastectomy - Lifetime movie

I watched the movie, "Why I Wore Lipstick to my Mastectomy" last night. It was very touching.

There was a part that really captured me and reminded me of how chance meetings are not always chance.

The woman was in a cab. She had a cab driver that had had one tetisticle removed due to testcular cancer. It seemed like he was there just to be her turning point.

It reminded me of a "chance" meeting I had not thought about in awhile.

We were at a point where T had to make a decision whether to take the usual chemo regimen or get involved in a study.
In this chemo study, she would have been randomly assigned to one of 3 (or 4) groups.

1. The usual 12 week regimen (Cytoxan/Adriomyacin) every 3 weeks for 4 cycles.
2. An 8 week regimen of Taxol, every week for 8 weeks.
3. A 12 week regimen of Taxol, every week for 12 weeks.
4. I can't remember the 4th. Maybe the C/A with an extra 2 cycles.

Anyway, it was said that the Taxol would possibly be less nausiating. T felt like she should automatically go with the study, so she could do "her part" for the greater good. (I mean, so many before her had done the same to get where we are today.) It was really hard to feel out what the best option would be for HER.

I did some reasearch on Taxol, the drug they were studying. I noticed that a lot of the side effects revolved around joint pain (that did or did not go away after the cycle was over.) With T's pre-cancer chronic joint pain, I was skeptical. I read and read and told her that I did not think Taxol was the right drug for her. She did not know what to do. She felt like she SHOULD go with the study. She felt that this was her part to play in finding the best treatments. I felt that taking a chance of getting a drug that caused her more joint pain than she already experienced would be the wrong option. But it was not my body and it was HER decision. Butterfly and I would be flying to New Orleans and she would be going through the first of her treatments without us. (The trip had been planned and she did not want it changed. She wanted to go through the unknown without little Butterfly watching. At least when Butterfly came back, T would have an idea what it would be like.)

Butterfly and I were on the plane to New Orleans and we met the man in the seat next to us. (It's funny, but he was a "big ol' queen" and the conversation started around the fact that Butterfly's build-a-bear, Jewely, who was dressed in a fairy outfit was NOT a girl. Jewely was a boy!) Anyway, it came out that T was home a few weeks post lumpectomy and we were trying to figure out whether to join the Taxol study or get the usual chemo.

Lo and behold, this man had taken Taxol and almost died from it. (He had taken it for an AIDS related cancer.) He and I discussed the fact that all the research I saw pointed to joint pain and T had chronic pain already and I didn't want her to take it. But she felt she SHOULD be in the study. We were at a point of just needing a sign. Then, here I am, in an airplane, sitting next to who else, but someone who almost died from Taxol.

I got off the plane and went straight (no pun intended) to the phone and called T and told her about this "chance meeting." We decided this was the sign we needed. Right then and there, she called the hospital and said NO to the Taxol study.

So, like the woman (about to have one breast) in the movie, who by "chance" got in a cab driven by a man with one testicle, a woman who did not want to be away from her partner about to have chemo got on an airplane and by "chance" sat next to a man who almost died from a drug she thought her partner should not be taking. Amazing!

And co-incidentally, about this drug and joint pain, I later (after chemo was over) read somewhere that singer, Melissa Etheridge, started out taking Taxol, but stopped due to the joint issues in her hand that were keeping her from playing her guitar. (Even though I take whatever I read with a grain of salt,) this just confirms to me that Taxol would have been the wrong answer for T and her joints.

I'm glad to love one of the brave lesbian moms that fought breast cancer.

New experience for Butterfly

Butterfly went to an "Elderly Home" today and read to an Elder. (That's what the kids call them, "the Elders." She had a great time. She told me she was lucky that she got to read to "the nicest elder, who loved my outfit and wished she had socks like mine because she has only white ones."

Although we homeschool, Butterfly goes to a awesome little progressive school near home for Spanish and PE. (She went there for 1/2 of Kind after T started having chemo... and for 1st grd.) Now, she goes there on Tuesdays from 12:30 to 3, mainly for Spanish, but it also includes recess, lunch, medicine circle, & an activity (like carving and painting knitting needles) or writing a story or math games. She also goes on Wednesday morning from 8:30 to 11:30, again mainly for Spanish, but it also includes morning choices, all school sing, snack, and recess. Lastly, we both go on Thursday 1:30 to 3 for PE. (I'm a driver/helper for PE.) Anyway, PE varies from week to week. 1 week, it's 1st-4th and the next just 1st graders, because every other week, the 2nd to 4th grade walk over to the Elderly Home.

Oh my gosh, I can't believe this child of ours is old enough to volunteer at an Elder Home. (And that she's such an awesome reader.) The teacher said that she chose a really challenging book that had a lot of foreign language words and she did her best at pronouncing them. They grow up so fast. Just yesterday, she was 10 months old, crawling around with a sock in her mouth, saying, "Gock. Gock." (Translation - Sock. Sock.)

We also volunteered in the preschool today, so she got to bake Apple Cake with some of them. It was also Circus lessons day, so we joined in that activity, too. But other than getting Halloween/Samhain treats from the Elders, the funnest part was recess...playing in the woods.

About Butterfly - our first post

You know how there are things you assume you'll do, but just never get around to it? Well, this is one of those things. We finally have a blog!!!!

Who are WE, you ask?

Mom (30's) + Mom (40's) = One magical little girl (just turned 8)

Ever hear the song She's a Butterfly? (Martina McBride) It reminds us of her. (It even reminds HER of her.) For this reason, I think I'll call her Butterfly. (Although, it feels weird not calling her by her name...no name could ever fit her better than the one we chose for her the day she was born.)

"Like the purest light .... in a darkened world
So much hope inside .... such a lovely girl
You should see her fly ... it's almost magical
It makes you want to cry... she's so beautiful.

She's a butterfly ... pretty as a crimson sky
Nothing's ever gonna bring her down
And everywhere she goes ... everybody knows
She's so glad to be alive
She's a butterfly."