Friday, July 29, 2016

Over half way there..... Viewer Discretion Advised.



So I have six of ten radiation sessions done. It hasn't been as easy as the chest radiation. There are side effects that are quicker than previous for sure. When I had my chest done, it took about a week or two after the treatments when I developed a cough in my chest. This time though fatigue, headaches and for a first, some nausea comes into play. All fun and games when they zap your head. :)

At Brews and Bowls, a charity event, last night, I was a guest speaker there for Young Adult Cancer Canada. As I was feeling off most of the day, I took a nap for an hour before the event to make sure I had enough energy to get through it all. The event was great, nice food appetizers, Iceberg beer and everyone was dolled up for the dress up event. It was extremely warm there, sun splitting the Rocks to say the least. So the players had some food and I did my little speech which went fine. Cavell and I stuck around to get some of the food afterwards as it was about 6:30 at the time. So when all was said and done, we went over to my Supreme Commander at YACC, Geoff, to say our good-byes before we went home. After a little chat, I totally wasn't feeling well, so I casually said good-bye and started my dash outside the field. No dice. Back to the garbage can and there went my free food. Please note, it was not the foods fault and I told Geoff so. :) After dismissing another lot of free food, I was feeling somewhat normal. Cavell and Geoff were great about the whole thing and got me some napkins, water and ice for it all helped. No more sickness for me luckily that day and no one really noticed as they were all playing lawn bowling at the time. Superman had a chink in his armour for sure last night and it wasn't Kryptonite in his food. :)

It was the first public viewing of food since back in my university days. My friend, Erin, had a party at her house and I drank my flask of rum particularly fast. I was out in her kitchen in front of about 10-15 people when the urge came on that I shouldn't have partaken in any alcoholic beverage at the time. Wasn't pretty at all, had to call my roommates at the time to come get me. So there I was, sitting on her step, head in my hands awaiting my generous friend's arrival. They showed up and I got in the back, Cass started talking to me and I cut her off, told her to shut up and I couldn't talk as I was afraid to get sick again.  Oh the good times that I don't miss now. Again, sorry Jamie and Cass. :)

Let's see how round 7 and all the rest goes, hopefully better. :)

Sunday, July 24, 2016

New Recipe - Jody’s Awesome Super Mexican Chicken Casserole


Jody’s Awesome Super Mexican Chicken Casserole

This is something that I dreamt up and put together which came out pretty damn good. It does take a while to prepare are there are multiple recipes involved but the patience is totally worth it. I got the idea from an episode of Drive In's, Diners and Dives from the Food Network (best channel ever!) and they did a chicken recipe that I didn't quite catch but came up with this. I did test it out on unsuspecting Mainlanders and fellow Newfs and went over great. Enjoy!!!

Total Ingredients:
Mexican Rice – recipe attached
1.5 Cups of Medium Salsa (we use organic from Costco)
3-4 Cups of shredded cheese (we use organic medium cheddar, of course)
1 package of 8 medium sized Tortilla wraps (we use Ancient Grain ones)
2 Chicken Breasts shredded with Frank’s Hot Sauce Cooked throughout, attached.
2 Cups of Spinach (to add some healthy to it)
As a side, homemade guacamole and salsa, for which I can add those recipes another time if interested. :) 
 
To do FIRST:

Mexican Rice
Ingredients:
·         ½ Tsp of vegetable oil (we use Avocado oil)
·         ½ Cup of chopped onion
·         2 Cloves of garlic, minced
·         1 Tsp of ground ancho chili pepper (can’t find it so I use adobe peppers instead)
·         ¼ Tsp of salt
·         1 Cup of long grain rice (I use a wild blend)
·         1 14.5 ounce can of salt reduced chicken broth
·         ¾ Cup of Medium Salsa
·         ¼ Cup of Water

Description:
·         In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium high heat.
·         Add onion, garlic, adobe pepper and salt, cook for 2 minutes.
·         Stir in rice, cook and stir for 1 minute.
·         Add broth, salsa and the water.
·         Bring to boiling and reduce heat to simmer.
·         NOTE: you may need to cook rice longer, all depends on what you choose to use.
·         Remove saucepan from heat, remove lid. Cover saucepan with clean kitchen towel and replace lid.
·         Let stand for 5 minutes to let the towel absorb any excess moisture. Remove towel and lid. Fluff with fork.

Shredded Frank’s Chicken Breasts
Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts, boiled
1 Cup (or more) Frank’s Hot Sauce

Description:
·         Boil chicken breasts
·         Shred chicken breasts with fork and place in frying pan
·         Add a cup or more of Frank’s depending on how hot you want it and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
·         You’re done and you’re welcome. So simple to do and it works on so many levels for different food options, sandwiches, wraps, etc.

Assembly of dish:

In a 13” x 19” casserole dish
·         Cover bottom of dish with salsa first and then layer of spinach.
·         Use tortilla’s to cover over the mixture, takes 2 full ones and a cut up part of a 3rd.
·         Add shredded Frank’s chicken breasts. Put shredded cheese on top of chicken.
·         Layer of tortilla’s
·         Add layer of Mexican Rice and add more shredded cheese on top of that.
·         Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes covered with tin foil, then remove tin foil and cook for another 15 or so until cheese gets all goey goodness.
·         Let sit for 5 minutes and serve with guacamole and salsa.

Note: This is a concoction that I came up with so feel free if the dish is deep enough to add a layer or two of maybe refried beans or something Spanish to set it off a bit more.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

29 Days Later.......



29 days later….. yes, I should have wrote this yesterday for the movie title, totally blew it, my bad. :)

I got Cavell to take this snazzy new photo of my most recent scar. It’s coming along nicely if I do say so myself. The first picture is the day after my surgery, I got the nurse to take it for me so I could look at it and the second of course is of today. Time flies when you're having brain surgery!


It's hard to believe that it's been a tad over four weeks since my surgery. At a minimum five weeks since my cancer "officially" metastized to my brain and yet I'm still here doing all the things that I am, barring some fun restrictions of course. From all the appointments with doctors about treatment to the actual targeted radiation, a lot has come to pass for sure. I have started this blog for which I find is a great vent and wondered why I never did one sooner. 

I was never much of a writer at all, ever. My sister has always been the writer in the family but since I started doing a lot more with Young Adult Cancer Canada (YACC), it has seemed to open up a few of the ole flood gates and I can't seem to stop. I do have an interesting take on life to say the least. Anyone who has or has had this disease does. It changes life completely around with all the 'new normals” but there is a therapeutic way about sharing life's opinions, experiences and outlook that can potentially change a person's way of living which is in fact quite amazing. 

Sure, there's no pressure in doing something along these lines. Everyone pretty much knows my whole story with respect to cancer and how it evolved my current outlook. Remember, I didn't chew on asbestos as a kid as I state in my YACC profile. I may tend to ramble a bit from time to time but let's just blame that on the most recent of surgeries. :)

Overall, coming out of my shell with respect to many things like cancer or work has opened up a lot for me. It's made my life a whole lot simpler for sure. It doesn't take much to give yourself the once-over and just take a look at the things in your life that really doesn't amount to much but takes up so much of our time. Yes of course money, bills, taxes, etc will always be an issue for us all; there are a lot of ways to take some of the madness out of our lives. You just need to take that 10 to 15 minutes and do that once-over and just see how minor some of the worry full things really are. It's not much, but it's a start. 

Have an awesome weekend!

Friday, July 22, 2016

Brain Radiation…. How to spend a fun sunny day in the Health Science…..



Day one of Radiation down. It wasn't as hard as I thought either, happened pretty much as I expected it, all for the extremely super close mask that moved even closer than last week. Yes, it's a new experience that I had yet to try yet but it is only one so far so I can't expect much.


Being back in that same room as my chest radiation was a little odd to say the least, seeing some of the same techs that I saw only a few months ago was a bit surreal. I figured once I got the chest done, then I wouldn't have to go back for any more cool radiation. Ungggggg..... wrong. Still no superpowers though which blow but there’s still time I guess. :)

When I read Cavell's update on the day, it got me thinking a bit. Yes, my stubbornness and ignorance of the situation was in full effect so I was going on my merry way like I always am. It's only radiation on my brain, pfffft, no big deal. Then some thoughts crept in, what if I don't handle this like I handle everything else? Sure, in my mind all will seem normal to me but it won't to everyone else. This was a familiar issue in special care a few weeks ago when one person kept thinking it was 2015. In their mind, it was 2015, but they couldn't tell that but everyone else knew. One of the prime reasons to go with this route of treatment was lack of side effects to me, so I won't worry about them but there's always a slim chance that my super healing may fail me one of these days and the arse will literally fall out of 'er. Back when I was in hospital in my early morning hours, being by myself, sending out thanks was an emotional time for me. I was actually having to dab my eyes from time to time when typing to the people who had donated their time, energy and over-generous contributions to my fight. All I could think of was Seinfeld when this 'salty discharge' started coming out of his eyes. He actually cared. Leave it to me to ruin a touching moment, eh? But when you think about it, this is where all my useless knowledge, one-liners and movie quotes are stored. To think that you are getting zapped with something that isn’t a typical type thing every business day for 10 days straight kinda makes you wonder a bit, but then again, side effects should be minuscule, fingers crossed. :)

So here leaves me today. I start the second round, it's only number 2, get it… number 2….ah colon cancer jokes, sorry. :)  Each one may get a little tougher, it may not. It's just an unknown that we shall all face together during this initial fight with my brain. I'm sure everything will be fine, for some reason everything seems to fall that way. Now I know a good few of you are shaking your heads at my last sentence there. If there was anyone with a right to complain it would probably be me but that's not my style at all, I don't. Mom would say when I was a kid that there was no sense in complaining as no one will listen to you anyway… maybe that’s the reason that I don’t, Lord knows. Even though I did receive the shitty end of the stick at a young age, there's a lot of people worse off than me. I have 1001 friends behind me, a woman who sticks with me no matter what the battle we face and an amazing family. So no matter what anyone says, I think I have it pretty good. 

So in my parting with you today, don't sweat the small stuff and enjoy your radiation free day. :) 

Side note, just had to put up the Seinfeld link.... just had to. :)