- What's New With Me?

Hiya, everyone! Well, life has been so busy, busy, busy lately, especially now that I'm feeling better & am able to get around a little bit more. I went to church yesterday morning for the first time in about 3 months! 

Wow, I missed those peeps so much! Had a great time reconnecting with everyone and catching up on everybody's news.

Also had another concert Saturday night at Cote des Neiges Presbyterian church, just near the Jewish General Hospital. Such fun! Met tons of new friends & got my picture taken by sweetie-pie Rolanda. 
 

I am not making a fashion statement by appearing bald in public - it's just that I'm so HOT from all my chemo-induced menopausal hot flashes that I can't *stand* wearing the wig in this warmer weather! So I'm going bald all the time now, and boy, do I get looks when I'm in public.

Some people have suggested I wear those turban thingies, or a scarf, but I just don't want to wear them & I don't think they'd look good on me. Besides, I'm getting a lot of compliments on my new look! Geez, maybe I should just keep shaving my head! My hair is growing back like crazy . . . a nice WHITE color . . . oh, goody. 

Some friends asked why my hair is growing back white. To them I say, "Hel-l-l-l-looo! It's been white for years!!! Have you ever heard of hair dye???!!?" Apparently, they didn't know I've been dying my hair since I was, like, seven? 

No, just kidding - I started dying my hair around 12 years ago when the white started overtaking the brown.

Oh, yeah - I never told you about my *other* concert on June 5th - that was a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay For Life. That was a fun one, too! Had the whole band with me & it's so cool to perform with other musicians: 

Pals Andrew & Marjorie came to the concert & took some lovely pix that night . . . 

And here we are at the end of the concert . . . the Relay For Life team gave me some neato pink roses as a thank you from them. Pink, of course, is for Breast Cancer.

What a good lookin' bunch, eh? ;) From left to right, Stephen Mullin, piano & guitar & also arranger/producer of my CD "You Say", Sally Richmond, whistle & recorder; me & my roses; Gerry Morin, cellist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra; and Rob Adams, percussionist & good pal for many years. 

These folks all played on my CD, and I SO appreciated them volunteering their time & talents for that concert - thanks, guys!

Well, have a very blessed week & don't get into too much trouble . . . xoxox

- I'm Going Batty

Wow, it's like you and I are long-lost friends! It's been more than two weeks since my last posting here on Adventures With Wendy because my Drama Queen life has been so terribly busy. I have had so many Very Important Things To Do, which has kept me away from chatting here with all of you.

Well, my first piece of news is that Timmy the Cat had a marvellous time two or three weeks ago. We live fairly close to the water (we're near the St. Lawrence River) and there are always bats hanging out down by the water. 

Occasionally, the odd one will meander up the street and hang around the homes of unsuspecting residents. How exciting is THAT?!?!?

At night, when they see an open door to a residence, they can fly in quietly so that you don't know they've followed you indoors, and then - SURPRISE!! You're sitting on your couch, minding your own business, and suddenly you see a black blur swooping around your ceiling. It's just positively gross, I tell you...in my books, anyways, bats are disgusting.

So imagine our delight when we discovered one flying around our living room late one night! But what makes this story truly compelling was Timmy's reaction to the whole thing. He was fascinated! He was intrigued! He had never seen a bat before in all of his young life. And he decided that just because the bat was flying high up near the ceiling was no reason not to go after it. 

So, he went into pounce / attack mode, and sure enough, when the unsuspecting bat swooped down, Timmy was able to meet him halfway by leaping into the air and actually bringing him down to the ground with his furry little paws.

The bat started squealing, which sounded pretty pathetic, but we didn't feel much sympathy because after all, it's a bat, right? They're creepy & scary & ugly & I don't want one for a pet. Ewww!!!

When we came into the den where Timmy the Cat had cornered Bobby the Bat, Timmy got distracted & loosened his grip, and off flew Bobby again. He was eventually cornered & captured (Bobby the Bat was captured, not Timmy the Cat), and life returned to normal.

Until 4 am. when I awoke to that same desperate squeal of protest, but this time it was on the floor beside the bed, inches away from where I was sleeping. Double ewww!! Timmy the Cat had captured Bobby the Bat's brother, Billy the Bat, who was trapped under Timmy the Cat's furry little paws.

What are the odds?!? TWO bats in one night had flown into our home!  A virtual bat hotel! We should charge rent! So Billy the Bat was promptly captured & expelled into the night & Timmy the Cat won his well deserved title of Bat Catcher. He's so awesome. 

Here's Timmy the Bat Catcher replaying the scenes in his head & feeling a little sad that he has no bats to play with or catch, now.

Well done, Timmy! You keep on catching those rodents for Mommy. Good boy! xox

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In other news, Dr. Cohen, my sweetie-pie Oncologist, decided a couple of weeks ago that we definitely won't be adding on the last two rounds of AC chemo that I missed back in January. Due to the severe reaction of vasculitis on my legs I experienced with the first two rounds, he just doesn't want to risk doing any other unseen damage to my body. 

That was my decision way back in February, so I'm just as happy to say goodbye to that phase of my life. All of which means . . . I'm DONE with chemo! Yay! I did my last Taxol/Herceptin treatment on May 10, 2010. Now all that's left is 6 more months of Herceptin by itself (administered by IV) every 3 weeks for around 1 hour. There will be no noticeable side effects from Herceptin, plus my hair has already started to grow again & Herceptin doesn't mess with that.

And radiation. Radiation will start sometime in July, every weekday for 28 sessions - 5 1/2 weeks. Other than some burning of the skin where they'll radiate, there are no serious side effects. Some people feel fatigue & some don't. So hopefully I'll be one of the ones who has no fatigue . . . 'cause I'm tired of being tired!

I saw a plastic surgeon last month & he'll do some surgery on my mastectomy scar to make the whole thing a bit neater. Without going into *too* much detail, he'll take away some of the saggy skin so that it's a bit more esthetic. So that surgery will happen when the Herceptin treatments are over - probably around December 2010 or January 2011.

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And in other news . . .

My Concert Of Hope is this weekend! It'll be so fun! We've had lots of publicity, which is great! Last Friday afternoon, I was on CJAD 800 AM, our local English-language radio station - Dan Laxer invited me to be a guest on his show, Laxer Live. 

Dan is a real kick! He & I had a great time together & the time just zipped by so fast! We laughed & joked, and I plugged our fund raising concert. I played a verse & chorus from my new song "Love Laid Ahold Upon Me". 

It's always fun to play live! You never know what will happen. But my voice didn't crack & I didn't burp or anything, so I guess I did okay. Then the next morning, I was a guest on another radio show, CJLO AM 1690, with Orlando Newton.  I sang live there, too! So it's been a very busy week indeed!

So if you're in the Montreal area, please come on out to the concert & support the West Island Relay For Life! I'll have 4 other musicians with me . . . we were rehearsing Monday night & if I may say so myself, we sound pretty awesome together! Cello, percussion, whistle, recorder, guitars . . . whoo hoo!

If you'd like to order tickets to Concert Of Hope in advance, by PayPal or by credit card, you can always go to my website here:  www.wendy.ca

Well, that's all from me! Have a wonderful rest-of-the-week!

Oh, and speaking of bats . . .