So, we had an 11:30am appointment with Dr. Czerniecki at Penn on Wednesday but we weren’t seen by him until around 3pm.  Even breast surgeons get toothaches!  Sal and I met with a dietician named Katrina as soon as we arrived at the Abramson Cancer Center.  She was great and dispelled a lot of dietary mysteries for us.  After meeting with Katrina, we rushed upstairs for our 11:30 appointment only to hurry up and wait!  Dr. Czerniecki must have been in a ton of pain to leave in the middle of the day.  The poor guy saw the dentist then came right back to the office.  We had a good, quick visit with him.  We discussed the vaccine that he’s working on.  It’s showing a lot of promise for DCIS – like being 90% effective.  I’m hoping to enter his Phase I Clinical Trial for invasive cancer upon completion of Herceptin.  I’ll need to travel to Penn once a week for 6 weeks, then every 3 months for one year to receive the vaccine.  Keep your fingers crossed.  He drew 6 or 7 vials of my blood for his research.  The vaccine works by using your own blood to create an immune response against HER2 cells therefore making one’s body immune.  It’s all really cool.  Aside from the vaccine, I don’t need to see Dr. Czerniecki for one year.

Sal and I will be traveling to Penn at the end of next month to see Dr. Serletti.  At this time, I’m hoping that he will want to schedule my “tweaking” procedure.  As I’ve written before, I’m hoping to have this procedure done at the same time as my port-o-cath removal just so I don’t need to undergo general anesthesia twice.  I’ve had enough drugs and have been sedated enough to last a lifetime and beyond!

Beauty tip:  find a good stylist.  Find one.  Period.  It’s especially important to have one during chemo, especially if you lose your hair.  THANK GOD for my friend, Nacole.  She transformed Sugar into a beautiful head of hair!  On Saturday, Nacole gave me a wonderful cut and color – yes, my own hair.  Yes, I do have enough hair to now have it styled!  Honestly, I’d never hesitate to shave my head – even if just for shits and giggles.  It’s only hair.  It grows back.  Don’t get twisted when your kids cut their own hair.  Jameson’s chunk is growing back, too.  Hers looks funnier than mine!  Sorry, James!

Sal and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary yesterday.  It was much different from our 8 year anniversary.  This year, I ran errands with Cameron in the morning, picked Jameson and Chase up from school, headed to piano lessons, Jameson’s soccer practice, then Chase’s soccer practice.  Sal and I hung out and enjoyed a nice dinner after the kids went to bed.  It was so great waking up this morning, August 29, 2013, and not be going to MOA for my first chemo treatment.  I am SO THANKFUL to be alive.

Jameson and Chase are nearing the end of the their first week of school.  And, the stomach bug hit our house already!  That didn’t take long!  I’m hoping that Chase makes it to school tomorrow.

I wanted to thank Maudeen Harnen and her awesome staff at Mad Tees.  Below is a proof for the 2013 t-shirts.  I think they’re really cool!  I wanted to give everyone an idea of what the shirts will look like since I’ve been getting a lot of questions about them.  The cost per shirt will be about $10.  I’m checking on the exact prices based on size and will let all of you know.  I’m also looking into size availability – if toddler and youth sizes are available, for example.  The t-shirt, itself, will be white and we’re working on the print colors of the shirt – more pink, less pink, more black, less black, etc. The top photo shows the front of the shirt and the bottom photo shows the back of the shirt.  Underneath the last photo is what will be on the left sleeve and right sleeve, respectively.  You’ll notice what looks like an “I” underneath Barb’s Army.  This was Sal’s idea and it’s a great one.  Sal wanted to add one strike/slash/whatever you want to call it underneath our team name to signify every year that I’m a “survivor”.  I’ll never refer to myself as one of those, FYI, but that’s a whole different blog entry.  Anyway, hopefully, there will be 60 “survivor” strikes someday.  I hope this makes sense.  Kindly e-mail or text me directly to let me know if you’re interested in a shirt.  The ordering deadline will be Friday, September 6.  I have about 50 orders so far.  One more thing, if you’re planning on doing the Komen walk or 5K run, you must sign up to register online.  You can be a party of my team for the family walk as well as for the 5K.  Please plan on coming to our house for brunch immediately following the walk.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!  Thanks for reading!

LIVESTRONG and God Bless!

P.S.  Anna, if you’re reading this, I’m going to send a t-shirt to Tokyo for you so you can watch the season premier of HIMYM while sporting the 2013 shirt!!