The little engine that could......make Christmas special

The holiday season has been better than expected this year. Reenie is really doing a great job of managing her "feeling pretty good" time. During the days leading up to Christmas, Reenie made sure that our holiday was like any other, I don't know how she does it, she shopped a little, wrapped all the gifts, and even a little cooking. Well I guess I do know how she does it, it's those every other days that when she feels pretty good she manages to get alot done, then it's exhaustion the next day. Reen was able to attend all festivities planned during the Christmas weekend. Our traditional Christmas Eve celebration at Danny and Cathy's, the kids came over Christmas morning to open presents and then off to our newest tradition, breakfast at Kris and Josh's. We then spent the rest of the day relaxing, watching movies and taking the occasional nap. Saturday we attended the wedding of one of our oldest friends son, John Carney, what made this special was we were able to spend the day and evening with all of our children along with many of our friends and their children , with every one's busy schedule this does not happen too often, what a great party. Sunday was a day of rest!!!
This past Monday was Reenie's last chemo treatment in cycle 2, 1/3 of the way through not a big milestone for her yet but I need to start checking something off. I count down the days to "pitchers and catchers report" (52), days to St. Patrick's day (only 78), opening day (3 months away), that's my way of getting through winter and it is my way of getting through treatment (16 weeks), just before Mothers day. The pattern hasn't changed too much, Reenie's white count is too low each Monday so there is still the need for Nupregen so our girl has the "constant" bone pain. The other issue Reenie is dealing with now is laryngitis, no chest cold which is extremely important.
We are hopeful the pattern of feeling pretty good stays similar and look forward to attending the annual "pajama party" at the Massat's and then our traditional holiday dinner at the Scobey's. We are so very fortunate to spend the holiday season with so many friends...Love to all and lets hope for a cancer free NEW YEAR..Twenty Ten healthy again!!!!!
The handmade ornament above was given to Reenie from her friend Nancy Maher

Cops.Christmas.Carney.Cancer and ....Firefighters?

Well It's been awhile since we have had an update on our warrior. Reenie has developed somewhat of a pattern with her side affects, tired all the time, really tired every other day, pain all the time, really bad pain every evening after a shot but through it all never a complaint, hard to believe. Reenie has done just enough to make sure her family has the usually over the top Reenie Christmas yet making sure she is getting her rest when needed, or when her body tells her. I think she is doing a great job of managing her time when she feels good. I'm sure we (Ryan and I) could be doing more but that has always been the case, and we ARE trying to stay normal. A visit from the Broomriders (Reenie's high school friends)last week for thier Christmas gift giving brought some unwanted excitement, Tinley's finest escorted our Chicago friend Peggy into town, well it wasn't quite an escort I think it was more of a chase. Seems in Chicago you can do 40 on a side street and the kind officer from Tinley wanted to let the Chicagoan know it wont be tolerated in our town or something like that, but as we all know if you are female and cry and offer favors to the police you might not get a ticket...Peggy qualified for two out of three! no ticket!!. Reenie was also feeling good enough on Friday to attend a dinner and ceremony honoring Ryan and his class for completing the Firefighter II academy in Romeoville. The ceremony was a proud event and really important that Reenie could attend so it made for an awesome evening. With a little strength left we stopped by the Higgins for some Christmas cheer with the cheer moms (Reenie's friends from Tinley and cheerleading)(we have names for all her circles). A little shopping over the weekend with her girlz and quite a few naps, our fighter is ready for the holiday. Our friends, family and extended family continue to help us through this time, Kris received a pink tree of her own from her new aunt Jeri Lynn, the post chemo flowers showed up along with a friend, a friendly looking pink snowman hand crafted out of wood who now greets Reenie's visitors (Note: when things arrive anonymously Shannon or I take the credit!!), dinner from cousin Kathy, dinner from Patty R., and dinner from the Casey's (note: can't fit into my clothes I'm blaming everyone of you). To complete the week we had a had nice dinner and some drinks with the Massats and Reen was able to spend a special day with special friend Maureen to do a little shopping so you guys did it you've gotten your little patient into the holiday spirit...thank you. So we are please so far that it seems the chemo is working, I wish there was a way we could check every day that what we are putting Reenie through was working, the side affects have been somewhat manageable so Reenie has been able to enjoy some social time. We look forward to the holiday (I look forward to baseball) and some special time with family and friends. God bless each of you, you have made our Christmas season an enjoyable one when a month ago I did not think it would be possible this year (remember I'm looking forward to Sept, 2011 cancer free..Oprah..no more Lovie..etc) well thank you so much and love to all...The Haas'

Count up ,Count down, Count sheep

Cycle number 2 has begun, Reenie started her second of six cycles of chemo therapy Monday afternoon. Her white count was in the low range again so it will be another week of shots ahead for our little fighter. The good news given to us Monday was the first set of tumor markers (which will be drawn after each cycle) showed a numerical decrease which means....the chemo is doing its job, (insert cheer with expletive!!). We know the week ahead will mean more fatigue and probably more pain, which has made for some sleepless nights, but the realization that this poison is doing its job is giving us the hope we need. One hurdle Reenie has Wednesday is a visit to the doctor who inserted her port, she is having pain, no sign of infection but they need to take a look at it. Reenie was able to attend her family Christmas party Sunday because it was one of her best days since treatment started and she made the best of it. Thanks again to all our elves, bringing food, flowers, cookies, checking in, driving, you DO NOT realize how much this is helping our family get through this with some normalcy. Love always.

From poison to poinsettias, pain to pink ribbons

Yeah for hydration week..no chemo!!!! but still a visit to the infusion center where our warrior was given an injection of fluids and the drug Avastin (the drug that just targets cancer cells and cuts off their blood supply and life support), my new favorite drug. Reenie still feels bone pain daily but now at a tolerable level and she is constantly fatigued, but overall is doing really good (note: my opinion..looks really really good and probably lies to me when I ask how she feels). Reenie is showing remarkable strength and courage during this time,not really in the Christmas spirit I am sure she is disappointed she needs to stay away from crowds and can't shop (we all know she is lucky and doesn't have to put up with the mall traffic and crowds), but with her circle around they are making sure we are getting in the mood of the season. The kids brought over a pink Christmas tree they have the dubbed " the tree of hope", then decorated the family Christmas tree. Tom and Mary Restko sent beautiful Christmas poinsettias. Linda G.stopped by with a cute hat for our newly shaved patient. The amazing mysterious never-ending McDonald diet cokes seem to be present everyday.The tree the girls from Reenie's work brought last week keeps getting added decorations with each visit from the circle. The meals from friends and family keep coming in and are fantastic, we thank everyone, the Moores, the Finnertys, Massats and Kirks and the Broomriders, thank you thank you we need to keep our patient nourished. The week also brought back a visit from an old friend, the FAMOUS TUESDAY MORNING FLOWER DELIVERY GUY. When Reenie went through her first battle with the monster 3 years ago she had this special visitor every Tuesday after chemo who drop flowers on the front porch, well this side of hiring a private investigator Reenie sent out to find the mystery flower guy but never figured it out until a year later. Well he's back and Reenie couldn't be more delighted. Another special visit came from more unexpected angels, this amazing circle of friends I always speak of keeps leaving me in awe, and now a new fragment to the circle is born. The girls that we watched grow up into beautiful young women and who have been a support group to our girls Shannon and Kristen came over and spent an evening with Reenie bringing her a special edition Northface jacket, that is pink with the breast cancer ribbon. Reenie did feel good enough to get out for a couple hours to go into work to visit co-workers, but that really wears her out after a few hours. A visit from a portion of the circle ended a relatively pretty good week for our girl. Now we head into more Chemo starting Monday so we treasure these fairly good weeks. Reenie was able to see another friend last week she hadn't seen in awhile. Linda C., who is our surgeons nurse and Reenie's roommate after her mastectomy 3 years ago, was off for a few months recovering from open heart surgery. She came to see Reenie last week during her infusion time and not surprising Reenie presenter her with a gift, always giving even during not so good times. Well we are off to see Santa at the McSweeney Christmas party Sunday since Reenie's white count is up and she feels up to it. We will be celebrating Reenie's mom's 75 birthday also tomorrow. Thanks again to all our elves.
Love always Reen and Tom

Sisterhood of the Ya-Ya traveling steel magnolias

The last couple days have really been bittersweet. Friends from work surprised Reenie with a visit, they were fully equipped with a Christmas tree complete with pink ornaments, lights, garland and a breast cancer tree skirt, how cool. Reenie has had less pain this week even though she has needed Nupragen shots each day because her white count is still very low. Reen finisher her first cycle of chemo-therapy (3) doses this past Monday, one down and five cycles to go, pretty much five more months. The hair is gone though and we have two very different views I still believes she is as cute as ever and she thinks she looks like the picture on the Gierczyk real estate ad. The amazing thing about the lose of hair was the process that Reenie decided to undertake with its removal. Instead of waiting and watching the progression of hair lose each day with every brush stroke she took the inevitable head-on but not by herself. As you probably have surmised by previous postings Reenie's friends and family are her support group,her medicine and her traveling companions on this journey. The hair was going to come off and her circle of friends were to play a part. In a short 24 hour period with Reenie feeling pretty good she arranged to have as many friends as she could gather (or our house could hold) more than 20 women became part of the hair removal process. I was not sure this was a good idea for anyone, but I knew Reenie needed her medicine (her friends), and this might help her. What I didn't expect was how this helped everyone else. The shock of seeing your friend or loved one without hair for the first time, what do you say?, how do you react?, well Reenie was going to help us through that situation. I will get back to the process in a minute, the friends that came together Thursday night were girl friends from childhood that she has known for 40 plus years friends from the neighborhood she had known for as little as a year, some out of town call-ins and young women that are our friends children and friends of Reenie's girls, colleagues from work, women that have experienced sickness or have sickness in their families what a collection of beautiful people, we are blessed to know them. OK back to the process, again I wasn't sure this was going to be good, but it was therapeutic for all. Each of Reenie's circle came up took a piece of hair, started to braid it and told a story or joke or experience that they have ad with our warrior. Once the braid was complete and a ribbon was tied to each end they cut the braid and kept it as a keepsake. The stories and sentiments were what we all needed, we heard about the Reenie face, the Reenieisms, her issues with packing a suitcase, her ability to have a stuffed animal or crappy craft for all occasions, how the husbands of friends would do anything for her, her addiction to McDonald's diet coke, how those that work or have worked with her become lifelong friends, and how she is always in mom mode taking care of those around her. When the stories were done and the braids cut Shannon completed the job showing strength by shaving the last of her mom's hair quite a chore. This helped Reenie but like I said earlier it helped her circle. The strength that Reenie has is the strength from her friends, it takes courage to cut your friends hair as she is going through chemo, courage to find time in each day to call and check-in, courage to pray and believe that we can and will get through this, Reenie's friends that is her real medicine. I will take many things from last Thursday night, but one thing that I keep thinking of is what Kristen and Megan each brought up when taking about Reenie was the friendships that these young women are witnessing, not saying so but they are learning from you, all of Reenie's friends old and new, how to grow up and how to love, and take care of each other,thank you. Well that night you cried, you laughed and you shared and you helped Reenie through a tough time and she helped us through a tough time....at the end of the day we all were able to laugh...check out the slide show at the bottom of blog...it was a good night!!

Wheelchairs need cup holders.....

After a relatively good day of reflecting and being thankful,well it was another wake up call reminding us of the brutal task ahead. Friday started out bad and the rest of the weekend became progressively worse. Reenie had the almost paralyzing headaches return, along with a big dose of lower extremity pain. We were unable to attend our "turkey day" at Mike and Amy's on Friday because the pain was so intense it was nauseating. Saturday the headaches were worse so our oncologist wanted a ct scan of the head and brain. This was also the first day that Reenie was starting to lose her hair; a sure visual of the monster's return. The fear of this disease is really the unknown, is the treatment working?, are the cells spreading?, is this new pain more cancer?, well the unknown is pretty scary. The doctors have told us of the aggressiveness of this particular cancer so when they ask for each test we know what they are looking for more "C"cells. The ct scan came back negative, that beautiful word, negative. They wanted Reenie to spend the night to monitor pain and start an antibiotic just to make sure no infection was underlining the treatment. The pain was still intense so they prescribed an injection of the pain killer she was taking orally which seem to help the headaches but the back and leg pain was now becoming greater than the head pain. The back and leg aches are from the NEUPOGEN shots Reenie needs, to keep her white count up, which on arrival Saturday was 0.3 (4.8 and above is our normal range). The shots work but cause pain, a necessary tradeoff, until we get the pain meds tweaked. Sunday we expected to be released until the visit from the doctor coincided with nausea and vomiting most likely brought on by the injected pain killer Dilaudid. The doctor now unsure if it was the medicine or a contracted infection (this just in: the hospital is full of infection) wanted to continue the antibiotic and just to make sure have an MRI of the brain. With another test comes more uncertainty and fear. Reenie's Sunday may have been the most miserable day she has ever had, at least from my vantage point, I know it was tough for me to witness. With the fear of infection we didn't want visitors or flowers, probably a mistake on my part. Reenie missed her kids and that was heartbreaking, (this just in: the company of your children trumps any fear of infection). The MRI was to look for any small tumors that a ct scan doesn't see or any infection of the brain (gee maybe we could have had an MRI first..just a thought..again subject for another blog). This situation was all taking place on the eve of another chemo treatment, which once you start and believe this poison is working you DO NOT want to miss one. The MRI came back negative, again that beautiful word: negative, and we got to check out of the hospital and go directly to treatment. Do not pass go and do not collect $200, go directly to treatment. We are trying a new pain therapy the Fentanyl patch which stays on for 72 hours and is a time released medication. The doctors have been wonderful and attentive to our concerns and needs and that has been comforting, just need to control the pain. Well spending long days and nights in the hospital again gave us time to reflect, doing a lot of that lately. Watching high school football, miss those days of cheerleading and our friends boys playing, when you are hungry even hospital food taste good, hospitals need cable TV, Comcast what a PR move that would be huh?. Daytime TV makes you feel better about yourself and oh yeah wheelchairs should have cup holders.
Well thanks again to all, we know you were with us all weekend in spirit we appreciate that, came home from chemo to a fantastic meal from the Higgins thanks so much and dessert from Vito which was awesome you guys are great,
Love to all

Giving Thanks Today

I hope EVERYONE had a Happy Thanksgiving today. Even in light of recent developments there is much that we are thankful for today. We are grateful for the love of family and friends, it is that love that helps us along our journey. We had a quite day today Reenie's mom made dinner for just the two of us. Our family is having our turkey day Friday when all can attend. Reenie had a good day, was able to relax and for the most part felt pretty good. The quite of day did give us ample time to reflect on all that is positive in our lives and what we are so thankful for. We are very lucky to be working at at this time of economic uncertainty and have employers who are so supportive of Reenie's plight and have given us the needed time off. I truly believe it is because Reenie turns coworkers and colleagues into friends who really care about her not just work with her. Our immediate family grew by one and that we are again so blessed, our children have been wonderful as has the Dea (Reen's mom). The boys (Reenie's brothers) and their wives have always been there for us and we have very caring nieces and nephews. Reenie has a great group of cousins who are there for her, whether its a note, a call or dinner, again we are so thankful. I have a hard time expressing how thankful we are for the friends that we have accumulated through our life. The treasures that have been with us since childhood and the blessings of the new relationships in our later lives. We hope you all know how much you are loved, and we are thankful for all the love you have shared wih us.
God Bless and Thank you
Reenie and Tom

Driving Ms Reenie

Hows this for an awesome day...sleep in, picked up by your personal chauffeur, an italian dinner is awaiting your arrival home and then........ RED VELVET CHEEESECAKE from the Cheesecake factory is delivered for your dessert, oh yeah did I forget to mention chemo treatment #2 in he middle of all the festivities. Today Reenie our super hero had her second infusion of chemotherapy, the doctors and nurses feel she is doing pretty good as far as tolerating the poison. They have prescribed some more medicine to help with the side effects, that hopefully don't stay around like they did last week. The fluid that was drained from Reenie's abdomen last week came back clean (no organism seen) I hate when they see organism, there was a fear that infection had returned in the fluid. The one issue we have to be careful of is the fact that her white blood cells or count has plummeted, making her susceptible to picking up an unwanted infection. When her cycle is finished next Monday she will need to have Nupigen shots 4 consecutive days to bring the count up. Back to the real highlights of the day quite a few recognitions of gratitute...One of Reenie's personal drivers the generous Dave Massat, tonight's awesome dinner on behalf of the Keating family one of Reenie's cousins and the cheesecake well that was from the DEA my wonderful mother-in-law who gets around more than "runaround Sue" and she doesn't even drive but thats a story for another blog. Thanks again to all our friends and family keep the thoughts and prayers coming, Reenie is enjoying the comments and you are all involved in this fight with us and you are going to helps us WIN

The end of week #1

Well it is the end of Reenie's first full week of dealing with the reoccurrence of the beast. What we have learned from the previous treatments is that when you are starting to fell pretty good, it must be time for another dose of poison. Today we all felt pretty good, the pain has subsided where Reenie had her port inserted and it's NFL Sunday, time to watch football on our lucky couch in one room and lifetime movies in another then gear up for another treatment Monday afternoon. The family and friends have begun to rally around us once again and I hope everyone understands how appreciative we all are. Whether it's an invitation to dinner, movie with the girls or lunch with friends Reenie will attempt to keep normalcy in her life as long as she physically can. The fatigue will at times get the best of her but she is determined to stay strong and keep a good positive mental attitude, she feeds off of the love she receives from all of you that have offered your support in her fight. As Oprah announced this week that she was leaving TV in September of 2011 and we wouldn't be seeing her as much (yeah right). I started to think or look forward to that day, it would mean the following has happened, no more Oprah, the Bears would be starting their second season under a new coach, the White Sox would be about to start their defense of the World Series title and yes Reenie would be cancer free for about 15 months...looking forward to Sept 9th 2011...
I am also trying to add a slide show presentation at the bottom of the blog so you never know when you may make an appearance..you better be camera ready

Wednesday is "two for" day at MetroSouth

Wednesday Reenie was scheduled to have a drain inserted into her abdomen, there was a pool of fluid found on a ct scan last week that needs to be eliminated. Thursday we had scheduled to have a port inserted into her right arm which will be used for the administration of chemo therapy instead of using Reenie's veins, which have deteriorated from her first bout with chemo. But today was Reenie's lucky day the fine staff and doctors at Metro (formerly St. Francis) hospital were able to juggle the schedule and perform both procedures in one visit. That made for a long day but having nothing scheduled until Monday she will get some much needed rest. Reenie has been in a hospital or doctors office or lab 8 out of last 13 days, she definitely needs a break. Reenie is experiencing headaches and fatigue so today was pretty draining, overall she has a wonderful spirit, and is enjoying the comments on 'her' new blog. I'm hopeful that all the appointments and lab work are behind her and for the most part she only has the treatments ahead of her. The treatment schedule will be 3 weeks of chemo(Abraxane)each Monday with a week off this will constitute a cycle and she needs to complete 6 cycles. Once a cycle is complete the oncologist will run tumor markers and a pet scan after every 3 cycles to judge how the treatment is working. The targeted drug Avastin will be administered every 21 days during the whole 6 cycles. This will be our schedule for the next 6 months, we know our warrior can handle this, she has done this before. Well we are looking forward to getting back to a somewhat normal schedule the next few days, thanks for all your love and support.
The Haas'

Plastic Surgeon visit Tuesday November 17th

Today Tuesday we had an appointment with Dr. Cohen Reenie's plastic surgeon at UIC medical center. This appointment was suppose to tell us the results of last Tuesday's biopsy, but we received that bit of news last Thursday which put our course of action into overdrive. Dr. Cohen concurred with Dr. Baridi on the course of action and was pleased to find out we have already started treatment. The team of doctors we have assembled all are very positive that this treatment is the correct one and one that will produce a positive outcome. We are hopeful that the bumps and irregularities that seemed to have been a byproduct of plastic surgery are really conditions brought on by the recurring tumors. The oncologist feels that as the medicine starts to do its job the surgery will heal better and the bumps will subside. The effects of chemo do not take long to present themselves, Reenie is feeling a little fatigued and woke up with an unusually strong headache. After our appointment with the surgeon Reenie was able to stop by work and enjoy a luncheon for Eileen's birthday. Time to rest up now for the rest of the week's festivities..Wednesday Reenie has a procedure scheduled to have fluid drained from her abdomen (we are hopeful that no infection is present). Thursday a passport will be implanted into Reenie's arm for the purpose of administering her chemo treatments and further blood tests. Friday looks good right now.
Reenie loves and thanks you

Chemotherapy day 1 Monday November 16th

Well after a pretty frightening week for our super hero...a biopsy..a pet scan..a ct scan of the abdomen..blood tests..an unwanted phone call..and the final results with a visit to the oncologist, Reenie is taking on the beast again. Reenie is set up for 6 cycles of chemotherapy that will last at least 6 months. The method of treatment will be different this time around, no surgery and no radiation, which is all good. We will battle this with chemo and an anti-angiogenic agent. I know thats a pretty big word for my limited vocabulary but from my understanding one of the most important words I've ever heard. An anti-angiogenic agent in this case AVASTIN is used to cut off the supply of oxygen and nutrients that feed the tumors, it also helps the chemo drugs reach the tumors more effectively. The chemo drug that Reenie will be on is ABRAXANE, this drug also has been explained to us as "user friendly" meaning it should have less side effects than most other chemo drugs. The fact that it is not a solvent-based drugs limits the side effects and allows for patients to receive higher doses of tumor fighting paclitaxel, another positive. We know this will not be picnic by any imagination, Reenie will undoubtedly feel fatigued, she will lose her hair again, chances are her white count could become lower and we need to be careful of infections, but all of this can and will be reversed once we have this beast under control. I was completely amased Monday with Reenie's attitude, spirit and courage as she was heading into the chemotheapy room, she has fought this battle before and knocked down the monster, but he's back and she is determined to knock it down and out for good. I firmly believe she has this fight because of the outpouring of support she has recieved from her family and friends and even from those that don't know her but know of her. That is where she gains strength and she will again call upon that support. So keep those prayers and well wishes coming....

Reenie sends her love to all