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