Math Pentathalon - Part Three

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel and I left the house about the same time - not too long after coming back from dropping the kids off.  Rachel went to see the physical therapist following her appointment last week.  I went in to work on more Apple TV stuff.

At Rachel's appointment, it was decided that she was too advanced for the physical therapist she saw.  So Rachel needs to get the oncologist to come up with another referral.

In the afternoon, Rachel went to tutor and Evan went straight from school to Wade's.  I went to school and met Noah for Math Pentathalon.  Unfortunately, Noah was stuck with the same partner.  He dealt with it well and did great at the same dominoes game they worked on last week.

Noah played outside for a bit with the neighborhood kids until we needed to go get Evan from Wade's house.

For dinner, we had hamburgers cooked on the grill.

The boys are about to get ready for bed.

Until next time...

Morry to Math Pentathlon

This morning we walked the boys to school and then I went for a run.

Later in the morning I had a checkup with my oncologist.  Everything looks good so far.  I'm just waiting on the blood test results.

In the afternoon I left to tutor and Morry went to school.  He helped out with Math Pentathlon after school.

I got home around 5:30 and we started getting dinner ready.  Morry made fried chicken and I made the cornbread.

The boys are in bed now.

Back To School

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

When we walked to school this morning, it was humid and in the mid-60s.  It was a pretty simple walk to school.  Shortly after Rachel and I got home, the temperature dropped into the 40s.

Rachel had a check up with her oncologist.  It all went well.  I went into Aaron's for a bit.

I wasn't able to get home in time to get the boys.  Rachel drove to pick them up.

Rachel tutored in the afternoon.

For dinner we had pasta.  Evan ate very well.

Noah and Rachel are reading right now.

Until next time...

On To The Championship

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning when I was getting Evan up, Noah came in Evan's room.  He said he heard someone moving around and thought it was Evan.  Noah came downstairs with us and laid on the couch while Evan ate his breakfast and watched the MLB channel.

Evan and I rode bikes to school in the morning.  It was warm this morning and I was going to be able to pick him up and ride the bikes in the afternoon.  Also, there was no rain in the forecast.

Rachel had an appointment with the local oncologist as a normal checkup.  Everything looked good.

Around 11:30, we had a personal trainer come to the house.  She worked out with Rachel for 30 minutes and me for 30 minutes.  It went well.

Noah and I rode bikes to pick up Evan.  Evan seemed excited about riding his bike home.

At 4:45, we left for Noah's semi-final game.  Jack was there when we got there so Evan and Jack had a catch.  I had a catch with Noah.

At 5:45, Noah's game started.  Noah began the game at third base.  He fielded two balls at third base.  Although he couldn't throw the kids out, he was able to make sure they were held to a single.  In the second inning he singled between short and third.  In the third inning, there was a boy on second and a boy on first.  The coach told Noah to hit it down the third baseline but not as hard as he had been hitting it. He basically was instructing Noah to take a swinging bunt.  Noah executed it perfectly.  The third baseman had to run up to get it and had no play at third or at first.  It was a good win and the kids seemed excited.

In a strange twist, Noah will be playing the Cubs in the championship.  It is the same team and coach that eliminated Evan in the semi-finals last spring under somewhat sketchy circumstances.

Following the game, we drove over Blanca's college graduation party.  It was at a nice community center.  The kids had fun there.

We came home and put the boys to bed.

Until next time...

Survivor

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning I took Evan to school.  It was fairly uneventful.

Rachel had an appointment in Dallas with her oncologist.  Everything looks good.  She is supposed to have another appointment in 4 months and after that, she'll only need to go every 6 months.

Meanwhile, Lynn and Lenny took Noah to synagogue for Sukkot and he went inside a Sukkah and had grape juice and challah.

When I picked Evan up from school, he was in a good mood. He was generally pretty good while I finished working.

For dinner, we had pasta.

After dinner, Evan had his baseball practice.  His practice goes from 6:30 to 8:30.  The first hour is dedicated to hitting.  They are in the batting cages.  The second hour is dedicated to fielding.  At the end of the first hour, they normally have a game called survivor.  Each kid, in turn, gets in the cage and gets one pitch.  If they hit it, they're still in, if they miss it they are out.  They keep going until one kid is left.  Since there are 4 8-year-olds on the team, normally, it's one of those kids that win the game.  But today, Evan was able to win it.  It came down to Evan and one of the 8-year-olds.  They kept going around and around.  Finally the coach made it tougher.  He said they had to hit what appeared to be a fair ball.  If they hit it foul, they were out.  Evan came through.  He was very excited.  All-in-all he had a very good practice.

He was cranky on the way home.  It was late. He's asleep now.

Until next time...

Back at School

The boys were excited to be at school again today. Drop off was easy.

After dropping the boys off I went for a doctor's appointment. I had a check up with my oncologist and everything looks good so far.

I went to Target to get Evan's school supplies. It was busy there. I wasn't the only one with that idea. I got everything we need for Evan's kindergarten class.

Evan and Noah had a good day at school.

At home, they played outside while I got my lunch ready and then ate it. Even though it was 100 degrees they didn't seem to mind. They weren't out there that long because I wanted Noah to come in for him nap.

Morry came home a little later today, so he picked up Little Caesars pizza on his way home.

We are about to put the boys to bed.

That video from our trip is uploading now. I was having trouble with it. I'll try to get it up as soon as a I can.

Sunny Day

We finally had a nice day today. It was cool, but nice and sunny. We still took it easy even though Evan is feeling a lot better.

I went for a 3 mile run with the boys in the stroller and Lizzy. I packed lunch for them to eat, but they didn't eat much of it.

Gabby came at 2:00. I had a 2:30 check up appointment with Dr. Patt, my Austin oncologist. Everything looked good. I see her again in 3 months. In February I'll have my appointments in Dallas with all of my doctors there.

When I came home Noah was watching a movie in his room for nap time.

The boys played outside for a little while while I started getting their dinner ready.

Morry stopped off at HEB on the way home and we just made a quick frozen Chinese meal for dinner.

I tutored 1 student after dinner and Morry took care of the boys.

I got home about 8:45 and the boys were in the rooms, but still playing.

Quinoa

This morning Evan gave me a hard time leaving the house. Then, Noah cried when I dropped him off. It was not an easy start to the day.

Later in the morning I had a check up appointment with my oncologist. Everything looked good.

I stopped at Randalls on the way back to pick up a few things. Then, I picked up the boys at school.

Noah was happy and his teacher said he did well today. Evan had a good day too.

When we got home I had some leftover quinoa I had made a while ago and frozen. It was quinoa mixed with ground turkey, carrots, and beans.

Blanca came at 4:00 today and I tutored. Gabby came to babysit at 6pm.

Straight from tutoring I met Morry at Texas Oncology. We signed up for a cooking class there. Today was the first class. It meets every Thursday for 6 weeks. Today the theme was quinoa. They showed us some tips for cutting vegetables and then different ways to make quinoa. I ended up having a lot of quinoa today.

We got home around 8:30 and both boys were in their rooms ready for bed. Evan was actually asleep.

Morry and I ate dinner and watched some shows we had recorded on tv.

Both boys are asleep now.

Pancakes at School

This morning Noah slept late, so I was late dropping Evan off to school. I wanted Noah to get his sleep.

I dropped Evan off at school and then when we got home Gabby came over to take care of Noah.

I had a check-up appointment at my oncologist. I only saw the nurse today, but she said everything looked good.

When I picked Evan up at school he told me they made pancakes today. He seemed to think it was silly having breakfast at school.

Noah took a good nap this afternoon.

For dinner we had fix and freeze meatballs we had made a while ago. I also made some rice to go with it.

We just gave Evan and Noah baths and put them to bed. They are both still talking and playing in their rooms.

Breast Cancer Update - 6 Months Later

Well, it has now been 6 months after my last chemo. I thought it would be a good time for another update.

Things are going pretty well. My hair is growing back and looking more normal. It looks more like a choice than a person going through chemo.

My fingernails have grown back in. All eventually fell off, but luckily I’m past that now.

The last few months we’ve been busy trying to get back to normal. We joined a gym and I’ve been trying to exercise at least a few times a week. I’ve taken the boys on some bike rides with the bike trailer. I’m still tired, but I’m not sure how much of that is just normal mom exhaustion.

I had my last surgery for a while back in April. The expanders were replaced with implants and the recovery was not too bad. It was a lot better than I thought. Now, I’ll just have a few minor “touch ups”.

I have a follow up with my Austin oncologist next week and then follow ups with my Dallas doctors in August.

Well, that’s about it for now. Just trying to move forward and hopefully get past all of this.

Hope things are going well for you all.

Update – Dallas Doctors

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Last week, I had my endoscopy. My mom came to Austin to help out and take care of the boys during my procedure. Everything looked good. The biopsies were benign.

My mom, Evan, Noah, and I drove to Dallas on Tuesday. Morry stayed in Austin to work, but drove to Dallas tonight. Then, we (The Belkin family) will drive back to Austin on Sunday.

Wednesday I had an appointment with the plastic surgeon. He was pleased with my progress. I got another expansion. It wasn’t too bad. I’m just a tiny bit sore.

Thursday was a big day for many reasons. It had been 3 weeks since my last chemo treatment. My treatments were every 3 weeks, so it would have been another chemo day if I hadn’t had completed my treatments. It feels great to be finally done and be able to actually recover from chemo without getting hit again when I just started feeling better.

Thursday, I had three more appointments with the breast surgeon, oncologist, and gynecological oncologist. We brought Evan and Noah to Grandma/Bubbe’s house. Sherah (my cousin) watched the boys including her 2 boys, Nolan and Court. We were gone from 9:30 am until about 4:15 – a very long day for all of us.

The breast surgeon said everything looked good and I see her again in 6 months. The oncologist confirmed I’m definitely done with chemo. She said I can now have my port removed. The breast surgeon will be able to remove it during an office visit. I just need to figure out when I will be in Dallas next and schedule it to be removed. Since I’m triple negative (the cancer is not affected by hormones) there are no further drugs I need to take. I will have follow ups every 3 months now. The gynecological oncologist discussed the ovarian cancer risk with me again. She believes I don’t necessarily need to do the hysterectomy or oophorectomy (ovary removal) next month as originally planned, but I should definitely have my ovaries removed by the time I’m 35. She ordered base line tests (blood and ovary scan), which my dad took me to today. Basically, as soon as I feel I’m ready, we should remove my ovaries. The risk of getting ovarian cancer by the age of 40 is only 2.2% (from BRCA1 mutation), but it goes up significantly after that. Until then, I will meet with her and get the blood test and ovaries scan every six months. Right now, I want to focus on feeling better and getting back to normal. Then, I’ll start thinking about when to have another surgery. Anyway, I walked out of the appointments feeling pretty optimistic about everything. I have been so pleased with all of my doctors and the whole UT Southwestern system. The doctors are very professional and knowledgeable. They also have great bed side manner. All of them have taken the time to sit and talk with us as long as we needed. I have never felt rushed. I hope you never need these services, but if you or anyone you know does I highly recommend UT Southwestern Medical Center and my doctors; Dr. Teotia (Plastic Surgeon), Dr. Leitch (Breast Surgeon), Dr. Harker-Murray (Oncologist), and Dr. Kehoe (Gyn. Oncologist).

I must have picked up a stomach virus or something. For about a week now I haven’t been feeling so great. The doctors weren’t concerned about it.

And in the meantime, Noah came down with a fever last night. That was after playing with Evan and Nolan and Court all day. We took him to the doctor today, who said his throat is very red. The preliminary test doesn’t show strep, but we’re waiting for the five-day results. He’s now on antibiotics, and is generally asking for even more attention than he normally does. Now that Morry is here we’ll have two more much-needed hands to help out around here. Evan and Noah were very excited to see Morry tonight. As soon as they heard Lizzy (the dog) run in the house they ran over to see Morry.

Overall, besides the stomach bug, I’m feeling pretty good now. I still have a few more procedures to think about in the near future. The next will be one or two more expansions and then the implant surgery. We are thinking that surgery will likely be in April or May. I won’t know until the last expansion.

We have a lot of fun times to look forward to. Morry and Evan will be meeting Jack (Morry’s Dad) in Florida for baseball Spring Training in March. I’m hoping to make a trip to Chicago in March as well for a cousin’s wedding. Evan and Noah’s birthdays are coming up soon and we’ll have a joint party for them the end of March.

I’m looking forward to moving on and getting all of this behind me. I have starting tutoring again. I really enjoy tutoring – not just for the extra money, but it gets me out of the house and doing something that helps others. I enjoyed seeing all of the kids again.

Well, I just wanted to update you all on what has been going on. I know some of the frequent readers of the blog were concerned when they saw I hadn’t updated in a while.

I hope you all are doing well.

Love, Rachel

Appointment with the Oncologist

Today, I met with my oncologist and also had my after chemo blood test. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I'm officially done with chemo. The doctor seemed really positive about everything. The blood test results were good. I’m still slightly anemic and my platelets were low, but nothing to worry about. Dr. Patt said that’s typical for just having had chemo. We talked about what the plan is now that I’m done with chemo. Since I have the BRCA1 gene mutation I’m at a higher risk of getting ovarian cancer. It has been recommended that I have my ovaries removed at some point to lower that risk. Dr. Patt showed me the statistics and BRCA1 carriers have only a 2.2% chance of getting ovarian cancer by the age of 40. It goes up significantly at ages 50 and 60. Dr. Patt said I’m at no greater risk because I have already had breast cancer. She recommends I wait a few years to have a hysterectomy. One of the reasons is bone density loss. After a hysterectomy the reduction in hormones can cause bone density issues. Tomorrow I’m going to get a bone density test to get baseline measurements.

So now what? Well, the plan is for me to go for checkups with the oncologist every 3 months and get ovarian cancer screening every 6 months. My next appointments for those are in early April. In two weeks I’ll go back to Dallas for more follow up appointments with the breast surgeon and plastic surgeon. I would also like to get the opinions of the oncologist and gynecological oncologist while I’m there.

How am I feeling? I’ve been doing pretty well the last few days. I’ve been trying to eat healthier and I think that has been making a difference in how I feel. I'm still recovering from chemo, but feeling better each day. I’m not as nauseous and hardly achy now. I went to a Yoga class for cancer survivors yesterday. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I actually really liked it. There were about 10 women in the class. They meet weekly, and I plan on going again.

I’m still really tired and exhausted. I'm sure the fatigue will stick around for a while.

Tomorrow I have a busy day. First, I have an appointment with a gastroenterologist. Then, I go for my bone scan. After that, I’m meeting with a new acupuncturist. Someone at Morry’s work recommended this guy – he’s a doctor and actually from China.

Hope your new year is off to a great start.