KARE 11 Interview - Join the Debate over Breast Cancer Ad Campaign

Hello:

Today I was at the oncologist for some blood work, and was asked to review and comment on a new advertising campaign sponsored by the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation. The ad features a woman wearing a shirt with some very strong language on it depicting how some women feel about fighting breast cancer. The campaign has spurred some controversy.

One side feels it is too aggressive and violent, and others feel it represents the attitude one needs to fight breast cancer.

KARE 11 News was at the Breast Center getting comments from Health Care Providers and some patients, including me, on the topic. J.R. and I actually saw the ad in a magazine on Tuesday and thought the ad was very good.

You may review the story and watch the interview at: www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=148833

Check it out.....decide for yourself......and share your comments in the comment section below.

Love to you all,

Jen

Head Shaving Party!

Hi Everyone,

Saturday night was a total blast! Our good friend Tom Mitchell decided to shave his head and be bald with me to support my battle with breast cancer. In addition, Mitch recruited another five people to do the same and we had a head shaving party at our house. About 20 of our friends joined the fun, food, fire, head-shaving and fireworks on Saturday evening. There were a lot of laughs along the way I can assure you.

Since I was the original baldy, I had the dubious honor of being the head clipper gal, and if I should say so myself I did a pretty good job of it. First person in my chair was Kelly, she wanted a Mohawk, and a Mohawk she got. We did have some adjustments to the Mohawk later because it was too long in the front at first but she looks fantastic!

Second up was Mitch, and let me just say, Uncle Fester has nothing on Mitch! JR did shave the remaining stubble after the initial clipping, and Mitch looks fabulous! Next was Eric and again, not to toot my own horn, I did a fabulous job of clipping E’s head. My husband however, hacked the living daylights out of E’s head with the razor. I think I must have put 20 pieces of t.p. on the spots where he was bleeding. Poor Eric, he was a good sport about it.

The next brave soul was Jim Mitchel and he was a piece of cake, he has a great shaped head and there were no shaving mishaps on either Anderson watch. Next in my chair was Bo Mitchell. The future Mrs. Bo Mitchell wanted me to shave his hair into a “Bo Hawk” and that is what I did. Apparently she is going to take care of the rest today or tomorrow. Go Kari!

And the last of the Mohicans in the chair was none other than Jeffrey Bartels! I was sad to see the flat top go but it was his choice. We had a couple of do’s along the way, first we shaved the Mohawk, which looked great, then we did the Charlie Brown chunk in the front and then we took him down to bald and shaved off half the beard. No one in the room, including his wife Vickie, has ever seen Bart without a full beard! I have to say, Bart is a styling man and is looking rather hot with the goatee and bald head. Oh sure he’s 6’ 5” so that may have something to do with it too. You’re a lucky girl Vickie!

In any case, I want to thank everyone who participated by bringing food and drink and helping with clean up duty, I appreciate it very much. I also want to thank those who shaved their heads to support me in my battle, that was such a wonderful gesture of support and I really love you all for being here for me. I hope everyone enjoys the pictures, they are really fun. Thank you again for everyone’s love and support, you are all the best!

Love to you all,

Jen

Thanks KS95, Moon & Staci - Hat and Headgear Update

Hi Everyone,

First and foremost I would like to thank Moon and Staci at KS95 for posting my blog on their web site and for all of the KS95 listeners who have taken an interest in my story. Thank you for your support and messages, the kindness of total strangers never ceases to amaze me.

Well we’re in a period of treatment that not much new is happening. It’s chemo every two weeks and pretty much a waiting game. Here are some observations about some of the things that I have been dealing with during chemo.

Good Things:

I don’t have to shave my legs any more, I like that.
I don’t have to shave my underarms any more either, I like that too.
Those three pesky chin hairs are no longer a concern.
I don’t have to do my hair.
I’m saving money on shampoo and conditioner.
I can be showered and ready in about 15 minutes.
I found out that I look good in hats.
My head is not shaped funny.

Bad Things:

I get tired out pretty easily.
The anti nausea drugs are miserable to get off of after I don’t need them to do what they do any more. I’m a twitchy, high strung mess for about 3 days, and nights.
I drink a ton of water and have to get up in the middle of the night at least 4 times.
Constipation. I won’t elaborate any further.
My taste buds like sweet and starchy foods now. Especially honey. Not great for the waist line.
Nausea will come out of no where pretty quickly.

So you can see why no one really likes to talk about any of this stuff. They pretty much hit you with it moments before treatment begins so you won’t dwell on what you can’t change. It’s probably a good thing that they do, otherwise no one would show up for chemo. All in all I think I am doing quite well through this and am pretty confident that March 29th will be my last chemo day. Keep your fingers crossed.

In any case, I am completely bald now, oh sure I have some stubble but what is left looks a little like male patterned baldness. (J.R. Says: I don't see a problem with that!) I’d like to think it’s because I just haven’t rubbed that part of my head much yet. The top is almost all gone, (that’s what everyone likes to rub when they see my head) and the back is almost all gone (from sleeping). So I look pretty funny. And you can now see my scar from 5th grade on the back of my head. (I had 5 stitches from a swing set incident). I still have my eyebrows and eye lashes and am not sure what the status of those will be long run.

As I have mentioned so often before, I have the greatest family and friends on the planet. To help me through the baldness, I have received a plethora of head gear gifts. And I went wig shopping too. I got my wig at the American Cancer Society, they take donations and buy wigs and provide them for free to cancer patients. I’ve received a beautiful scarf from Tom and Mary, a whole slew of baseballs hats from the Reed family. A box of fun showed up from Mary in Pittsburgh, Mitch and Paula got me a great suede hat and warm hats showed up from Jill in Seattle.

By the way, my wig makes J.R. look like one of the band members from Spinal Tap, especially when he breaks out the line “And our amps go up to 11!” in a British accent. (J.R. Says: Trying on Jen's wig is not to be considered a lifestyle change....not that there is anything wrong with that.) Mary and John Carters son, one year old Ethan, however, looks like Tina Turner from “Thunderdome”. He’s so cute! The babushka looking thing is not mine, I only tried it on in the store but it was a total riot. I am pretty sure KJ has me on video doing some bad rendition of Russian dance steps with it on. I loved it because it was warm and funny but I was not about to spend $345 on something that just made me laugh.

So that’s it for now, thanks for listening and I hope this e-mail finds you all well today! Thank you once again for your love and support, you are all the best!

Love to you all,

Jen

Mohawk for a Day / Lambert for Strength During Chemo

1/8/07

Hi Everyone,

Well my hair is coming out faster than I’d imagined it would so I went to drastic measures on Sunday. Steph and I went to see Christine again and I finally got my Mohawk. (at least for a day) Sorry Mom. I think I look pretty cute though. : )

Also, I have received the greatest “Be Tough During Chemo” gift of all time. After I sent out my Chemo e-mail, our dear friend Jason Hudoba responded in such a generous way that I can not thank him enough. As you know I am a huge Vikings fan since moving to Minnesota in 1993, however as Coach Cowher said in his resignation speech; "You can take the girl out of Pittsburgh, but you can't take Pittsburgh out of the girl." Being born in Pittsburgh and growing up a Steelers fan, many of you know that #58, Jack Lambert, is my all time favorite player. Jason, however, did not. Call it divine intervention, call it just plain great taste. As Jason was looking for something to make me feel better and stronger for all the remaining chemo sessions, he presented me with the most fabulous picture of no other than #58 himself, Jack Lambert. I can't think of a better image to get strength then from the toughest linebacker ever to play in the NFL.

My new anti nausea drugs are working so much better than the last ones, I had a pretty good weekend all in all. I was fatigued, but not nauseated like the last time. We love when a plan finally comes together.

That’s it for now, I do not have anything all that interesting on the horizon outside of some physical therapy and lab follow ups. Thank you again for joining me on this journey, for your thoughts and prayers and love and friendship. I appreciate it all.

Love to you all!

Jen

Chemo #2 - Hair Update

Hi Everyone,

I promise to keep this short and sweet. Yesterday I had Chemo #2. As you know the first one really kicked my butt so the plan was to change the anti nausea meds this time around. The short version is they worked…...so far. I received a shot that holds off nausea for 5 days called Aloxi. I wish they had pulled that trick in the bag out a little sooner. They also switched my Kytril prescription with Emend, I take it while I receive chemo and for two days afterward. So far so good. And they added Decadron in a pill form for three days too, it helps the Emend to work better. This in addition to the Compazine and Atavan. If all this can’t keep the nausea under control then they have more drastic measures to help. I won’t mention what those are unless I have to go there. They do not sound pleasant.

Also on the radar is my hair situation. My friend Christine came over after work to cut my hair into a Mohawk as I requested. As she was cutting, she formed my hair into a pretty cute cut so I did not go as far as the Mohawk but trust me, this weekend I will have one. My hair is still falling out rapidly and mostly it’s just a pain in the neck to deal with. Literally. This morning when I woke up my back was all itchy from the hair falling down the shirt of my man jammies and sticking to my back. For a second I thought I looked like the furry guy in the hot tub on the Carnival Valor 2006 cruise trip. But at least he was pasty white too, so that was a good look.

A quick shower took care of that hair plus another bunch of hair. It’s more annoying than upsetting so don’t feel bad for me that it’s falling out. At this point I’m looking forward to being bald. Oh, and all of those who thought I was a light brown with blonde highlights kind of gal, not so much. My hair is as dark as you can imagine. Who knew? I’ve been coloring it so long even I had no idea!

I showed JR how much hair came out when I brushed it yesterday and he put it on top of his head like Donald Trump, it was a riot. We should have taken a picture of it. That was the defining moment for me to cut my hair short, plus when your hair falls out it is really itchy! OK, I think that is it for now. Thank you for listening and for your thoughts and prayers, I appreciate your love and support very much. Have a fabulous day!

All my love,

Jen

The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling!

January 2, 2007

Oh wait, that’s just my hair! Its official folks, my hair is falling out. For all of you wishful thinkers out there who said, “Maybe yours won’t fall out.” I appreciate the optimism, but what in our history together made you think mine wouldn’t fall out? Of course it’s going to fall out!

I’ve got to tell you, it’s really weird too. I was told that it falls out in clumps but I did not know what that would look like. Well, it looks like clumps. About 10 – 20 hairs in a clump. My favorite feature about hair falling out in clumps is that it gets tangled up with the hairs still clinging to scalp at the very end so it looks like a really bad extension job.
So I’ll be walking around with normal looking hair and in one spot there will this extra long hair, trailing down my back. And when I say my hair is falling out, I mean all of it.

I purposely didn’t shave my legs for a week so I could tell when my hair falls out. Yup, you can tell. Underarms, same thing. And I am very happy about the arm pit hair going. Before surgery, I had nice flat surfaces to shave, after surgery, one flat surface, one Rocky Mountain surface. When ever I shave the Rocky Mountain side, I can’t get one little tuft of hair so it looks like I have a baby troll stuck underneath my arm. I’ll be glad when that hair falls out.

Also I am hoping that the chin hairs fall out too. For those of you not old enough to get chin hairs yet. Surprise! You will. But at least your eye sight will be failing at the same time and K-Mart lighting won’t be bright enough for you to pluck them. There’s a reason for all of those Day Spa’s with young girls and good eyesight you know.

I am not so sad about my hair falling out; I know it will grow back. Everyone keeps telling me that it will come back dark and curly. Great, add wiry to that description and I will have pubic hair on my head. And if my eyebrows fall out and the hair comes back dark and curly then I can get a gig selling juice makers on TV.

My plan was to cut my pony tail off and then shave my hair into a Mohawk. I’ve never had one before and think they’re pretty cool. Back in college when a Mohawk would have fit in, I was too chicken to get one. Well that and it was the 80’s and I was pushing maximum density of the hair. And my parents would have strangled me. Now that I am 40 and not as cool as I once was, I’m pretty sure my boss would want to strangle me if I had one. Since my hair is falling out at a rapid pace, I will have a very small window of time to have a Mohawk. A couple of day’s maybe. A chunky one. Ha!

I will more than likely be going for the shave this weekend, pending how I feel after chemo. I have high hopes because they are changing my anti nausea meds. So. Who wants to go wig and / or scarf shopping? I know Paula is in for scarf shopping. And I need a nice soft hat too, so my little bald head won’t get cold. Next week in the evenings will be best for me so let me know.

Enjoy your hair while you have it and be nice to it. JR will have an updated picture of me holding the hair that fell out this morning on our blog later today. If you haven’t looked at it yet it’s http://jensbreastcancerfight.blogspot.com/. Happy New Year and have a fabulous day. Don’t go changing on me!

Love to you all!

Jen