January 20, 2012 — If I had known how irresponsible the small people in the Valentine household would be with their pets, we might not have gotten a puppy! Both Sara and Daniel got small animals for their birthdays about six months ago. Sara got a Bearded Dragon named Dude and Daniel got a Dwarf Hamster named Felicia. Both animals were well-loved, to the point of near abuse, by the small people who took them out of their enclosures to play with them and carry them around all over the house. Two weeks ago, Felicia was out “watching TV” with Daniel on our sofa and somehow didn’t get put back into her cage. She was forgotten on the sofa where she was found a little while later, no longer alive and probably sat on under some pillows. She joined our pet cemetary in the backyard. The kids were discussing this death on the way to the shelter to get our puppy and I kept reminding them if the shelter finds out we sat on a hamster and killed it, they might not allow us to adopt a dog! Then, two days ago, Sara took Dude out to “help her do homework” and left him on our living room sofa. When she went back for him an hour later or so, surprise, he was no longer there. We turned the living room upside down, hoping he wasn’t about to become a dog or cat snack. He’s pretty big now so we kept expecting to find him under the TV or behind the sofa. Yesterday, our housekeepers came and I was worried they would kill him with a broom or something if they found him. I warned them about the missing lizard. A few minutes later, one of the housekeepers told me “dragon, dragon” (I’m assuming that’s lizard in Spanish) and pointed to a wicker basket in Greg’s study. Sure enough, Dude was hiding under some papers in the basket! I need to give those ladies a reward!

January 11, 2012 — Who says having cancer doesn’t pay off? I was invited to join a special free Pilates class designed for breast cancer survivors at Ballet Austin. It’s tough hazing but this sorority I never wanted to join can have its perks. I told a friend that I don’t hang around much with breast cancer survivors because I wind up comparing my cancer to theirs. I wonder about any differences in treatment and am jealous if I feel their cancer was “better.” Sigh. I guess even at 45 I’m really just an insecure 15-year-old. But this Pilates class was great and I really enjoyed the company! This beautiful Russian ballet teacher taught the class and several times I struggled to understand her thick accent. At the end of the class, we went to the barre for stretching. I felt like a ballerina. Maybe I’ve outgrown my phobia about hearing about other folks’ cancer experiences because I found myself really interested in everyone’s particular journey. While I wasn’t the only Stage III cancer survivor I’m definitely one of the most aggressive in treatments with my double mastectomy, 15 months of chemo, Zoladex shots, and clinical trial in San Antonio. It was interesting to walk around the Ballet Austin complex and see the professional dancers walking around in their leotards. They are all about 20 and tiny and walk a bit bow-legged from their toe shoes. The ballerinas I saw all looked alike — same height, similar build, same sleek ponytail. It was fun. I think I’ll go back next week.

Happy New Year from the Valentines. Much peace, love and happiness in 2012.

Yes, we could be in a Gap catalog!

Gotta love our photographer Moira!

That man and I make pretty babies!

Need I say more? Cocoa Latte is her name for now although Greg’s pushing for Starbuck. My brother commented if we choose that name, both Smith siblings would have pets named after characters in Moby Dick since he has a cat named Queequag. I think Greg was referencing the coffee shop more than the literary character. She’s half Bernese Mountain Dog and half Rottweiler so we have a big girl on our hands.

Cocoa Latte

December 21, 2011 — The only thing worse than not getting a puppy for Christmas is getting a puppy and having to return it after one day. My brother lives in a condo complex with a woman who rescues cats. Brenda has 11 of the fattest cats you’ve ever seen in her two bedroom condo unit. A friend of hers found an abandoned, starving 4 month old black and white border collie puppy. This woman’s husband wouldn’t let her keep the puppy so she brought it to Brenda. She nursed it back to health, feeding it every two hours like a newborn baby and taking it several times to the vet. We wound up adopting the puppy, naming him Oreo and helping him adjust to his new home. Then, last night we got a hysterical call from Brenda. The original owner wanted the puppy back and had thought Brenda was only fostering it until she could convince her husband to accept the puppy. This woman threatened to file a formal complaint with the condo association because Brenda has too many cats, forcing her to give up her animals. There were many tears in the Valentine household, as you can imagine, but my brother recommended we not get involved in the crazy politics of his condo complex since it was turning into a “he said/she said” sort of situation regarding who owned the puppy. We gave Oreo back. I see a visit to the animal shelter in our near future. After all that drama, we found out that the original owner’s husband still hasn’t agreed to the puppy so another friend is fostering the puppy. If all that falls through, we are still potentially in the running to give Oreo a home. We just want Oreo to have a good home.

Oreo

December 7, 2011 — I saw a video with Guiliana Rancic, a young reporter on E, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Apparently, she had a lumpectomy with intended radiation and hormonal therapy but didn’t have clear margins after the initial surgery. So, the surgeon had to go back into the breast to remove more of the cancer. Guiliana had decided instead to have a double mastectomy. She and her husband both said several times in the interview that this way they wouldn’t always be looking over their shoulder, waiting for the cancer to return. Oh, the innocence of first diagnosis. I don’t want to the be the one to tell her that she’ll spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder. Of course, there are many days I don’t think at all about cancer…but not many nights.

December 5, 2011 — One of the controversies about breast cancer treatment is the relative importance of blood tumor markers. Some oncologists track them in patients hoping to get an idea of cancer recurrence. Other physicians don’t like relying on that test because of the false positives. My oncologist doesn’t track breast cancer blood tumor markers but the oncologists in San Antonio where I do the vaccine clinical trial do. It’s been frustrating at times because both doctors are pretty adamant that their approach is the correct one. A physician friend of mine in town did an informal survey of oncologist she knows since I was so confused by the importance or lack of importance of this test. She said that oncologists in Austin seem to be 50/50 on whether or not they follow breast cancer tumor markers in patients. Great. My oncologist feels like you can have high numbers that might indicate cancer and not actually have cancer. So, the physician would send the patient for CTs, MRIs etc. looking for non-existent cancer. That means emotional stress for the patient and more radiation, which can actually increase the patient’s risk of cancer. The San Antonio oncologist told me if a patient’s numbers are high, she will do diagnostic tests like CTs etc. “until she finds cancer.” Sigh. Anyway, when I go to San Antonio, that doctor checks my blood tumor marker levels. Anything under 38 is considered normal. A year ago, my levels were at 15. This time around, the test came back “under 3″. Even better. Whether or not my oncologist tracks those numbers and whether or not I believe they indicate cancer, I’m thrilled to have such low numbers. Something’s working in my favor. Vaccine? Drugs? All the chemo/radiation/surgery I did two years ago? Maybe it’s just positive thoughts and clean living.

December 4, 2011 — This past week I traveled back to San Antonio as part of the breast cancer prevention vaccine clinical trial. I’m now in the booster phase, which means I get a vaccination every six months for two years, as the study researchers discovered that the effectiveness of the vaccine faded as the participants stopped getting their inoculations. Even though I’ve been having some reactions on the day of my vaccination, I convinced myself that I’ve been getting the control, which is a white blood cell booster and can produce side effects all by itself. The research nurse and doctor both told me not to worry about my skin reaction to the inoculation site as it’s what’s happening in my blood that really shows a heightened immune response. This time, I had a slight fever, chills, and a bad headache as well as redness and swelling at the inoculation site. Maybe I am getting the real stuff. I also had to sign more consent forms as the study researchers have seen some rashes and hives in the booster phase of the study that have resulted in some hospitalizations about three weeks after the boosters. Great — just in time for Christmas!

November 10, 2011 — As part of my children’s cooking class business, all teachers have to be fingerprinted as part of a background check. I had this done a few years ago when we first began the business, but needed it done again as we have signed up a new school district. When the fingerprint tech was doing the fingerprinting, she told me the system would “reject” my fingerprints and I’d have to come back in and have them redone. Apparently, my fingerprints don’t make regular swirls and are hard to read. After the second set of fingerprints, the Dept. of Public Safety which does the background check will just use my social security number since my fingerprints are worthless. On my second visit to get fingerprinted, I asked the tech why this was happening because my first fingerprinting in 2009 went fine. She commented that some medications, especially chemotherapy, can affect your fingerprints. Who knew?

October 21, 2011 — Yesterday, our wonderfully funny preteen told me she was reading Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. I was impressed that she had checked out a classic from the library since her prior reading loves were more along the lines of “My Sister the Vampire.” Sara then revealed that she had picked the book because she had wanted to impress her classmates that she was reading a thick book. “But then, I started reading it and it’s really good! I really like Jo.” Yes, Sara, you do because you are Jo!