4th of July Rib Recipe

This works great for pulled pork or just for Ribs ... they were so tender they nearly melted in my mouth :D 

4 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons peppercorns
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon mustard powder
whole pork shoulder (~14 pounds)

Combine all the dry ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until a fine powder.

Add the cider vinegar and process again until mixed.

Rinse the pork and place fat-side-up in a large pan. Pour the sauce over.

Cover tightly with foil, and place in a 250°F oven for at least 7 hours.

Remove the foil and check the internal temperature. Return to the oven until it is 190°F.

Put under the broiler to crisp the fat on top.

Pour off and reserve the liquid. Separate the grease out and discard.

Remove the fat layer and pull the rest of the pork apart with forks or tongs.

Pour the de-fatted liquid back in.

I put it in the oven at 8 am this morning and pulled it out at 3:30

My only variations .. I didn't have mustard powder .. but I added a few glugs of Worcestershire sauce and a few splashes of Hot Sauce and cut up two big onions as well.  When I pulled it out I removed the ribs from the juice and placed them on a baking sheet - covered them with Sweet Baby Rays bbq sauce and then baked them for another 30 minutes 350 to set the sauce.

Mmmmmm.....

My niece Rachel made these for me for my Birthday.  YUM!!!

 She made these delicious little morsels for my birthday. They were so tasty and so colorful. I think they are just beautiful. She did an amazing job. Even with the blazing sun trying to kiss the frosting off them they still looked amazing ♥

Happy Birthday To Me

I am 46 years old today .... 220 pounds lighter than last year and going through Chemo .... what a life eh?

It has been quite a ride for the past two years.  No one can say I lead a dull life.

First Chemo Treatment

I am just going to copy this from a forum I posted on .. I'm too tired to write it all out again lol ... forgive me.

I'm home ... finally ... I knew the first day was going to be long but holy schmoly!

I had 3 hours of consultation with the team and had to watch a video .... get an EKG or EEG I guess they call it now... had to have a series of blood work and then Chemo finally started about 11:30  That lasted till 4:30.   My sister had to leave to take my brother in law to work so she didn't get back to the hosp until 5:15 so I just hung out watching TV lol

It wasn't too bad ... I can say that now because it takes a few days for the bad stuff to start if it does start.  The only sure things is I will be very very tired and I will loose my hair .. all the other symptoms may or may not happen depending on how my body handles it.

I had a bit of a reaction to straight Benedryl to the blood stream ...my hands and feet started twitching .. that was a site lol.   So then came a shot of Adavan and I was out like a light .. I slept through the whole thing.  They woke me up when it was over.

And yes the Port was awesome.  It was a pretty damn good pinching feeling when the hook needle went in .. but then it was over and didn't hurt through the entire procedure.

I went out so fast I forgot to tell my sis to take a pic of the rigging - I will next time

Now I have to be back tomorrow morning for a Nulasta shot .. that will help keep my white blood cell count up. 

Then I have to have blood tests called NADIR's every thursday through out this treament series so they can keep a close eye on my levels.  The biggest worries are infection and anemia.  Either can drop to fatal levels in a heartbeat .... that was a comforting thought.

But I have my Germ X right beside me and and a purse full of masks ... I will look like Jacko back in the glory days :D

So that's the scoop! ♥

Wig Fitting

I had a wig fitting today at GFH.  It was quite a relief to know that they donate the wig.  They are an all encompassing Cancer Center and gift all initial wigs so you don't have to worry about having no hair.  That came as quite a relief since all wigs I have seen are 75 - 300 dollars depending on what you want and length.   I thought I might have to break out the straw wig from Halloween lol!

The Gal that helped me was very friendly and helpful.  I found a style that isn't too bad.  I thought I would have to wait 2 weeks for it but she let me take it then and there.  She also gave me a few turbans.  Not sure if I will wear them.  I'm not really a turban type gal. 





I have to thank my sister who made the calls and figured this all out for me.  I haven't been dealing so well with everything and the day is looming closer and closer.  So she made a few calls and told me to be ready to go first thing in the morning lol .... she loves me ♥

The Steri Strips are off

The steri strips came off the port itself but they are still stuck pretty good to the vein incision.  It looks like a bottle cap got stuck under my skin.  You can see the bruising below my tattoo ... but a lot of the swelling has gone down and I can move my head around fairly well again.

Getting use to my Port

It's been over a week since my port was installed.  I can finally move my head from side to side.  I felt like I had a stiff neck for quite a few days.  Driving was an adventure, especially if I had to look behind me ... turning ones whole body to look back is not as easy as it sounds.

Here are a couple pics from the day of and recently.

The day of the procedure:



Where the port is located:



With the dressing off:



With the steri strips off the port incision - there is still a good deal of bruising below my tattoo:



The procedure itself wasn't too bad at all.  It was local anesthesia and I fell asleep at one point.  There were a couple tense moments but it only lasted a short time.  When I came around it was all over with and I have my port.  It doesn't really hurt anymore just gives me a bit of an icky feeling when I turn a little to far and I can feel it pull inside.  I imagine I will get used to that though. 

Chemo starts this coming Thursday -  At least my prescription plan came through and I got all the meds I needed to be able to start.   Part of me is ok about it and another part of me is terrified.  

Depending on how I feel I will try to update this as soon as I can.  Wish me luck :) 

Tomorrow is the day.

I have to be at the Hospital at 7 am tomorrow to have my port installed.  I have to say I am a bit anxious.  But having had the filter put in for my bypass I sort of know what to expect. It's the same procedure relatively speaking.  

My sister is going with me. She will  have to drive me home as I will be a little out of it for a few hours after.  I'm not being put completely out but having enough of the good stuff to keep me ga-ga for a few hours. 

I got the call yesterday that my Chemo will start on June 24th.   My Birthday is the 26th .. so Happy Birthday to me lol .... actually I'm glad to get things underway.  Waiting is torture!  ... and not the good kind ;o)

Ok To Start Chemo

I saw my Surgeon on Thursday and I have the all clear to start Chemo.

I have to meet with a new group of Oncologists at the Local Hospital  in Glens Falls  that has a Cancer Center then I won't have to travel 90mins away... that was a relief. I have an appt. next Friday at 2pm to get the ball rolling.

I won't have to deal with being tortured with needles .. they are going to install a port under my collarbone so it will have easy access ... that was a relief.

They have meds now that they assure me it won't make me "too" sick ... we shall see. They did say I need to bring someone with me for the first treatment to see "how sick" I get.

I will lose some if not all hair - but it will grow back after the treatments.

I have to go once every 3 weeks for 18 weeks.  I will be monitored for my white count and several other levels the whole time.

At the end of the series I will get a full set of Cat Scans and blood tests to see if I need another round or if once will be enough.

I'm going to need to invest in some reading material .... each session is at least 4 hours ... and that is if everything goes perfectly with no hold ups or equipment malfunctions.

They were contemplating doing more surgery to do deeper biopsies due to the aggressive nature of the type of Ovarian cancer I have. But, either way if they found more or not I would still have to go through Chemo. Since more surgery would just delay the chemo they decided against it and will see what things look like after wards.

I have been diagnosed at:

Stage IC (T1c, N0, M0): The cancer is present in one or both ovaries and one or more of the following are present:

• Cancer is on the outer surface of at least one of the ovaries.

• Laboratory examination found cancer cells in fluid or washings from the abdomen.

I am 1 stage away from Stage II  but still in the safest/most curable category.

So depending on how fast the new team can install the port I could be starting all this fairly quickly.  

On the upside I won't have to deal with all this hot hair for summer ;)

Nothing Can Be Easy

I got my results on Thursday.

They found an independent Cancer growing in my Ovary that is more aggressive than the Endometrial Cancer.

He said it was fairly unusual for 2 separate types of cancer to start and grow at the same rate but, it looks like that's what was happening.

Before and after they performed the surgery they did an abdominal wash and both times it showed Cancer cells floating around in there. They matched the cells from the Ovarian Cancer type.

Had it just been contained to the Uterus this would all be over but they were surprised by the Ovarian Cancer as well. It's a rarer type of cancer with a huge long name. This type is sneakier and can hide in places not able to bee seen by the naked eye and can regenerate.

So without getting too technical I have to start Chemotherapy :(

So now I have losing my hair and being sick as a dog to look forward too. Even though he says I won't get sick ... he didn't mention hair and I was in too much of a state to think of a lot of questions.

I still need to heal from the hysterectomy for 2 more weeks then I go back and talk about chemo and when it will start and ask all the questions.

He said it will probably be once every 3 weeks for 6 months. Then blood tests every 3 months after that for a year to make sure it's gone and stays gone.

My head is kind of spinning now and my nerves are shot.

The only thing good about all this is if I hadn't of had the Uterine Ca. they never would have found Ovarian Ca. as is doesn't exhibit many symptoms until its much farther a long and harder to treat.... and all the lymph nodes they took were negative.

So I am trying not to panic and stay positive but when I had my biopsies I heard ... stay positive it's going to be ok but it wasn't ... then when I was told I had to have surgery I was told be positive the surgery will take care of it .. but it didn't .. so now when they tell me be positive the Chemo will take care of it ... well I can't exactly say I can fully believe that.

So I'm scared and worried and stressing. I have so much going on in my head right now it's a wonder I remember to put my socks on before my shoes.

Anyway ... that's where I'm at .... 2 more weeks ...

My only saving grace in all of this is I feel ok other wise and have now lost a total of 220 pounds. That in itself is pretty amazing.

I have to be ok from all this ... I just have to be. God can't have let me get this far just to punch my ticket now.

Right???