JAGs Angels

Hello Angels,

 Here it is a month since my last newsletter.  Where is the time going.  Seems like it just goes by faster and faster.  Maybe it's because the 3Day is getting closer and closer.
I thought I would start this tonight and then add some tomorrow and the next day.  This weekend is the "biggie" before the actual walk.  They call it the "back to back".  Saturday we will be walking 18 miles starting at 7 in the morning, and then on Sunday we will be walking another 15 miles starting at 7 in the morning.  We are driving to Alpharetta Georgia to do this walk, so we will be leaving my house around 6:00 am.  I get to sleep in !!  LOL  We have left as early as 4:30 am for some of our walks.  I plan on taking the camera along so I will be adding pictures in later on.
 
Joyce had her scan done today.  Last week might have been the last week for chemo for awhile, her cell count was low again.  Depending on the results of the scan we get Monday, we might be switching from the chemo to a drug called FASLODEX.  She'll get that in the form of an injection in the buttocks, once every 4 weeks.  We would have to get 3 of those before they would scan again to hopefully find out that it was working.  But not having to get the chemo every week is something that Joyce is looking forward to.  That stuff really does a number on you.
 
All in all, she's doing pretty good.  We had our best friends from Connecticut come down last week and spend the week with us.  On the 2nd we celebrated their anniversary and then on the 9th we celebrated our anniversary.  Which one you say?  Well, we celebrated 80 years of marriage between the 4 of us.   40 for them and 40 for Joyce and I.  In the middle of the week the 4 of us went to Charleston, SC. and spent 2 nights and 3 days.  I worried about Joyce over doing it, because it seems like we were up and walking all day long every day we were there.  We took a carriage ride one day.  The driver was just full of interesting information about the history of the city and of its old homes.  We had a great time with him.  We also took a boat out and took a tour of Fort Sumpner, where the civil war started.  The tour guide there was something else.  If you've ever heard a marine drill sergeant, that was exactly what he sounded like while giving the tour.  That was a lot of fun and very interesting also.  We would recommend doing both if you ever visit Charleston.  Joyce insisted that if she started to really feel beat that she would let me know and we would stop, but she never let up the whole 3 days we were there.  As it says, we're making the days count.  :-)  She crashed when we got home Friday though. 
 
The team and I are still working hard at fund raising, the other "Jug Or Nots" and myself.  Our favorite Mexican Restaurant let us have a fund raiser there one night last month.  We also used it as a surprise birthday party for Joyce.  Quite a number of people that she works with showed up with a cake and presents.  It really surprised her.  The owner donated 15% of all his sales from 5:00 till closing.  It only came to a little over $200 I think, but every dollar brings us a step closer to finding a cure.  We are having another garage sale the weekend after the "back to back" and hope to do as well as we did with our first one we had when we raised over $1400.  I set a goal of $15,000 for our team and we are at $11,000 now, so we might make it yet.  We still have 28 days to make it.
 
I'm going to close this off for now.  It's 11:30 pm and I have to get up at 5:00 am to go to work, so I need to get a little sleep.
 
7:00pm Saturday 9/15
 
Today was the first part of our "Back To Back".  The biggest training walk before the actual 3Day.  We walked 18 miles today, and believe me, I'm still feeling every one of them.  :-)
 
We arrived in Alpharetta around 6:30 and everyone signed in to the official log.  That way we can tell if we lost anyone after the walk is over and everyone signs in again.

Tommorrow is going to be so hard I think.  I really don't feel to bad right now, but I know my body is going to tell me a different story tommorrow morning at 5:00 am.  Thank goodness it's going to be a shorter walk.    Stay tuned.

Our thanks go out to places like Moe's, Einstein's, Chevron, CVS, Ekards, and Publix that don't mind 17 sweaty people coming in all at once and ordering, or using their facilities.  We did get some funny looks from other people going into these establishments.  I imagine it makes you wonder when you see 17 people sitting on a curb with their shoes off, putting bandages on blisters or just changing their socks.  LOL

There was a woman, a friend of the training walk leader I believe, that met us around the 5 or 6 mile mark.  She was parked at the side of the street and had gallon jugs of ice water to refill our bottles with, and a big box of Goldfish that she handed out in plastic baggies.  Then she showed up again around the 13th mile, right after a real long stretch of the walk where there was no place to stop and at the top of a real long hill.  Boy was she a welcome site then.  And there were so many people that would be driving by and honk their horns and wave to us.  Seems like it always happened at an opportune time too, right after someone might have said "I don't know if I can do this or not", or "man, my feet are killing me".  A little inspiration goes a long way.

And speaking of inspiration...all the different stories I heard today about why people are walking.  One lady had a friend that she worked with, who just two months ago had a double mastectomy.  They found a cancerous lump in one of her breast and rather than take the chance of a reoccurence in the other one, she made what must have been the hardest decision she had ever made in her life, to have them both removed.  So her friend, that I walked with today, told her that she was going to walk 60 miles for her in an effort to help find a cure fo this horrible disease.

Another young lady had lost her mother to cancer 12 years ago when she was 17.  She said that she had thought about doing the Atlanta 3Day for the last 2 or 3 years, but she was concerned about being able to raise the $2200 in donations that qualify you to do the walk, so she had not signed up.  Then this year when they started publicizing the event, she saw that it was going to be on the 12th 13th and 14th of October.  She said that the 12th would have been her mother's 64th birthday, and that she couldn't think of any better way to celebrate her birthday than to walk 60 miles in her honor, so she said she decided to put her trust in God and figured that He would see that she made what she needed to make, to be able to walk.  She told me that she passed the $2200 mark 5 weeks after she started sending out letters.

Angels, I would give anything if you all could experience the feelings and emotions that are part of every walk I have done so far.  There is so much love and support it is unbelievable.  So many stories are told, so many tears are shed, so many hugs are given, so many words of support and encouragement when anyone says they don't think they can make it.  So much inspiration seeing a cancer survivor walking.  And this is just a tiny sampling.  I can only Imagine what it's going to be like when over 3000 people come together in a few short weeks from now.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the whole world could be like this.  Sharing the love and support of one another, like all these walkers do.

I get my inspiration not only from those that I have walked with and met, but from those thar share their stories on the 3Day web site.  Here's one I would like to share with you all.

LORI ADELFIO

My sister Christine, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 35 years old in August of 2000.  I will never forget receiving the call from my sister saying "It's Cancer".  It scared me because the only other experience I've ever had with breast cancer was with my best friend Michele's mother, Susan.  I remember Susan as a kind and wonderful woman with a terrific sense of humor who lost her battle in October of 1984.  My sister is currently a 7 year survivor still in treatment and determined to survive a lifetime.

I wanted to take a stand against breast cancer, but how?  I found the Komen Foundation website and noticed the 3-Day.  I requested information about the event and thought "I could do 20 miles a day; piece of cake, right?"  I received a call a week later and I registered right on the spot.  Shortly thereafter, my sister registered, my friend Michele registered and my mother registered.  Team "Committed To A Cure" was born!  I was excited about doing this event because I was challenging myself to do something so monumental and I was doing it with my sister, my mother, and my best friend.

Walking among thousands during those three days, sharing stories about "why we walk" made me feel a part of something big.  On day 3 walking into Liberty State Park, New Jersey and crossing the finish line, I broke down.  I was tired, my feet ached, my calves ached, but I walked into a line of crew members cheering me in to the finish and it was the most beautiful "Welcome Home" I had ever received.  For as many 3Day events as I will participate in, I will never forget what I felt on my first 3Day.

I don't want to miss out on the 2005 event, so although my sister registered to walk again, I decided to crew.  Although the 2004 3Day was the most exhilarating experience, I knew I couldn't commit to the training time necessary.  I rembered just how important the crew was to me as a walker in 2004 and I vowed to help the walkers in 2005 make it to the finish.  I really enjoyed helping walkers get through their day safely.

All of the new friends I made huddled together at closing ceremonies thanking the walkers for walking those great distances.  The walkers thanking the crew for helping them make their journey safely.  Watching my sister participate in the Survivor Circle at closing ceremonies was so emotional, but the most touching of all...the walkers took off a shoe and waved it in the air in celebration of all survivors.  It is said that "it all starts by tying your shoes".

I thank The Breast Cancer 3Day for all that it has given to me for the past 4 years.  Not only for the most amazing experiences I'll ever have, but for giving my family the gift of a lifetime.

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I was going to close this off here, and then I remembered that we have an appointment tomorrow to find out the results of the scan last Thursday.  We'll also find out if Joyce gets to come off of chemo for awhile.  I wanted to include an update on our progress so I'm going to wait and add a short note tomorrow after the appointment.

9:00pm Monday 9/17

I have some great news.  Joyce's last scan shows nothing new again.  No new spots of cancer anywhere.  Every time we hear that it means we've won one more battle.  Also, we are coming off of the chemo treatments.  Today she had her first injection of FASLODEX.  We'll get this once every 4 weeks now.  After the 3rd shot, 12 weeks from now, we'll get another scan.  At that time, with all your prayers and if the good Lord is willing, we'll find out that this drug is still holding the cancer at bay.  Joyce was overjoyed today to find out that she wasn't getting anymore of the chemo.  The blood work still showed that her cell count was low, up from last time, but still a little low.  She still got the Zometa treatment today.  That's the stuff to help strengthen the bones.  She gets that once a month too, so now when we go for treatment, we get the injection in the hip and the Zometa thru the port.  This only takes about an hour to an hour and a half, compared to the 4 to 6 hours for the chemo treatments.  Joyce is also going to try and go back to work at the beginning of November I think.  The side affects of the FASLODEX does not include the fatique that came with the chemo treatments, so she's really looking forward to going back to work.  She's going to start back at 32 hours a week and see how she does.

One last bit of good news, and then I'm sending this out.  The "Jug Or Nots" team total of contributions fot the Susan G. Komen foundation is now, DRUM ROLL PLEASE....................

$13,133.50.  We are closing in on our goal of $15,000.

I am so proud of my team mates, for the hard work they have done in their fund raising, and their training for doing the 3Day 60 mile walk.  As I said before, I would give anything if each of you Angels could experience first hand what we are experiencing.  Hopefully I'm being able to convey a little of it to you through these newsletters.  That's it for now.  There's only 25 days left until the walk.  The next newsletter will probably be after the walk.  I plan on taking lots of pictures to share with you.  Don't forget that you can send notes of support to the 3Day post office for Joyce.  The Atlanta Breast Cancer 3Day will begin with Opening Ceremonies at North Point Mall in Alpharetta on October 12th at 7:30 am and conclude with Closing Ceremonies at Piedmont Park in Atlanta on October 14th at 4:30 pm.  If any of you can come out and attend, I'm sure you would enjoy it.  Two weeks before the walk I believe they will be posting the route that we will be walking, along with different points where people can come to cheer all the walkers on.  As soon as I find out the locations, I will send them out in an email.  Maybe some of you will be able to stop by that Saturday or Sunday.

As Always, I say thanks again to all of Joyce's Angels.  God Bless each and every one of you for your love, your prayers and your support.  I love you all.

-- Michael