Haunted House for a Cure - Halloween Style

Hi Everyone,

 

Please see the post below from Bonnie, regarding her 13 year old friend who is psending his own money to make a fund raising haunted house:

 

 

My friend Caleb Serban-Lawler, is in the final stages of creating ( he has built everything by himself!!) a Haunt for the Cure Haunted house partially in my honor.

 

He is a 13 year old buddy of mine who attends MMS and who has seen to many of his friends struck down by cancer. This is one amazing kid-you may know his moms, Debbie Serban & Cara Lawler. He has earned every dime that he’s needed to build this four tent, at least so far, house of horrors and with no shopping done at the CRAPman’s house-although, I do plan on dropping off some extra horror.

If you would like to make a small or any size donation to his cause, please feel free to click on the link below. Thank you for your consideration and support!

 

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/hauntforacure

 

Also, his Haunted House will be open to the public on:

 

Please come see "Haunt For A Cure - A Carnival of Horrors!"

 

Saturday, October 26th 7:00-9:00 p.m. and  

Thursday, October 31st at 7:00 pm-9:00 pm.

 

Location: 13479 Cool Lake Way, San Diego 92128

 

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!

BONNIEh

Chemo #5 - Who knew Chemo could be so fun?

Hi Everyone,

Here we are - almost at the end of the road. What will be there? A pot of gold? A big, green castle with a weird old man and a bunch of cool little people? How about a Cancer Free diagnosis?

Oct 8 - Chemo treatment number 5 brought about a few different things - all of them wonderful and unexpected. As you all know, my sister is very social. Although this horrifies and embarrasses me, this is Bonnie in a nut shell. She has always been very open, friendly and a real people person. People are drawn to her and I can understand why. Actually, it works out perfectly for me- I can sit quietly in the corner while she enjoys the spotlight. Today was no exception.

During the course of her treatment that day, Bonnie noticed a young woman (I will call her Jill) who had been in before as a "newby" to chemo. Her first round exposed the fear and anxiety as she and her husband sat and tried to take in this new path they were on. Bonnie couldn't help but notice how scared she looked. The next treatment, Jill was back, with a couple of girlfriends.  She noticed Bonnie and eagerly engaged in a conversation with her, as Bonnie introduced her ride to all of the "Poison Nurses" and telling stories that reduced all of them to fits of laughter. 
During that time, Bonnie was telling Jill about the blog - ok, mostly talking about my witty humor and uncanny ability to shed a sarcastic light on a serious matter, when another woman overheard the conversation. She wanted to start a blog as well....blah, blah, blah. More talk about how funny I am, how creative I am, how eager people are to read my posts. Ooops, I digress....

Turns out this new blog woman is someone Bonnie knows from NCL (her own chapter). Go figure! Seriously - we can't take her anywhere. Picture more chatter, increased volume. At one point Dr. Banerjee came in to talk to Bonnie and realized he was out of his league. Just turned around and walked away:)

This day resulted in a few things: Bonnie getting to see first hand, the positive affect she has on other people. The power of suggestion. How influential one can be when you think nobody is watching. The enduring human spirit and one's ability to overcome their fears.
Not only was this a great day for those already in treatment, but for those who are facing the start of their chemo journey. The chemo room is at the end of a hallway and is an open room where anyone in the hallway can see right into the room. Imagine being a new patient, having tremendous fears and then walking down the hallway to hear nothing but laughter and good times. What a powerful statement. I wish that scene had played out when we were first there. It just looked awful and scared me.

October 29th will bring Bonnie's last chemo treatment. I will attend this session with her. We have matching outfits, which I know will make Dr. Banerjee cringe. I can't wait!
I look forward to celebrating the end of this long road with her, with a nice lunch and an ice cold margarita! She'll have water:)

Once the chemo treatments are done, there is a chance that Bonnie may lose her eyelashes and/or eyebrows. If that happens, we will need to change the code to the garage so Marcia can't sneak in and create the Tammy Faye/Frieda Kahlo, eyelash/eyebrow look!

Hang in there for more info. I will be posting a separate blog regarding a Halloween Breast Cancer fundraiser. I hope to have it posted within the next day or two.

Talk to all soon!
Heather

Chemo #4 - What a bore!

Hi Everyone,

I've missed you all and apologize for the delay in updating the blog. It was not due to writer's block but more due to Bonnie's "cancer brain". I mean seriously - how long is she gonna use that excuse?! It's hard to believe kids are back at school, fall is in the Santa Ana winds, and Christmas is only a couple of months away. Where does the time go when you're having chemo treatments:)

September brought Bonnie's 4th chemo treatment and the reality of the end being near.

It was a fairly slow day in the chemo lounge. Thankfully Bonnie didn't have too much of a chance to annoy, I mean charm, people with her incessant pop culture filled chatter. After all, how long can you carry on a conversation about the Kardashians? Ok seriously - can you believe Lamar aka Lammie? What happened to him? And it really isn't a surprise that Kris and Bruce broke up. He's been living at the beach away from that insane asylum all summer. What did she think would happen.  Oooops, I digress.....

The one drawback during this round was that Bonnie did get a rash which resulted in her being placed on steroids. No, she did not gain a fabulous muscular body, grow facial hair or other things. Oh no, instead she became an insane woman with boundless amounts of energy. Another reason to not drink Monster or other highly caffeinated drinks that have a similar result. I'm sure she ran around the neighborhood offering to single handidly paint your entire house for free - in one day! Sorry for those of you that came into contact with her during that time. My husband does take insurance should you need therapy for the trauma this induced.

We give thanks for the lack of fever after this round. Although I do have to admit, I miss the sleepovers with my sister at the Scripps Spa and Resort.  And by sleepovers I mean no sleep while the nurses poke and prod her every half hour. They are all wonderful and very skilled people but happy we didn't have to see them this time around!

The girls are doing great! They have wonderful attitudes about this ordeal and are enjoying busy social lives outside of their busy school schedules. Below is a picture of Natalie, Brenna and my daughter Callie. Isn't she a beauty? Why yes, she does look like me:)

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone for your patience! I promise to keep up the blog for you, even if I have to take drastic measures and make stuff up!

Stay tuned for more,
Heather Gregory