The Best Possible News

As most of you know, my strong and courageous mother, Michelle Fawson, has been fighting breast cancer since June of last year. I've been wanting to post about this for quite some time, since her fight against cancer would definitely top the list of "blogworthy" events. So, I might as well start from the beginning ...

After going in for her annual mammogram at the beginning of June, she was told she had a cancerous lump. She underwent a lumpectomy on June 26th, 2007, and I felt lucky that I was there in Salt Lake to offer my support.

My sisters, my dad and I went with her to the hospital that morning and waited there for her to come out of surgery. This picture was taken after surgery as the anethesia was wearing off. Camille was about 29 weeks pregnant with Samantha and I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Avery. The surgery went well, but they found cancerous cells in her lymph nodes.

Thanks to a horrible, insensitive oncologist, my mother spent the next 2 months (July & August) worrying endlessly about the next gruesome step in her fight against cancer: CHEMO. This oncologist painted a miserable picture of what she was to expect, leaving her wondering if it was even worth going through. Luckily, she sought out a second opinion and found a doctor who had a much better bedside manner than the first. After meeting with him in the middle of August, she began her first of eight chemotherapy treatments on Thursday, August 16th, 2007. She went every other Thursday which gave her the opportunity to take it easy and rest over the weekend. I'm pretty sure she would say that the worst part of the first few treatments was the dreaded side effect of hair loss.

Halfway through her treatments, she and my dad came to visit me as well as attend my cousin Sara's wedding in Brooklyn. My older sister Benee joined them and we had a wonderful weekend together! This was the first time I saw her without any hair, and although I thought I had prepared myself, it was still difficult to see her completely bald. But on the flipside, I thought her wig looked wonderful and it was difficult for anyone to notice she was wearing one. Here's a picture of her with her wig:

Doesn't she look beautiful? This picture was taken at Sara's wedding, October 5th, 2007. My mother's sisters Collette and Daryl also came from Salt Lake for the wedding, as well as the mother of the bride Nancy (who came from Seattle). Here is a picture of the 4 sisters together at the wedding:

Michelle, Daryl, Collette, and Nancy (Sara's mother)

After the trip to NY/NJ, my mom had to go back and continue the chemo treatments. She said the last 4 treatments, which used a different drug from the first 4 treatments, were brutual. I can't pretend to know what she went through, or how awful her chemo experience was, but I can say that I'm happy she went through it. I know she was reluctant to undergo what she called a "barbaric" kind of therapy, but those of us who love her and appreciate having her in our lives are thankful that she endured it. We are thankful that she fought back.

A month after her visit, I gave birth to her 6th grandchild, Avery Olivia Mendez (11-02-08). Exactly two weeks later (11-16-08), she and my dad were able to meet Avery when they came here again. We got to spend Thanksgiving together and they also helped us celebrate Reagan's 2nd birthday!

Her last chemo treatment was on November 29th. She took some time off of work in December and tried to recuperate before Christmas. In January, she had to start radiation. Her radiation therapy was every day (5 days per week) for 6 weeks: a total of 30 treatments. Although each treatment was relatively fast, it became uncomfortable and a bit painful. She was so relieved when the last treatment was finished!

My sisters, Benee and Camille, and I wanted to do something to celebrate the completion of our mother's treatments. We also wanted an opportunity to thank the many people who were instrumental in helping her get through it all. There were so many thoughtful, caring, considerate, and supportive people and we wanted to show our appreciation. Benee, Camille, and my dad planned a beautiful party to honor my mom. I felt bad that I couldn't be there to help them with all the details, so I at least contributed a small amount by making the invitations and mailing them out. In comparison to what they did, my contribution was hardly noticable. They did an excellent job in preparing for the party and from the pictures, it looks like it turned out beautifully!

Saturday, March 15th, 2008

Benee, Michelle, and Camille

Believe it or not, Camille had never decorated a cake before this one! She did an amazing job!

The table of desserts!

They even had a chocolate fountain!

I wish I could have been there for the party, but we were needed here in NJ at the time.

So ... there's the background necessary to bring us up to date. After all her treatments were completed, we all wondered, "what's next?" How do we know when and if the cancer is gone? My mom went into the doctor about 2 weeks ago and they were a little nervous about something they saw in her lung ~ was it more cancer? She also complained of some pain in her hip, so they were also concerned about that ... was it cancer in the bone? The doctor finally ordered a PET scan (Positron emission tomography). I had never heard of this type of test, but it sounds pretty interesting. My mother had to drink a type of radioactive glucose which is called a tracer. Because cancerous cells feed on glucose, the scan shows whether or not there are cancerous cells in her body and where they are. If you'd like to read more about the PET scan, you can click on this link.

My mother's PET scan was this morning (Monday, April 28th). When I talked to her this afternoon, she had just heard from the doctor with the preliminary results. Everything looked GREAT! It didn't look like the cancer had spread to anywhere else in her body!! My mom was elated, ecstatic, and truly relieved. Could there possibly be anything better than a clean bill of health? I don't think so, which is why I titled this post, "The Best Possible News." Because when it comes to the health and well-being of your loved ones, you'd give anything to hear that they are cancer-free :)

So, this post is a tribute to my mom. It's almost been a year now since her diagnosis. I'm willing to bet that it's been the most difficult, longest year of her life. She has been through so much and I want her to know that I admire her courage and I'm thankful that she endured the agony of it. I wish I could have been there for her throughout it ... I would have been, but my pregnancy and the birth of Avery made it impossible to travel last year. Anyway, I'm proud of her for fighting back and I'm so thankful that the treatments worked. I'm truly blessed to have my mother in my daily life, even if it's only through phone calls and emails. I'm happy that she can now move forward with her life and return to doing the things that bring her joy. Here's to my mom, Michelle Fawson, a breast cancer survivor!

Doesn't her hair look great?? I stole this picture from my sister's blog!

Rainy Monday

Every Monday from 11:00 am - 12:15 pm is Reagan's First Friends Playgroup here in River Vale. I've met some wonderful people through First Friends and now Reagan has some friends with whom she'll eventually go to school. Instead of meeting at the community center like we usually do, we met today at Kids Kingdom in Northvale. Reagan loves this place!I'm so happy to have met Christine and her daughter Caitlyn. Christine is one of those people who always seems happy and completely together. She is kind and generous and goes out of her way to be friendly to everyone. I thoroughly enjoy catching up with her each week at First Friends. Her daughter Caitlyn is adorable and so sweet. She is almost 9 months younger than Reagan, but they'll end up being in the same grade when they start kindergarten together at Roberge Elementary here in River Vale (Fall of 2011!). Here is Christine holding Avery at Kids Kingdom. She's wearing a sweater that says 'Avery' (also given to her by Missy who gave her the shirt with the angel wings that she wore last week!).

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After Reagan's nap, we met our friends at Unbelieva-bills in Waldwick (about 20 minutes away). Yes, this is another indoor play place and YES, my daughter is spoiled to go to 2 of these places in the same day!

Here is Mia, Reagan, Timmy and Ella on the dinosaur. Two of them climbed up, then I thought it would be fun to get a picture of all 4 of them ... I got them situated, and they were already trying to get down by the time I snapped this photo.
So, we decided to try it again ... this time Nicole helped me round up the kiddies and Reagan freaked out when Nicole tried to place her for the photo. What a drama queen my little girl can be!

Here's Ella and Mia up top, then Jackson and Charlotte sitting so nicely, then Timmy crawling through the hole, and Reagan is gettin' outta there, down the slide!
Here is little daredevil Mia (Nicole's daughter) going down the slide upside down (with Charlotte watching).
Here are Michelle's kids, Jackson and Charlotte going down the slide. Jackson is such a sweet older brother to Charlotte ~ it's obvious how much he loves her and it's really cute to watch them together.

Here is Alexis with Sofia who is now 8 months old.
Here's Reagan walking out with Timmy who is wearing his new fireman raincoat. He was moving around, acting kind of silly, so Reagan was laughing hysterically.

Making Bows

For those of you who have little girls, you are probably always trying to find cute ways to style their hair. Well, my little sister Camille has always made hair accessories for her daughters, so she taught me how to do it, back when Reagan hardly had any hair. A while ago, I made a bunch of flower clips for her hair and she's worn them almost everyday.

So, I decided it was time to make some new hair accessories. I wanted to use ribbon this time and make some simple bows (kind of like the ones pictured above). Looks easy, right? So I invited my friends over for a craft day of bow-making!

Here are Michelle and Nicole in my dining room ... we definitely had plenty of supplies!
Aside from making bows, we had a great time socializing and eating! Nicole brought her homemade hummus which was TO DIE FOR! Seriously, I'm going to have to post the recipe on this blog so that everyone can make it and taste how good it is. I whipped up my favorite fruit dip from Tastefully Simple. It's a combination of cream cheese, marshmellow creme, and the blueberry seasoning packet from Tastfully Simple. It's heavenly. Michelle brought some candy that we never even opened, since we couldn't stop eating the dips!

Here are the bows that Nicole made for her daughter Mia. This picture was taken AFTER she took each one apart and re-did it, since she'd sewn them to the clips incorrectly and they weren't closing properly. Poor Nicole :( At least they turned out cute in the end! Michelle was a natural at this project ... she had a knack for creating adorable accessories for her daughter Charlotte. She was also the most efficient of the 3 of us, so she left with a good amount to add to her collection.

Here are the bows/clippies that I created today. Not very many, for the 3 hours we spent working on them! Obviously, it was our first time, so there was a huge learning curve. I have a feeling I'll be much better at making these next time I try. It will take some practice, but I'm sure I'll be making bows like the pros someday soon!

More Pics from Spring Break

I was worried we'd be bored this week without preschool, but we lucked out with GORGEOUS spring/summer weather, so we spent everyday outside! As usual, I took tons of pictures, so here are some of my favorites. My friend Missy sent this shirt to us shortly after Avery was born. It has her name on the front of it, plus the words, "Heaven Sent." The back of the shirt has little wings sewn on ~ too cute! Back then, Missy couldn't have known how appropriate this shirt would have been, since she really is our heaven-sent angel!


On Tuesday afternoon/evening, we met Nicole, Meredith and Audra at Clark Park in Washington Township. We all had a great time and the kids slept quite well that night.

Avery ~ loving every minute of the swing!
Timmy and this other little boy started acting a bit silly and Reagan was having fun watching them.
Two other kids took quite an interest in our little group of kids ... by the end of the evening, they were all fighting over who should push Avery in the swing. To my surprise, Reagan got rather possessive of her little sister and didn't want anyone but me to push her.
Reagan and Timmy on the dinosaurTimmy, Reagan, and Mia on the tire swing

Reagan and Timmy - hugging each other goodbye

High Five ~ Thumbs Up ~ Bones/Knuckles

On Thursday, we met Meredith, Timmy and Quinn at the Ridgewood Duck Pond Park.

Meredith and Quinn 4-24-08

Reagan and Timmy in the handicapped swings

On Thursday night, John put up the tent for Reagan in our toy room! Reagan loved sleeping in it with her Papa :)

This morning, (Friday 4/25/08) we met a bunch of moms from my meetup.com group at Clark Park.

Reagan, Mia and Timmy eating popcorn We set up a little picnic right on the playground! Nicole brought her wagon and gave kids a ride around the park. Timmy and Mia had fun pulling/pushing the wagon too.

This afternoon, Nicole brought Mia over after naptime and we brought some toys outside to the driveway. It was such a gorgeous afternoon and it was nice to be outside. We made an obstacle course for them with some cones and they had a great time. Dawson had fun too!
The highlight of the day was when we brought out Reagan's Escalade. It's been sitting in our toy room since her birthday (Nov. 27th), except for one nice day in January that we let her ride in it outside. Oh my goodness, it was hysterical! These girls did not pass the driving test to receive driver's licenses today! I think they need to get a little older before they'll figure out how to properly operate a motorized vehicle. In this first video, you'll see that Reagan has a hard time keeping her foot down on the pedal. You'll also see her just about run over Dawson.

As you'll see in the next video, I was laughing the entire time, so I thought the whole thing was quite funny ~ I hope you will too. Honestly, I don't know what we were thinking, putting 2 two-year-olds in a motorized vehicle while trying to take care of Avery and get the whole thing on film at the same time! As soon as I shut off the camera, we shut off the car too ~ that was enough for one day!

There are so many funny things for which to watch ... First, notice how Mia has positioned herself in the car: one hand on the steering wheel and one arm relaxing on the window ... she looks very comfortable in the driver's seat! After she runs over the cones, she heads straight for the grass and we have to physically stop the car ... this threw me off and I completely forgot about the camera. I contemplated whether or not to edit the middle part out, since the camera is moving around enough to make your head spin, but I figured I'd leave it in there since it is part of the overall hilarity of the video. As Mia was driving onto the grass, she noticed her sippy cup of milk, which became her priority (listen to her say, "My milkie!"). Next, watch Dawson try to attack the moving wheels of the car ~ he did this even more aggressively at another time that I didn't get on film. He's such a goofy dog!

Now that I've talked up this video, here it is! Have fun watching it ...

It's Spring Break in River Vale

School is out this week for Spring Break, so Lizzie and I had to make adjustments to our weekly Tuesday morning get-together ... instead of our usual lattes at Starbucks, we hung out at her house with our girls. Lizzie's girls (Hattie and Emily) entertained Reagan, which allowed Lizzie and I to catch up a little. I didn't have my camera with me, but I had my iPhone ...

Reagan is in heaven whenever we spend any time next door. The first thing she did was jump on the trampoline with the girls. Then she had to check out the fish in the pond. To everyone's surprise, Emily spotted a toad in the water and was able to catch it in the net! This was quite exciting for all of us :)
Emily and the toad ... they quickly gave this toad a name: Ferdinand.

Reagan had never seen a real toad before, so she was pretty mesmerized.

Emily put the toad back in the pond and we watched it swim to this spot, then hang out in the water. I like this picture because it shows the toad, the fish, and the reflection of the girls. As we were getting a good look at the toad, I spotted a snake in the water too! He moved too quickly for me to get a picture, but it was probably about 3 feet long. What a morning for seeing wildlife!

In this picture, Reagan is doing one of her favorite things: feeding the fish with Hattie and Emily. Lizzie was holding Avery for me (the dogs are also in the picture: Maude - Lizzie's dog, & Verdell - our dog)

Lizzie enjoys photography as a hobby and she's quite talented. She took some wonderful pictures of the toad (I need her to email them to me!). She recently took the most beautiful picture of their dog Maude and had it blown up and framed.

In this picture, Reagan is busy with her favorite indoor activity at the Trimm house: playing with the refridgerator magnets. Our fridge at home has wood paneling to match the cabinets, so we have no magnets :( I wish we did, since they keep Reagan occupied for quite a long time! I didn't get any pictures of them, but Reagan also enjoyed playing with the girls' hampters.

It was a really fun morning with our next door neighbors. After that, I went out to lunch with my friend Nicole at my favorite lunch spot, The Rolling Pin Cafe.

This little 'hole in the wall' restaurant is right in Westwood (next town over) and the food is always exceptional. It's a very small place, so it's always packed full of women "doing lunch." Nicole and I devoured every bite of our salads and sandwiches! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! If you've never been there, then you HAVE to try it ... you won't be disappointed.

This afternoon, we went to the park and I took tons of pictures ... but it's really late and I need to go to bed, so those will have to wait until tomorrow!