Saturday 4.5.2008

Day 18, Treatment #4

Another beautiful day. Sunshine and birdsong.

Daniel and I went over to the Grand River Park here in Lansing to watch the MSU Rowing Team host the races with teams from Indiana--Indiana University and Notre Dame, and Miami, Florida. While we were there, we found the tent for the WeCanRow program, an exercise/fitness program that a woman founded in 2002 to encourage breast cancer survivors to maintain/regain fitness after treatment. (I came across the program mentioned in the book "Living Through Breast Cancer", and there was a second program in Lansing, MI. An email address was given, so I wrote to Stacey Rippetoe, and she wrote back!) The ladies of the Pink Ribbon Team were very friendly and kind, and invited me to come to any practice on Wednesday evenings. Ok, thanks. That sounds like fun. I'm not sure I can actually row hard at this point, but it was good for me to see ladies who have recovered, have a variety of hair textures/colors, and are healthy, not looking like they've had cancer. I wanted to ask them a hundred questions about their experiences, but this wasn't the place...

We left shortly after noon. When we got home, Daniel had a bite to eat, then left to go golfing. I set about to making a new recipe for the Rhubarb Pinwheels, a yummy sounding sweetened, fruited, tender biscuit/pastry like, cinnamon-roll-looking dessert. What I discovered was that I was recipe challenged today--it was difficult to follow the directions, and took way longer than it should have to mix up the simple ingredients and get those things into the pan and into the oven. Jim, Polly, and Heaven were here before I had gotten it assembled, and Polly helped me stay on track. We got it done, and 30 minutes later, we had a yummy rhubarb pastry thing. It was so good, Heaven was asking for more....

They left, Daniel came in about 6:00. He was wiped out. He said he played well, but boy did he look tired. I was glad I had taken leftover pot roast out of the freezer and had it ready for us to eat. He was really hungry, and he liked the rhubarb things, too. He dozed off in the chair....

Bre and Nick came in and fixed the food they had brought, and went off to watch a movie. I caught up on the computer stuff. After a while, Daniel went off to bed, and I wrote here. I have had the hots, as seems to be my new normal, all night and all day. I spent my computer time reading about hot flashes, and treatments/remedies for them. It seems that for us "chemically induced" girls, there's not much relief. A few of the antidepressants were listed as being beneficial in reducing frequency/intensity in about 40-50% of women, but I'm not ready to add more drugs. Yet.

My visual perception is still not normal (looking directly out the side window of the car and seeing things go whizzing by is not good), I still can't walk even a normal pace, and I had a bit of a time reading and following directions, which surprised me. But as each day goes by, the medication clears, and I get a little better. Your thoughts and prayers and hugs and positive energies all help towards my recovery. Thank you.

Rhubarb Pinwheels
from Reminnisce Extra

DOUGH:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk

FILLING:
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1 cup sugar
3-4 cups diced fresh or frozen rhubarb

SYRUP:
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
Few drops red food coloring, if desired

In a mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine egg and milk; add to crumb mixture, stirring just until moistened. Turn out onto a floured surface. Roll into a 12 inch x 10 inch rectangle. Brush dough with melted butter; sprinkle with sugar and top with rhubarb. Carefully roll up dough, jelly roll style, starting with the longer side. Cut into 1 inch slices. Reshape the slices as needed to form round pinwheels. Place in a 13 x 9 x 2 inch greased baking dish. For syrup, bring water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Cook and stir until sugar dissolves. Stir in food coloring if desired. Carefully pour hot syrup over pinwheels. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with cream, ice cream, or (what we did) whipped cream. Makes 12 pinwheels.