Notes with donations

Update - there's a place for a note WITH the donation itself, so no need for an additional email!

Helping Alessandra out

We here stateside from Alessandra's work relationships have been wanting to help out in any way we can. Together we decided that we would set up an account at Whole Foods to allow everyone to take care of Alessandra as well as themselves through this ordeal - lots of healthy food and special treats and splurges for the body. We've finally set up a website for Alessandra through which anyone can donate to the fund via PayPal! (Thanks to Karen Kiley-Brabeck and her brother for the technical work!! Couldn't have done it without them!)

So whenever you want to "send a treat" to Alessandra and her family, feel free to log onto this site and donate. http://supportforalessandra.homestead.com/ If you want Alessandra to get a note with the donation, do send me an email - I've been sending those along to her. (kbgamble@gmail.com)

Health and happiness to you all,
Katherine

Best hat around!

So Danda is officially a member of our little community and YES, Danda, I think James and the hat...the whole package wins best combo hands down! 

xoxo,

lex

A hello, a bucket of thank you's, and the best hat entry by far.

Hello to All - It has simply been wonderful to come to this blog everyday and read the many messages, so let me start by saying a HUGE thank you for all your notes, and a special thank you to Alexis for setting this all up. They have been morale boosters, smile makers, and comforts as I feel you all very much with me. It has meant so much and I am very touched and grateful. Thank goodness for technology!

Speaking of which, yes, Alexis was right.... I have been sitting for days trying to work out how to post a blog, thinking, "Well, it can't be THAT difficult....!" - wild quests to find the "NEW POST" blue button that the Google Website Help Center talks about.... where the hell is that bleeping blue button on the page, I just can't SEE it.... and then AHA! Alexis sends me the invite.... never has an invitation been so welcomed! I sighed with relief that the chemo has left some of my brain cells (or should I say sanity?) intact. :-)

I am doing well, given the circumstances. Came back from the hospital this morning where I had my latest blood count checked, and all is fine and strong. Round #3 of chemo is next week on Wednesday, so the goal is to keep boosting my immune system and keep getting stronger as I prep for yet another hit of medicine. Dreading it deeply on the one hand, while embracing the fact that it is there to help heal me, and I will be halfway through my chemo sessions when it is over. Always a silver lining - it is one of my many mottos as I journey through all of this.

I must go and take a nap... I am learning, odd as it sounds, to try to slow down.... naps and I never really went hand in hand (no shit, Sherlock), always the "too much to do and too little time" approach, which most certainly contributed to my getting into my current pickle. As I said, I am learning, lessons that I should have learned a while back. I guess that I am destined to forever be a student, and this class is by far the hardest to date.

I leave you with the attached photo, which in my opinion (biased as it may be) steals the prize for best head gear... Be your own judges, but wouldn't you say that this handsomely modelled hat wins...?

So much love to you all.

Don't sweat it!

Starting again is not easy. I forced myself into my first spin classes in several years. No one should be subjected to such intensity! But I say to myself again, since I have a healthy body I will endure! And off I went on a bike race to nowhere just pedaling and pedaling in place. But I guess without anything else to think about except pedaling and pedaling it gives one a lot of time to think. So I thought about the strength one has to propel oneself forward. It always amazes me when I stop to think that we can carry ourselves with our own two feet or two arms in so many directions. And if our bodies can't take us there, our minds can do the pedaling for us if you excercise that muscle!

On another note sometimes starting something for the first time can be difficult as Alessandra learned today. With gusto she created a gmail account, created a password and got ready to post for the first time on her own blog. But alas technology halted her. Sweetly she contacted me with her angst admitting that she must be doing something wrong, but how hard could it be if my mother could do it. Mom please note you can't get mad at the patient!! But it amazes me that you ALWAYS prove us wrong-you are a technological wizard these days posting on this blog as if you have been doing it your whole life. You amaze me!

So back to Danda getting online. After some serious troubleshooting I found the issue! Low and behold I had not invited the girl who the blog was for to be part of her own blog!! But don't sweat it, today I as of today she should be up and running!

Chill out!

Since everyone seems to be in need of a bit of "summer", I thought I would offer a chair in the sun. Take a seat! Tickle your toes in the sand. Listen to the breeze in the palms trees that allow just enough filtered sunlight. Close your eyes, if you can. Relax. This is early morning on Jost Van Dyke in the BVIs. A little later the bay will be filled with power boats. The beach will be awash with nubile bodies wearing the required minimum. Each will be holding the requisite "Painkiller", a delicious concoction of fruit juices, rum and spiced with a hefty grating of nutmeg. Can you taste it? One is delightful. Two is just about perfect but not quite enough anesthesia. Three numbs just about everything! The sun sets, the boats leave, and you are left in a haze, sitting under the same palm trees that were overhead at dawn. A lost day? Not really. Everyone should take time out now and then

Hi,

I love all the hats! Alexis the tweed is great!! I can see that on Alex and it will make her look very Londonish.

Is that a word?

Since it is once again snowing in Boston I thought I'd post summer photos. This was summer of 2006 waiting for the 4th of July parade in Wellfleet. I hope to take James this year to the parade. It's so much fun and they throw alot of candy off the floats. Can you tell I'm ready for summer?

Alex, I'm sitting here writing and in your apartment below it sounds like the floor is going to fall in. Boy it was never that noisy with you around. The dog is out of control. I do miss listening to you in the morning getting ready for work and walking across the floor in your heels. It was so soothing to hear at 5:00 A.M. I mean that! It would calm me knowing you were there. It's just not the same without you here!!! As you can imagine Stephen goes nuts about the dog and paces around not knowing what to do with himself without Julian. Hope your doing well and to all keep writing!

Love to you all!

Eve

Hats off to you!

Danda, we need to keep you warm since you say you have been so cold with a bare head! I can relate...in a very Chiara and Alexis kind of way (since this is something I can picture us all having a laugh about!), I can relate. When I get the hair waxed off my legs, there is a chill I feel. It is colder and I wonder why would I remove hair that was there for a good reason...clearly to keep my legs warm! But with the sex appeal of hairy legs being very low here in America and give in and take it all off. Hopefully, that has given you a laugh for the day! But seriously...

I have been keeping my eyes peeled for hats for my cuz, but with spring product filling the stores, yes, that I do mean spring product despite the fact that most people are still digging their cars from the snow in most parts of the country, it seems winter hats have been laid to rest. But alas, sometimes that means you can find great bargains! So I have found you this little tweed hat that I think is really stylish and my twist is for extra warmth that you wear a colorful scarf under it. It also gives a pop of unexpected color under the brim of the hat! I clearly watched Queer Eye for the Straight Guy for too many years! So, prepare to be awed by my find because it is coming your way! Enjoy! I can only hope our heads are the same size?! Hmmm, if not, I will try and again and Vicky can wear it so you both can be women who don hats everywhere they go!

Connecting a dot from Newton, MA

Hello Beautiful Alex and fellow blogees

Thank you for the invitation to join along.  I am delighted to climb aboard any endevour to entertain and encourage our beloved Alex on her path back to complete recovery.  Alex, I don't know how you manage to exude so much grace and loveliness from your bald head, but believe me you do.  

I have a submission of sorts for the Hats for Round Heads campaign.  Here is my daughter, Annika wearing my once-favourite hat.  She rarely wears it but does love to play frisbee with it, has used it as a bucket to make a sand castle and more recently ate cereal out of it.  I will shortly be reselling it on Craigs list.  Any takers? 

 ...   Er, yes, I did mean the hat!

Hi,

Lisa, what a great idea of talking and sharing ideas of where Alex would like to go. For that matter we want to go with Alex! One of our favorite places we've shared with Julian and Alex is the picture I downloaded from our upper deck in Wellfleet on the Cape. I have many others I will post another day. So Alex I want to see if you can quess what the next picture will be. One clue is (you mentioned it the other day) for that matter you say it everytime we talk.

We spent the afternoon at The Top of Hub resturant on top of the Prudential Builing today for brunch and I wish you could have seen how clear it was and Boston looked so peaceful, cold but peaceful. Lots of Ice on the Charles river and snow in the background. You could actually see the tip of the Provincetown monument. I had a bloody mary for you and took a picture of the river looking over Harvard I'll download as well another time.

Wishing you all the best for a wonderful week and hopes you get some sunshine and get out a bit.

Love to you all!!

Eve

CHEAP TRAVEL.COM

Alcatraz - sounds like an Alka-Selzer with no fizz. Can you think of a worse place to spend your time? Cold and dank and lifeless. Unlucky were the souls who inhabited its shores. I am not sure I would even choose to go on a tour of the place. I would rather head for gentler climes, greener hills, bluer seas. I can do this in my mind, which given the lack-luster economy, is a cheap and satifying means of travel. I am currently reading a book called FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH subtitled birding, opera, and other journeys. The author is one Thomas Urquhart. Educated in England and the US, he has been the Executive Director of the Maine Audubon Society hence the interest in feathered friends, but I submit it was his early years in West Sussex, the village of Amberley to be exact, that connected him to our planet both visually and through the written word. Urquhart is well-travelled, and he shares his various haunts with his readers who travel in the comfort of their armchairs or chaises or pillow-heaped beds.

Were you to ticket yourself on any travel, Miss Danda, where would you go? Perhaps your blogging buddies could offer some suggestions - places that they have been to that nurtured and nourished and enchanted. Surely everyone has a place that springs to mind. LSC

hats and tats!

Here are some other options for the hats for round heads campaign that Mom started. She spoke of the Queen's crown-what do you think? I am not sure purple is your color! Or there is Aretha Franklin's inaugural hat that Mom thought might be just the thing...but maybe it is only made for round bodies and round heads! Ellen Degeneres confirms that! But I think Mom's idea of body paint might be just the answer! Look what it did for these fine Brits! Apply the same detail to your head and the possibilities are endless!

It's an uphill battle!

Danda,

I haven't told you yet, but after year's of putting my name in the lottery to try and get into the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon I finally got in! You can tell it is a down economy if I got in because it means no one else is willing to hand over the entrance fee. But afters years of trying to check it off the list I figured there's no time like the present! Words to live by!

I have begun to train, little by little. Putting my running shoes on and hitting the road, swim cap and goggles secured and in the water I go and this morning all geared up and back on my bike. Two flat tires later and I survived (always get back on your bike with a guy in tow). I guess it had been so long since I had been on my bike that the inner-tubes has weakened and the rubber just split. I thought to myself...this is going to be an uphill battle!

Uphill battles whether chosen or not force us to dig deep and take each day as it comes with our eye on the prize somewhere far down the line-for me it is June 14th the day of the race. But I have no better motivation than thinking of you in London faced with your own battle. There were times today during my first ride of the season that I thought I was not built for this, this hurts, I want to quit...BUT if you dig just a little deeper you say, but I can't and I won't and so pedal after pedal I arrived safely home. I will be thinking of you every step of the way and with a little voice in my head and you riding alongside me on my shoulder I will be sure to make it to the end. I hope sometimes you can hear my little voice cheering you on as well, telling you, you can do it, dig deep! I love you!

Attached is a picture of some swimmers off of Alcatraz and again I ask myself why would you want to jump off a perfectly good boat into 50 degree water to swim with the sharks?! And I say because I have a body that lets me!

Hugs!

Lex

Hi,
Hope all is doing well.
It was great to hear Alex's voice yesturday, and her cheerful words. I am so proud of her, and I know she is going to lick this, move on to bigger and much better ventures for all the children who need her.
Keep the faith as we all have faith in you!!
Loads of Love!!!
Eve

Thinking of you....and procrastinating my work(!!)

So, this is my first attempt at blogging- but, I'll do it for you Alex! And, I'm also taking your advice to put off my work and instead connect with people who matter... Alexis, great idea, and great way to keep us all feeling close.

So James is just delicious, and I wish he were closer, too, so that I could give him (and his mother) a big hug. Also, Alex, you look lovely no matter what the #&* cancer is doing to you on the inside. Please never doubt that. You would look fabulous as a blond, or a redhead as well...maybe you could experiment?? :)

Seriously, I love to hear your fighting spirit and I have no doubt that you will prevail...I also loved your account of the nurse's shutting the door so that the other nice patients would not have to hear you swearing :) But, swear on, my friend. I'm swearing right here with you (it's a good thing I work from home on Fridays :)

Alright, back to work....for a little while more. Miss you.

Here is Audrey. Do you think the hat would fit throught the door of the Garden Flat at 58 Stratford? I certainly think it would stop the prams and nannies in Kensington Gardens. Don't be shy! Be daring. Put a smile on people's faces. Trust me, they will smile back and it will make you giggle and be happy! LSC

Chapeau, wig or art?

There is something to be said for a blank canvas. Churchill wrote, in PAINTING AS A PASTIME, several pages on how intimidating, challenging and darn right exciting a blank could be. There is a poem by Richard Realf - stanza 3 -
Back of the canvas that throbs, the
painter is hinted and hidden;
Into the staue that breathes, the soul
of the scultptor is bidden.

So, here we have Danda, round of head, and full of spirit, in need of something to warm not only her brain casing but something to bring levity to a less than enchanting situation. I propose a HAT CONTEST. Well, not really a contest but some creative suggestions for head adornment.
As Danda lives in the UK, home to some of the most fabulous headpieces of all time, there should be no problem finding proper fodder. Take The Crown, for instance, a large bulbous, not particularly light and airy concoction. It lies heavy of the head. Each neck that has balanced it looked a tad stiff I thought. Perhaps they were contemplating the fates of their forebears. Just the other day, at the Inauguration, we were given the pleasure of listening to Aretha Franklin warbling, as only she can, one of our nation's most beloved series of notes. Who listened?! We were fixated on the hat! Now here was a milliner's magical moment! Dr. Suess, eat your heart out! Here was a big gray bow, rhhinestone deliniated, sparkling in the crisp winter air, firmly tied on top of a talented package.
Consider a few of hatdoms other renown glories - Coco Chanel and her minimalist cloche; Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany peeking out from under her black garden hat; Audrey again, at Ascot in My Fair Lady, wearing a Cecil Beaton black and white dazzler; HRH Elizabeth wearing what looks most times like a pasture patty she has just picked up at Ascot; Fred Astaire in top hat and tails; and so the pictures of hats pop into the mind. Do you have a favorite?
Let us not forget "body art". I have seen some incredible examples, so one wonders what such an artist would do with Danda? Chiara, are you up for it? Please use water colors or stage makeup.
Danda, I kiss the top of your pretty round head. Feel, from afar, the warmth of that kiss in the chilly English air and know that I am really there with you. LSC

TWO PERFECTLY SHAPED HEADS!

These are two other pictures that Alessandra sent in her email yesterday.

Alessandra, I have to say, you and James have a striking resemblance! You have a perfect head! Your mother must have loved you a lot to turn your head as a child and have it come out so perfect and round! Now all you need is a bouncy swing of your own! I LOVE YOU and YOUR perfectly shaped head!!

Letter from Alessandra

Below is a letter that Alessandra recently sent out to some folks, but it is an update on her current state so thought I would post...

Dear All, Yesterday marked one month since my diagnosis.... it feels like I have had an enternity of a journey so far ,not just four weeks... I guess the saying "Time flies when you're having fun" bears true.... As you all know, I left the intensive care unit a week ago, finally free of my drains and related garden hoses. I still have a torso riddled in stitches... war wounds that may one day become the trendy alternative to a contemporary tatoo? It will feel "freeing" to have those removed later this week. Admittedly, the second round of chemo was a bit=2 0brutal - just 24 hours out of the ICU, I was given the chemo, and my body literally said, "Now what the hell do you think you're doing?!?" Given the heavy pain killers I had been on in the ICU, I was not given much anti-emetic meds, and so I suffered the side effects of vomiting and nausea that I would not wish on anyone. And the aching bones - hard to describe what it is like to not be able to move your body into a position that feels minimally "comfortable". I was miserable for three days, to be honest, but through the dry heaves, and pain, and gritted teeth I still managed to shout "Fight this, you Fucker!". And more foul language followed...... not surprisingly, the nurses did not protest my request to keep my room door closed. Another "event", was the head shaving. Yes, one evening, I had had enough of tufts of hair everywhere to look like an animal with mange, and Julian arrived with a shaver, a razor blade, and a can of Gillette foam.... (also a couple of beers, of which I did not partake, but the poor man was being asked to perform a task that was emotionally hard for us both). If only we had had some G.I. Jane music.... Seriously, I cried a lot - release, sorrow, acceptance, a good bye of tears to the vision of the "old me". Hard for my own sense of health when I look in the mirror, and for James' portrait of "mummy" as he looks at me. But I did it, and voila' - I attach a photo of the "healing me": still as determi ned as ever, and one step closer every day to beating this illness, if I have my say. I walk around wearing a beanie because, as all of you know, if I was one to suffer the cold before, having a head with no hair is FREEZING. Have not bought a wig.... will probably venture down that road at a later date. I'm just adjusting to and accepting the cue ball. Just came back from the hospital and yet again, I am neutropenic - white cell count is below 1%.... but thankfully, they have agreed not to keep me in isolation at the hospital, but have given me more shots (and more to follow tomorrow), and have sent me back to the bubble of my home. I am not to venture anywhere else for a few days. So that is the scoop. I have been more emotional this second chemo round... I guess that the inital "shock" of it all has begun to wear off, I feel I have been through the trenches (The ICU stint did a bit of a number on me) and I have had many moments of anger, frustration, fear and simply sadness. I am 35 and my body does not feel it. So, I have cried, and "let it out", which has been good and necessary. My sister, Julian and my mother provide me with wonderful pep talks in those down times that make me feel blessed for such support in my life. So, the morale, in general, is high. But I am human. I am having trouble sleeping at night, but hopefully that too, shall pass, with time. What else.... I have my sister, her boyfriend, m y husband and mother to thank for a 360 turn around in diet. I am sugar-free, dairy-free, salt-free, red meat-free... they have researched the link between cancer and diet to no end, and it has been an education. My body has been "detoxed" to the full, and I nourish it with goodness after goodness. While treatment has made me drop 10 pounds, I owe every healthy ounce on my body to the organic food, lovingly prepared meals, vitamins, and strict regimen (my sister in particular is not to be messed with!) that I am following. I believe there is much that can be accomplished through taking care of oneself through more than just medicine. And I am fighting this from all angles. One last thing, before I forget. My cousin sweetly has set up a blog for me.... I am embarrassed to say that I have never blogged, nor do I know how it works exactly but I shall learn. I understand that it is about connection, and I am all for that. Here is the link. : http://www.doctordanda.blogspot.com/ I have to go, but I send you all my love, and so much constant gratitude for the support that I feel on a daily basis from you all. It means the world. I attach a couple of more recent pictures of James, because he is my biggest booster of them all and continues to cheer me on all the way. Alessandra

this is just a test! But it worked!!!

I suppose if I was going to have to ask people to join in I should know how to lead them in the right direction- with this post, we will add lots more friends to this network!! Oh, and just for fun here is a picture of James that Danda sent today!!

BLOG IT!

Hi All,

So the cat is out of the bag! I have taken on the technological revolution with as much gusto as Alessandra has taken on fighting cancer! I have sworn as well! F-bombs rolling off my tongue as I navigated the in's and out's of figuring out this blog world! Maybe in this new virtual world we are creating we can use the word "blog" to mean I am feeling bogged down and crappy since we all know we can feel that way-at least then Danda can shout "I am really feeling bloggy", or "blog this damn disease" and the nurse will be able to keep the door open without offending too many people on the ward! Oh, blog it!, I have to run, this silly thing call work calls...will write more about this blog in a moment!

-Alexis

Connect the dots!

So here I am on a Sunday night in Sausalito, CA building a blog on my couch or as the title of this post says "connecting the dots" (more on the inspiration for the title later). Never thought I would see the day I would embrace technology with such gusto! But alas, the electronic revolution is here and family calls.

Since learning of my cousin Alessandra's diagnosis of breast cancer I, as everyone else who knows her, has I am sure been trying to figure out how to support her in the coming months of treatment. The phone can be tricky with time zone changes. Email leads to a flooded inbox. And apparently there is not enough space in the garden flat for us all to move in so I have built us a home to all live in...virtually!

I thought creating a blog would be a great place for us all to come together and chat, post photos and provide an outlet for us all to let Danda know that we are all here for her and her family!

So with that said this is my post for the night. I look forward to getting Danda's buy in on this idea and adding each of you to Danda's community. Danda, I think of you nightly, this is my way of letting you know you are in my thoughts! Let it be known I have no idea what I am doing with this website, but then again do any of us ever know what we are really doing, but we are in it together and for that we should give thanks! Love to all!

-Lex