Good Morning America

Good Morning America ended up interviewing me!! I ended up getting a call from the producer on Saturday telling me their flight would land in Portland at 9:15 am Monday morning. I knew there was no backing out then!

The camera crew showed up a lot earlier than the Good Morning America girls. They totally transformed our house and made it look like a TV studio. Huge lights everywhere, cameras---they even had to put stuff on the outside windows to get the lighting right! I have never seen so much equipment!

Correspondent Lisa Fletcher was the one to interview me. They first interviewed me in our living room. We both sat on our bar stools face-to-face. They kept telling me to "pretend the cameras aren't there." Ya right!! It was so hard! After that we moved into our dining room and I explained one of the pictures I have of my leg during my biopsy and the tumor site.

My mom came out to just watch but after she started talking, they asked her if they could interview her too. I knew that would happen! I even warned her! She tends to get pretty emotional and fired up about the whole situation, so as soon as she started talking I knew they would want her to talk! She did an awesome job though!

After all of the interviews, they wanted Joe and I to cook something. We didn't really have anything to cook, so Joe made an omelet. It was so awkward! They told us to just talk and pretend they weren't there. I started to cut something and the knife I grabbed was duller than a butter knife and the camera man was totally zoomed in on my hands! Joe was like, "Do you need a sharper knife?!" Hahahaha.....hopefully all of that gets cut. It was pretty much an all day ordeal, but they said the clip will only be about 3-4 minutes.

After everyone left, I had to go to Peace Health and get my original MRI, the one that was misread. Since Dr. Nichols (my oncologist) is out of the country, they overnighted all of films to Dr. William Bradley at UCSD. Dr. Bradley is Chairman of the Department of Radiology, and a Professor of Radiology at UCSD School of Medicine. He knows his stuff!

The segment will air either on November 22 or 23. Nicole said she'll let me know next week what day for sure. I'll keep all of you posted!

I'm a little worried about giving Longview Radiology a bad reputation, but then again, they misread my MRI! Had it not been for the extreme pain I was in, I would've just assumed it was something that was going to take time to heal. And if it was totally obvious on the MRI and got overlooked, how many other people are walking around with horrible things wrong with them but are unaware because their initial MRI was read as normal? It's scary!

Alright, that's all. Just had to share the news! It all seems surreal. When they left I looked at Joe and said, "Did that really just happen?!" Definitely a once in a lifetime thing.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Even though we all know that Obama will be the 44th President, I'm still addicted to all of the election coverage! I think it's all so fascinating! When I was a little girl I remember going to events where my dad would get up and talk and feeling so proud and excited....I can't imagine how Obama's little girls must be feeling now! I still get that excited/proud feeling---even if it's just him thanking everyone coming to the CAS party! I used to dream of my dad running for president (hahaha) and moving to the White House. In fact, I remember having dinner at Judy's one night and telling him he should run. I was convinced that he'd win because all of his employees would vote for him! Oh to be young and naive! I also felt like crying listening to McCain's speech last night. What a let down after all the hard work of campaigning!

Everyone is waking up excited for all of the changes promised to happen, but the thing that scares me is that everyone usually has an extremely hard time with change. It will be an interesting 4 years!

I had an email from one of my friends this morning.....I don't think she's happy.....

HOOORAY FOR SOCIALISM!!!!!!!
and NO MORE CHECKS AND BALANCES
and THE ELIMINATION OUR 2ND AMENDMENT RIGHT TO BARE ARMS
and "SPREADING THE WEALTH" BY HEAVILY TAXING SMART, EDUCATED AMERICANS WHO WORK DAMN HARD AND GIVING IT TO PEOPLE ON WELFARE, NOT EVEN MIDDLE CLASS WORKING AMERICANS
and PROPOSING A 986 MILLION TAX ON THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES IN ORDER TO END POVERTY IN OTHER COUNTRIES, NOT OUR OWN FIRST

Celebrating the Mommy-to-Be...

She really is pregnant, I promise!

Just a couple pictures from the baby shower. It was so much fun! Everything turned out perfectly! Now we just have to wait for the baby---it's going to be the longest two months ever! Thanks to everyone (especially all of you that drove hours to be there!) for making it such a special day for my sister!

Good Morning America!

First off, Happy Halloween!! I'm pretty anti-Halloween this year. Mainly because my sisters baby shower is tomorrow and we have a lot of last minute stuff to get done tonight. I can't believe tomorrow is the big day! And I really can't believe how fast her pregnancy has gone! In just a little over two months a little baby girl will be here!

Anyway, yesterday I received an email from a producer at Good Morning America. She read my story in The Daily News and wanted to talk to me more about my experience, especially dealing with a misread MRI. She's starting her research and talking to patients and doctors about this....apparently it's a bigger problem than I thought! If the pain in my leg hadn't persisted, I would've trusted what the results of my MRI said and maybe gone months--or years--with cancer! And then there were the problems getting referrals, etc. with the MRI readings being wrong. Why would the insurance company pay for me to see a specialist at the University of Washington when, according to my MRI, everything was normal!?

Needless to say, it was a pretty weird day! She asked what airport is closest to us and then said they'd be able to fly into Portland if they want to talk to me on camera. Crazy!! Even if they find better stories--which I know mine is minor compared to most--I still can't even believe I was contacted by Good Morning America!

In other news, I got my hours at work cut from 40 to 20. I've been anticipating this for months and I found out on Wednesday. I totally understand the need for cuts, the car industry has been doing horribly and dealerships are closing down everywhere, it's just the insurance I'm worried about. For me, that's more important than my paycheck right now. Joe and I are pretty sure I can get onto his insurance, we just have to sign a "domestic partners affidavit" so we need to get that figured out next week.

Anyway, it looks like Joe and I will be living on 1 1/2 incomes for awhile! I've always wanted to be a stay-at-home wife/mom, I just didn't plan on being a stay-at-home fiance. Or I guess I should say a part-time-stay-at-home-broke-fiance! :) Everything happens for a reason though......better things to come!

This is nothing compared to what I went through earlier in the year. Nothing!

Happy Thursday!

Almost through another week! I say this all of the time, but why is the time going so fast!? How can it possibly be the end of October?! Fall is my favorite time of the year (especially when we have weather like this!), so I'm sad to see it slipping away so fast. My mom always says that the older you get, the faster time goes. I don't know how that could be possible!

Anyway, life has been busy! Tonight my mom and I are going to meet with a lady in Woodland who does wedding cakes. She was recommended to us by two different people, so I'm excited to see her work! Below are some pictures of cakes that I'm going to show her. I love all of these!

2009 is going to be the best year ever....I'm going to be an aunt and I'm getting married! Total opposite of 2008!

Newspaper article

There was a feature story in The Daily News about my cancer treatment/experience today. Just in case anyone comes to my blog to find more about Fertile Hope, I want to clarify that it's not free for all cancer patients. To qualify you have to make less than $75,000/year (single) or $100,000 (married).

Also, if you're looking for Dr. Craig Nichols, he actually is at Providence in Portland, not Vancouver. And lastly, my radiation was not administired through my PICC line! :) Not sure how that got in there...

Roloff Farms

Yesterday Kim, George, Joe and I went on an adventure to Roloff Farms. This is the farm that the people on "Little People, Big World" (reality show on TLC) own. Despite waiting in a traffic jam for about an hour to get to the pumpkin patch, it was fun! Everything looked so different in person than it does on TV.

It was packed, but we found two good pumpkins and had a great day. It was gorgeous weather and it was fun spending time with Kim and George. I love everything about Fall! Especially days like yesterday! It was so gorgeous!

I also felt the baby kick for the first time yesterday! It was so amazing! Kim told me to put my hand on her tummy because she was moving and sure enough, I felt a little kick. I am so excited to be an aunt...only three months to go!