Monthly Archives: September 2010

Hello! I am still coming down off the high of the Today Show last week.  I had such a great time and it’s amazing what adrenaline and a fistful of Vicodin can do for your spirits! I felt so great that day that I assumed that I was going to recover really quickly from surgery…unfortunately, not the case.  

I took a huge nap when I returned home on Wednesday and since then, I have averaged about 13 hours of sleep a day! I am a total zombie.  Everyone tells me that this is great news and that I need to sleep because you heal best when you sleep. That’s great…and I feel like I am the opposite of the Energizer Bunny (don’t tell them, they might take the prize back!)

It’s also hard to sit for very long at my computer so I apologize to anyone who has emailed me and I haven’t returned your messages.  I so appreciate all of the well wishes and they really keep me going. However, …

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Just 8 days post-surgery, I managed to drag myself out of bed, take a fistful of Vicodin, and head to The Today Show for what I thought was simply a very exciting opportunity to talk about Cycle for Survival (cycleforsurvival.org). How could I possibly pass up this amazing opportunity?!

NBC extended the V.I.P treatment. A limo picked Dave and me up and brought me to the set to have my hair and make-up done. I kept on hearing rumblings about a “mystery guest” but I had no idea what anyone was referring to. Needless to say, I was very surprised when that mystery guest turned out to be MLB Hall of Famer Carl Ripken Jr. announcing that I had won the Energizer 2010 "Keep Going" Award!

It was such an exciting moment! I could NOT have done this without the support of each and every ONE of you who voted every day (sometimes multiple times a day!)  What is so fantastic is that this award has opened so many doors …

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Hi everyone! It’s Jen. Thank you so much for all of your well wishes. I am sorry that Dave and I have not sent another update sooner but we have really been focused on my rest and recovery. This will be very short as I am still in a lot of pain and am finding it hard to sit in one position for very long. This hospital stay has truly been the best one yet.

An anonymous friend of mine pulled some strings and got me my own room which makes a huge difference. I also have had the most wonderful nurses. The staff at MSKCC is great but this is the first time I can remember that I have had 100% amazing nurses. They have all had a wonderful spirit and have been so caring. They have made these past 5 painful days very bearable. I also had a good friend unfortunately in the hospital with me at the same time. So, we got to go on walks together, …

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Hi Friends! It’s Dave here, your Fearless Guest Blogger. Here’s the post-surgery update (written on Tues night 9/14/10). We’ll try to post some photos, etc later in the week.

First, thanks for all the great family pictures, inspirational song suggestions, and love & support! They are really making a difference and keeping a smile on Jen’s face (yes, my lovely wife is still smiling even today…especially after she presses the button to get a dose of pain meds!)

Coming into the surgery today, we didn’t know exactly what to expect. The last couple chemotherapy regimens haven’t done the job so we knew that even if they removed all the tumors today, there was a high probability that the cancer would return.

Therefore, even though we were hopeful that today’s surgery would be a positive step in the fight, we all knew that at some point we’d still need to find a medication to kill the cancer cells or keep them from growing. In this vein, you might have heard Jen mention an upcoming …

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I am approaching the final days before the big cut-up #6. I was beyond touched by how many people responded to my request to send in “tough” songs to prepare me for Tuesday’s surgery. The play list that I created is a testament to the amazingly diverse group of friends that I have…I was rocking out to everything from 80’s rock (Metallica) to Hip Hop (LL Cool J and Heavy). And who would have thought that I can tolerate some country once in a while?

I picked a selection of the songs and made a “physical tough” playlist for you to copy if you’d like. There’s something in here for every musical taste and I guarantee that you will get a great sweat! Sorry if your song was not chosen, I was trying to narrow it down to a “top 30”. Here goes…

Hold Back the Rain – Duran Duran 

Fighter – Christina Aguilera

Not Afraid – Eminem

Alive – Goldfrapp 

Sunshine (Georgie Anthem Radio) – Georgie Porgie

Let it Rock – Kevin …

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Dave and I rented a house in Long Beach Island, New Jersey for the week to celebrate my mom and dad’s 45th anniversary. It has been 5 years since all 8 of us (my parents, my brother, sister-in law, nephews and Dave and me) spent a vacation together and we were so looking forward to it. We got a great house with a pool, Jacuzzi and enough bedrooms for everyone. The weather forecast was great and we arranged the week so that Dave’s parents would visit for the first few days, Dave and I would have a day or two to ourselves, and then my family would join for the last few. It was a perfect way to celebrate the end of the summer!

All I had to do before heading to the beach on Saturday morning was to get chemo on Friday. Everything was running smoothly and we were about to begin my treatment when I shared with my nurse that I was starting to experience low-level abdominal pain and …

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