Team KT

Today, June 26th, 2015 Tony and I celebrate our 5 year anniversary.

At 23 when you say the words, "through sickness and health" you aren't really thinking about all the sickness you'll experience in life, all the hardships. But when those sicknesses do hit, you'll understand the full weight of your decision on who you choose to be your life partner. I am so lucky that my life partner, my husband, the man standing by my side through all these adventures is Tony.


I can not even begin to describe the man that Tony has been through this most recent adventure of cancer. From continuing to be a shoulder that I can cry on during the bad moments, to providing me with entertainment and laughter, to being someone that pushes me when I needed pushed, and loved when I need loved. He has stepped up to the plate on every aspect that a husband can when his wife is sick. There are always positives to bad situations and watching my husband be the most amazing, caring, supportive, and badass during all of this is one of those.I love you Tony. I thank you. And I too look forward to many more years ahead of us!

And because I can't help but write long blog posts, here is a recap of how Team KT became Team KT. :)

How We Met:
In March of 2006 I was visiting Boise for my springbreak from Northern Arizona University. Michelle Sweet and I went snowboarding at Tamarack resort. As we sat on the chairlift singing and enjoying life, Michelle shouts out, "hey that's my buddy Tony, we should try to catch up to him and take some laps." Tony was snowboarding on the run below the lift. Eventurally we do meet up and spend a few hours trying to impress one another on the rails in the park. Which at this time in my life I did not ride park, and neither did Tony. Through making an ass of ourselves we had some good laughs and our initial moments of bonding.

Our First Kiss:
It wasn't until August 29, 2006 that we were able to hang out again. I had moved back to Boise by this point and was going to school at BSU. I had thought of Tony often in those few months but was never able to meet back up, until Michelle calls me on 8/29 and says, "guess whose 21st birthday it is today, Tony Day. You should call him." So I do. Tony answers and since it's already the afternoon and he did not have class that day he was well on his celebratory 21st birthday path. When I tell him who I am, he freaks out and says he definitely remembers me and I better get over to his house stat to celebrate. Well, gentleman, if you want to make a gal feel special, definitely act that way when she calls you 5 months after you last hung out.

The evening was fun filled, and thanks to my handy dandy fake ID I was able to join in all the evening adventures. At the Bistro in a somewhat foggy haze, after Tony sinks a game winning shot, he leans over and kisses me. OH yeah! First kiss! In a bar, under a decent amount of alcohol. It may be a little blurry but it is perfect to us. :)

Timing Is Off: 
From 2006-2007 our timing just wasn't right. In the Fall of 2006 we had some great times hanging out when we could, especially the night of my brother's wedding.

Tony even made it to the Mather cabin (in Donnelly, Idaho, about 90 minutes north of Boise) a few times. But besides our few dates we both had really busy schedules and in the Spring of 2007 I took the semester off school and lived mostly at my cabin to be a total snowboard bum. Once snowboard season was over I headed back to Boise and did summer school to make up the credits that I had missed that spring.

Michelle invited me over for a get together one night in May and there was Tony. We had an amazing few hours of hanging out and really connected. It seemed we were both ready to offiically start dating...or so I thought. Turns out, Mr. Day had a one way ticket to Alaska for the summer. Which was so cool and made me like him even more.

Love Letters & Drunken Calls: 
For the summer of 2007 Tony lived on Fox Island and worked for a touring company. The only place that had cell service on this island was down at the very edge of a dock on the water. So most of our communication during that summer was writing letters to each other. For a girl, it was rather romantic. And I still have all those letters saved to this day. Occasionally the Fox Island crew would have some beers and on those nights I would get a late night call from a buzzed Tony sitting at the edge of a dock freezing. Again, very romantic and noble. :)

These letters and calls helped Tony and I really build a great base to our relationship. We got to know each other on a much deeper level and we both just knew when he got back from Alaska it would begin our true relationship. 

Falling in Love:
Tony came home on August 22, 2007 and we considered that the beginning of our relationship. This August that will make 8 years! So amazing!

We celebrated his return with a fun weekend at the Mather Cabin, which included shaving his Alaska hair-do.

I knew there was something great with Tony from the get go. And our summer of writing letters made that feeling even stronger. As we spent the fall and spring dating it solidified it even more.



In the spring of 2008 Tony planned out a great surprise date for us. We went to a spa/massage and then he blindfolded me and drove me to Horseshoe Bend. I had mentioned to him once, maybe twice about this tree that sat on the hill near Highway 55 in Horseshoe Bend, which is a town about 45 minutes north of Boise that you pass on the way to my cabin. Ever since I can remember I loved that tree. It always had green grass growing beneath it and there was just something about it. Well Tony listened to me tell that story and remembered.

So he blindfolded me to trick me on where he was taking me, which was funny because it didn't work, I had a good idea where we were headed, but I loved the thought he put into it. Once we pulled off the highway, we hiked through what I am sure is private property, hoping over fences and eventually made it to the tree. This is where Tony wanted to tell me he loved me. It was very romantic, special and so cool to have an amazing memory of this. And we also wrote letters to each other to be opened the next year. We buried the letters at what is now OUR special tree.

Team KT vs. Europa:
For years I had wanted to backpack Europe and I could never find anyone to go with me. Then along comes Tony and while he was adventuring in Alaska he agreed to go with me. So we worked hard, saved our money and took off for 71 amazing and eventful days backpacking through 13 countries of Europe. You can see the link to that blog in my profile.

The Proposal:
On June 19th, 2009 Tony had another big surprise day planned. I woke up that morning and thought I was heading to work. Instead Tony had asked my boss for the day off and he took me on a scavenger hunt around Boise. We went to places that were meaningful to us, like the airport (our love of travelling), a house we lived in together, our first date, my favorite resteraunt, and a few other memoriable places. Each stop had a letter and a picture about Team KT. Then we drove out to our tree and Tony got down on one knee and proposed! And duh, of course I said yes!

The day was so thought out, so much fun and I loved all the letters and pictures, which of course I still have. We also dug up our letters we had written the year before and wrote new ones to dig up next year!

The Wedding:
In the fall of 2009 we moved to New Hampshire so Tony could attend the Physcial Therapy program at Franklin Pierce. Thanks to the help of my mom we were able to plan our wedding long distance so that on June 26, 2010 we tied the knot in front of 150 family and friends at the Kathryn Albertson's Park and the Rose Room. The night was filled with love, laughter, dancing and a lot of good times!

Team KT Adventuring Through Life:
For 5 years we have sure had our share of adventures! And we have sure moved around a lot!

• 2009 Fall-2011 Spring: Concord, NH. We lived in two houses during this time while Tony finished up the in-class side of schooling. We explored the East Coast like crazy! From weekend trips to NYC, Boston, Maine and Vermont to daily trips around NH. And one long trip to Puerto Rico for Spring Break.

• 2011 Summer: North Conway, NH. One of the best summers of our life. We lived in this small, mountain town for Tony's first clinical and we hiked all 48 New Hampshire peaks over 4000 feet. There is a blog documenting this adventure on my profile. 

• 2011 Fall: Lebanon, NH - 2nd clinical at Dartmouth.
• Nov. 2011-February 2012: Sydney, Australia- 3rd clinical. And we were lucky enough to have 10 days to go explore New Zealand! One of the coolest trips.

• February 2012-April 2012: In Eagle, Idaho with my parents. :) 
• April 2012-July2012: Lubbock, Texas. Tony took a travelling Physcial Therapy job. The destination was not really by choice, more for convenience. But it was fate becuase we adopted Lubby and TeamKT became three! This is also where we fell in love with Crossfit, which has obviously had a big impact on our lives.

• August 2012-October 2012: In Eagle, Idaho with my parents again.Tony started work as the Sports Resident at St. Luke's Hospital and I joined the Real Estate team, Christina & Company at Keller Williams that I still work for!
• October 2012-August 2013: We bought a house! And adopted a cat. TeamKT became 4.

• August 2013-Present Day: Carbondale, Colorado. A little slice of paradise. 

For all the family and friends that have helped Tony and I over the past 7 years and roughly 10 months, we thank you. We would not be the Team that we are today if it was not for the support and love from all of you. 

And to my husband on our 5 year anniversary. Thank you again for the amazing years we have had together. Thank you for the care you have shown me these past few months. And here's to all the years we have ahead of us and all the adventures we will take together. There is no one else I would want by my side through life. I love you.

It's Getting Hot in Herre

I am gettin so hot, I wanna take my clothes off.  

I am sure that when you sang that little tune to yourself just now you might have conjured up images like this:

But I am sorry to disappoint, it's more like images like this:

Like seriously. It's so hot. Summer is here in Colorado. And shit, between 95 degrees, no A/C in my house and hot flashes, I wanna take my clothes off. Okay perhaps, I'm being a little dramatic. :)

So cycle 3. For the most part better than 1 and 2. Woohoo! And now only one more to go, which is the best thing ever! Actually, not having any more AC treatments will probably be the best thing ever. Anyways, here's a recap of how the last two weeks went in the life of Team KT.

Wednesday June 10th, 2015:
Wednesday was infusion day and Becca, Tony's sister and mom, Gina accompanied me to the hospital. The interesting fact I found out that day was my weight changes.

• May 13th: Chemo infusion 1: I weighed 157#, which is actually light for me, I'm usually around 165.
• May 27th: Chemo infusion 2: I weighed 150. I lost 7 pounds in 14 days.I figured it was mostly the fact that muscle weighs so much and obviously I lost some muscles. But the nurse said it probably was mostly stress related. 
• June 10th: Chemo infusion 3: I weighed 152. That makes sense. I was wondering when all that mac and cheese, pasta, and casseroles would catch back up to me. 
• June 24th: Chemo infusion 4:  I weighed 155. 

I can tell. I don't enjoy seeing my body lose the "toned" or "in shape" look I worked so hard to get, but at the same time I am happier to gain weight then lose a ton and feel even more weak. And I know in time I will get back to where I was.  It was just interesting to watch and feel the changes happen.

Infusion was good, labs looked good, although my heart rate was really low, but still okay. And Wednesday overall went well. No nausea and just layed low and enjoyed a delicious meal from the meal train!

Thursday June 11th:
Also a good day. I felt well enough that I decided to go to the gym. I did a jerk cycle and a clean cycle and planned to do some snatches and front squats but I got pretty wiped out (just fatigue no nasuea) from the first two movements so I went home.

Friday June 12th: 
The symptoms started to kick in and I had some nausea that night but it wasn't too bad and I took my antinausea meds which helped.

Saturday June 13th:
My day consisted of about 6 hours of putting a 1000 piece puzzle together which I have decided is a great activity for cancer patients! And then 5 hours of playing Zelda on N64, another great activity! I was entertained and distracted for most of the day and it went by faster than other days.
That's the hard thing with chemo, when you're used to being someone that is go-go-go and then stuck at home on the couch, the days creep by so very slow! I have never wished for days to go by faster any other time in my life.

Sunday June 14th-Tuesday the 16th: 
The days progressed slowly but weren't too bad. I continued to work on my puzzle, play video games (total nerd alert), and just kept swimming. Tony had a little victory. Most of you know that I am the MarioKart (on N64) queen. I have rarely met anyone that can beat me. And if you want to challenge me, bring it on. I'm Yoshi and you are in for an ass-whooping! But our dear friends, Jen and Chris let us borrow their Wii for a few weeks and Tony got to destroy me at MarioKart on the Wii. I think that made his week. But that's okay.... I shall be out of this chemo fog and will learn that game and get him back. :)

Anyways, these days were better than cycle two. There were no depression or dark days. But Monday I was definitely really out of it. It was amazing how my brain was functioning. It does not work. I planned to work that day and when I realized that I could not think I then called on my amazing team to help me with any super important time sensitive things. And then I worked on my puzzle. And even doing a simple puzzle was difficult. But thankfully this only lasted on Monday. Besides the brain my muscles were very achy. Overall though it was better than the other cycles.  

Wednesday the 17th:
Yoga day! Now I associate Wednesdays with either chemo or yoga. I like the yoga Wednesdays more. It's my first time getting back in the gym, moving my body, and mentally telling myself you have now entered your recover week. So I really look forward to those nights. Thanks Sopris crossfit for this yoga!

Thursday the 18th:
Oops. I messed up. I got competitive and it backfired. I went to open gym with Tony and Becca and did some weights; jerks, snatches, and back squats. That went well. Tiring but well. Then I decided to do:
3 Rounds
20 GHD Situps
10 Handstand Pushups
2 Rope Climbs
1 Legless rope climb

Bec decided to join me because those were good movements for her to work on. And because she was working on form and going a little slower on the HSPU it gave me a chance to catch up each round, which then made me go into competitive Kelli mode. Bad idea. Eventually I slowed down and she speed up but I knew I had probably pushed it a little hard for my first day back and it was 95 degrees out (our gym doesn't have A/C).

Then we had plans to go to the rodeo. So we went home, showered, ate and headed out. I was sitting in the sun for about 5 minutes when I decided to head to the shade. After sitting in the shade for 15 minutes I decided I needed to go home stat and get out of the sun. Tony took me home and that is when the picture at the very top was taken.  For an hour we rotated frozen ice packs on my body to try to cool me down. My skin was on fire and my body was burning inside. But thankfully the season finale of Game of Thrones distracted me some. Which, WTF? If you watched that, what is up with that ending??! Sad.

So anyways, lesson learned, take it easy, especially in the hot hot heat.

Friday June 19th:

Friday was a good day and we finally got to go see Jurassic World. I LOVE action movies! And since Thanksgiving when it first premiered Tony, Gina, Bec and I have been so excited and it did not disappoint! So good. :)

Saturday the 20th:
We went to Maroon Bells and it was gorgeous! I definitely had a panic moment. During the summer you have to take a bus from Aspen Highlands ski resort to the Bells. It is easy to do and only costs $6 per person. We had never taken the bus so when we get on to the fully packed vehicle and the driver says we have a 25 minute drive I got a little freaked out. I like to always have an escape route with anything that I do. That way if all of a sudden I get sick and need to go home I can. Well I knew if I stayed on that bus I was looking at a minimum of 50 minutes of no chance of leaving. So I quietly sat there analyzing if I should do this, then I started to think about how I am not feeling that great (all mental I am sure), and if I should get off the bus and not go. But I kept my cool, held tight and within 10 minutes my brief nausea had passed. And it was a beautiful day up there and felt great to get into slightly cooler temperatures!

 

Sunday June 21:

Bec and Gina left. And I just want to say, wow, they were so helpful. I was really nervous to have someone other than my mom and Tony come and take care of me and help out. When I am sick I don't like to be around people. But they were so awesome. They cleaned the house, multiple times, ran errands, got me drinks/food/etc. whenever I needed it, and they cooked like crazy! They made me delicious homemade pot pies, lots of baked goods (crap...wonder what I will weigh next time ;)), and we also had their homemade raviolis, which is a Gardella specialty and was amazing as always! So Becca and Gina, thank you so much for all of your help while you were here! We really appreciate it! 

After they headed out of town I took Tony on a date! We headed up to a hike that was a gorgeous scenic drive 90 minutes away, in the middle of nowhere. And it actually looked so much like the area around McCall, Idaho, which is close to where my cabin is located. We then hiked up to Lower Savage Lake and man, it was a trek. It was 2 miles out and 2 miles back, and 1160 feet of elevation gain. And it was at 11,000 feet. Needless to say, it was slow. When I hike 14ers, the elevation kicks my butt. I am a zombie on those hikes going up. So I didn't feel too bad to be so slow this time, but there was a lot of rests taken. We also had a creek crossing at one point where we took our shoes off to get through. And then the last 300 yards was hiking through snow, very carefully hiking through snow. There were a few times we broke through the snow. Probably not the safest thing to be doing but I knew we were close and I really wanted to get there!

I had packed up some kid's paint, paint brushes and paper and thought it would be a fun date for Tony and I to paint the lake when we got there. We are not painters and did not have expectations of painting some masterpiece, but that would be the fun in it. But after hanging out for a bit we decided that perhaps we should get me back to the car and not push it too much. Tony at one point in the hike said, "This is gorgeous out here, but man this is one of the more remote hikes we have done before". Remember how I like those escape routes? Well I was feeling a little nervous after he said that. Tony did take a short nap and I walked around taking photos of flowers. I love photography and I miss it. And my new camera phone is pretty awesome so I had a great time. It felt good to be doing something creative. Overall it felt good to be hiking and adventuring again too.

And we'll save the painting for another scenic drive.

Monday June 22nd: 
Woohoo!!!!

I had an appointment with my doctor and he felt for the lump in my breast and could not find it! At all!! So he said, "that's great news and means the chemo has killed or is killing this cancer." So chemo, I hate you, but thank you! We also talked about surgery and decided bilateral mastectomy is the best option for me so that will happen probably the first week in October. I had pretty much made my mind up about it so I was prepared. He said that he would be open to the idea of me just getting screened every 6 months, but because of the chances being so high of developing it in the other breast he said if it was him he would do the full surgery. This brings my chances of getting breast cancer again to 1-2%. Which of course I couldn't help but be wary of due to the fact that there was a .01% chance my biopsy would be positive for cancer. Odds and percentages aren't that comforting to me these days. But I know that's really good and makes me happy. I will meet with the surgeon and plastic surgeon in Denver sometime in August. We are going with them because they specialize in young women with breast cancer and that's all they do.

We also discussed expectations for Taxol treatment which I begin July 8th and will do weekly for 12 weeks. I feel optimistic about those treatments and it sounds like most likely I'll be feeling and doing really good, enough to go camping, which is what I love to do in the summer! Crossfit will be better but still hard and may tend to wipe me out, but I can do whatever I feel up too.

Monday June 22nd:
Speaking of Crossfit. Monday I went to 5:30 class and took it  fairly easy. It was a Tabata workout, which is great for me right now, but it was also 90 degrees out. I could tell that I am a lot more fatigued this cycle. Two weeks ago I was working out hard, feeling pretty good and not getting wiped out. Not so this cycle.

Tuesday June 23rd: 
On Tuesday I went to 9 AM to try to beat the heat. It was a big workout, what was prescriped was the workout:

"Daniel"
50 Pullups
400 Meter Run
15 Thrusters (95/65)
800 Meter Run
15 Thrusters (95/65)
400 Meter Run
50 Pullups

So I knew I needed to modify it and was contemplating how to modify it. Man it sucks not being able to do RX, mostly because I have to figure out how to modify everything, which a lot of times happens in the middle of a workout. So prior to doing the WOD we did some running drills. Running sucks. Like really sucks! It has always been one of my least favorite movements at crossfit but when you are on chemo, it is really hard.

My modified Daniel was:
30 Pullups
400 Meter Run
15 Thrusters w/bar (35#)
200 Meter Run
15 Thrusters
200 Meter Run
30 Pullups

And here is how it went:
The 30 pullups were great! And all were butterfly! After the prewod running drills I told myself to only do 200 meter runs. But I felt so well after the pullups so I ran 400 meters. At the 200 mark I had an "oh shit" moment. I thought: "I am so far from the gym and so tired, I don't know if I can get back." (Yes, it was only 200 meters back, that's how tired I was). But I made it back and moved on to the thrusters. I broke them up in a set of 10 and 5. Amazing because on March 27th I did the open workout 15.5 and that called for

27-21-15-9 reps for time of:
Row (calories)
Thrusters (65# for women)

I did all the thrusters unbroken during this workout. I mean, that was really really hard. But the fact that I couldn't do 15 thrusters with the bar unbroken was crazy, what is chemo doing to me? Well, it's doing what it needs to, killing the cancer and that's all that matters. 

On the 200 meter runs I had to walk a little but I did them. Thrusters went the same. And then the pullups felt good again, although I could tell my tender baby hands were going to rip so I had to stop doing butterflies.

 

But at least I felt somewhat the same after my Danielesk workout as 15.5! Exhausted! I was more wiped out the rest of the day from chemo thrusters than from 15.5 though.

Thankfully I felt recovered enough by the time my mom got in town that afternoon to do one lap at the dog park. And go see the movie Spy at the theater. 

 

Wednesday the 24th: 

Infusion day 4. The final A/C treatment. THANK GOD. You know, chemo is a funny thing, especially to someone with stage 1 cancer. I've never experienced the bad symptoms of what cancer can do to you. I am very lucky because that means I caught it early.  And I am glad that I didn't have to actually feel sick from the cancer itself, I mean that would really be a slap to the face about your mortality. But because I never felt that it's hard to be so happy with chemo. Consciously when I think about it, I know chemo is good and it's killing the bad stuff. But that bad stuff has never done anything to me yet and the chemo has sure done a lot of bad stuff to me. So anyways, it's a little hard to deal with the chemo. And even though it was my final A/C treatment I was dreading getting it. 

So I told myself to remember this great quote: 

To change my perspective I told myself, "I am going to the hospital to save my life." I tried to not think about the bad side effects of chemo and only on the fact it was doing exactly what it was supposed to, killing that chemo! And that is what I am going to try to focus on and remember for the next week of my zombie like state. Wish me luck!

Some random thoughts:
We had some great news today. My sister received her results from her genetic testing and she is negative! I am so excited and happy for her. That is such good news! It took 5 weeks to get those results and we've all tried to be optimistic and not worried but you can't help but think about what she'll need to do if she was positive. We are all thrilled we won't have to make any of those decisions!


Watching the TV series, Parenthood last night there was an emotional scene at the end where one of the husbands very seriously tells his wife he will never cheat on her. He says, "we have been through so much and we will go through so much more in the years ahead, both good and bad, but I want you to know I will never cheat on you." It was in this moment that I couldn't help but realize all the choices you can make as a person, not just things like adultery. And all the things you don't get to choose but are forced to go through (like cancer). So as someone who has to go through something that was not a choice, please make the right choices in your life. You will have enough heartache, enough drama, enough pain, why add anymore to it? I know it's not that simple, but if by writing this it makes anyone in the world think twice before they make a bad choice then that makes me happy. And you should thank Parenthood. And you should watch Parenthood. :)

Some very helpful things that I have learned to love during chemo to keep in mind when you have a loved one going through fighting cancer:

• ACT Total Care Dry Mouth Mouthwash 
• ACT Dry Mouth Lozenges
• Gargle 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup water. Every hour for your entire A/C treatment
• Sugarfree Jolly Ranchers
• Sonic Ice
• Carbs- baked goods, pastas, casseroles. (At least for me).
• Then healthy foods on recovery week, especially fruit- AMAZING! 
• Sympathy/get well cards and care packages. These truly brighten your day so much. Even a simple card makes you feel so good. 
• Buff headwear wraps
• Books, magazines, TV shows, video games and puzzles! 
• As I have said before, meal train! So amazing and helpful!! 

Over and out!