Girls Having Fun

I'm busy recovering from the Omakase Farewell dinner last night (5 hours, hundreds of courses of food; then I lost count). While I recover--

Check out this You Tube video: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Stephanie, a fierce breast cancer butt-kicker and blog buddy (Bah! to Cancer) , is featured in this Race for Life video. She's one of the ones with pink and purple dealy-bobbers....but that may not help you pick her out.  Still, you'll have fun trying.

Happy Friday everyone.

My Chemo Calorie Counting

Yeah, that's not really happening. There are certain rules... well, no, not really rules...guidelines...for things to avoid. I think I've mentioned a few ...sushi, mushrooms, raspberries, anything that maybe is difficult to wash. To be honest, I 'm not real sure. It's all about avoiding any kind of bacterial infection and of course not upsetting my stomach, which is already battling well, ah, chemo and all. So far one of the hardest things is actually remembering that I'm sick. And that I need to think about what I eat or do. Yeah, I'm not good at that. I eat like a teenage boy. Always have. Which is to say, I eat a lot and I pay no attention to "health." (Yeah, yeah, go ahead and tell yourself I got cancer because of my eating habits and so it won't happen to you. What. Ever. Science is not on your side on that. Um, or mine.) But now, I'm trying to pay attention. Trying to not eat anything that might cause problems. Only I'm hungry all the time! I can't eat as much in one sitting as I could before (this, I'm sure, is a really good thing) but I need to nibble or snack every hour or so. Despite this, I've lost 4 pounds in 5 days. Really hoping that keeps up!

So here's how my care and feeding plan went today: Breakfast was a piece of wheat toast with peanut butter (which took two tries, I made it and then left the room momentarily and of course, Seamus stole the first one). Lunch was In 'n Out--cheeseburger, fries and an iced tea. The fries tasted funny to me (the metallic taste in my mouth thing), but otherwise, mmmmm. I did manage a couple of carrot sticks as a snack (because right, you need a snack when you've had In 'n Out for lunch!!), but then dinner was....Omakase!! Tonight they switched to the Spring menu so they had a special tasting and wine pairing. Not to be missed. But I had to carefully consider the menu whereas normally I would have just said "whatever the chef is making" (yeah, he's that good). I thought I was being really good--garden salad (that's it in the picture up top), potato gnocchi and belly of Vande Rose Pork and I limited myself to one beautiful glass of wine. But the food was so dang good I kept stealing from Chris's plate...and glass. Which meant I also "tasted" Fuet de Vic and Roast marrow of Brandt Beef. I did stop at Sweetbreads of Milk-fed veal (Chris didn't stop). I don't know if this means I'm doing chemo all wrong or all right. I suppose time will tell. But right now, tonight, I feel really good. It's nice to still be going out, still have energy (yeah, I did have to take a nap between work and dinner), and to be able to enjoy a really, really good meal (two actually--come on, In 'n Out is really good too!).

Last Sushi in Perris

Okay, not Perris. Riverside. Or anywhere for me, for awhile. (But last sushi in Riverside does not at all sound like "Last Mango in Paris" thus, I claim poetic license. Oh, and I have CANCER!!) And it's not that I eat sushi all that often (because, yeah, I live in Riverside) or even love sushi all that much--I spent three weeks in Japan 100 years ago and that about did it...although I did love Nobu Malibu for STACEY ALDSTADT'S birthday 62 years ago (and we saw Rose Marie and Kirk Cameron..no, not together... but Stacey counted both as "celebrity sightings"...and yet she scoffed at our Brad Garrett sighting...) ...wait...am I rambling? Sushi. Back to the sushi. Or the end of sushi.

Once "they" told me that the not-so-very-long list of things I cannot eat or do during chemo included sushi, well, you know I wanted sushi. And once again it was BREIN and RORYANN CLEMENTS of OMAKASE (http://www.restaurantomakase.com/homepage.cfm) to the rescue (and also somebody who claimed to be Roryann's mother but she preferred her other daughter, Erin, it was just totally obvious, and what kind of mother does that...). We met them for sushi at Sushi Asahi, in, of all places, a little strip mall over next to the Van Buren Drive-in (which by the way, is a great place to go see a movie or two with a bottle of wine--or two--and a picnic if you just happen to have a really cute beagle with a serious separation anxiety problem. Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Bolt however, should be avoided as barking dogs over the radio in a car with a trapped beagle = noisy, and um, trouble. Especially since theoretically, the drive-in does not allow dogs.)

But the sushi--the sushi was excellent! Despite the fact that it was cold out, and apparently that can cause a little less flexibility if one was, say, recovering from surgery, generally unable to use chopsticks, and had a fairly limited reach of the right hand, I was still able to battle my way to several (thousand) pieces of truly delectable sushi. The fact that my favorite was called "Diablo" was purely a coincidence. And the fact that Brein was next to me and an entire glass of mango iced tea dumped onto his lap and thus sidelined him from the sushi free-for-all for a solid 45 seconds, also coincidence.

So, while I can't eat sushi for awhile, you can. And I promised helpful information on this blog. So there you have it. Sushi Asahi. Van Buren. Go. Oh, and Omakase (downtown Riverside; phenomenal food). Go. Eat. Be happy. You never know when some guy in a white lab coat is going to tell you to stop.

4a.m. Follow-Up (How to and not to respond)

Yeah, more insomnia. This is fun. I am steadfastly ignoring that I was up at three in the morning when I had fettuccine alfredo (and wine), and now I'm up at 4a.m. after having fettuccine in a Gorgonzola cream sauce (and wine). This is pure coincidence.

But it is also giving me a chance to read your comments here and on Facebook and in emails. Perhaps I was a bit strident in my directions on the "care and feeding" of "cancer person." Perhaps. But it's working! Here is what may be my favorite response to date:

"...[I] was led to your blog which made me cry and laugh and cry. But I am glad I found it because I would have said something foolish to the effect of 'my grandma beat it and you'll beat the odds too.' But that's not what you said you need, you need numbers tipped to your side and she is just taking away from your chances. The bitch!

So here goes (remember, I am Holly's child and with that comes her sense of humor)

'I am so sorry, especially because the ten people I have met with breast cancer have all died.'

I hope that helps to put the numbers back on your side again! And if you need anything at all, just ask. Especially chef services, I'll whore Brein out to you and Chris any time!

That's from Roryann Clements. And it's my favorite for two reasons: 1) it's damn funny, and 2) she and her husband Brein are the owners of my favorite Riverside restaurant Omakase, so I'm all over that chef services offer!! (He is unlikely to prepare fettuccine in any kind of cream sauce, so I'm okay there).

And then there is my least favorite response to date. Both of my parents (who have agreed on precisely two things ever in life--one resulted in me and the other resulted in my brother) suggested that I should tell my ex-husband about the breast cancer. So I did. And three days or so later, here's the email I got in return. Get the tissues ready:

Teresa:

Sorry to hear about your health issues. I had no idea. I really do hope that the doctors at UCLA and the science we have today will be helpful in treating you successfully. I wish you all of the best.

Okay, now wad up the tissue and throw it at the computer screen!! I promise you that is the entire response. I spent ten years of my life with this man! Clearly he has been beseiged with emails from ex-wives recently diagnosed with life threatening illnesses and he was forced to develop a form response so he could just hit "send" as necessary. But I'm not bitter. I understand. He was raised to think emotions are like dirty underwear--you don't display them. I know deep down though he's worried. He's worried I won't be able to pay my medical bills and this will damage his credit report since I still have his last name.

Oh good, I feel better now. And it's 5:15a.m. and I can hear that in the other room Chris is now wide awake and watching TV. Poor baby. This is going to be a long 8 months.