Hey look... I was in a film!

Finally getting around to posting about the short film I helped out with. In April I got the opportunity to help out with a film for the 48 Hour Film Project.  My friend Dana was in a film for it last year and it sounded like fun. A costumer friend posted about her team was looking for people to help out/perform in their film so I contacted her about joining her team. She passed my information on to her team lead. I had not heard from them and it was getting close to the day of filming and I was chatting with Dana about it so she contacted her team lead and they contacted me about joining the team. I had signed on to be the hair and makeup assistant - my job would be to make sure hair was consistent in the shots and make sure people's faces were not too shiny. The whole excitement behind the 48 hour film project is that the team lead picks up which genre, writes, shoots, edits, and submits the film in a 48 hour time frame. So we are all basically "on call" until they have the script written. I get a text at around 10:15pm on Friday night telling me where the shoot will be and what time to show up. I got another at like almost 2am in the morning asking if I can bring party clothes because they want to put me in the film. SURPRISE! Luckily, we were not going to start shooting until the late after noon (the director had a call back he needed to be at earlier in the day) because I needed to do laundry in order to have anything nice to wear.

We shot the film at the director's (Christian & Evelyn) house. I knew no one on my team except for Dana... though I figured out later that one of the other actors and I went to high school together. I was glad to have a friend on the team since I am kinda socially awkward around new people. Everyone on the team was nice and pretty chill.

I would have loved to take more photos, but I did not want to invade with my camera so this is all I got.

Our "costumes"... we all provided out own clothes

The party table. We had snacks! Plus the film took place at a birthday party so they are also props.

What I was looking at during the times I was filming.

Dana shooting the opening scene of the film

My fellow cast mates in waiting

More filming.

Dana ending up being the star of the film. Her photo is even used on the poster art. 

It was awesome watching her work. 

I had never worked on a film before and this was a great experience and I am proud to be part of the final product. We were nominated for 13 awards. The awards show is on May 22nd.... I hope we win it all! 

Here's a link to the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHSCuz9J0LM

IN OTHER NEWS:

I've been working on losing weight... it's been a struggle. I am doing an eating plan I did about 14 years ago and lost about 70 pounds with. (The plan: meat, vegetables, and fruits. No bread/pasta products and no dairy. There are a few other rules but that's it basically.) Well, I am not in my 20's anymore, plus with the cancer treatment and tamoxifen I am pretty sure my metabolism thinks I am 58 instead of 38 so I am not losing as quickly as expected. I weighed myself today and I have lost 11 pounds in the last month and a half which is nice to see progress. My clothes do fit a tiny little bit more comfortably, but there is no visible changes yet that I have noticed. I am gonna stick with what I am doing a hope that the weight drops more.

Yesterday Dana and I got the meet Alan Tudyk! I got photos with him. I am not a fan of how big I look next to him but I am going to use this a motivation... and since I did not take an official "before" photo I may make these my "before". 

My Auntie Betty's friend, Sharon, joined our AVON39 team. We kicked off Sharon's training by walking 5 miles at a park in Danville on Sunday.

Welp! That is it for now... I think this post is long enough! I will try to more often!

I'm walkin'... yes in deed!

This week is the first week I have felt my ankle was strong enough to walk any sort of distance. I have been itching to start my training for the AVON39 and this week I finally could! I am back doing my lunch time walks and thanks to Daylight Savings Time there is plenty of sun after work for me to do more walking in the evening. According to my fitbit, Tuesday I did 11,170 steps (4.59 miles) and Wednesday I did 13,474 steps (5.53 miles). I've also adjusted my eating in hopes of losing some weight. I started that on March 28th and last week I lost 5 pounds! I do my weigh ins on Fridays so I'll find out tomorrow morning if I have lost anymore weight.

Time to head over to physical therapy!

Ankle and More

It's been a while since I've blogged and my friend Dana was complaining that I have not blogged in a while so here goes.

I got my cast off from my ankle surgery about 5 weeks ago and was in a walking boot for 4 weeks. I am now boot free and have started physical therapy this week. Right now my ankle does not feel any better than before the surgery, but hopefully with time and doing the physical therapy exercises it will be good as new. Patience was never one of my fortes so this has been a challenge for me especially since I am really antsy to work on my training for the AVON39 Walk.

Speaking of the AVON39 walk... Our team the Sparkling Violets have raised over $8,000! Betty and I are blown away at the generosity of our friends and family. We were both a little nervous when we signed up about raising the minimum required to walk... and we blew that out of the water!

It's been 11 months since I first saw signs of my hair growing back and it's now about 5 inches long in most places. It's hard to tell if the curl will stay or if eventually my hair will go back to being straight. I am enjoying the curl while I have it.

My work is offering a free membership to a fitness program called RivalHealth so I signed up yesterday and took my first fitness assessment... I scored an 18 out of 100. SO BAD!!!! Yeah, I have a LONG WAY to go! I am ready to be more fit and focus on this part of my health. I am hoping with this program I can lose some weight, build my strength and agility, and tone up some of my flab/rolls. I'll keep you all posted as (hopefully) my score goes up! I guess I should take the obligatory "before" photo.

Scooting Along

I don't think I blogged about injuring my ankle...
At the end of March last year I went walking with a friend and took a wrong step and severely sprained my ankle. I had my mom take me to the ER that night because I could no longer walk on it and wanted to make sure I did not break it. I was told it was a really bad sprain and not to walk on it for like two weeks. I was really mad about that since I knew in two weeks I would be having my breast cancer surgery. Well, it healed up enough for me to walk by the time I had my surgery. I saw an orthopedic surgeon about a month or so after the injury and he told me it could take up to 6 months to fully heal so I gave it time. In November, during Evita, it was still giving me issues so I went back to see the orthopedic surgeon and he ordered a MRI. The results were I had a tear in a tendon and a ligament... the only way to fix that is surgery.

I had my surgery last Friday, January 22nd. I am in a splint and can not walk on it until I have my follow up appointment on February 9th and get a walking boot. "Luckily", my mom had ankle surgery a few years back and bought a knee scooter and a wedge to elevate the foot so I am all set for this thing. I am so looking forward to February 9th!!!!

The pain has not been too terrible. The first few days were hurting, but now it just hurts when I move my leg and then the pain goes away once the leg is settled.



IN OTHER NEWS:
My Auntie Betty and I signed up to walk the AVON 39 The Walk To End Breast Cancer. We formed our own team... SPARKLING VIOLETS - because both of our favorite color is purple and we do love things that sparkle. My Auntie Betty is my dad's sister and a breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in 2003. She was a great resource while I was going though my treatment. For the next few months we will be raising funds and also training our bodies for the walk... 39 miles in two days. Please donate! www.avonwalk.org/goto/sparklingviolets

I am antsy to start my training but I also have to be patient and let my ankle heal!

THANK GAWD!!!

A week and a half ago I had my now yearly mammogram. A few days later I got a call that they needed to take more images of my right breast. This made me nervous, then ok, then nervous again. I had the second mammogram today and...

ALL IS GOOD! It was dense breast tissue.

ok... I can now proceed with the regularly scheduled program.

Bye, Bye Port

GREAT NEWS:
Last Wednesday I said goodbye to my mediport! It was done at my surgeon's office in a procedure room. She numbed the area with Novocain and once it was numb she cut my open and removed the port and the catheter that went into my vein. I was awake for the entire thing chatting with my surgeon during the whole thing. There was music playing during the entire process and it started out very spa like but at one point while she was cutting into me the music became more intense - like battle music from Lord of the Rings - so Dr Cassani had her nurse change it because it was a little too intense for the situation. She closed up the incision with dissolvable stitches on the inside and then sealed the skin with medical superglue that is PURPLE!

She also let me keep the mediport... you know, since it was in me for over a year and I did pay for it.

The incision seems to be healing nicely.

Now the not so great news: 

I had my yearly mammogram and I got a call that they need to take more images on the right side (not the side my cancer was on) so I will be going in on Wednesday afternoon for more boob squishing. Hopefully it is just because the tissue is dense and they need a better view, but I'm still scared. I think I will always be nervous when it comes to mammograms, but especially when they call and need more images. I will report back once I get the results.

Happy Cancer-versary???

I guess the only reason to "celebrate" a cancer-versary is because I no longer have cancer.

One year ago today I got the call from my doctor with the results of my biopsy. They asked if I wanted to come in or hear them over the phone. Well, we all know what that means so I asked that she give me the results over the phone. One phone call changed my life. I had just opened a show and was planning a trip to Disneyland for later that month. I continued to perform in the show, but I had to cancel my trip to Disneyland because they wanted to start chemo ASAP and I needed to get a bunch of tests and procedures done before they could start it. That night I had a brush-up rehearsal for Candide that I went to to help me not think too much about my results... I almost a few times at the rehearsal wanted to say "fuck this! I have cancer!" and walk out but I was not quite ready to tell my cast mates. I also learned that day that toast is one of my comfort foods. Since hearing my results all I wanted that day was toast.... toast for days.

I know I have not blogged in a while and so much has happened! Here are some updates...

I found a place to live for Dombey and I! I had been looking for a place to either buy or rent for months. As we all know, the housing market in Bay Area sucks so buying is not an option for me right now in any areas I would actually want to live and would not have a crappy commute to work. I found a small studio (450 square feet) apartment in Mountain View, super convenient to the freeway. Been trying to get it all organized but it's been hard with rehearsals... someday it will be done.

I FINALLY went to Disneyland! In October I went with my friends Jane, Lori, and Doreen. It was hot as hell but we had fun! I meant to blog about the trip but I have been busy. I got a Deluxe Annual Pass because my friends Dana and Dave are planning on going for a week in February and it will essentially pay for itself during that trip.

I have a boyfriend!!! ...and that is all I am saying about that for now.

I have an appointment to get my mediport removed. December 9th it is going away!

I want to take the time to thank my family for helping me out, especially my mom (Linda) for letting me move into her room and be her room mate for all those months. My Aunty Betty for sending me cards for every session of chemo counting them down. My brother (Michael) and sister (Julie) for helping me move both times. My mom, brother, sister, and sister-in-law (Josephine) for taking me to chemo. All my friends that helped me move. All my friends that did not stop being my friend just because I was sick (thank you for inviting me to things and hanging out with me). Thank you to those that sent me gifts. My work for being totally understanding of my time off and telling me to take what ever time I needed.

I am ready for my next adventure in life and for all the good things ahead!