Italian Food

BTW (that's By the Way), I changed the order of my last 4 entries so August is the last one. It was bugging me that the entries were out of order. I once told my dad you can't change the order of the entries, I was wrong. You can. OOPS!

My friend Ruthie and I went on a romantic date last night. We listened to Alli's iPod (she sent it to me and I LOVE it) and got ready. We had fun getting ready and even more fun on our date. I had my first glass of wine in a LONG time. I didn't finish it, but it was still good and I definitely enjoyed being out at night as I haven't been for quite some time. We took a cab to the restaurant as I can walk some, but I fear that the walk to the restaurant, which I could do easily a year ago, would have been too tiring for me. Our friend Carlee picked us up. The cab ride reminded me of all the cab rides I took from my home in Spain to school in Spain, that was when the Dollar was strong and the Euro was weak. Yes, that was the case when the Euro first was used.

Noureddin and I watched Mad Money when I returned. I fell asleep so I need to see it again. We also got 2 discs of The Wire through Netflix.

I'm listening to Michael Bolton's When a man loves a woman, Billboard top 100 from ?, I love you Alli!

update August 2008

Hey. I started this blog in June to update everyone but I lost my camera connector so I didn't post anything. I just found it so I want to update all now.

So I turned on the TV and found Boys II Men featured on ABC and N.K.O.T.B. has been all over the radio. Not to mention that Indiana Jones is in the theatre now. I feel like I went to sleep and woke up in the 90's.

Most of you heard that I returned to work. I worked 4 days a week, from May 19 to July 25, responsible for curriculum development and a Program Orientation PowerPoint. I'm really enjoying work and am grateful that I am able to return. I will return again in September when school resumes. Thank you so much to all of my colleagues that helped me across the "pond" and up/down Mt. Everest ( the steep ramp by Portia's office) during the month of July. I wish my lack of balance was nothing but we all knew that it was symptomatic of a bigger issue which the MRI in the end of July showed.

I continued with Temodar and Zofran, 5 days a month. The second round in May wasn't so bad, and the MRI showed diminished growth in areas that showed growth in the last MRI. And the MRI in June showed growth through the Temodar so I was recommended to do IV treatments of Carbo-Platinum and Avastin. I did that and after one month the MRI showed continued growth,sigh:-(, so I now will start with CPT 11 (Chemo) and Avastin, an IV treatment that I will do twice a month. Basically nothing is working and this is the last treatment that they have for me. Next would be a Clinical Trial if there are any that pertain to me. My friend Steph calls my tumor D2, as it has proved to be as stubborn as me. So this has to work since all other treatments have failed. Let's will this one to be the magical combination that cures me, shall we?



On a very positive note I went to San Diego with Alli and Stephanie and we heard the sounds of Pat Benetar from our patio. Alli's mom, Pam, who is like a second mom to me cooked some yummy food for us to snack on in San Diego. So we indulged on her home cooked food. So good! Alli also had over 5000 songs in her iPod so we very much enjoyed listening to that on the way to SD.

On a very negative note my landlord is selling our place. :-( It's a duplex, zoned for four, with three garages, currently hosting two one bedroom apartments. Going for 560-569,000, not sure of the price. It seems good to me.

On another positive note, Tonya came to visit and we had dinner with my Aunt Nonie and Uncle Don. We had a fun time chatting at the restaurant Casa Pulida in the Redondo Beach Riviera. Tonya took me to get blood work drawn and the results showed that my platelets were too low therefore postponing chemo at least a week depending on the results of my next blood work.

July 2008

I went to my friend Bryan's 30th Birthday Luah. They had great f00d, Hawaiian music and Hula Dancers.

Had a good time visiting with Ruthie and Nichole. They bought me a brunette wig, so now I'm a cute brunette. You Like? We hung out on a Thursday night, then went to breakfast and had Manis and Pedis the next morning. Girlie time!

Sarah came for a day and we caught up. She is in between Tajikistan and Moscow now so her visit was short but sweet. She reminded me that I need to get on Facebook like all the cool people but you all see how good I am at Blogging. I'm afraid that my entries would be just as frequent on facebook.

June 2008

We started the month by attending a wedding at the Adamson house in Malibu. Our friends Billy and Christine got married and my Uncle Bill married them. It was a very fun wedding full of good food and Hula dancers. I bought a new dress, unfortunately I have lost so much weight that when I wore it on 6.7.08 it was already too large for me. :-(

Noureddin and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary by going to my favorite local Italian place. It was uneventful as the next day I had a MRI scheduled so that was on our minds.

At the end of June my friends Jasmine and Ellen came. It was so good to see them! We met in Spain, so the three of us have a special bond. We just hung out and caught up. I see them about once a year, usually during the summer. Jasmine lives in San Jose and Ellen is in Boston so reuniting with them isn't as frequent as I'd like.

May 2008

This is what I was up to in May.

I continued to do my Ki alternative treatments in May and really felt much benefit from the energy exchange treatments I received.

My cousin Phil came for a visit as he as was in town for a short while. My dad and Asako came over and Noureddin and I visited with him.

The Sunday before memorial day we went to a Bar B Que at our friends Stephanie and Christian's house. Their kids are getting so big! Noureddin brought them outfits from Morocco.Not sure if this image is from May, but these are the kids and the outfits.

On memorial day we hung out with our neighbors. We also spent te 4th of July hanging out with them in a boat in Long Beach, near the Queen Mary.

I went to see the movie Sex and the City with Steph and her mom. It was such a good movie. We saw it at a big theatre in Newport. Mostly women came and most were dressed up in dresses and heels!

A month plus

Wow. It's been a while since I've written in this blog. Since I had brain surgery within that month I'll give myself an excuse for this tardy blog entry. Yes, I had to have another brain surgery, that's three craniotomies and one VP shunt within 13 months, if you're counting. I was scheduled to have it on April 1 but I needed the surgery earlier so I was admitted to the Kaiser hospital in Anaheim on March 26 and had the surgery in the early morning of March 28. I was a little relieved that the operation didn't happen on April Fool's Day. I really wouldn't have appreciated any April Fool's jokes on that day.


I returned home on Wednesday April 2, 5 days post surgery. I couldn't get out of there soon enough. My wrists were badly bruised from the IV's and I do not enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night.


I started Temodar, a chemotherapy drug designed to treat Glioma Brain cancer. The treatment is not as strenuous as the treatment for Medulloblastoma so I have been able to tolerate the side effects very well. I only have to take the Temodar pills for five days at home, then I have three weeks off. No IV's so I feel much better.




Noureddin and I went to San Diego to meet with my new Oncologist. We stayed at a hotel in La Jolla and were able to make a mini vacation out of the trip. It was such a nice break. The first picture is of us by the pool, the second is a view near our room. This hotel was awesome! Fortunately my appointment was during off peek season, so the rooms were half priced and we made a reservation online and got a really good deal.





My Hard Drive had to get replaced so I have been spending time transferring documents, songs etc. Noureddin rearranged the furniture in the house and made it more accessible for me. My gate is still off, so I have a walker. I can get by fine without it. It's a good thing that I like to lean on people, 'cause I do. My speech was slurred after the surgery so a Speech therapist came to my home 3 times, and I'm cured! Not really, but my speech is better than it was three weeks ago.

Medusa Lounge for Evi's Bday

Look how cute Noureddin and I are in this picture. We went out for our freind Evi's 30something Bday party last Friday. This was the first time I went out in over a year, so I really wasn't sure what to wear. I donned my Black Down JCrew jacket to keep myself warm, but that jacket was way too bulky and not cute. So I revisited my closet and found a Black leather jacket I got from Morocco, Perfect! We went into LA for the party. It was at a cool club called Medusa. But I remember why I hate LA so much. We hit traffic getting there and then when we arrived everyone was dressed to the nines, with tall boots and short skirts. As we left, a girl was complaining b/c the valet had lost her Black Mercedes. Why in the world would a girl her age, younger than me, be driving a Mercedes? And why, oh why, would she bring it to this dodgy area of LA and then Valet the thing? Some people are so dumb.