Vacation Photos - - Lots of Photos!!

Hello Everyone,

I had a great time on our vacation to South Dakota. I hate to admit it, but I didn't realize just how much "history" that part of the country holds. It was very fun and educational. We broke the drive there into 2 days and stayed the first night in Billings Montana. The next morning before heading to Hill City, where we stayed in South Dakota, we went to Zoo Montana. Zoo Montana is a non profit, natural habitat zoo. Some of the images below are from Zoo Montana.

We stayed at a really nice, comfortable hotel in Hill City with owners that are really down to earth and terrific people, it's called the Lantern Inn. It's not a fancy place, but very clean, very friendly and like I said the owners Charlie and Janet are the best!!! Hill City was a perfect place to stay as all the great attractions we wanted to see where all in close proximity.

We hit about 2-3 attractions a day while staying in Hill City. We stayed there for 3 days before heading back home. We visited the following attractions and towns; Mount Rushmore, Keystone, Rapid City, Sturgis, Deadwood and Lead, which are both old mining towns. My hubby is an ex miner so this was great for him to visit. We rode a tram to the top of a mountain and could see Mt Rushmore from there also. We visited the South Dakota Air and Space Museum, the boys (hubby and step-son) really enjoyed this. We went to the Reptile Gardens and saw many, many reptiles!!! I do NOT like reptiles, but it was still very interesting.

And last but not least, was my favorite thing of the whole trip . . . we went to Bear Country USA. If you have never been there, it's a must see if you are ever in the area!!! This is a drive through wild animal park. The animals roam around free and you have to stay in your vehicle. At times the animals would be in the road and/or crossing the road and you just get to sit and watch them and take pictures, etc., until they decide to move. Unless you are the big black bear that seemed to like licking the dead bugs off of peoples front bumpers. One of the workers had to come in his truck and make the bear move out of the road so people could continue on. At the end you park and get to go to Baby Land and see some other animals and the baby bears!!!!

I am such an animal lover to begin with and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed seeing such a variety of animals all in one place. Most of them I would probably never see in my lifetime if I had not gone to Bear Country USA.

Below are some of the pictures I want to share with you and I've written above them where they were taken.

Reptile Gardens

Reptile Gardens

Bear Country USA.
This little guy was amazing and
I couldn't get enough of him!!!
He was up about 20-30 feet in a tree
sitting on a small branch and sleeping
most of the time. He woke up for a minute
looked around and went back to sleep.

Sleeping. He is so relaxed,
not a care in the world!!!

Soooooo Cute!!!! Look at those ears!!!

Another cutie!!

Momma Buffalo nursing her baby.
This and the next few images were taken
as we drove through the wild animals.

A Black Bear enjoying the water.

Arctic Wolf.
There were 2 young wolves,
probably a year old that were
running and playing and having a
great time. They ran back and forth across
the road several times, jumping on
each other and having a blast.
They were so fast that I was not able to
get a photo of the two of them together,
but they put on quite a show for all of us
that were watching!!

Rocky Mt. Elk

Mount Rushmore Photos
This gentleman worked on
Mt Rushmore from 1938 to 1940.
I bought a book he wrote with
Q&A about the making of Mt Rushmore.
If you purchased a book,
he signed it inside for you.

What a piece of history!!!

Me at Mt Rushmore.
Although I live in Idaho
I was born in Washington so I
thought it would be cool to have
a photo with the info about
the state of Washington.

Mount Rushmore

Zoo Montana Photos
Bald Eagle

Siberian Tiger

Old Wagon Wheels

Old Wagon

I hope you enjoyed seeing the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them :)

Keep Smilin'
Wendy

Update before leaving on Vacation

Hello Everyone,

We are leaving in the morning, heading to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. I wanted to write an update since I saw my oncologist today.

He decided to take me off the study drug for the next 3 weeks and see if that is what might be causing the pain I'm having. If the pain gets better when I'm not taking the drugs, then I probably won't go back on them. If the pain does not get any better, then we can rule out the study drug as the cause.

He is also doing a blood test to check my thyroid, to see if it may be causing the fatigue I'm having, although he says I do not fit the physical profile of most people who's thyroid is causing them fatigue.

He also said I should talk to my primary doctor about possible chronic fatigue syndrome since he doesn't think my fatigue should be this bad, this long after chemo.

Just FYI, I can't remember how much I said about my fatigue before, but it is still really bad. I have tried to resume my photography business, but it's just impossible. There is soooo much I still cannot do and if I try and do it anyway, then I pay for it for days!!!!! I'm not anemic or any other blood test problems. I eat well and I get enough sleep, etc., etc.

I have paid attention to it pretty well for a while and I figure that if I don't over do it I have about 2-3 hours a day that are productive, after that I can't get much done. So I usually work on my flower gardens and water the yard OR I clean the house OR I go to town to run errands or have appointments. Today I left the house at 1pm and didn't get home till 4:30pm. I saw my doctor and made 3 other quick stops to get items needed before we leave tomorrow. These were not strenuous task but by the time I got home I was toast!!!!!! Anyway, the point I was trying to make is the "OR" part. I cannot do more than one semi physical activity a day without paying for it later.

I'm trying to finalize packing for tomorrow and get things in order for my daughter who will be staying here and taking care of the dogs, horses, etc., while we are gone. Thank goodness we have her to be able to do this for us or we would never be able to leave!!!

Please wish me luck in having enough energy to be able to fully enjoy our vacation. I figure if I get too tired I'll send the boys out site seeing and I'll just lay by the pool!!!!!

Ok, one more thing. The doctor finally had a cancer marker blood test done one me. I asked him about this today. He said my levels are a little high, nothing to be concerned with though. And since there is nothing to compare it to, the levels may be very normal for me. He will continue to do these test on a regular basis and then he'll be able to determine if the readings are normal for me. There are lots of other factors that effect peoples cancer markers, besides cancer itself, so I am not going to worry about this at all. The only thing that does bother me and I don't understand . . . . why did he never do this test before and have readings from when I did have cancer to compare it to? Hmmm, I don't know, but then a lot of things don't make sense to me, but there is still so much about it all that I don't know.


Just one more quick note . . . . I'm not complaining, I'm just noting, if that makes any sense :)

I have lost a lot of weight since stopping treatment. At first I wasn't going to put the actual poundage in the post, but what the heck. When I first saw my oncologist last May I weighed more than I ever have, except during pregnance, 149 lbs., during chemo I gained about 8 lbs., (it's normal for women to gain weight during chemo, I think it's due to the steroids in the antinausea drugs, they make you hungry!!!). So by the time I finished chemo I weighed 157 lbs, more than ever in my life!!!!!

I have noticed since chemo stopped that the pounds have slowely been dropping. I did have major dental work done, which did affect my eating habits for a bit, but it has been a while since that happened, so it really can't be blamed for my continued weight loss. Today at the doctors I weighed 129 pounds !!!!! Again, I'm not complaining, what woman ever complains about loosing weight!?!?!?!?!? That is 20 lbs lighter than my pre treatment weight and 28 lbs lighter than my post treatment weight. WOW.

OK, better finish getting ready for our trip now.

Keep Smilin'
Wendy

I'm sorry for not posting for so long!!

Hi Everyone,

I just don't know where the time has gone and I'm so sorry for not posting anything for a while.

I'm doing ok, kind of the same as I have been for a while . . . . still lots of fatigue, weakness and some pain.

I did get to see my new doctor just over a month ago. He prescribed some mild pain meds and sleeping pills, so the pain is more manageable and some nights I fall right to sleep :)

Other nights, like tonight, (it's almost 4 am) I am not able to sleep at all, even though I am so tired!!! It's very frustrating!!!!

One thing that has been hard for me lately is that although the cancer is gone and I'm a survivor, I don't always feel like one. Although we kicked cancer's butt, it, or at least the treatment to kill it, sure kicked my butt too!!! And then, as soon as I complain about it, I feel terrible for doing so because I know there are so many that haven't survived, who would be more than willing to deal with the issues I'm having as a survivor.

I just didn't know that I'd feel so bad for so long. I am still not able to do so many things and/or not able to do them for very long. Although I've done a few photos here and there, I have not been able to pursue my photography as the business that I worked so very hard for, for 2 years before being diagnosed with cancer.

We are going on vacation next week and although I am really looking forward to it, I'm also worried about what kind of toll it's going to take on my body. I spent a few hours today with my hubby going places to try and find a canopy for the truck before our vacation. We were not able to find one yet and by the time we got home I was totally wiped out and my legs were really hurting.

I just don't get it. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you a couple things about my new doctor. First, I really like him a lot. He is very thorough and explains things very, very well. Because we are not sure why I am still having the pain in my pelvis and legs, he first ordered some x-rays which turned out normal, so then I had a full body bone scan done. That also turned out to be normal, which is really great in that there is nothing obvious going on that is causing the pain, but that also means we don't know why I'm hurting.

I see my oncologist next week, just before going on vacation. I see him every 3 months now, so it's been a while and I'm looking forward to seeing him again. I am going to ask and make sure it's not the study drug I'm taking that is causing the pain . . . . who knows!! I went in Thursday for my blood test, which I have to do before each appointment with my oncologist. During treatment is was to monitor how my body was handling the chemo, now it's to monitor how my body is handling the study drug.

One blood test that I have not had done in the past, and it may seem weird, as it did to me at first, is a Cancer Marker test or sometimes called Tumor Marker test. I did some research about these blood test and I guess they don't always do them on some types of breast cancer. There are other patients with other types of cancers that these test are extremely important for.

I had asked my doctor about these test a long time ago . . . . If he was every going to do them. I remember him saying yes, but that was about it. I am almost 100% sure that he's never ordered a cancer marker test for me and I was worried about this, until I did the research and talked to some other breast cancer patients with similar cancer as mine, who also said they never had the test done.

Well, and here is what I'm getting at . . . . when I got the blood test done on Thursday I looked at the paperwork and noticed a "code" that was not familiar. I asked the technician if she knew what it was and she said it's a Cancer Marker test. I do not understand the whole process and/or why he would be doing that now, but I will talk to him about it on Tuesday and find out more.

It's almost 5 am now and I'm sure I've just been rambling on, so I do hope it makes some sense. I've got some things I've got to get done later today so I hope I'm able to get some sleep soon!!!!

Keep Smilin'
Wendy