Merry Christmas!

From the four of us to all of you, the happiest of holiday seasons!

Carpe diem. -- Trela

Mayo Mindgames

Let me start out with my favorite writer: "All's Well That Ends Well." Hold on to that thought so as not to go into panic mode (which I frequented today... not fun).

This morning I had my scheduled breast MRI, not normally a freak-out occurring for me, but for last September's trials and tribulations. If you don't remember last September, well, I think those are song lyrics, but trust me, it's not worth revisiting.

Based on that historical event, the MRI freaked me out a bit. After a missed attempt on my IV we finally got the ball rolling and spent 40 minutes trapped in a tube. Yay. From there I moved directly to a chest x-ray (mostly because I missed my August appointment, oops). We had breakfast in the three hours we had to kill before heading to an appointment with yet another breast specialist (our third in five years). She delivered the repeat/rewind September news: the "mass" noticed in September was in fact smaller, but there was another suspicious area on the other side that they wanted to take a second look at. To give her credit, she realized immediately that our staying overnight was going to be a pain, so she called around and was able to squeeze us into the ultrasound. I literally had to take off my gown before an exam even happened in order to make it to the ultrasound on time. The tech couldn't find the suspicious area (I thought a good sign!) and the radiologist who came in to check her work was the same doctor who'd flagged my MRI. She was almost apologetic... said she wished she could flag the MRI with a note that said, "I'm not worried, but...." The ultrasound showed absolutely no abnormality, so yay, back to the specialist's appointment. She and my oncologist worked out a schedule and she "released" me from the Breast Care Center's care. On to oncology..

Pretty uneventful here... essentially we'll be backing out of my quarterly chest x-rays, not so much because I've graduated, but because the tests don't really see what we need. The new plan is basically to continue the breast MRI (which is actually to look at my non-existent left side, not the right, which we previously thought) once a year, and to do a chest CT once a year. That's still ultimately less testing, but it's the freak-Trela-out kind... ah well, what can you do? Sounds like I'll have an appointment every six months for the next two years, one at Mayo (MRI) and one more locally. At that point, we'll have hit five years... then we re-evaluate. Of course I'm discouraged to not be dismissed from care, but as we discussed at one point in the appointment, I'm no longer a priority at Mayo (it took three months to get this appointment, when I was first diagnosed, it took three days).

It's sometimes good to be unimportant.

Carpe diem. -- Trela

I Am a Terrible Blog Writer

My frequency would get me fired if this were my job. :)

Life is going pretty well for our clan these days. Work keeps me ever-occupied, and in the rest of the time I have the three people I live with who keep me out of trouble. Kile is thriving at his new school in Jesup, and Cavanaugh has taken his absence at montessori as an indicator that she is now in charge of the entire world as she knows it. Eric is busy at work and just finished his stint at National Boards at Palmer last weekend. It makes for a long weekend for him, testing the almost-graduates, but I know he enjoys it from a professional perspective. Not nearly as cool as my conferences, though, I get to attend a 90/90/90 conference with some of my co-workers in LAS VEGAS in December. Definitely looking forward to that.

Certainly a lot to be thankful for as ever this Thanksgiving. With an MRI looming I can't help but look at Cavie as a four and a half year old indicator of my progress. I feel great, and have no worries going into this appointment (which of course is actually freaking me out that I just don't KNOW something is wrong). I'll update after the appointment on the 30th. Hoping this will just be my new annual appointment and for the rest of my life I'll be able to hold the Mayo.

:)

carpe diem -- Trela

Pen Pals With Peanut

A new school year has started, the summer literally flew by! We were incredibly busy with completing my master's program (yay) and redoing our septic system (ew). Hard to believe summer is almost over and I've been back at work for three weeks already!

Here's an activity we'll be working on in my class this year. My mom is my current Rock Star participant, but she could use the help (and probably the break).

9am: Mail carrier delivers mail at George Washington Carver Academy in Waterloo, Iowa

9:03am: Office staff begins sorting mail

9:07am: Office staff puzzles over postcard addressed to Peanut, the Bulldog

9:10am: a knowledgeable administrator intercepts the postcard and leaves the office

9:12am: Said postcard is delivered to Mrs. Rott's Language Arts class

9:15am: 8th graders silence themselves and hold their collective breath in anticipation of the latest note from "THE TRAVELER"

9:16am: Today's postcard: Dublin, Ireland. Pictured: The Doors of Dublin

9:18am: Mrs. Rott fends off question after question about the identity of the mysterious "TRAVELER"

9:20am: a discussion about Dublin, the architectural doors of Dublin and Ireland as a whole ensues

9:23am: the students are engaged, interested, and mystified

Wanted: more TRAVELERS

Throughout their 8th grade year, my Language Arts students will complete many "Around the World" assignments, most of wihich stem from postcards from our mysterious Traveler. In order for these assignments to be successful, as large a variety of postcards as possible must be collected. STudents work on topics such as places they want to live, want to vacation, and the significance of area landmarks. As a result, I am ALWAYS looking for more TRAVELERS!

Willing to participate? Send postcards (school appropriate, please) to:

Peanut the Bulldog

George Washington Carver Academy (GWCA is ok too)

1505 Logan Avenue

Waterloo, IA 50703

All postcards should be signed "THE TRAVELER." Please also send me an email so I know to expect your card (and so I can tip of my administration!).

This has become a super fun activity in my room... if you don't travel anywhere this year but live outside of Waterloo, a postcard from your hometown is just as fun! The kids really like to see different places so the more visual your card is the happier they are. We hang the postcards on a memo board on my computer counter all year, and even this early in the year I see kiddos wandering over to look at them during their free time.

Who is Peanut?: Peanut the Bulldog is an actual member of our class. He's a full-time student at Carver, complete with the uniform. He sits quietly monitoring all of the classes from the director's chair at the front of my room, unless, of course, a student has invited him to sit on his or her lap for the period. Since a bulldog is our school mascot, Peanut fits right in. He LOVES getting mail.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks so much for reading this!

: )

T

Gold Star Video

Just wanted to add the KWWL commercial video for my buds not in the area!

http://www.kwwl.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=4819654&h1=Trela%20Rottinghaus&vt1=v&at1=Station%2013&d1=30100&LaunchPageAdTag=Search%20Results&activePane=info&rnd=2354660

There's something thrilling about a newsman saying your name....

Carpe diem.

Trela

Good News is... Good News!

A few weeks ago a reporter from the Des Moines Register came to our school to observe. I've attached a link to her article here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100502/NEWS02/5020333/Troubled-school-tries-to-prove-doubters-wrong

Also released in the last week was the "official" Gold Star teacher list and info on tickets for the May 18th event. http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_6a7fcd5e-53ab-11df-aab5-001cc4c03286.html?mode=story

Not as significant in my day-to-day (fortunately), I had my quarterly check with my oncologist in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday. Chest x-ray produced clear films, so I've got another three months of freedom. I do need to do an MRI to follow up on last summer's drama, but that we'll probably push off another month or two.

Carpe diem. - Trela

Feelin' Like a Rock Star

Hee hee, I'm about to be famous -- again!

A camera crew is coming to my classroom this week to record me working with my kiddos. Last week I was surprised (read, nearly terrified) by a group from the RJ McElroy trust wandering into my classroom. With my three administrators in tow, I was more than a little caught off guard. All's well that ends well -- they were there to let me know I'm one of the 10 recipients for this year's Gold Star. (The official title is The Gold Star Award for Outstanding Teaching, but that just sounds pompous to me...in a good way!) Apparently there is much pomp and circumstance for said award -- there will be a reception at UNI on the 18th of May. I'm tickled, truly. Made my year!

My darling girl turned four today -- I can't help but think of her as sort of a strange little calendar -- every day she grows marks another day further and further from my diagnosis. She was six weeks old when my medical drama began, and now here I am, celebrating her birthday -- again -- and winning an award for my teaching. Who'd have thought? Ah, what a wonderful thing time can be...

Carpe diem. - Trela

I Like Me, Just the Way I Am...

Ok, maybe the scars are a bit of a pain. The prosthetic, not cool. But the alternative? Heck to the no.

I met with my plastic surgeon today just to go over my options regarding the tram (read: take the tummy and staple it to the chest) procedure. I appreciate his opinion, because at this point he knows me pretty well, and he's also very familiar with my (numerous) procedures. Fun things he shared:

Full recovery from a tram is 3 to 6 MONTHS. Yikes.

His last patient couldn't stand completely upright for 6 WEEKS. Ugg.

He's never done a tram under a litisimus flap... which I have.

The procedure involves tunneling the tummy UNDER my skin/muscle up to it's new site. Tunneling. Ew.

He would be able to keep my belly button in place. What?!?!?

My scars will still show. That, actually, is fine.

He also said if I were him, he definitely wouldn't give up his summer to do this... careful readers may remember Trela has to take a week long class this summer to finish her Master's. Trela does not know why she is writing in third person -- it's just been that kind of day. But Trela, as previously mentioned, appreciates his opinion.

Good advice. Glad I stopped in. Lovely to see the office. Delightful weather to drive around in at 9am. Fabulous. Moving on now....

I have an appointment at a new prosthetic shop here on Friday. It's all good....

Carpe diem. Trela

What to do next...

Reaching the two year mark was a HUGE milestone. Three and a half years ago, it seemed impossibly out of reach, and boom, here we are. Cavanaugh is a little walking reminder of how much time has passed since my diagnosis. Since she was only six week old, nearly everything she's ever done has been mentally recorded on my "after cancer" calendar.

Two years also means I have some decisions to make. Actually, one big decision, and that's whether or not to "finish" my plastic surgery. I can stop where I am and live with a prosthetic forever. In fact, my oncologist is totally cool with that decision, though he mentioned sometimes women in that position find themselves having a lot of back problems... um, doc? Let me reintroduce you to my husband, the chiropractor....

There are other drawbacks -- mastectomy bras, no matter how cool the colors (my fave is the completely impractical pink and black leopard print), are still cut differently and get kind of uncomfortable. It's tough to wear "normal" clothes with them sometimes. Even a relatively modest scoop neck shirt will allow one side to sometimes peek out. Don't even get me started about mastectomy swimsuits.... clearly not designed for the recovered 34 year old.

My other option, of course, is surgery. I'm told its a six week recovery, but frankly, putting six weeks of "down" time together these days is a challenge. So is six hours... The surgery basically entails using my tummy extra to create a real living prosthetic -- one that would obviously be permanently attached. Because I continue to eat correctly, exercise, and have been blessed with great genetics (among other things!), I don't have enough tummy to make a full breast. That means I'd also have to have an expander put in. If you've followed my journey for a while, you'll remember the expander is the softball-like thing that's placed under the skin and is periodically injected with saline to stretch, or expand, the skin. I call it a softball because it feels like that's what you're lying on. Not sure how long I'd have to have that in before another surgery would remove it to replace it with a silicone implant. Again. I feel like we've done this already...

One more procedure after that one to do some cosmetic touch ups, then some tattooing. Phew.

Currently I'm thinking I owe it to myself to meet with my plastics doc to look at a timeline. I don't know that I want to have this surgery at all. I'm torn, really. I'm also slightly superstitious as it was just a few months after I was "finished" last time that I had the recurrence. I know that's crazy, but cancer does that to you. So... I'd love you to give me your thoughts, or if you know other people who've had the tram procedure done, let me know! I'm fishing for opinions here... can't make one on my own!

Carpe diem.

Trela

2 Down, 3 to Go

It's official! I am two years cancer free! By all accounts, five years is the magical number, but I'm well on my way!

Eric and I are celebrating by doing nothing and watching a movie so this is perhaps my shortest post on record. Just wanted to update!

Carpe diem.

Trela

Yuck.

CT tomorrow.

Always an icky nerve-wracked time, though to compound the issue this quarter, one of Eric's cousins who was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after my diagnosis passed away this weekend.... just kind of makes you a little more reflective. I refuse to have the what's fair/what's not fair conversation with myself (though my subconscious tries valiantly to have that conversation regardless) -- it still weighs on my mind. Heavily.

I have no actual physical reason to be more freaked out by this CT than by any other, but the reality is the freaking has been there for nearly a week. It's illogical, I know that. 90 % of my current freaking has absolutely nothing to do with my own health, but the lost health of someone I did not even know. In 12 hours, I will either be MORE freaked out or completely calm. It's frustrating. And it's not fair.

But I'm here. And I desperately want to STAY here... though that doesn't make balancing this week's survivor's guilt any easier.

Cancer sucks. Seriously. Sometimes I think the mental is worse than the physical.

Aren't you glad you tuned in for an update? Hope tomorrow's is better (and truly, no reason to think it won't be...knock on wood)

Carpe diem.

Trela

Team Trela

vs. Team Trela, 2008

It's almost that time of year again!

Two years ago, when I was going through radiation treatment at Mayo Clinic, my staff put together a staff vs. students basketball game. The money raised definitely eliminated a lot of our travel/lodging/food expenses during my 5 week-stint at Radiation Beach...and then some. It was a fun game, especially since the teachers were triumphant. Last year we again held a staff vs. students game, but since I was in a different place medically (fortunately) this time we used the money to buy DVD's to be used in the chemotherapy area of my oncology office. So, that poses the question... what to do this year? I'm opening it up to suggestions! I'm not sure if it needs to be cancer focused (will it always be? don't know!) or kid focused or something else! Let me know what you think!

The game this year is on Friday, February 5th about 3pm in the gym in my fancy new school. Come by and check it out if you're in the area!

Carpe diem. - Trela

Nothing to Do with Cancer...

I enjoy reminding myself that this blog started for one purpose and has really turned into something different. (I do have a CT scan the first week in February if you still tune in for those kinds of details. On a worry scale of 1-10 I'm at a 2 right now.)

It's been a heck of a week in Waterloo. If I were writing a book, this week alone would consume a full chapter. Other than a humorous couple of hours involving an incredibly flat tire, a pair of grey suede heels, a good friend, a helpful boss, and a gigantic tattooed man, nothing really fun happened this week. And yes, I realize that a flat tire should probably not be the highlight of my week...

If you haven't heard about it, this week the Iowa Legislature released a list of the 35 persistently lowest achieving schools in the state. Despite the fact that my school only opened in August, we made the list, along with four other schools in our city. The news was depressing, to say the least, especially because, technically, our kids haven't even TAKEN a test yet under our new school name. The state looked at the last three years of achievement on our standardized test, and schools that were below proficiency were deemed "persistent low achievers." Anyone who works with me knows that our school is tough, but they also know we've made incredible gains in the last year. Most of us are working our little tails off on a regular basis.

Early this week, the superintendent of our district asked that we sign a "commitment to our schools" web document. That also made it a good week to do some soul - searching and genuine re-committing to my career. Talking to a former boss helped immensely, talking to colleagues reaffirmed many of my beliefs.

This morning, still frustrated, still feeling like I swallowed a HUGE bowl of Jell-O, I googled some of these quotations and thought I'd post them as much for my friends and colleagues in Waterloo as for myself. At this point, no one knows what is going to happen to our schools or our jobs. We're just playing a waiting game, but until that point, we're still in the classrooms, desperately needing to make progress.

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything
without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
-Robert Frost

It must be remembered that the purpose of education
is not to fill the minds of students with facts...
it is to teach them to think, if that is possible,
and always to think for themselves.
-Robert Hutchins

Every student can learn,

just not on the same day, or the same way.
-George Evans

Upon the subject of education,
not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it,
I can only say that I view it as the most important subject
which we as a people may be engaged in.
-Abraham Lincoln

It's only when you hitch your wagon

to something larger than yourself

that you will realize your true potential.

- Barack Obama

In an effective classroom
students should not only know what they are doing,
they should also know why and how.
-Harry Wong

We can do this.

Carpe diem. - Trela