What are you thankful for?

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States and, with a year like I have had, on this day, I have much to be thankful for...

I am thankful that I am done with all of my treatments! The only thing left at this point is check-up appointments every 3 months or so. Yeehaw!

I am thankful that my hair is beginning to return; I missed it! It's still so short that I appear bald from a distance, but if you get up close, there actually is hair there - in a few more weeks it may actually look like hair!

I am thankful that my nails will return, even if it's hard to believe at the moment. To answer all of the comments after my last post, yes, they will come back! But, in the meantime, I have a pile of pistachios I can't crack open, and someone else is going to have to peel those clementines!

I am thankful for my rubber-boob-in-a-bra and my stick on boob. Yeah, it's the little things!

I am thankful for the hand-made hats that have covered my head for the last several months.

I am thankful for my dogs. It's impossible to cry when a dog is there to kiss your tears away, act silly, and do everything possible to be as cute as can be.

I am thankful for the Danish health care system. The entire process from start to finish has been made simple for me. Not once did I have to call an insurance company or make sure some treatment was covered. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to go through treatment worrying about what it costs or whether or not it was affordable. From head coverings to nail treatment packages to burn lotions to rubber boobs, everything that I could need to get through this process, has been handed to me. The nurses in this country are so sweet, caring and attentive - they have understood that I couldn't always understand them and they have done everything possible to help me along the way. Priceless.

I am thankful for my family. They are all far away but everyone is healthy and happy and in just a few weeks, my parents will be here in Denmark to celebrate their first Danish Christmas.

I am thankful for my co-workers. Every few weeks over the past year, a new card would arrive from the states with little notes from all of them. They have covered whatever work was mine whenever I wasn't able, and have been supportive and understanding through it all.

I am thankful for the generosity and kindness of friends, both old and new. I have received so many wonderful packages and notes from friends. I am incredibly touched that someone would go out of their way to make me something, or buy me something, and send it to me. Every single package, note and blog comment brightened my day and I am still overwhelmed by the kindness.

I am thankful for my friend Kelli. Yes, she is covered in the paragraph above; however, she also deserves to be singled out, even if it embarrasses her. When I was diagnosed, we had met just one time for a couple of hours and yet, when she learned of my diagnosis, she immediately jumped into action for someone she barely knew. Kelli arrived at the hospital on the day of my surgery with a basket full of American products, and she spent the entire day there with Ole, trying to keep him sane as the day went on and on. She visited me several times while I was in the patient hotel, driving from Herning to Viborg each time, and kept up my blog so that everyone else in my life could know how I was doing. As I went through chemo and radiation, she was always checking in on me - be it a text message, facebook message, Email or a phone call, I always knew that she was right there and that, had I needed anything, she would've made sure that she took care of it. She was there when it all began, she was there every step along the way, and she's still here now, when it is time to celebrate the end of treatment. And, this weekend, we are headed out for some relaxation, with our Danes in tow, to do just that.

Speaking of my Dane, I am thankful that I have the most kind, generous, funny, patient and understanding man with which to share my life. He has been by my side through everything and he is my rock. There are simply not words enough to say how much I love him, and how great he really is! Thank you Ole, for always making me feel loved and making me laugh even on the worst possible days.

And thank you to all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fingertips on a chalkboard

I lost my nails.

It's one of those things they tell you will happen, but you simply cannot comprehend that it actually does happen. Okay, I have one left and I'm protecting it for everything that it's worth. That the one remaining nail happens to be on my middle finger, is just a bonus.

It's not that I had extremely long nails or anything, but this is way different from simply keeping your nails short. There is a bit of nail, but it does not extend at all - so, if you look at your own nails, think of them without any of the white part.

The good news is that losing them didn't actually hurt. I feared it would be excruciatingly painful as it is when you have nails and one breaks too far down, but no, these just sort of snapped off.

Whoever said that 'nothing is impossible' never lost their fingernails. Trust me.

The last 3 weeks have been an endless string of frustrations and the list of things I am unable to 'do' just keeps growing. Allow me to share some of my list of impossibilities:

Scratch an itch
Peel an onion
Pick up a piece of paper
Hold onto anything
Remove a band-aid
Lift up the little wick on the tea light candle so it can be lit
Make screechy sounds on a chalkboard

Not that I actually own a chalkboard - it's the principle of it!

I can vote!

Something very exciting arrived in the mail today - and something that I didn't expect would be fully automated!

As of November 8, 2009, I have been in Denmark for 3 years. My 'official' residency actually began on the day we applied for it, which means Denmark says I've been here since August 2006, but November is when I actually got here. But that's neither here nor there.

I had heard a rumor that said once I'd been a resident for 3 years I would be able to vote in local elections, but I figured I would have to go apply or register or something. Then suddenly, in today's mail, came this:

This is my voter's card and on November 17, I will get to vote in Denmark for the local elections. I get a voice in who will become the next 'borgmester' for our 'kommune' (county), which is kind of the equivalent of a mayor. Now I just have to figure out who's running, what they stand for, and all that good stuff. Unfortunately, they don't send a big voter's pamphlet like we get in the states!

Coincidentally, this is the same day as the writing portion of my Danish language exam so it's going to be a big day!

Hundesvømning!

After Lexi's recent trip to the water walker we've been investigating other options since the vet's office is a bit of a drive from here. In the US, the pet business is HUGE with doggy day care centers everywhere and all kinds of services made especially for pets. I assumed that we wouldn't have the same kind of options in Denmark and I'm happy to report, that at least in one area - I was wrong!

In our searching we discovered that there are many, many places in DK to take your dogs swimming, and no, I'm not talking about the local lake - I'm talking about indoor swimming pools just for dogs! The most exciting thing is that one of them is about 15 min from our house. We originally wanted to head there last Monday evening but when we called for an appointment we found that, apparently, we are the last to know as they were booked solid for the entire week! The first opening they had was today, Saturday, so at 12:30 this afternoon we took Lexi and Zoe to the swimming pool.

They loved it and we loved it, though we were both drenched from head to toe by the time we were done there. Lexi was a bit apprehensive about getting in the pool at the beginning, so we put a life jacket on her so we could help guide her, but once she figured it out, she was all in!

Lost in Translation

I tend to forget now and then that a certain someone with whom I live, does not have English as his first language. We met one another speaking English, and we continue to do so 99% of the time. And let's face it, his English is WAAAAAY better than my Danish. So yeah, I forget.

Now and then things get lost in translation (mostly my jokes and puns). We now have a Wii and last night, that certain someone was surfing amazon.co.uk, checking reviews of the various fitness programs, calculating whether a certain game was cheaper in pounds, dollars or kroners (yes, he does this regularly - the currency thing) and trying to decide what to buy.

Along the way, Amazon put up one of those nice ads that tells you that if you sign up for an Amazon credit card, you'll get 15 pounds off your order, instantly! This caught his attention, and it needed to be read. After spending 15 minutes reading all the details of the offer he had made the decision to apply for the card.

If you've ever filled out one of those forms, you know there are a bunch of questions about how much money you make, etc. But, each country is different, so what may be a perfectly normal question on a US credit card application may not be on a Danish application or a UK application - different banks, currencies, rules, you know. For example, no one in a Danish bank knows what the heck you are talking about if you mention your 'credit score'.

Now all of this was happening on the computer next to mine, but I wasn't paying too much attention to it. Then suddenly he read a question out loud... "Time at your current residence"

Him: "Why do they need to know that?"
Me: "That's a pretty standard question on a credit card application - at least in the US"
Him: "But it's meaningless"
Me: "Well, they want to know how stable you are I guess - or something .. I can't explain it"
Him: "Makes no sense"
Me: "They want a picture of your financial security - and part of that is asking how long you've lived at your current address."
Him: ..... [lightbulb] OOOHHHHH

[Mr. Financial Brilliance thought they wanted to know what time it was at our house.]

A guest post from Lexi

Hi everyone! I asked my Mor if I could write about my experience today and she has given me permission - woohoo!! Of course I can't really type, but I'm very good at expressing myself and Mor also agreed to do the actual typing. One day I will figure out that keyboard thing - so frustrating... I try to hit one key and end up with 10 things.

Let's get back to me. Almost two weeks ago I had to visit Jesper because I've been a bit stiff when I wake up and I limp a bit if I play too much. Jesper's the guy that sticks needles into me while he's feeding me, thinking I don't notice. I know what's going on, I just pretend not to because the food is good! Well, apparently Jesper met with Mor and Far and said that I have some problems with my hips, something called Hip Dysplasia. I have no idea what that means but I guess it's why I can't go as fast as my sister Zoe.

This morning Zoe and I had just finished our breakfast and were in the yard doing our thing when suddenly Mor yelled for me to come inside. I thought maybe I was going to get an extra serving of breakfast so I hurried in, but then she put that dumb strappy thing on my nose. She calls it a 'Halti' ... I prefer to call it a torture device. But, in all fairness, when that thing does get tied to my head it usually means we're going somewhere - and that's always exciting! I love the car!! For some strange reason, it was only me going - Zoe and Far were staying home. Weird!

So first we went to the big building with the big parking lot. I was here once before so I know the drill.. I have to just sit in the car and wait while Mor goes in. After about 3 short snoozes, she was back and we were on the way. Not sure where we were going but we'd already been to the boring building so the good part must be coming next!

Mor played with some gadget that has little pictures and talks to her while she drives. The gadget lady gave Mor a few instructions and then we arrived at a doggy forest. Good lady! This wasn't my usual doggy forest and Zoe wasn't with me, so I wasn't sure what to do. I found some small mud puddles and splashed around a bit in them but Mor kept yelling "Nej" when I did that, so I moved on. Then a big handsome stud came around and I ran around the forest with him for awhile while Mor talked to another lady. After a bit, my new friend left and Mor said we had to go back in the car.

Then we drove to the little building with all the funky smells. I ran right to the door because I know this place always has food laying around. Where is it? Where is it? Ah ha, they hid it inside the spinning thing this time... found it! Ooooo, a cat! Hmm... that cat spit at me - not really sure what the big deal was, my cat buddies at home let me lick their heads.

Then a lady came and called my name - my turn!! We ran around to a new room that I hadn't been in before and it had some scary things and some fun things. There was a big ramp and I ran up and down and the lady kept giving me cookies - always a good thing. Then suddenly Mor went up the ramp with me and this is when I got a little nervous. There was a metal platform and I had to walk out on that and then step on this table that was up really high. The lady was still giving me cookies but now I wasn't so trusting - they were definitely up to something. But Mor kept saying it was okay and that I was a good girl, so I did what I was told. Next thing I know, the metal platform was gone and now I had no choice but to stand on the table.

Then it started. I was just standing there, being a good girl, when the table started going down and water started coming up. Don't get me wrong, I love water, but this was weird. When the water got deep I started swimming, of course, because that's what we dogs do in the water. But then the lady said not to swim, just stand... I thought that was strange. But then it got even stranger - the floor started moving under me. So naturally, I started swimming again! And again, she said just walk. It took me awhile, and splashing with my big paws got Mor pretty wet, but I finally got the hang of the thing. They tell me that all of this is so my hip muscles will get stronger. Not sure if that's true or not but I think I could manage to get in that thing again!

So anyway, Mor took a movie of me in the tank. Enjoy!

Zapped

Just over 2 weeks ago I started with my radiation treatments. From start to finish there are 25 treatments. Viborg Hospital doesn't have a facility for radiation but luckily Herning hospital opened their new facility over the summer. Why luckily? Well, for me, it means that I only have to drive 30 min to my treatment - had they not opened I would have been driving over an hour each way to Aarhus instead.

Each morning for the last 2-1/2 weeks I have gotten up at 6:30 am to be in the car at 7:00 for the drive to Herning. The first few days it was light when I left the house but that's no longer the case - darkness has descended upon Denmark. I have had 15 treatments to date, which means there are only 10 left - woohoo! I have to say that all in all the drive hasn't been as awful as I feared.

Before all of this started, 'radiation' was just a word. I knew it was a treatment of some kind but I honestly had no idea what it was. As it turns out, it's rather uneventful. Radiation is basically a high-intensity x-ray. The treatment itself doesn't hurt a bit, but you can end up with skin that looks like it's been sunburned and that has now started for me. So far, not too bad, but there are still 10 to go!

This is how it all goes down each morning... (all times approximate!)

6:30 - get up and shower while Ole and the dogs stay in bed
7:00 - drive to Herning dodging potato tractors along the way (more about that later)
7:30 - arrive at the hospital and swipe my card to let them know I'm there
7:35 - go to cubby area and get my bag that contains my hospital shirt
7:36 - sit and page through year-old gossip magazines and will the door to the nurses to open
7:45 - door opens, my name is called
7:45 - go to changing room, remove clothes from waist up and put on hospital shirt
7:46 - nurse opens back door of changing room and leads me to treatment room
7:47 - remove hospital shirt and lay on machine
7:48 - lay on machine table with green laser lights shooting from all angles of the room
7:48 - listen to nurses tell me, in danish, to move my butt a little to the right and my shoulders a little to the left, etc., until I'm properly lined up in the machine.
7:51 - nurse says "94" which I assume is some setting specific to me
7:52 - music is turned on and nurses tell me they're leaving the room now and to lay still
7:52 - panic for a second while I figure out whether or not breathing is permitted while laying still
7:53 - lay there while machine makes funky noises and spaceship like parts move around me
7:55 - have obligatory hot flash while laying there
7:55 - nurses re-enter room and tell me it's now okay to move
7:56 - ride machine back to starting position
7:57 - sit up and put on hospital shirt
7:58 - walk to changing room, remove hospital shirt, put on burn cream, get dressed
7:59 - deliver bag with hospital shirt back to cubby room
8:00 - leave hospital and drive home

So, there you have it, all you ever wanted to know... and lots of things you probably never cared about.