Choir Resumes September 10, 2009

I am very happy to announce that XL Choir will resume this year. I hope there is still enough interest and room in your schedule to participate in choir.

In order for me to determine if there are sufficient numbers for choir to continue, it is important that everyone who is interested in participating attend on registration day. This will be held in Redding on Thursday, September 10, at 12:30 pm, at Shasta Lake Bible Fellowship (directions below). Provided there is sufficient enrollment, full rehearsals will begin the following week, September 17: Treble Choir 12:30 – 2:00 and Mixed Chorus 2:00 – 3:30. If there are enough people from Red Bluff who are interested in choir, I will form a choir there with rehearsals on Wednesday afternoons, probably from 1:00 – 2:30 pm.

Although registration will be open for two weeks, Registration Day is an important time for me to meet parents and convey to you your responsibilities regarding choir participation and how communication is maintained throughout the year. This is the only time during the year that I meet with the parents as a group. If you are unable to attend on registration day, please contact me so I know whether you are planning to participate in choir this year. This information is important to me so I know how much music to order and how best to distribute voices.

Registration is good for the full year, with fees paid each semester. If you do not plan to participate for the full year, please let me know before the end of the first semester. Again, this information is important for ordering music. Membership will be open again in January for new students. Returning students do not need to re-register in January. Tuition will be $40.00 per semester for the first student in a family and $35.00 per semester for each additional student in the same family. A music deposit will not be required at this time. Tuition covers the costs involved in providing choir: facility rental, music purchases, performance expenses, etc. I am hopeful that we can maintain this fee schedule this year and that it will be adquate to cover the expenses involved.

XL Choir is open to students of all ages who can sing on pitch. The minimum age requirement is 8 years old. A limited number of students with pitch problems will be accepted into choir at the discretion of the director. Parents of these students must meet with the director individually following try-outs regarding the special arrangements that will apply.

Please share this announcement with anyone who might be interested in participating in choir.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you need further information or have any questions. The best way to reach me is by email. If you call, please leave a detailed message so I can return your phone call.

Kati Rosten
xlchoir@hotmail.com
365-0651
945-2683 cell



Directions to Shasta Lake Bible Fellowship:

I-5 north to Shasta Dam Blvd. exit.
Turn right at first signal onto Cascade Blvd, which becomes Union School Road as you cross back over the freeway.
Fellowship Way is the first Left turn.
You will see the sign for Shasta Lake Bible Fellowship on your left.

Time to catch up

My sinus surgery is behind me now and everything went smoothly. I had very little pain following surgery and didn’t need the vicodin that was prescribed for pain; Tylenol was adequate. The worst part of the whole ordeal was the nurse trying to find a vein for the IV and my two post-op visits. Ever had you sinus “vacuumed”? Most uncomfortable! The good part? Coming out of surgery and feeling like I was hyper-ventilating cause so much air was rushing into my nose. I had no idea how narrow my nasal passages had become over the years. When it comes on gradually, you just adjust. The pain in my left cheekbone is gone now that the cyst has been removed. Since recovering from my surgery, I’ve noticed that my over-all recovery has noticeably progressed

There has been a slight improvement in my neuropathy. You wouldn’t know it, though, cause I’ve continued to drop things if I’m not really careful and I’ve broken a couple of glasses and a glass bowl in the past month. I cut my thumb on the bowl and didn’t know it, until I saw blood everywhere. Steve helped me do clean up so I didn’t further injure myself. The increase in the dose of medication for the neuropathy has helped tremendously, but I still have to carefully pace myself so that I’m not on my feet for very long at a time. I don’t know why but some days are better than others.

My first 3-month check up was at the end of May. All of my numbers are still looking good, with one exception. My immunoglobulins continue to be way below normal, so monthly immunoglobulin G (IVIG) infusions continue to be necessary. This leaves me vulnerable to catching a myriad of illnesses. Also, I am unable to build antibodies, so immunizations do not help. In fact, I can’t have any immunizations that are “live” virus since I would contract the illness from the vaccine. Continued prayer is needed for this.

As my health and strength continue to improve, so do my hopes for resuming choir in the fall. I will begin looking for a place and making inquiries regarding the possiblity of resuming our rehearsals.

The Hair on my Shinny-shin-shin

Recovery is being observed by hair starting to grow on my legs again! My energy level is increasing faster than my feet can handle. The neuropathy in my feet is becoming an obstacle to my recovery. Standing or even just walking for too long makes my feet really ache and then my ankles get weak. Sitting and resting them regularly during the day is required, even when I feel like I could keep going. I am always very aware of the loss of sensitivity and numbness that begins just below my knees and goes to the tips of my toes. It is not quite as bad in my fingers and hands, but it is there also. I have to be careful not to burn my fingers when I’m cooking. The doctor has increased my neuropathy medication a little to see if it will help with the problem with my feet.

But onward and upward……we just returned from a 10 day trip north to visit family and friends. Our most northward destination was B.C., where we visited some of our Canadian friends and attended the President’s annual “State of the University Dinner” at Trinity Western University, where our kids attended. This was primarily a “sitting and visiting” trip, so that my feet were not challenged too much beyond what I could handle. However, we did enjoy a few easy, short hikes in some beautiful areas of B.C. and a trip to the tulip festival in Mt. Vernon, WA. I especially enjoyed being able to make a trip that did not involve doctors or hospitals; and it was so great to have an opportunity to visit everyone.

On Wednesday I will have my sinus surgery, which was determined as necessary back in January when I was referred to an ENT doctor. I am not looking forward to it, but am anxious to get it done.

It is my hope and plan to be able to return to choir in the fall.

Thank you for your continued interest in my recovery and in our lives

"Reel" Shoes

After wearing only the most comfortable walking shoes this past year, last night I put on a real pair of high-heel shoes (to which my toes bitterly complained!), and my nice black dress to attend the Awards Ceremony for our first local film festival – The Sundial Film Festival. My son, Jesse, had submitted a 10-minute film titled “Cart” and a close friend of his composed and performed the music for the film. It was a touching story with no dialogue, just music that matched the mood for each scene. We were so proud to be there to see him win top honors of “Best of Show”! A nice cash prize accompanied the statuette. It’s moments like this that make the battle through treatment worth it!

This week I received copies of my labs and pathology report from my appointment at Stanford on February 24. It’s been 5 years since my blood counts were this good! The most amazing information in the pathology report was that all of the chromosomes tested were found to be normal when there had been abnormal chromosomes at diagnosis. We know this is God’s handiwork and a response to the many prayers lifting me up over the preceding months. This is not just my victory, it is yours as well!

The neuropathy pain has become more intense recently, to the point of causing nausea at times. Lack of sleep due to the pain only contributes to the brain fade that pain also causes. My primary doctor gave me some samples of Lyrica to try this week. She said it only works about 50% of the time, but it was worth a try. It certainly does help me sleep, as “drowsiness” is one of the side effects. I’m supposed to keep increasing frequency and dosage every few days until a level is reached that has the pain under control. I certainly have improved some this week just with one low, nightly dosage, but I am supposed to start taking a second dose during the day. I plan to begin the daytime dosage this week and hope that I’m not a walking zombie or end up spending the day sleeping on the couch. Please continue to pray concerning my neuropathy.

A Victory and a Hurtle

The news everyone is waiting for – the report from my bone marrow biopsy. My Stanford doctor used a term not generally used with my type of cancer - “total remission” – no cancer cells found in the marrow! He said he would expect that this could be maintained for a number of years! We will get copies of labs and pathology reports later this week, but he did say all of my blood counts were in the normal range. Blood tests every 3 months will monitor my status. We cried happy tears when we left the clinic and are so grateful for God’s handiwork through all of this.

My youngest brother, Hal, was still with us and we all shared the happy news together. On our way home, we left him at his hotel in San Francisco so he could catch his flight back to Texas this morning. It was a bittersweet victory as we had just returned from our brother’s memorial service in Portland.

My brother’s memorial service was very honoring of his life and very inspiring to our lives. It’s still difficult to grasp the fact that he is really gone. Please pray for his family as they make the difficult journey of transition to life without him.

So, the next hurtle for me is my immunoglobulin proteins. Those will be tested next week. My Stanford doctor said they should be showing signs of recovery by now. If they don’t show improvement soon, then we will know that there is an issue with them that is separate from the cancer. Continued low numbers will indicate an immune deficiency and immunoglobulin G infusions will continue to be needed. If this is the case, it makes me wonder if this deficiency contributed to my developing cancer.

Celebrate with us the good news we received this week and continue to pray that recovery will be complete and good news will be received after next week’s test!

A time of loss

Treatment was completed almost 3 weeks ago. I am slowly gaining strength each day. I’ve been told the recovery process following chemo can take anywhere from 3 months to a year. I am hoping for 3 months. The biggest issue I deal with is neuropathy. Not only do I have a loss of sensitivity in my hands, feet and lower legs, but it also causes pain and weakness. The pain always seems to be worse at night, so interferes with my sleep. Sleep is important for recovery and pain management, so for the time being, I will have to take medication to help me sleep. There are medications that are supposed to help with neuropathy pain, but as yet I have not tried any. I was able to attend a myeloma support group meeting at Stanford about a month ago, and everyone there who had taken various medications for neuropathy said that it hadn’t helped.

Yesterday was my bone marrow biopsy at Stanford. It was a grueling morning. I didn’t get the nurse practitioner that I requested, but she had to be called to help after the nurse didn’t get any marrow after boring through my hip bone. More shots were needed to deaden another location and finally success. I am quite sore today after all that.

The past month has been difficult, as one of my brothers has been slowly declining as he was losing his battle with leukemia. We had hoped to go right on to Portland after my biopsy to see him, but the weather permitted us from traveling any farther north than Redding last night. We received a call at 11:00 pm last night that he had passed away. We wouldn’t haven gotten there in time anyway.

This particular brother had a beautiful voice and we shared a love of good music. I will really miss him. Please pray for all of us at this time of loss.

The Nose Report

As a result of the CT scan and appointment with the ENT doctor last week, we were happy to learn my sinus infection has cleared up. However, there is a large cyst on the left side. It was first discovered in 2004 and has gotten larger, to the point it is putting pressure on the areas around it and that explains part of the reason for all the feeling of pressure in my face, especially in my left cheek bone. Also, the “turbinates” are enlarged to the point they have practically filled my nasal passages making it difficult to breathe, especially at night. They also have impaired my ability to smell and, consequently, my sense of taste is impaired as well. Since I have already tried all the medications that would help this problem and it has only gotten worse, surgery is now required; but the ENT doctor assured me it is a fairly simple surgery, as far as sinus surgeries go.

So now, everyone is wondering what “turbinates” are. They are on the lateral walls on each side of the nose and are made up of tiny layers of bone (kind of like a sponge) and are covered with a very vascular (lots of blood vessels) layer of soft tissue. Their function is to warm and humidify the air entering the nose and provide a bacteria-fighting enzyme. They are also covered by millions of cilia (little hairs), which filter the inhaled air.

The ENT doctor assured me I could finish my last round of chemo and then schedule the surgery after ample time has passed for me to recover. It will be essential that my blood counts and platelets have returned to a fairly normal level before surgery.

I was able to begin my last round of treatment last Tuesday. Hooray! I have two more treatments this week and then I hope for some ongoing recovery of my strength and stamina.
I’ve experienced more nausea and difficulty with my stomach being “unsettled” from the chemo drugs and acidic from the steroids, even though I’ve had medication to help with both. I’m just weaker overall and everything is more of an effort. My hands had healed up a little, but now they are so sore and raw that I can barely touch my clothes to dress myself.

When my treatment is completed, it will take some planning to schedule surgery, recovery time, bone marrow biopsy and follow-up appointment for the report and not have all of this drag on for a couple of months.

So, prayer warriors, these are the present needs.