eddie from ohio journal November 15, 2005

Greetings Edheads,


So where to begin, where to begin.....I guess the most recent monumentous date in my life would be a good place to start - November 9, 2005, approximately 4:30pm. I was at my friend Beverly's house (she cuts mine and my boys heads - well our hair to be exact) - anyway, it was time to do the deed, the awful deed, the one that I had prepared myself to do, but nonetheless it was still hard as hell! I had my head shaved. My chemo hair finally caught up with me (thank God it held out on the Edhead cruise), but like clockwork, Tuesday rolled around, and it started falling out everywhere. I was like a dog, shedding all over the furniture, the floors, the bed - and it just made me look sicker than I felt - so off it came. The boys were with me - of course there were a lot of "oooooohhhhh, run, mommy's going bald". That turned into "hello mommy who looks like Uncle Robbie." Next came, "Mom, will you wear your wig when you pick me up from school because I don't want anyone to make fun of you." And then finally, tne next morning I hear Liam lean over to Greg and whisper in his ear, "you know, we still love mommy even though she's bald." You gotta love kids.

Speaking of chemo hair, well first let me go back a bit. I have to send out ENORMOUS THANK YOUS to all who have sent e-mails to "my left breast@hotmail.com", and the gifts of notes, cards, flowers, hats, pins, rosaries, prayer flags,Take out Taxi dinner gift certificates (from the Edhead chat line ), so many other goodies, and most importantly prayers, to me. I have been extremely moved by the generosity and support from friends, family, Edheads (some known and some not known) all over the country. I wish I could write to each of you and personally tell you how reading your emails and cards has helped me through the first part of this journey. When I opened up my account, just two days after setting it up, there were over 300 e-mails of supporters, survivors, fans, folks from all over....I just was so touched. I think it's well over 1000 at this point. It seemed that so many were praying for me, and I know God heard the prayers....I was more shocked than anyone when I woke up from surgery and they told me that my lymph nodes were negative! I have never underestimated the power of prayer and I truly believe that these prayers from all over were the reason for the outcome that I received. I think my favorite e-mail was from a gentleman, who I want to say was from New England, but not too sure. It simply read - "I'm not much into the praying thing, but I'm going to pray for you." God bless you all!

A quick update with my situation.....I've been through one round of chemo, only 28 more to go!!! I haven't actually counted, but it's something like that. I"m in for about 1 1/2 years and then, God willing, that will be the end of it. The first round went fine - the nausea was quite tolerable - I've had worse hang-overs. Actually the first two and 1/2 days were fine, then I was really tired for about 2 days, and then I started to pick back up. The second week was the Edhead cruise, which was simply FABULOUS, and this has been my third week. I go back in on Monday. I understand that this has a cumulative effect, which may mean that the next week may be worse, and then the next treatment may still be worse, and so on and so on! That's why I'm simply taking it one day at a time! I say "Bring it on....I'm ready!"

Let me step back again really quickly and just say how wonderful it was to be part of the Feinglass Show at the Gordon Center. 500 folks - half of them had never heard of us, and half of them were die-hard edheads. I kept saying that this was my last hurrah before my treatments started. It was so wonderful to be back on stage and the response and the audience just made for a great night. Thank you to all who attended and put the show together. I hope we can do this one again!

So,let's move onto the Edhead cruise....you know I say this each time we finish one of these, but for those of you who haven't done this - START SAVING YOUR MONEY NOW!!! There is talk (talk mind you, nothing definite), but perhaps Spring 2007. This trip was great! This ship was big, the food was much better than the past 3 cruises, the group of folks, well I just can't even describe how great it was to be there! We, the band, were talking about the list of folks and realized that we didn't recognize a lot of the names - now we did recognize faces, but there were quite a lot of new folks to the Fan club cruise experience. Wow, everyone just jumped right in. There were a lot of great moments.... it would be too hard to list an entire play by play, but here are some of my highlights: (actually, Mike, Robbie, and Eddie probably have a mess of other highlights, so they may be listing on their next journals as well) - Hell, Mike could probably give an actual play by play, at least the last night, where I did see a picture of him sitting at the piano bar with a cigar in his mouth. Ok, back to my highlights:


1. Robbie and I singing "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", in the Karoke bar. I have NEVER done this, and I was nervous as hell! I know that seems strange, but I really was!! We totally hammed it up and had a blast! We actually sang that in high school, never publicly, but Robbie used to play it on the piano, and I would sit next to him, and we would stare into each others' eyes and them make out like crazy - no, just kidding, we would just sing it! I'm so bummed that I missed Mark and Mindy, who I hear did this amazing version of "Love Shack". I did get to hear Mark the next night and he rocked!!! You go boy.

2. Going to Progresso - My breast friends, Jen, Susan, and Chrissy P., grabbed "The Donald", that would be Donald Davidoff, the planner of this event, and our new Jersey friends Joel and Dave, and headed on the free bus to a very average public beach. It wasn't the beach though that made the trip - it was the buckets of Sol, the MANY guitar players who walked by begging to sing "La Bamba" for us, the lovely strays hanging out under our table, the yummy eats (thanks Donald), and the massive cheap market where lots of haggling was done. I'm still ticked off about that jewelry that I didn't buy. What an idiot! Chrissy, the boys love the pecking chickens, and we all loved your singing of that song that I've already forgotten the name Eddie went kayaking, Robbie went to the Mayan Ruins, and Mike, I think he stayed on board and drank in the piano bar with Robert - the piano man!

3. Opening our show with our parody of #6 Driver - which didn't have a title, but was written by yours truly, and My dear Kiki, Jen Schimmenti. Man, can she write some good stuff. Whoever thought of rhyming chemo with casino! It was fun.

4. The concerts - yes, rather than doing this marathon set, we did two full concerts - once again being "all requests", and folks did pick some winners.... and some oldies - "Porter's Tale", I mean we actually had to practice that! I did get to wear my blond wig as well. We sang the New James Bond and we put it right after Eddie's solo. So I ran into the bathroom and put it on, got a cordless mic from Bob, and then came in through the back and sang around the room. I started singing right behind my parents - and my dad's comment was priceless..... "Geez, I about did it in my pants, when I saw you." Thanks Dad.

5. Dancing on the Lido deck at the Mexican Fiesta party and watching the Carnival dance dudes try and get the crowd involved. Oh my, what a sight, especially when Jen started dancing with one of them. I think there was a shot or two involved in that. Am I right Audra?

6. Coming back from Mexico at 4pm and not having to do anything until 8:30 at dinner. I took a shower and laid on my surprisingly comfortable bed (with lots of down bedding) - go figure, on Carnival, no less! The rest was very much needed and very much appreciated.

7. Hanging out on the back deck of the ship - every cruise, that has been the "designated EFO spot"....lots of folks and lots of sun and relaxation. Spent two great days with the girls and Robbie and Mike.

8. The guest singers during the second concert - a new added feature to the cruise. Anyone who wanted to participate put their name in a bucket. We picked a girl and a guy, and they each got to sing a song with the band during the second concert - sort of like EFO Karoke. Erica was the first one - and she chose "Independence Indiana." Now, I have to say, that's probably not the easiest song to choose, but geez, did she nail it! I was so impressed, as was EVERYONE in the room. She even held that really long note during the bridge, much longer than I do...(insert durogatory word for female here). And Jeff was next with "Candido and America", and he was great as well!!! Do all of our fans have great voices? Are you all singers and actors? We were just blown away. Great job to both of you.

9. Eggs Benedict - well I had to talk about food at some point. Great eggs benedict in the dining room at breakfast. I was in Heaven.

10. Hanging out in the Chopin Bar and having Cosmopolitans with Nancy and Jim, Stuart and Janice, and my breast friends.

11. Mingling at dinner. The past three cruises I've had kids and hubbie in tow. I haven't really gotten to do the mingling thing at dinner much, mainly because of the kids - but it was great getting to do a bit of chatting and find out what folks were doing afterwards, had they been having fun, you know that kind of stuff.

12. Mark's shaven head. His hair was already just a little shadow, so Robbie headbladed it for him and he looks GREAT! Dude you're awesome for doing that! Bald is beautiful, eh? I hope Audra is still digging it. See you two in Atlanta...and I'm hoping the golfing thing we talked about will work out. Ooops sorry, having a personal conversation here, I'll stop now.

The last night, I about passed out in the dining room, I was just exhausted, so I went to my room, packed and immediately went to sleep. It's a good thing that I wasn't at the piano bar with Robert (where it seems as it Mike led the 50 Edheads in many songs and then into the Rock and Roll disco), where lots of other crazy things happened as well. But since it's all been passed down to me by others, and I wasn't actually there to witness the craziness, I don't feel as though I can comment. I will just say that Kiki stumbled into my room at 3:30 and woke up at 7:30 searching for Advil and slurring a bit. By the look of many Edheads at breakfast, I would say that a grand time was had by all.

So, I'm saying it again - START SAVING YOUR MONEY NOW!! YOu won't want to miss the next one.

That's it for me. I hope to see y'all in Sommerville next Saturday. I'm not sure if I'll be blond, brunette, or bald. Have a great week.

lots of love,


julie

p.s. I'm picking this up today, NOvember 15th, so I've actually been through two rounds of chemo...this one is a little tougher.....bad sleep, feverish, early on, but not too bad. I have been sporting scarves and bandanas much more than my wigs. Those damn things really itch. They're fine when I'm out, like on a date with Greg, or at a show - speaking of shows, I was able to see Ellis Paul at Jammin Java this past Saturday. He is so wonderful.... such an amazing songwriter, singer, performer, musician, and on top of that, such an amazing and caring man. I was able to chat with him for a good while after his show (not to sure all I said since Kiki bought me a grey goose on the rocks), but I remember most of it. Just another blessing that has popped into my heart. By being a singer, I have met so many other amazing musicians over the past 15 years. Ellis is one of those ones that each time I hear him, I'm so in awe of his talent and than am so in awe of the fact that I can call him a friend. So as I sit her with the chills and feeling like I have to vomit - I am feeling very blessed to be who I am, going through what I am, and being surrounded by the most wonderful friends and family that anyone could ever wish for. Blessings to all of you out there reading, and here's looking forward to Saturday in Somerville.