Santa Cruz Beach Day
Last weekend we decided that this weekend we would go to the beach. Rain or shine. Barbie needed a beach day. I thought it was going to be a Pescadero day but it turned out to be a Santa Cruz day. Rolled over the hill and into Santa Cruz and Twin Lakes Beach right around noon. Sun shining and temps in the mid-70s. PERFECT!!! 
Barb’s girlfriends Colleen and Diane met us there. We threw the blanket down and set out the beach chairs, and chilled. Watched the waves roll in, the sailboats sail out and the people go by. Even saw four or five dolphins and a seal 
cruising the coast line. Couldn’t have asked for better weather. We brought some drinks and snacks. Had a veggie sandwich from the beach side deli and soaked up the sun on a glorious Autumn Sunday. Thanks to Colleen for lunch AND the great pictures. All the girls were taking “dolphin pics” and Colleen wins the prize for the best.
A good start to a rough week. Barb’s hair has started to fall out so she is taking the initiative and getting the Sinaed O’Conner today. Chemo round #2 on Wednesday. Got to keep those loving – good vibrations a happening with her…..
4th graders are 9 or 10 years old. Still kids, still mostly innocent, with true love in their hearts. They don’t know us, most likely never will. Vicky V mentioned in her staff meeting that she was taking Barb to chemo.
“Dear Mrs Flaherty, I hope you fell(sp) better. I will also pray for you and that your firends(sp) and family will pray for you”
In an ironic twist of fate, Breast Cancer Awareness Month starts on the same day that Barb decides to shave her head in a pre-emptive strike against the side effects of chemotherapy. Her and Kate made the trip to the beauty parlor for what had to be a strange visit. To tell you the truth, Barb came home looking pretty cool. Very Urban. And kind of Sexy! You are still a beauty !
Hit the next stop on the cancer reality tour yesterday when Barb had Chemo session #1. On Tuesday she had a minor outpatient procedure to have the chemo port installed in her chest. Arrived at the oncologist office yesterday at noon. After a brief consult we were given the green light to proceed with chemo. Downstairs to the “chemo lounge” with other lucky cancer patients. The place was really crowded and I’m thinking that this place is not conducive to healing. I turned out to be wrong. We shared a room for a short time with a little old lady from the Bronx New York, who had stage IV (there is no stage V) colon cancer. She was getting routine chemo just to keep her cancer from progressing. A real sweet lady who made us both feel at ease. Barb’s chemo routine is as follows. they connect the chemo port to saline bag and then inject a shot of steroids and a shot of benedryl into the line. Wait 30 minutes for it to sink in, then the first chemo med. One hour each for the Carboplatin, Taxotere and then the Herceptin to drip in. With each drop of each med I was waiting for Barb for have a reaction. Thank God she didn’t. We were done around 5:30pm and home. Barb was fatigued and had a headache but otherwise was doing ok. After a not so good nights sleep, she is doing ok today. The oncology nurse said that she wouldn’t sleep well with all the steroids they gave her.
What an amazing day. What an amazing weekend. What an amazing woman! Barb completed the breast cancer 3-day, 60 mile walk Sunday under cloudy, windy and rainy skies at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. I have more respect for Barb than I ever did. I knew that she would be able to do it, but it’s one thing to say you will walk 60 miles, its another to actually do it. What an awesome accomplishment for her. Kate, Kelly and I are so proud. We know that it was going to be hard on her. She came home both Friday and Saturday night walking like an old lady. Limping, hurting, and very very tired, and understandabley so! We did what we could do to assist by rubbing her feet, massaging her aching muscles, getting her ice packs and Motrin, and feeding her. But she is the one that talked the talk AND walked the walk. All 60 miles. YOU GO BARBIE!!!!! 
of the 3-day, 60 mile event. Needless to say, after two long days and 40 long miles, Barb was both physically and emotionally spent. Not only did she have sore feet, she had sore everything! Plus an upset stomach, headache and a mild case of exhaustion. I think she was “hitting the wall”. She told me on the drive up that “today, its all mental”. The weather forecast called for rain all day and it was already wet when I dropped them off and said goodbye.
I drove back home, got the girls, and headed back up towards the city. We knew that Barb would need us today more than ever. We left her encouraging voicemails on her cell phone that she could check when she took a break. We made some signs that we could hold up and root her on to the finish, we even burned a CD with songs of inspiration: Theme from Survivor, “I will survive” by Gloria Gaynor, “Gonna take that Mountain” by Reba, “On the road again” by Willie Nelson, to name a few. We got into Daly City and found the back of the pack. The route was clearly marked with arrows so we knew where to go. We just had to find Barb. She had called us already and told us that her and Lisa had separated and they were both walking alone. After 40+ miles, its “all mental” and Barb wanted to walk a faster pace than Lisa was going. As we were passing people, we were playing the music FULL BLAST with windows and sunroof wide open.
People seemed to love the Survivor theme because they started clapping, smiling and giving us the “thumbs up” as we drove slowly by. We also made a flag out of a Survivor buff that we had and flew that out the top of the sunroof. We were a multi-media cheering machine!! We saw Lisa first as we cruised the long, spread out line of walkers. We jokingly asked her if she needed a ride. She wanted to, but said no. She told us that Barb was about a mile ahead of her. We continued along, playing our music, honking the horn, hanging our signs out the window. We spotted Barb in a group of walkers heading up a hill. We yelled and screamed until she heard us and gave us the high sign. We drove past her and parked at the top of the hill to wait for her and cheer her on. We were playing our music and holding the signs for everyone that came by. 1600+ people were walking so we had a lot of people come by. When we finally saw Barb coming to the top of the hill, it was almost too much for all of us. Our emotions got the best of us. We held our signs high for her to see. 
“OUR HERO” and “SUPERMOM”. We could see her pointing and telling her fellow walkers, “that is my family!” We were overcome with emotion. We hugged her, we all cried, we told her how proud we were and how much we loved her. What a great feeling!!!!!!!! An Awesome experience. She kept on walking after that. We were still hanging out cheering the other walkers on and waited for Lisa.
I have to tell you, these walkers were so grateful that we were there. They ALL thanked us. Told us they loved our music, gave us little thank you notes. Kate even got a “CANCER SUCKS” button from one of the walkers. I tell ya, it took us a good 45 minutes to get over that emotional high of seeing Barb come over that hill.
She was happy to see us but didn’t want to stop too long. She was focused on finishing. She still had about 5 more miles left. From there we drove the rest of the route, cheering walkers all the way, and found a great parking place right at the entrance to Sharon Meadow where the closing ceremonies were to be held. I think it was the last parking place in all of Golden Gate Park. We were blessed!! Our plan was to wait for Barb and then walk the last 200 yards with her as a family.
We set up camp and waited again for Barb. We planned what song to play for her as she came around the bend. Reba of course. We saw many walkers that recognized us from earlier, They thanked us, we thanked and congratulated them. When Barb finally came into view, we hooted and hollered!!!. She really was our HERO and SUPERMOM. She led the way as we all walked into the closing ceremonies together. 
There were now many many people cheering her on. It gave me goose bumps. As she went under the arch, marking the end of the walk, she ran through a throng of well-wishers all HIGH-FIVING her. Just like the football players do before a game. There must’ve been 300 people in the “receiving line” that welcomed her to the finish. What an exhileratiing experience!!
From there, after hugs all around, Barb went and got her Pink shirt. All breast cancer survivors wore special pink shirts. All other walkers got blue shirts. After a break, we too got in the ever growing receiving line to high-five the walkers home. People were laughing, crying, in awe that they finished. It was touching. We waited in the receiving line until Lisa came through. Her and Barb hugged. That was touching too!!! They had completed an incredible journey together. 
Since Barb finished 390 out of 1671, We waited another hour or so for everyone else to finish and for the closing ceremonies to begin. We lined up inmass to wait for the walkers by the stage set up for the event. First to come were the San Jose Police bike patrol.
They had escorted and protected the walkers all 60 miles. There were 25+ men and women in uniform on mountain bikes. They lined the entrance to the stage. Then came the support staff. Anyone and everyone who helped with the walk. People who cooked, worked at the camps, directed traffic, dispensed motrin, gave massages, all of them. They too lined the way. Then the ceremony began. 1600 walkers. Walking together one last time, five across. Into the front of the stage to the cheers of everyone.
Once they were in front of the stage, then pink shirts, the Breast Cancer Survivors, all 168 of them walked together into the middle of the throng. 
This was the grand finally. Cancer survivors, the ones who fought their own personal battle with cancer, chose to fight again, for others. 
They were honored, and appropriatly so. The final touching moment was the raising a blank, colorless flag, in remembrace of those who have died from breast cancer. A few speakers thanked everyone as the rain started to really come down. An end to an incredible weekend and journey. Check out the pictures here