Believe

Mike seems to be doing pretty good! It's hard to know sometimes because he is not one to complain, but Judy said that from what she can tell he has been feeling pretty good. Naturally he is tired and fatigued a lot and sleeps more now but he needs to sleep and rest more. She said he doesn't seem to be in as much pain either because she doesn't hear him moaning at night like she was there for a while.

It's a Busy Time

I have been spending the past two days getting everything finalized for the dinner Saturday night. I am excited to see everyone that shows up and hope you all enjoy the evening. My sister-in-law, Chris, lined up a great piano player for the event and you will be able to eat to the sounds of beautiful piano music.

The church just called and said they needed to set up round tables for Sunday's service and they would like to do that on Friday. They wanted to know if I minded using round tables instead of the long tables we were planning to use. This works out great because they will have all of the tables already set up for us and we won't have to do that! Talk about perfect timing for this event! :)

Thursday I am scheduled to go to the church to instruct them on how we want things set up and to ensure that we have plenty of room for tables for the other things we are planning.

I also have received some cancer literature from the American Cancer Society that they kindly donated.

Things are coming together nicely and I am anxious to meet many of Mike & Judy's friends and Mike's family!

One Week Until The Spaghetti Dinner!

I can't believe we only have one week until the spaghetti dinner! It seems as though Lori & I were just making plans to do some sort of fundraiser and here we are! The big day is almost here!

My doll room has become spaghetti dinner grand central and I have little room to walk around, as we have 72 pounds of spaghetti, many pounds of spaghetti sauce, plates, cups, silverware, door prize and silent auction items galore!

Yesterday I brought all of the silent auction items and door prizes out and we have plenty of great stuff that you can either bid on or that you will win as a door prize. I counted close to 70 door prize items and we have approximately 20 silent auction items. My husband, Bill, will be busy calling off door prizes every few minutes and Michelle and Kayla will be busy on the silent auction tables.

I will update the blog later this week to reflect all of the great gift items we have received from businesses and local people. We appreciate greatly the kindness of everyone who bought tickets, donated food items, supplies and many other gifts.

Mike's sister, Paulene, has been a great help in donating many items and we appreciate greatly all that she has done.

For those of you who purchased tickets we will see you next Saturday!

Update: Some people have been asking if we will be accepting checks for the silent auction items and yes we will. Checks will be made out to me, Sandy Robinson, as I will be depositing all of the proceeds for Mike and Judy.

Thanksgiving Day Was Great!

We had a wonderful family dinner at Michelle and Dean's on Thanksgiving Day and everyone played games and ate yummy desserts in the early evening hours. There was a total of 19 of us at Thanksgiving dinner and Mike, as usual, was onery as ever!

Mike and I like to joke with each other a lot and we have always had a fun relationship and Thanksgiving Day was no exception! He likes to pick on my ever changing hair styles and I have fun portraying the "dumb blonde" around him (and yes, it is an act! I'm really not that dumb!).

My sisters-in-law and Michelle are all Black Friday shoppers so they were spending some time looking through the newspaper ads to see what good bargains they could find the next day and they had all three computers at Michelle's house going to look for additional coupons and savings.

My brother-in-law, Bobby, showed me up on a couple of games but that's okay. I'll get him back one of these days! Bobby, his wife Jane, Kayla, Judy, Bev and I had a hilarious time playing Outburst and Gimme Five. I had never played these games before so it was a learning experience for me. They were really fun to play games with and it was, as usual, a very memorable holiday!

Have a nice weekend and don't eat too many leftovers!

Time for Christmas Music! Enjoy!

We'll Miss You, Mikie and Joy!

Mikie and Joy are now not able to come up for Thanksgiving. They are both sick and with Mike's immune system being so weak, they were afraid to come up to expose him to the germs.

Thanksgiving won't be the same and we will miss you guys! Take care of yourself and get better. Hopefully we will see you again sometime soon!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and please be safe! Eat lots of turkey!

Mikie and Joy - Have A Safe Trip Home!

Mikie and Joy are coming home for Thanksgiving so everyone please pray that they have a safe trip back to PA! We'll see you all Thursday!

Thanksgiving Challenge

Thanksgiving is a great holiday that reminds us that we need to give thanks regardless of our life's situations. When things are not going well in life it is easy to focus on the negative and we often forget that there are still things in our life to be thankful and grateful for.

What I have found to always help is to keep a gratitude journal. Ever since I became ill 17 years ago, I started a gratitude journal to record the things that I am grateful for. Even though I might wake up and not be able to do anything other than wash my hair, I record that I am grateful that I was able to do that small task. It helps through the difficult times and it makes you realize that even though things may be bad, there are still positive spins you can put on each situation. Instead of becoming a victim of "poor me", become a victor and learn from your experiences, grow and help others. Instead of complaining, put on a smile. It helps!

So my challenge to everyone this Thanksgiving is to start your own gratitude journal. Be thankful for every little thing you have and for every person in your life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Joy Is Still Cooking!

Joy is still busy working her fundraiser for Mike. In addition to the Lumpia, she is also making pork on a stick and something else (sorry - I forget what Judy told me!). Mikie said she was still cooking after 11 p.m. the other night. This stuff must really be good!



Mikie and Joy are coming up for Thanksgiving and she is going to teach us all how to make Lumpia after we eat our Thanksgiving dinner.



Everyone have a nice weekend. I won't be home to post so it will probably be Monday until I blog again.

The Mom Song

I thought this was really cute and it is really true! You don't realize how much you instruct your kids throughout the day but this woman does it all in less than 3 minutes! It's cute!

Sold Out!

We are sold out of tickets for the spaghetti dinner! Wow - that didn't take long. For those of you with tickets, serving times will be from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. We also have many great door prizes and silent auction items so it will be a great evening! Can't wait to see you all on December 1st!

Change In Mike's Chemotherapy

Mike found out that the experimental chemotherapy he had is not working so the doctors have switched him to a different kind. Instead of having 5 hour chemotherapy sessions he is now down to 2 hour sessions.

The doctor did not do blood work to determine that the chemotherapy wasn't working. He said that if Mike was still having pain then the chemotherapy did not shrink the tumors. He said the cancer is still "contained", it just hasn't gotten any smaller.

Please continue praying that this chemotherapy will work for Mike.

Family Reunion At The Hospital

Yesterday we had a family reunion at the Emergency Room of Chambersburg Hospital, as Helen (Judy's mom) was brought in for chest pains and dizziness. She had a heart attack a few years ago. Recently she was in the hospital for colon cancer.

After all of the usual tests for the heart and blood work were completed, it was concluded that everything with her heart was okay. She was supposed to come home today but she was running a small fever so they kept her.

Helen is 84 years old, so at her age anything can happen and you might never know why she has some of the symptoms she has. Please say prayers that she will be home soon!

Happy Birthday, Chris, Judy & Kayla!

Lots of birthdays in November! Chris celebrated her birthday on November 8th, Judy's is today, November 11th, and Kayla is tomorrow, November 12th! Happy birthday!!

Mike Is Having Better Days

Mike has been having a pretty good week. Of course he is very tired and fatigued but he has been able to eat better and Judy said he is getting his supplements to go down better.

He will go for his fourth chemotherapy treatment on Tuesday and next he will have blood work to determine if the chemotherapy is helping fight the cancer. Keep praying for Mike. I have faith that he is going to beat this!

Joy's Fundraiser For Mike!

Mikie's girlfriend, Joy, has been busy with her own little fundraiser for Mike that she is doing down in Florida. What you see in the pictures above is a dish called Lumpia. From what I read online (and Joy if I'm wrong, please correct me!), Lumpia is a traditional Filipino dish. It is the Filipino version of egg rolls. Lumpia can be served as a side dish or as an appetizer.

Joy has made Lumpia for her co-workers in the past and this dish has been very popular where she works. Joy wanted to do something for Mike, so she took orders at work for her famous Lumpia dish.

She initially received orders for 400 of these and now she has received orders for an additional 300! Thanks so much Joy for doing this for Mike & Judy!

Now you realize that you are going to have to make some Lumpia for all of us to try the next time you and Mikie come home! :)

Take the Challenge: 100 Days of Love

The website 100 Days of Love is offering a challenge to all of us to make a difference in the world by showing 100 days of love in various ways. The mission of the blog is clear - we should not wait until a tragedy happens to show others how much we love them and to do things to help our fellow mankind. Take the challenge for the next 100 days - you will be a better person for it. So that you can catch up on the days missed since the blog went up, here are the challenges thus far:

Day 1 - Please Join Us

Day 2 - Forgiveness

Day 3 - Hug O' War

Day 4 - Simple Service

Day 5 - Premature Judgment?

Day 6 - Attitude

Day 7 - Comfort Zones

All About Mike

I don't sleep well at night and sometimes that turns out to be a good thing! It seems that when sleep doesn't come easily, many thoughts and ideas do so I have this new idea that I want to try for Mike and I hope everyone reading will participate!

Last night as I was tossing and turning in bed, I was thinking about all of the great friends and family who have been so kind to Mike and Judy during this challenging time in their lives. So....I was brainstorming and this is what I have come up with...

I would like to make a book for Mike with stories from people who know him. If you would like to participate, please email me at fightformike@hotmail.com and you can email me the answers to the questions below. I want to have something to write up that is consistent, so it will just be a standard questionnaire with the following information you will need to answer:

- What is your name?

- What is your relationship to Mike?

- How long have you known Mike?

- How did you meet Mike?

- What is your most memorable experience with Mike?

- How has knowing Mike affected your life?

- Why is Mike special to you and your family?

- If you could only describe Mike in one word, what would it be?

- What personal message do you have for Mike?

- Any additional comments you would like to add?

Mike has touched many peoples' lives in various ways over the years and I would like for him to see just how much he means to all of us!

I would like to have this done so that I can give it to Mike for Christmas, so please email me with the answers to the questions above as soon as possible! I have also created a Word document questionnaire that we can send out to people who don't have email or Internet access. I will have this questionnaire available at the spaghetti dinner too, so hopefully we will be able to get everyone. Thanks!

You Raise Me Up

When I am down and oh my heart is weary

When trouble comes and my heart burdens me

Then I am still and waiting in the silence

Until you come and sit a while with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains

You raise me up to walk on stormy seas

I am strong when I am on your shoulders

You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains

You rasie me up to walk on stormy seas

I am strong when I am on your shoulders

You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains

You rasie me up to walk on stormy seas

I am strong when I am on your shoulders

You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains

You rasie me up to walk on stormy seas

I am strong when I am on your shoulders

You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up to more than I can be

The Side Effects of Chemotherapy

Judy said today that this chemotherapy treatment Mike is having has been much harder on him than his treatments he had when he first became sick. I'm sure because the cancer has spread the chemo has to be a lot stronger.

He doesn't throw up, but he gets up in the morning and has terrible dry heaves. This morning must have been particularly bad because Mike was late going to work and that's not like him. Judy said it sounds like he is throwing up everything inside of him. He is also having problems eating. He has no appetite. This is where the catch-22 comes in from being sick like this - you have to eat to gain strength and help build up your system, but the illness itself and chemotherapy kills your appetite. I have never had cancer (thank God!), but I know for myself just from having the chronic illnesses that I have how hard it is to eat when you are really feeling bad.

Eating is definitely not a top priority when you feel this bad, but it is something that you have to force yourself to do. We need to get Mike to eat more! He needs some weight back on and strength.

Hey Mike - I SAID EAT!! :) Don't make me come up there!

Clarification On The Spaghetti Dinner

For Mike's spaghetti dinner, we have had a few people asking if we are going to sell tickets at the door that night. I decided that we would only be selling tickets in advance because it would be much easier to plan and know how much food we will need to prepare.

So if you were thinking about coming, you will need to have a ticket in advance. If you have any questions, please email me (Sandy) at fightformike@hotmail.com.

Fighting Fatigue A 2007 Weblogs Awards Finalist!

My main blog, Fighting Fatigue is a finalist in the Health/Medical Issues Category for the 2007 Weblog Awards! Just think of all of the exposure something like this will raise for CFS, Fibromyalgia and Interstitial Cystitis!

Update Friday morning: You can click on the link below to go and vote for Fighting Fatigue for the 2007 Weblog Awards:

- Link to vote!


- At the Poll Index post, scroll down to "Best Medical/Health Issues Blog. Click on that link.

- Next you should see the 10 blogs that made the finals.

- Then vote for Fighting Fatigue!

- You can vote once per day and you have to have Macromedia Flash version 7 (or greater) installed and Javascript enabled or you will be prompted to get the latest version. If you do not have these installed, you can not vote.

Please go back daily and vote! I appreciate it! :)

Polls close on November 8, 2007!

American Cancer Society - Then and Now