History

Wednesday, December 24, 2008 8:36 PM CST

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 10:50 PM CDT

365

Today marks Finn's one year anniversary of his last chemo. 12 months off treatment! Another milestone in his little life! Life!

Don't forget to visit us at My Blog. Sometimes I still talk about cancer, sometimes I don't. Regardless, come visit over there or else I'll miss you all terribly. See you there!

Friday, April 25, 2008 4:09 PM CDT

And so, on April 18, 2008, Finn's chemo port was taken out--four years and three days after it was put in. It served us well.

And now it's the end of yet another chapter of Finn's journey through cancer, and the start of another, hopefully happier part of his life. One without toxic drugs, spinal taps, bone marrow aspirates, EMLA cream, being afraid of germs. . .

Don't despair. You can still keep track of Finn, and all the Rooneys at My Blog. Sometimes I still talk about cancer, sometimes I don't. Regardless, come visit over there or else I'll miss you all terribly. See you there!

Thursday, January 31, 2008 9:06 AM MST

Moving On

After thinking long and hard, I've decided that it's time to say goodbye to CaringBridge. Obviously, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to this Web site. I'll never forget how we found CaringBridge after Finn was diagnosed. My friend Marci had a friend who knew someone with the same kind of leukemia Finn had and this family had set up a CaringBridge site for their little boy (Noah Hurley). And that's how it all started. After delaying for a few days and getting a few nudges from Marci, who was sure that CaringBridge was the best way to keep everyone updated on Finn--and she was so right, The Mighty Finn's Web site was finally created.

When I look at the number of times people have been to visit Finn's page, I'm overwhelmed. Of course, you have to deduct out the zillion times I went to the page each day to read your messages of support, but to think that all of you were watching and waiting and hoping for good news was, and continues to be, amazing.

So why stop posting now? Why not last week, why not next week, why not in six months? The timing just seems right. Finn is days away from his six month off-treatment mark. Believe me, I don't feel like we can just soar out on our own now and carry on like nothing has happened. No, I'm too used to having all of you "here" with us. And I’d miss you.

So, brace yourselves. Even though I won’t be posting here anymore, I started my own blog! Taking a page out of Kristie’s book, OK, actually basically copying Kristie’s blog, you can still keep track of us at Can I Control My Life If I Can’t Control My Hair?. Lucky you! You don’t have to miss a beat of our lives! Boggles the mind, I know.

Seriously, if you’d like to follow us over to the new blog, YAY! Like I said, I’d miss you. But if you’ve had enough of the zany Rooneys and the tales of our lives, I totally get it. I get sick of us sometimes, too.

But after spending time reading other funny blogs and deciding I was ready to branch out and post about some different things, I realized that CaringBridge wasn’t the right place for that anymore. CaringBridge did us such a favor for nearly four years, but it’s time to take my diatribes elsewhere and let CaringBridge be what it’s meant to be—a place where people can share information about their loved ones who are sick. I feel a little nervous going away—like I’m tempting fate. What if I have to come back here and start posting again? I feel like I should keep posting for the same reasons I still keep needles to access Finn’s port, and syringes of saline and heparin. What if we need them again? But, don’t go borrowing trouble because today has enough of its own, right? Deep breath now—I’m ready to step away

I’ll miss CaringBridge, in a weird way. It’s where we “met” so many of you and where you provided us with the support that kept us going. Please know how grateful we continue to be.

I’m going to leave Finn’s page up for as long as CaringBridge is willing to let it be here. I don’t know if it’s something that will help someone some day or not. But I guess I hope it will.

At any rate, if you’re so inclined, come see us at the new blog. While I don’t profess to offer you riveting, life-changing information every single day, you know it will never be boring for long. We’re the Rooneys for heaven’s sake! Wait just a minute and something bizarre is bound to happen.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:22 PM MST

So, I find myself wanting to rant at cancer again. With good reason, unfortunately. We found out right before Christmas that my Aunt Shirley has breast cancer and she had surgery last week. I mean really, WTF??? I know I come from a large family, but statistically, haven't we met our quota yet? I guess I don't feel mad as much as bewildered and frustrated. So once again, I ask for your support and prayers for my aunt, my uncle and my cousins who supported us when Finn was sick, and now are dealing with this themselves.

At our clinic in Denver, there's pharmacy right across the hall. Occasionally I get Finn's prescriptions filled there, but more often I dash in and grab some M&Ms or something just in case I have a bad sugar crash on the trip back up the mountain. So in December I was in there on an M&M run while Finn finished his IVIG infusion. The cashier asked me if I was a patient in the building because if I was, I could have a 10 percent discount. I said I wasn’t, but my son was. She asked what he was there for and while I was immediately struck by the thought that this woman was grossly invading my privacy, I went ahead and told her, because I’m loose lipped that way.

Anyway, after I said that Finn was receiving some followup treatment after his leukemia, she commented, “We see so many kids with cancer here.” My next thought was, “Um, well, you are across from an pediatric oncology clinic.” But it was her next comment that I keep reflecting on: “Why are all of these kids getting cancer? It just seems like so many kids are getting cancer.”

And she’s right. At least to me it seems like she’s right. It does seem like more and more kids, and adults, are getting cancer. I went to a presentation recently that said, and I may have these statistics backwards, that one in two women will get cancer in their lifetime, and one in three men will get cancer. I find those statistics staggering, even if I do have them reversed.

So when the cashier asked me why all these kids were getting cancer, I kind of went off on a diatribe until I think she started to back away in horror. Because of course, she had only asked me why all these kids were getting cancer hypothetically. She didn’t actually want to hear my half-baked theories, poor thing. She just wanted me to take my M&Ms and get the heck out. Instead I stood there and pontificated about how we’re killing ourselves with the way we eat and the toxins in our environment.

I know it makes me sound like a crazy new age freak, and maybe I have officially become one. When my sisters started eating organically years ago, I thought they were nuts. Now we eat organically, too. We don’t have any cleaning chemicals in the house—we clean with baking soda and vinegar. We don’t use Teflon or put plastic in the microwave. We use shampoos, lotions, makeup—absolutely anything that comes in contact with our bodies—that are all chemical free. And the biggest step of all for me, I’m not even wearing deodorant anymore. I know, I know, but if anyone is so close they can smell me, they’re not respecting my personal space. I might feel differently about this when summer rolls around.

But where does it all end? Where do I draw the line? Am I going to move out into the woods and grow my own organic cotton, weave my own clothing, grow my own vegetables? I don’t know. I don’t know what the answer is. I don’t know why some people can eat all the processed, chemically, hormoney food they want and appear totally healthy and my child had cancer. I do know that weird things are happening—kids are getting cancer, adults are getting cancer, little girls are going through puberty at crazy young ages now. Where is it going to end? IS it going to end? I just don’t know.

Here is what I’d wish we’d all do: Think about what you’re eating. Think about the chemicals you’re breathing every time you clean your toilet. Think about the chemicals you’re absorbing into your skin every time you wash your hair or put on lotion. We need to stop. I know. This has got to be so lame to listen to me rant like this, like I think I’m some know-it-all about organic living. Believe me, I’m not. I just shoveled Tostitos by the fistful into my mouth before dinner. But please, I ask you to take a look at how you’re living and eating and make as many changes as possible. I just can’t take having another one of you get cancer. Because trust me, it sucks. And I wasn’t even the one with cancer. Watching it firsthand was bad enough. You don’t want to go there. And if making some, let’s face it, big changes are what it takes, we can do it. It would be so worth it. And if you can’t do it for yourself, for God’s sake, do it for your kids.

I’ll stop now.

Monday, January 14, 2008 8:23 PM MST

I. Have. Absolutely. Nothing. To. Report.

I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Nuttin' honey.

Eamonn is home from England. He ended up having to drive home from Denver because his flight couldn't land in Eagle--apparently the 14 inches of snow that fell in 24 hours was some kind of deterrant to the pilots.

School is back in session.

Declan badgered us into learning to snowboard and is now taking it on as his new Olympic hopeful sport. . .along with hockey and skiing.

Finn is. . .well, Finn is Finn as usual. I'm trying to think what he broke this week, but am drawing a blank. Must not have been too bad. There was just that one incident where he took the spray bottle of saline solution that was supposed to be for his nose and instead sprayed it around the bathroom causing me to scream, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?????!!!!!" But other than that, things seem intact around here.

We've been skiing/snowboarding/sledding/snowshoeing etc.--all of those fun winter things. I'm not sure why I'm actually gaining weight with all of the outdoor activity going on. Probably has something to do with the 10 avocados I bought last week.

Last Thursday Finn and I went to Glenwood to have his counts checked. I just couldn't face the drive to Denver given that we've had a crazy amount of snow lately. I don't have his counts back yet. Guess I should call about that tomorrow.

I guess I should also get some work done. My work procrastination level is at an all time high and the only reason I'm sitting here posting now is because I don't want to write an article about "How to Avoid an IRS Exam." I know. I can feel your eyes rolling back in your head as I write. Such is the life of a writer.

At any rate, as a preview, my next post is going to be a rant about cancer and how I hate it. And I will also talk about my Great Raw Food Experiment, which actually started today. I'm eating raw for 21 days--I can only imagine how this is going to turn out. . .

Must run. I have a date with the IRS.

Monday, January 14, 2008 8:23 PM MST

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 11:30 PM MST

I hope no one that I work for reads this site. If so, they’ll wonder why I seem to have time to update tonight, but will be missing my deadline tomorrow. I just can’t get motivated to write about anything business-related.

So instead—Happy New Year! We went to the ski down at Beaver Creek (pictures of the general holiday mayhem and New Year’s linked below) and watched the fireworks. Immediately afterward we ran for the car, not even stopping to enjoy the hot chocolate and cookies we had with us because I was practically frostbitten. I was literally about -16 degrees Fahrenheit here last night. I have pics on the link to show our frozen door hinges on the INSIDE of the front door this morning. That’s freaking cold. And probably also a sign that we need to turn the humidifier down.

I never updated about Finn’s ski experience. I think he was underwhelmed by the whole thing. We learned one thing pretty quickly—Finn has no problem staying warm in cold temperatures. In fact, he skied without mittens because he was so warm. We also realized pretty quickly that the Sponge Bob ski helmet he had chosen for Christmas didn’t have vents in it and when he took the helmet off after his lesson, he looked like he’d been in the shower. Needless to say, we had to get a different helmet. After Finn’s ski lesson, his teacher’s comment was: “He likes to fall down a lot.” So we’re not actually sure if was falling down because he couldn’t stay up or if he actually just liked falling down. Basically, we’re not headed for the winter Olympics any time soon. With Finn anyway.

Declan continues to be some sort of athletic mystery to me. Apparently when you have a former pro-cyclist for a father and a completely unathletic mother, you can still somehow come out with some sort of athletic skill. I’m so happy that it seems as if at least one of my children will spend his life not being humiliated in gym class. Some of the worst memories of my life involve gym class and Mr. Holden yelling at me to pull myself up the rope, jump over the pommel horse or run faster around the track. Trauma. Total trauma.

Anyway, my little athletic freak show of a son and I went skiing the Sunday before Christmas. Eamonn helped Finn ski in the beginner area while Declan and I went to the top. It was the first time I had skied since the infamous tailbone incident of December 2000. My sister asked why I would go right to the top of the mountain on my first day out. Because I felt skier peer pressure, that’s why! Eamonn had done it on his first day so isn’t that what I was supposed to do?

I’m proud to say that I made it off the lift without cracking any body parts off this time. My time to be humble was just a few short moments away though when Declan said he wanted to show me Jack Rabbit Alley. Knowing that this was a kids’ run, I gamely went along with him. And immediately crashed and burned. There were all these twists and turns and humps and bumps through the trees. It wasn’t pretty. Basically I ended up crawling back out to the main part of the hill and skiing alongside the trees while Declan ducked and dodged his way through. I could see him popping along through there and we would meet occasionally where the trees cleared and before he would pick up his trail again. He was probably relieved that I wasn’t skiing next to him. I wonder if this is the equivalent of walking ahead of or behind your parents so they don’t know you’re with them. I need to get some lessons. And some shorter skis.

Christmas was fun and low key. It snowed about 8 inches between 11pm Christmas Eve and Christmas night. We pretty much just hung out in our pajamas for much of the day, playing with new toys and watching the all day marathon of A Christmas Story. Oh how I love that movie. The boys were a little tired of it by about noon.

In the afternoon we went up to Tara’s and gave our new snowshoes a test drive. Finn is actually a better snowshoer than Declan. Go figure. Finn may have found an Olympic sport after all.

This Christmas break has flown by. I can’t believe the boys go back to school tomorrow. Eamonn left for England today and there were some tears at bedtime. I’m not sure if they miss Eamonn or don’t want to go to school tomorrow. I had grand plans to go to bed at 9pm and yet, here I sit, sucked in by the great black hole that is the Internet. This will seriously affect my grand plans to get up early tomorrow morning and exercise. Oh well, after I spent the evening sitting on the couch and watching the Biggest Loser premiere with a bowl of popcorn, all is probably lost anyway.

Big thrill of the day—seeing the local elk herd, which seemed like it took a long time to migrate into the area this year. I took a million pictures of them. I find them totally fascinating, even though they’re really just deer on steroids.

Tomorrow I swear I’m going to get my work done.

The Christmas festivities

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