breath

It feels like spring but its not supposed to! Here in Wisconsin it tends to be winter from February to may.  On top of that ive been doing night shifts so im all out of sorts!!

Wanted to share iwth you my LLS - Leukemia Lymphoma Society - Light the Night walk fundraising page

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://apps.lls.org/Apps360//swfobject.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript"> windowOnLoad = window.onload; window.onload = function(){ if(windowOnLoad){windowOnLoad()} swfobject.embedSWF("http://apps.lls.org/Apps360//genericWidget.swf", "etoolsFundraiserWidget", "184", "250", "9.0.0", "http://apps.lls.org/Apps360//expressInstall.swf", { programGroupName:"ltn", constituentID:"1617006283", eventID:"44405" } , {bgcolor:"#ffffff"},{});}</script>
<div id="etoolsFundraiserWidget"><a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"><img src="http://www.adobe.com/images/shared/download_buttons/get_flash_player.gif" alt="Get Adobe Flash player" border="0" /></a></div>

I have joined another cancer survivor and her team for the second year in a row.  Its an amazing night. they have food, different oncology resources set up to view, spin the wheel games to win theatre tickets, and best of all balloons of different colors to support loved ones lost, current patients and survivors.  Our teams get photos taken on stage and we all walk the park and end the night with fireworks! I definitely recommend going to one in your area or joining me if your local!!

I also want to share with you my young adult oncology groups fundraising page. We mainly want to share the page to spread the word we exist to other young adults living with cancer. If you know anyone please share the link!  The fundraising page is for us to raise funds for events to bring us together and of course spread awareness to the local city that we are here, we have fun and we want to share the love :)

https://www.crowdrise.com/youngadultoncologygr/fundraiser/yaog


Celebrate life with someone today.  Next week is my 6 year cancerversary!!  (no evidence of disease, my new life, my second chance).

new year new business new doctors!

happy January! almost February!!!  I started selling Jewelry In Candles this last week!  its super cool.  #soy #candles #madeinusa .  many fun fragrances ranging from mild to intense, in wax tarts or candles and body butter!  jewelry comes in everything!  and the scents are amazing. its the only type of candle that does not give my dad a headache.  I will post images about what JIC is later, if you'd like to see my facebook page and website, here are both links:

https://www.facebook.com/shanson.candles/ - facebook!

https://www.jewelryincandles.com/store/shanson_candles  is my store link! 

I am doing fundraising with my local oncology group, we have a crowdrise page to help raise funds for events! its super fun, I had originally been planning a big event until I found out we weren't able to get funds for seed money :( .  we have a panel at the local hospital next week where a few of us will be talking about camps like #campmakadream and #firstdescents and #stupidcancer !  

I went back to the doctor because I still have this nasty cough. I was freaking out about finding nodules on my chart thing that were never explained to me but she set me straight.  however she wants me to lose 30 lbs in 6 months, see a nutritionist and obesity clinic, but I can't even see them until march and she wants me down 15 lbs by our april follow up.  so if your a nutritionist out there and willing to do a phone consult, please email me!!! hansonsj24@gmail.com

happy new year!

2015 was  an interesting year.  i had health problems which sucked ( still no reason as to why or how but i seem to be stable at the moment for my unknown but severe acid reflux) but i was able to travel the country! i went to montana, wyoming, minnesota and out to canada for an annual fishing trip!  i learned to kayak, i met many other young adult cancer survivors and attended camp where i rock climbed and zip lined! Amaaazing. ive got lots of anxiety, so to do these things without giving up because of fear was awesome!  lately ive been getting involved with my local oncology group for fundraising which is pretty exciting.  i crocheted a bowser for my nephews christmas present and ive been trying to do more coloring and painting.  This weekend the nephews are over and were having good times playing in the snow, board games, playing pool and watching movies!   i also received my certificate for "art therapist registered " and "licensed professional counselor"  !!!!!! woohoo!!

celebrate!

OMG all, I am Super excited!!!!! this week I received my ATR and LPC certificates!!!! ( Art Therapist Registered and Licensed Professional Counselor.)  this means I can officially see clients privately, as opposed to going through a facility. I can also bill for services under LPC at facilities!  I have waited years to become "official" and now I am!!! I am in the process of creating a website for services to those interested. In the meantime, If I have not shared this before, I do have my Art Therapy Information station business page on facebook in which I list different articles on mental health and art therapy.  feel free to ask questions about what art therapy or topics you want me to find articles about and id be glad to  share!  if youd like to contact me personally either go through this blog or facebook :) 
https://www.facebook.com/shanson.ATPY/

fall is here! but it feels like winter...

my summer of adventures is behind me :(  I miss my #firstdescents group and my #campmakadream people!  it was scary but super exciting to travel across the country to hang out with complete strangers knowing wed have to talk about our histories of cancer in between fun new thrilling activities.  I have lost two of my new friends since camp in june, may they rest in peace pain free with no more oncology visits in their futures.  since starting these adventures I have found a bunch of new adventures!!! I will post my list of young adult cancer survivor groups when I complete it, otherwise www.stupidcancer.org has a nation wide list of camps for children, young adults, adults, and families sorted by state. 

For anyone interested in skincare, cosmetics, fragrances and more I will be hosting an in person / online open house the week before thanksgiving!  time to prepare for Christmas all :)  I have past limited edition products which I will have discounted, new limited edition and winter products!  its super exciting!!!!!  our new apple and pear lotion / lip balm combo smells amazing.  and our new cityscape perfume is super fine! 
https://www.facebook.com/events/448603838656875/


In November if you have heard of the Trees of Hope Wisconsin fundraiser, I am donating a MaryKay tree!  You could be the lucky winner if you go and bid on November 21st while enjoying the banquet and other activities being held to support the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. will post photos and more when I have them available!
https://www.facebook.com/TreesofHopeWI/?fref=ts

I am also considering starting jamberry. I was considering starting paparazzi ( 5$ jewelry) but then I realized I break out with jewelry and I would have to wear it to market / sell it as a consultant. which id love to do! except my sensiti e skin does not work .  Jamberry is a type of vinyl nail that sticks onto your nails with heat and pressure!  OMG amazing.  so addicted now. taking time to enjoy using them before I decide if I want to sell them ( but if youd be interested in buying from me, just let me know!)

kayaking, woot woot!

what can I say a bout my trip kayaking.  it was definitely worth the bruises! it was wonderful to meet the group of young adults, and then together get through our fears and anxieties to learn how to kayak. whitewater rapid kayaking that is.  I will post photos in another blog when im home :)
in this post I will copy paste my posts from Facebook, and then add to them like I did after the june trip to #campmakadream .   this trip was with #firstdescents kayaking in Jackson Wyoming!  I met people from californa, Minnesota, illinoise, iowa, Colorado, Connecticut, texas and even one from my area :) ( she needs prayers, thoughts, good vibes, whichever you wish to send as she unfortunately had to leave early and scans determined she has relapsed). I miss my #wolfpack  , as we learned kayaking one of our sounds was howling to each other to help get us geared up to go.  we all had nicknames!  mine was tiedye , then we had cobalt, shotgun, chcemosabe, token, smooves, boat drinks, lotus, bandit, hungry, doc, eye candy,our volunteers / camp moms and sisters were  jams, moose, cheese,pickles, patch, coach, jump,and our chefs were chamomile and aj and our kayaking instructors were wild thing, speed monkey ( who turned into sea monkey and kept adapting), brown claw and dubie.  #rendezvous in Jackson is the place to go! they were awesome. will include their links in my post with the pictures.

Ok: on with the post followed by more!

Met a guy here with my same exact cancer down to being in the bone!!!! (which is rare) he also happens to be the guy who wrote and performed ‪#‎stupidcancer‬ theme song. He gave us a small performance after dinner :) 
Day one, we got lunch and introduced ourselves(my nickname was down to tyedye or starburst and tyedye won) then we got to camp and got the chance to meet other campers as they arrived, hanging out all afternoon. We get our wetsuit gear tomorrow bright and early and learn how to kayak in a nearby lake. We were also told beware of bears and moose. Apparently bears are large dogs and will not attack if not threatrened, but moose will chase you down if are having a bad day and just got hit by a horsefly. So no wildlife selfies unless it's with a statue, which they have plenty of.

I happened to be wearing a tye dye shirt, which I made in june at #makadream . and talking about my art therapy and helping others, it stuck. I was super excited to tell them about makadream as they hadn't heard of it!! it was also exciting to meet someone who had my diagnosis. granted his treatment was different, but we still had some similarities such as not being believed, having severe pain, etc.



Day 2! We stopped at an outfitters and were borrowed gear for the week, booties wet suit life vest boat skirt wind jacket helmet, you name it! Then we drove to a lake past the titen mountains and learned to kayak with whitewater kayaks :) they helped adjust each of us so we were comfy and then proceeded to dunk us under the water. We had to practice exiting the boat to be comfortable when we fell over on the rapids. We then learned how to steer and played water games :). Found out we have a horse and mule ranch Next door so had to go make friends. The one with me kept poking me with its head, biggest mule I've ever seen! Need to find me some local horsies to ride as physical therapy, losen these stuff joints. Next is bonfire and more bonding. Then sleep!

- seriously, largest mule I have ever seen!  bigger then the horses in its pen. and they weren't ponys.  the group was amazing though, they outfitted us in the gear and borrowed it and boats to each of us for the whole week, were with us every step of the way.  I had  a rough first day, we had to be dunked under water to practice water exits in the lake so we would know what to do when it happened on the river.  I freaked out and bawled for like 20 minutes because I couldn't breath ( didn't take the breath, was super anxious)  brought me back to the first day o f chemo when I couldn't breath and needed an epi pen. didn't know what was happening or where that nurse was , slow motion kind of thing. I was able to keep dunking though and figure out how to take that breath :)   we called it the hand of god technique, know that someone would be there to lift us up while we were waiting so we wouldn't have to exit and dump the boat. on the side of the river.


Day 3. Spent the day on the river going 9 miles! Had a picnic lunch half way through learning the curves of a beginner river, only tipped over once after a rough patch :). Whitewater kayaking is so much cooler then swimming or canoeing! We do have a participant who's also the photographer, so more pics will be available after camp from on the lake.
Scary situation last night. One of our ladies woke me up in severe pain so I left her with the others to go get a house mom, long story short she ended up going to the er for scans and flight lifted to a bigger hospital in Idaho falls because she has relapsed. Please keep her in your thoughts.

- that first day was amazing! we went on the snake river, deep and wide with small wavy areas and swirly areas.  the swirly areas were the ones to worry about. always lean in people! and don't stop paddling.   that night was when our fellow lady woke me  up with head pain, and after being examined went to the er for pain management and ended up flying out to a bigger hospital to meet her parents.  shes in rough shape, so again please send thoughts her way.


Day 4: Hiked a mountain today! Ate a picnic lunch by a waterfall. Was not the whole mountain, but a good half hours worth uphill.our photographer borrowed out his walking sticks so he could take photos instead(makes walking so much easier! Need one of my own now, who wants to hit up some hiking when I come home?). During lunch we used my marykay selfie stick to make some memories :). Afterwards went shopping and ate icecream in town before returning to camp to a random dance party before dinner. Bonfire time again and now sleep, back to kayaking tomorrow.

- yay mountain! was not prepared for that. thought it would be a flat hike, but nope up a mountain.  definitely needed that walking stick, made such a difference, going to have to buy my own pair! ( who wants to go hiking? or kayaking?).  bonfires were nice, we hung out together, answered questions about why we were there, what the river taught us, and how we handled situations such as relapse or bad news. our amazing chefs chamomile and aj brought us deserts and then sat with us to join the circle :)  all homemade non gmo organic food. mmmmmm.


Day 5. More kayaking! We started at the camps river entrance, very shallow water, lots of rocks! Was a challenge but after tipping once I was flyin over those rocks and ledges! Arms are ready to fall off but that's ok. We stopped on a large Rocky area/beach for lunch and those rocks were perfect for laying on, nice and warm. And I found a vertebrae bone!!! Yay for souvenir hehe. On the final stretch a bunch of us wrapped together and floated down the river until we came upon... a hot spring! So of course I Sat in the hot spring (which smells like sulfur but felt amazing) thendunked in the cold fresh water to try clearing the smell. Once back at the camp we went swimming in our pool ( a salt water pool instead of chlorine) and then our instructors taught us how to self flip in the pool and showed off their awesome skills! Our chefs then rang the dinner bell and showed us the 37 homemade pizzas for dinner! Along with salad and homemade dressing. We have eaten very well this week. During bonfire chats I recieved the offwater award! ( pink flower necklace) for being helpful with paddles today , helping out lady in crisis the other night and always smiling and keeping track of this trip on Facebook, (list goes on and I have to give it away to another tomorrow night). Tomorrow's sad as it's the last day of kayaking frown emoticon but my arms are happy, and my new friends and I are connecting on fb to keep in touch. Tomorrow's river is a canyon, fingers crossed for me and the group through those rapids!

- was not to excited about those rocks, and now I have the bruises as proof I did it .  first big crashing wave I was down for the count. but I learned quickly! don't stop paddling and lean into the scariness.



Day 6. Final day, was awesome but sad. Started out bright and early to the big or level 3 rapids. I got squashed at the first turn. But I was then given the option to stay in my kayak or sit in one of the ducky boats(big inflatable kayak) with a camp mom or myself or a fellow participant, or the big giant Cleopatra float. I chose to sit with a fellow participant, and after a few minor communication issues we had it down! Was awesome riding the waves, still got hit cause the...y were 6 footers, but not near like when I was in the tiny kayak. We lunched on a giant rock /Sandy area in between rapids, and then continued on through the big kahhuna and the graduation rapid. We each went one by one down our own rapid with no assistance (but the guides were about every 20 feet alongside it just in case) and we all rocked it! (including us in the double, which those big ones are not easy to maneuver, can't use our hip power, it's all upper body strength. I now have arms of steel). After rafting we had to hike up a partial mountain to the vans, had a dance party in the lot and came back to camp for relax time. We wrote Thankyou cards to anonymous donors, packed up and added each other on Facebook. During bonfire time we gave away our awards and did some traditions. One was tying a string around each others wrist to help keep the good spirits with us during our travels and give kind words from our week to the one receiving the string. Then we went across camp to a kayak next to candles in cups and each put a candle in the kayak filled with water for ones we have lost. We said good byes to each other after moments of silence and then went back to lodge for a slideshow from our photographer, whom is amazing! We celebrated a few birthdays happening this week for dessert and then headed to bed to finish packing and sleep. Flight out is early afternoon tomorrow, arrive sometime at night.

this week was amazing. made a new family with my wolfpack, delivered luggage to our local friend and will be visiting her later this week, and learned to kayak in Wyoming!!!!! how awesome is that?  if your in the Milwaukee area / Midwest, and kayak comment here :)  I heard kayakers are a rare breed.

as for my health. im sick of docs . I saw a specialist last week before I left and have a probe test this Tuesday to check my acid reflux. little probe down my nose and throat for 24 hours >.<  ick. if this cough wasn't so nasty with flem and vomiting I would say screw it. but its been going on for months :(.   will keep you updated!

dislike going to the doctor

ahhhh. so I  have had this cough, which after I went to Montana and after my Minnesota national art therapy conference, got really bad. like OMG im throwing up a throat bad ( not lung, my throat) which really started to creep me out.  I took the first available doctor I could get, she listened to my lungs, checked my nose and ears, and on my request took a lung xray ( side and back view). besides the cough I felt ok, and the cough itself wasn't all flemy like im used to, over all dry. the doctor stated that the xray was clear and she was 99 % sure it was acid reflux ( which made sense with my history, have had scope tests done for an irritated stomach and during chemo I obviously had a lot of vomiting which affected my throat not so good). she prescribed antibiotics just in case it was bronchitis because I did have a bought of that during school out east ( and apparently once you start getting it your susceptible ). 

the antibiotics helped a bit, cough wasn't so bad but still consistently throughout the day and worse after meals. after that ended I started on my infamous ant acid pills, which over the course of the week did not seem to make a difference so I got back into the doctor this week ( my own doc / physicians assistant because the initial one was on vacation )  my lady asked me what I was told. I repeated the above and she went into the xray notes / radiologist and said no, you were diagnosed with pneumonia!  she ordered a new set of xrays, listened and so on so forth.  sure enough she showed me the before and after xrays and I had a hazy spot on the upper right lung.  get this , there was even a bright red oval around the hazy spot on the initial xray stating there was something there!  ( was told it was clear)  the new xray was less hazy, much smaller area, but I was obviously still having issues.  was given new antibiotics, a new ant acid pill and prednisone to help with the coughing because all the normal over the counter stuff did not help.  

I was warned the prednisone would make me shaky and all energetic wooooo!  and that the antibiotics should help.  I did not agree that it would but I was willing to try anything at this point.  ( work with very anxious young ladies who do not like seeing sick staff around every day) .  OMG  by that afternoon yes I noticed I had the shakes, but I have never had more energy!!!!!!! I didn't yawn once!!!!!!  I also noticed I didn't cough more then maybe 5 times all afternoon.  I felt almost human. granted my memory was like sucking so horribly it reminded me of chemo brain but thankfully my coworkers did not give up on me and were helpful with that part even though I asked one like 15 times about medication questions and she had to keep repeating she wasn't med certified and so on so forth. and then I completely blanked out as to where one resident was for 3 hours until same staff helped prompted my memory and it came back to me. luckily today im a swing shift so I don't have to be in control of the medication keys, just kinda have to hang out and help keep things going smooth. ( residential unit for mood disorder).

but don't u just love when one doctor tells you one thing, completely disregarding the big red oval marking the hazy area?  yay for paying for double the xrays.