A huge thank you!

This is to thank Ms. Ench, Ms. Swan, and all the students and anyone else who helped make the beautiful quilt that was delivered to me on Friday!  What an amazing piece of creativity and inspiration and kindness!  I was surprised and overwhelmed and cried after Ms. Ench left, reading all the nice things everyone had to say.  I feel loved and supported and warmed every time I put the quilt over me, which is every single day because its on my couch, where I spend alot of time these days.  And no one could have known this, but I have a purple robe, so the blanket goes perfectly!  

I hope to see you all soon.  

On the Upswing!

Hi There!
It was so nice to hear from the students in Ms. Ench's math class - thank you for your comments and encouragement!
If you've seen me, you noticed that I'm wearing hats now - that's because I have no hair - just a little bit of gray and white stubble. I'll show you my bald head and big ears if you want to see them - I think I could have a big ear contest with President Obama!
So my cancer's not gone yet, but the chemo is working on it, and I'll know whether the tumors have shrunk enough to be surgically removed in March. If they haven't gotten smaller, I'll have 3 more rounds of chemo and will be done with that at the end of April. If they have reduced, I'll have surgery, a little more chemo, and hope to be rid of the cancer for good.
When the side effects from the chemo wear off, I feel good, which is how I am this week. It makes me really happy to be here at work and see all your bright young faces and hear how things are going.
I'll only be here at school for the week, and then not back until March 2nd. Please keep commenting - and tell me how things are going with you!

Out Till February 9th

Hello Students and Families and School Friends-

It has been so wonderful to be at work for the last week and a half! Although I'm not 100% feeling great, I've been well enough to get here every day, and work for all or almost full days. Working, believe it or not, can actually be revitalizing, especially when you work in a nice place like AHS, with all these great students, staff, and faculty and parents. The support and friendship I've felt from everyone is really heartwarming and amazing to me! I have everything from people sending thoughts and well wishes to those making soups, meals, and hats, and get lots of hugs every day too.

Chemo treatment is tomorrow, Thursday, January 29th, and then I'll be out the following week, recovering from the side effects of the chemicals. This time, I have some idea what to expect, and though in some ways it may be worse, because my body hasn't fully replenished it's white blood cells , in other ways it should be easier because I know the routine.

I would love to hear from students while I'm home - I check my email every day, and keeping in touch makes me feel really good. So please log on and say hi!

Have a good week - see you on February 9th!

Ms. Pichler

What's this about cancer?

     Well, what comes to mind when you  hear the word "cancer"?  Almost everyone knows someone who has had cancer at some point in their lives.  Many people have survived and live long lives after their cancer goes into remission.   Cancers come in all different forms.  They are not one illness.  Each person's cancer is different from another's.  Cancer is when a normal cell changes and begins to grow out of control.  These cells are chaotic, erratic, disorganized cells that have no real purpose. 

      The cancer I have is a couple of tumors growing in an area called the thymus, which is near the top of the chest bone.  Its a pretty rare form of cancer, which means doctors and scientists are still trying to figure out the best way to treat it.  My treatment is starting out with chemotherapy, which basically attacks the rapidly growing cancer cells in the body with poisons and fairly nasty chemicals.  These chemicals are great for killing the cancer cells, but they also attack a few other rapidly growing normal cells while they're at it, such as blood cells, GI (gastro-intestinal or gut) cells, and hair follicle cells (yes, I will lose my hair, and no, I won't wear a wig!  I'll wear knit caps and scarves, and hope some of you fashion-minded students can teach me how to tie them!) So alot of my being sick will be from the chemotherapy, not the cancer.  The body basically wants to get rid of all the toxins that are in the chemo, so in addition to the chemo drugs, they have to give me a bunch of drugs so I won't throw it all up.  

     I'll be going through 3 cycles of chemo at first, having one day of receiving the chemo every 21 days.  For the first week or so after each chemo, I'll feel pretty sick, but by the next week I should feel better, and that's when I'll hope to be at school, at least for half days.  So far, mornings seem to be when I feel best.  

      After those three cycles of chemo, the doctors hope my tumors will have shrunk enough to remove them surgically.  Then all I'll need is a bit more chemo to make sure there are no more cancer cells lurking around, and all should be fine! 

     I hope this makes sense to those of you who weren't really sure what this is all about, and that I didn't go into too  much gory detail!  One of the reasons I'm doing this blog is to stay in touch with my students, because I  miss you all already.   So please read it whenever you get a chance and post comments (make sure and leave your name on the comment so I can respond back to you personally!) - I'd love to hear from you all!  We can also talk about WorkAbility stuff here, if you want - like job applications, resumes, interview preparation, etc.  I'll try to get some pictures on the site soon.  Please don't worry about me - send your positive thoughts instead!  Hope to hear from someone soon!

Happy New Year?

Greetings to my students and families, and I apologize for the format of letting you in on this news...this has happened rather suddenly...on Dec. 24th, 2008, I was diagnosed with Thymic Cancer. This is a rare form of cancer. I have a tumor in my chest, and the doctors intend to shrink it with chemotherapy, then remove it surgically, and follow up with more chemotherapy to make sure all the cancer is gone from my body. My chemotherapy begins on Thursday, January 8th. I will be out of the office on Thursday and Friday, and possibly most of next week (finals week), hoping to be back on January 20th. I will be coming in to work on days when I feel strong and well enough, and staying home when the chemo has zapped my strength. In future posts, I'll write about this cancer and my chemo treatment and how I'm feeling. The one thing I want you all to know is that I expect to survive this and carry on with my WorkAbility students and their families. If any of you need WorkAbililty help and can't reach me, please call Nick Berger at 559-6554, and he will direct you to the appropriate person. If you just want to chat or send me thoughts and wishes, please do so anytime through this blog. I'll check it frequently and will look forward to hearing how everyone is doing.