In Memoriam

With utmost sorrow and grief, Lisa's family is updating her blog on her behalf with somber news. As many who were close to her already know, Lisa passed away on Thursday, December 15, 2016.
Lisa was surrounded by love with her husband, parents and four sisters by her side. In passing, she is reunited with her firstborn son, Rylan Cruz Dorantes Haffner. Lisa is greeted and welcomed into heaven by many other angels, including family, friends and former patients she cared for throughout her nursing career.

Lisa's warmth, humor, smile, spirit, kindness, thoughtfulness, generosity and overall grace will continue as an inspiration to all who have known her and who followed her journey through this blog.

All are welcome to celebrate Lisa on her birthday Wednesday, December 21st from 5 - 8pm at:

L.A. DiGiacomo Funeral Home

1055 Southampton Road

Philadelphia PA 19116

All are welcome to an additional viewing at 9:30am & 11am Funeral Mass
Thursday, December 22nd at:

St. Ephrem Church

5400 Hulmeville Road

Bensalem PA 19020

Interment will be in Resurrection Cemetery

Lisa's biggest concern was always the welfare of her 2 year old son Owen. Any contributions in Lisa's memory for Owen's care and education can be made directly through this blog or through:

Lisa Joan Haffner Memorial Fund
824 N. Pennock Street
Philadelphia PA 19130

Thank you for all your prayers and kind expressions of support,
The Haffner and Dorantes Families


                                                           

In Loving Memory Of

Lisa Joan Haffner Dorantes

December 21, 1974 - December 15, 2016

                                                              

Post 97: !VIVA!

Apologies...
It's been soooo long since I've blogged... that I couldn't even remember my sign in password. Insert drum and cymbal sound  (after the comedian makes a funny remark).  But really... true story... like the comedian says too.

Apologies too... this is just a quick post. Had I remembered my password, I would have been able to post this on the correct date... yesterday. Which is September 16th or in Mexico, Independence Day! Sorry to all the partiers out there, it's not cinco de Mayo :o( But any excuse to celebrate Mexico is a good enough excuse despite what Trump says.

Better late than never...
!VIVA MEXICO!


P.S. September is also Childhood Cancer Awareness month. Hashtag kids should be cancer free.





















!VIVA los ninos que tienen cancer!  !VIVA! And, of course, adults should be as well (cancer free that is). !VIVA!  And speaking of cancer, I finished my radiation treatments in August. My follow-up MRI is this Friday, September 18th. So keep all those fingers and toes crossed if you don't mind. !VIVA LISA! :o)

I miss you... but this little 18 month off sucks all of what little energy i have, out of me.

lots and lots of love... little lisa lollipop

the good, the bad, the ugly...

Hi Lolly friends!

It’s been one month since I had my chemo embolization... or as a medical dictionary would say… a major ass whooping.  In anticipation of losing my hair, I ordered a few cute hats online… better to be prepared. 

Unfortunately… I totally looked like Justin Bieber (just not as pretty. lol). 

The good news… the doctor said that I probably won’t lose my hair. And I’ve already passed the crucial 2-3 week post chemo hair loss period. AWE-some!

For all you non medical people out there, chemo embolization entails the Interventional Radiologist , the great Dr Sudheendra in my case, entering the femoral artery,  going directly into the liver, and locating the blood vessels that are feeding the tumor.  They inject the chemo directly into the tumor and then cauterize/ burn those vessels to cut off the tumor’s blood supply.  

They brought out the big chemo guns for me: cisplatin and mitomycin. 

BANG, BANG... you're dead, cancer! Or so we thought :o(

The bad news... I had my one month follow-up MRI yesterday and the bloody stubborn tumor is still there. 

So now… it’s going to get ugly, we are going to burn that mo fo. “The Roof, the roof, the roof is on fire…” My microwave ablation is scheduled for June 22^nd Hollar!!!! Can’t wait . Please keep me in your prayers… pretty please with sugar on top :o)

lots of love…

little lisa lollipop


P.S. Owen is 15 months today, 
and he is still awesome!

Hickory Dickory Dock...

Hickory Dickory Dock... the mouse ran up the clock.

I know... so much time has passed,  & I am long overdue for a post. Not that i haven't been thinking of you though.

But... as we predicted, my life this past year has been overrun by exhaustion, dirty diapers, bottle feedings, nursery rhymes, and so much joy!!! Owen is growing and learning so much.




As for me, I've been back to work since last May, and i have routine scans every 3 months. Once I asked my doctor when we could transition the scans to every 4-6 months, and he said, "We don't."  I guess due to the usual aggressiveness of this type of cancer. So... every 3 months come around... and i hold my breath... Sometimes you feel like a ticking time bomb. Hickory Dickory Dock.  Unsure of if or when it will go off. Unfortunately, my timer has just gone off :o(

That's the bad news... i have a recurrence of the cancer.
But I'm so fortunate because it could be much worse.
The good news... it is isolated to the liver, & we have a plan.
The best news... Owen is awesome!

Having him does make it scarier though. I can't bear the thought of not being with him or of him not knowing/ remembering me. I know... i'm being a little dramatic. I'm no where near that point, but you know how the mind tends to wander. And also that it's a recurrence too makes it scarier. I've had different types of cancer before but never the same one twice. Guess I'll cross that off my to do list :o).


So I'm just waiting on the clock now... won't have my chemo embolization until early May. Wish that darn mouse could run faster and speed up time. Please keep me in your prayers.



Best & lots of love...
little lisa lollipop

"Bald so Hard"............... by Tom

Welcome back Lollie friends!
Having been meaning to share this awesome You tube video for awhile. It's called Bald So Hard.

http://youtu.be/BHpz3UEmvQg

And speaking of bald being so hard... apparently somebody wasn't using enough sunscreen when she was sporting the baldie hairstyle last year. Had a basal cell carcinoma removed from my scalp yesterday. It would have been perfect if Halloween were today instead of last week.  I could have been Frankenface...but instead I was a mama tiger. And Owen was my baby tiger. Pix of Frankenface at the bottom... in case you don't want to see them.

lots of belated love...
little lisa lollipop

P.S. Apologies from Owen for holding me hostage

The nurse in me also needs to share this great info on skin cancer and mole checks that i found in the waiting room at Penn Medicine. Sorry, no CEUs :o)

Miami Heat vs San Antonio Spurs

Speaking of the NBA playoffs... this is a long overdue post. Couldn't post this without the pix though... just wouldn't be the same. Good thing we are up and running now.

Future NBA playoff featured here... and if that doesn't pan out, perhaps Sumo wrestling will have to do... the way he's packing on the pounds :o).

Well...you knew the playoffs were going to be good from Game 1 when LeBron had his LeCramp. And whether you are a LeBron fan or not, you have to admit that some of the Spurs fan posters in Game 2 were hilarious!




Giant poster size ones of him crying...                             Kind of reminded me of this...

Disclaimer: Note no babies were harmed or injured in taking this picture.                                  
Another funny sign... "I was gonna make a cool Spurs poster...but then my hand cramped."

Shout to Kawhi Leonard, the MVP.
Side note... after we became pregnant last year, we learned to think of Owen's age in terms of weeks. And now that Owen is here, we still think in terms of weeks... since a few weeks makes a big difference when it comes to babies. But never have a seen a grown man's age written this way. See... Kawki Leonard isn't almost 23, he's 22 years 350 days old.  Hilarious!

lots of love and basketball...
little lisa lollipop

i luh ya papi. i luh ya luh ya luh ya papi.......... by J.Lo.

The song can't say it enough times...
and i can't get it out of my head either...
i luh ya papi. i luh ya luh ya luh ya papi...
that's the only part that i know :o)

Truth be told... Juan, my papi, really liked the Father's Day poem, but perhaps my poem was a little too sentimental for some :o). And truth be told... i am the one always losing things, so that part was more about me than him. But the most important thing is that we can always laugh about things, and that is perhaps what i love most about him. I know how blessed I am, & Mimi said it best, it is all said with love.

To lighten the mood... let's try Jimmy Kimmel's mystery item pictures.  Essentially he shows you a small portion of a picture, & you have to guess what the item really is.






Picture #1:

Looks like real art, right?
Zoom out....     it is really a milk fang.










Picture #2:
I know what you are thinking!
Zoom out...  it is Owen's chubby thigh.










Picture #3:
You guessed it right.
Zoom out... Camel butt!









Hope you enjoyed the mystery pictures.
Forgot to mention that Juan enjoyed his Father's Day with Owen.
They spent all day together... watched the World Cup and the NBA playoffs...
it doesn't get much better than that.

lots of luh...
little lisa lollipop