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Old 04-15-2008, 11:41 AM   #7
Andrea Barnett Budin
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: LAND OF YES! w/home in Boca Raton, Florida Orig from L.I., N.Y. Ever hovering IN THE NOW...
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Wink Yom Tov!

I want to wish all who celebrate Passover a HAPPY HOLIDAY. YOM TOV! It's a celebration of our freedom
-- for those who don't know. Caya, yes Hebrew school had its pluses. (I WENT 3 DAYS A WK FOR ABOUT 8 YRS!!!!!!!!)

The family gathers together at a special meal and conducts a Service, or Seder, including the children, of course. Usually the man of the house leads the Service, but we go around the table, taking turns reading parts. It's a team effort. We each follow along w/our own Prayer Book, or Hagadah.

I have the fondest of memories of Grandma Goldie and Papa Ike coming back to Long Island from Miami for the occasion every yr w/o fail. This is a most important Holiday! We all dressed up and had an elegant meal, w/all the symbols of the hardship our ancestors suffered as slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh. That guy was a nightmare. We eat bitter herbs and dip parsley in salt water (like tears). We eat Charosis (like the mortar of the bricks our enslaved relatives used to build the pyramids). God sent plagues of all kinds to punish the Egyptians, it is said. Frogs, lice, you name it... And there we are -- drinking wine! (The kids get grape juice).

We had to run for our lives, so only had time to make flat bread (matzoh). Moses led us. The army was in hot pursuit, at our backs, and the Red Sea was before us. Moses asked God for help, and as we all know, He parted the sea for us. But the army wasn't so lucky.

After wandering for 40 yrs in the desert (I think we were lost, but Moses wouldn't ask for directions -- lol) something awesome happened. Moses went up on the mountain and received the 10 Commandments for us to live by.

The Seder is full of our thanksgiving for our many blessings. We must never forget the Lessons of our bondage and all that occurred to make our lives richer. At the end of the Service, fun songs are sung. Then the kids go to find the special hidden matzoh (secretly stashed by the leader of the Service). Then, we all can get yummy desserts and the kids get $$$$ or gifts!
HAPPY PASSOVER!


Andi
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Andi BB
'95 post-meno dx Invasive LOBULAR w/9cm tumor! YIKES + 2/21 nodes. Clear mammo 10 mnths earlier. Mastec/tram flap reconst/PORT/8 mnths chemo (4Adria/8CMF). Borderline ER/PR. Tamoxifen 2 yrs. Felt BLESSED. I could walk and talk, feed and bathe myself! I KNEW I would survive...

'98 -- multiple mets to liver. HER2+ 80%. ER/PR- Raging, highly aggressive tumors spreading fast. New PORT. 9 mnths Taxotere Fought fire w/fire! Pronounced in cautious remission 5/99. Taxotere weekly for 6 wks, 2 wks off -- for 9 mnths. TALK ABOUT GRUELING! (I believe they've altered that protocol since those days -- sure hope so!!)
+ good old Vit H wkly for 1st 3 yrs, then triple dosage ev 3 wks for 7 yrs more... The "easy" chemo, right?! Not a walk in the park, but not a freight train coming at 'ya either...

Added Herceptin Nov '98 (6 wks after FDA fast-tracked it for met bc). Stayed w/Vit H till July '08! Now I AM FREE! Humbly and eternally grateful for this life-saving drug! NED since '99 and planning on keeping it that way. To hell w/poor prognosis and nasty stats! STOPPED VIT H JULY '08...! REMAIN STABLE... Eternally grateful...Yes is a world & in this world of yes live (skillfully curled) all worlds ... (e e cummings) EVERY DAY I BEAT MY PREVIOUS RECORD FOR # OF CONSECUTIVE DAYS I'VE STAYED ALIVE. Smile KNOWING you too can be a miracle. Up to me and God now...
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