Archive for family

I got to ride to Tahoe with just my brother

By Crystal Heimgartner · Comments (0)
Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Yesterday was a great day. I got to ride to Tahoe with just my brother. It was nice to get to spend some time with him and talk and laugh. I enjoy him very much. He is talented, smart and funny. After he headed to work I headed to Sierra to meet up with my friend Chris who is an instructor there. He and I worked together at Tamarack and he is doing really well at his new mountain. We had a great time. The snow was epic and the company was nice too. You can’t really beat knee deep powder, an amazing mountain, a free pass and a good friend and guide for the day. There were a lot of people and we had to stand in long lines but once we got up there it was totally worth it. Chris is an amazing snowboarder and very knowledgeable. We waited all morning for a spot called “gate 5″ to open up and when it did it was worth the weight. We got to ride back country and there were very few tracks in the several feet of new snow. It was well worth the hike in and hike out. I did realize how out of shape I was though. I plan to start back to the gym next week since Mark gave me the OK to start arms and legs.

Today is our last day in California and I am sad to go back to cold Idaho. I got a little taste of home yesterday in Tahoe and it made me not want to leave the sunshine. Hopefully spring will come soon. It has been a wonderful trip and we have enjoyed every moment.

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What keeps me going

By Crystal Heimgartner · Comments (52)
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

I got an email today from a man who has a friend fighting ovarian cancer. He thanked me for sharing my journey and how I had helped him be a better friend to her because of it. It made me very emotional because when I started this journal I had no intentions other than keeping family and friends updated during the process and to document the journey for my small children. Honestly I started my blog for my daughters if, god forbid, I didn’t make it. I wanted them to know that I fought and how often I thought of them during that battle. They are so small and I can’t bare the thought of them forgetting me or ever questioning how I felt about them. There have been days in this journey when it seems so hopeless and I have thought if I didn’t have them I might just give up and let the cancer kill me. I know that is not what I want but there are days when the pain is so much and the emotion so overwhelming that you question your ability to win the fight. It’s people like Josh, the people on Facebook who say I have changed them for the better and my kids that keep me going. I want people to know that the best thing you can do when you are on the bottom of the stack is to keep climbing to the top. You will fall sometimes but you just dust off and climb again.

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I look at things a little differently now.

By Crystal Heimgartner · Comments (5)
Monday, December 28th, 2009

What a great time of year. If we were all as considerate of all year imagine how wonderful a place to live this would be. I got lots of nice things but the best part was being with my families. I look at things a little differently now. The worst part is that having cancer is the topic of most of my thoughts and honestly most of my conversations, however I am grateful that people ask me how I’m doing and most of all want to hear my story or share theirs with me. I am always open to talking about what has happened with me because I want people to be more aware of their bodies and the medications they are on. Dr.’s don’t know it all! Come to find out I was on a drug after my last surgery that gives you terrible thoughts, now it makes sense why I was so depressed there for a while and then my Dr. says not only should I not be on it right now but definitely shouldn’t be taking it with one of my nausea meds. Awesome! Don’t doctors talk to each other??? My surgeon put me on one and he put me on the other..They’re both on my chart. Oh well I’m off of all of them now, but my concern is that people aren’t being their own advocates. Check things for your self. Had I not asked I would have kept taking both of them and feeling like I was going to die and being depressed..No thank you.

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