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Helloooo!!! Happy New Year!! I’m all kinds of HECK YEAH. Bring that bad boy on. I finished chemo on December 3rd so this was something to celebrate!

I wanted to bring in the New Year with style. That said, here’s a cool pic taken just moments after midnight in downtown Denver. The Sheridan hotel blasted fireworks from its rooftop. Here you see the surreal reflection of the sky party in the nearby buildings. Double the pleasure, like double-mint gum.

And here I be. Making the most of the wig-moment of my life. On the up-side, aren’t wigs cute!?

On that note, I’m learning to work around this no-hair business. Every morning you have to think about your head. It’s like, “Oh Yeah. What contraption do I walk out with on this day?” It’s like having a stereo with a broken speaker. It’s annoying but tollerable.

Hats rule. Like this one. I LOVE this red hat! Here I am holding a new born baby boy named Henry.

While on the subject, I’ve thought about the benefits of a hairless life:

1.) The money you save because you don’t have to buy razors, shaving cream, shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, flat irons, curling irons, blow dryers or gel. Whew! That exhausted me for a minute.
2.) Free’d up counter space.
3.) The endless possibilities of multiple-personality syndrome with all the various looks you have.
4.) Ignoring the aisle of hair products at your local grocer.
5.) No more bad hair days. Sorry, that was cliche’ and predictable of me. 8Þ

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My seestor Kim was with me during my last treatment. Here are some pics from that day. This was taken about half an hour after I was done. I look tired.

During treatment passing time. My favorite fun, cozy cap…

When I was done the nurses gave me this certificate and some gifts. They made it very special. I’ve graduated! This cert says “Elana Rogers formally, officially, and emphatically concluded her chemotherapy regimen as prescribed and administered by the caring professionals of Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers.”

Afterwards we celebrated with an exoctic Korean BBQ meal. Chicken soon-to-be cooking on our table.

Mom and Kim came up from Dallas to see me for XMAS. It was our 1st time ever to have it together in Denver. Thank you Mom and Kim!

Globe trotter:

The look I will not leave the house with.

Kim was here for Thanksgiving too. Here we are with Tempa and friends:

I escaped to Mt. Evans one day in December for a hike:

Gotta have some purple geese-feet!

And finally, kudos to the man who’s been there for me during this journey, Mr. Glyn Jones:

What’s next? Getting my body back to normal, which will still take some time. Let’s just say that my Dr did not tell me “you’re cancer free”. I think it’s more assumed. With the surgery plus the 4.5 months of chemo, we’re going with – I’m covered. The next step is going in for bloodwork every 3 months. They’ll look at these criteria called “tumor markers” to see if there are any changes. I’m pretty amazed that they can just tell by looking at a “tumor marker”.

I’m looking forward to a long-overdue vacation! My birthday is January 13th. And on the music front, I’m working on a celebration gig with the boys! Eddie Garcia on guitar, Mark Mauldin on pedal steel, Rob Cameron on drums and Spencer Pyne on bass. Keep your eyes and ears open for a gig in early March!

Until next time, have a happy and wonderful 2010!

Elana

Hi friends. Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve learned that life moves on, you do your thing, and you don’t let something like “going through chemo” slow you down. I’ve been working full-time, hanging out with friends, have gone on a few hikes, wrote a song, spending time with family, doing the best I can and I can’t WAIT to get this over with.

But I’ve got to be honest. As it turns out, chemo isn’t as hard as I had initially feared. I had no idea what was going to happen to me and was bracing for the worst (as anyone would). Other than being bald it’s my energy that’s been hit the most. I have a general overall weakness which comes and goes in waves, and occassionally a fever will goof on me. But the truth is that the type of treatment you recieve is all about the type of cancer you have, how far along it is, the size of the tumor, how many you may have, the stage, etc… It’s also important that the person recieving the treatment is already in good overall health before going into treatment.

In my case I was fortunate in that I caught it early. If I had waited one more month to do something about it who knows what would’ve happened or how “hard core” my chemo would’ve been?? All of these factors DO make a difference! The fact remains: my ki-67 score (agressivenes score) was over 95%. I have no doubt it would’ve had a block party if I didn’t do anything about it. All I can say folks is this: Early detection of cancer is THE best key for survival and for the least-impacting treatment possible (I’d like to believe that). Hint-hint-wink-wink.

I am also thankful and I’m more than appreciative of my friends and family whom have shown their support. I LOVE YOU!!

Since my last entry, my cousin Carrie came through town (she lives in Florida… hence the awesome tan…lol). Here’s a pic of us after we had dinner at PF Chang’s and were then hanging out at 1515:

Then my sole sibling Kim came to town for my 4th treatment (pix below). Is it just me or do I look like I’m posing like a President?:

Cheese!

And it’s cold as #$&% in there:

We also went out with some of my friends (sorry for the blur):

We also went to the hot springs in Idaho Springs, soaked and received long-overdue massages. Talk about a stress-relieving, toxin-releasing, relaxing-healing necessity! I took this photo of myself after. Can you see how insanely relaxed and peaceful I am? Hint: If you’d like to offer me a celebration gift for when I’m done, a gift cert to the hot springs would be well received! 8-]

For Halloween, Trevor and I thought it would be awesome to ride on this bald opportunity and be monks or something. Then at the last minute “Jesus” decided to join us. No offense folks. It’s all about the humor. We attended a party and were a hit! I had never paired up with others for a costume. All I can say is that this trio act was a blast!

So as I write this my Mom is with me now as she’s in town for my 5th treatment. Hence the hi-five, yo:

Mom:

And here she is trying on some of my wigs!

The next plan is that my sister is coming up for my last and final treatment! It’s scheduled for December 3rd. Woot! And then for the very first time Mom, Kim and I are going to having Christmas at my house instead of in Dallas where we’ve done it for every year since we were children. The primary reasons were money and my overall wellbeing (airplanes and airports). I guess I better get a tree.

ENJOY YOUR THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

Hugs and love and keep on rockin’ with your bad selves,
Elana

First, I want to THANK EVERYONE that came to the “Support for our Sister” benefit (held Friday, Sept 25th). It was a complete success! It turned out far better than I imagined. I had no expectations and yet was blessed with faces old and new, familiar and unfamiliar. It was a burst of love, support, community outreach and love. Did I mention love? I stress this is about YOU. It speaks for the heart and unconditional kindness of people and the closeness of our musical community. Every little bit helps. And thank you for April Sciacca for being the cornerstone for orgaizing it!

Me and April:

Room full of people having a great time, dancing:

An auction:

A raffle:

Performances by…
Naor Nave:

Tempa & the Tantrums:

Melanie Susuras Band:

Performing “Mesmerized”:

Something Underground:

Performing “We Shall Overcome”:

Demon Funkies:

More peeps and friends:

Lots of lovin’ in the oven.

So I’ve now had round 2 and 3. With 6 total, I’m half way through! So far, the primary “side effect” has been hair loss (yep, smooth noggin) and a serious lack of energy which I fight to keep going. I’ve had only one fever and haven’t had any issues with nausea. I miss my yoga and I look forward to get back to it soon.

Round # 2, which Emily joined me for. “Jesus, I’m drunk”…on chemo.

Afterwards she helped me shave my head. Monk Elana. Om.

Some various new looks…

And courtesy of Glyn …

Round 3 with Dad. He drove up from Marfa, TX to be with me for a few days.

Here he’s reading my Lance Armstrong “It’s Not about the Bike”:

Until next time… PEACE, love and thank you!

All, please mark your calendars for Friday, September 25th! Some wonderful people have come together to help me and are going to put on a BIG show! This will be held at the D Note in Arvada (5719 Grandview). The proceeds will go towards my health fund as my bills are now in the thousands (yes – sadly even with insurance). These bands are awesome! What can I say? These people are extremely talented, will entertain your SOCKS off, and are very near and dear to my heart. =) There will be a raffle to boot. Details below in order of appearance…

- Naor Nave acoustic
- Tempa & The Tantrums
- Melanie Susuras Band
- Something Underground (recently played Red Rocks!)
- Demon Funkies

Here’s a press release created by press writer – Suzanne Lainson:

“A popular member of the local music community, singer/songwriter Elana Rogers was diagnosed in June with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Two weeks later she had a double mastectomy with reconstructive surgery and is undergoing chemo.

It was that earlier bout with cancer that gave her the incentive to take up music. “It completely opened my eyes and made me really want to play. I didn’t care what people thought anymore.” She started on drums, then acoustic-electric guitar, then songwriting. She played in Dallas coffee houses and pubs, then relocated to Denver in 2002. She’s put out two CDs and played a number of venues and events in the Denver metro area. Said Michael Roberts of Westword, “Considering the mob of generic singer-songwriters currently operating in these parts, a performer can stand out only if she or he has something to offer beyond an excess of sensitivity. Fortunately, Rogers does.”

Okay, so holy moses. I feel a little outdated here. I need to update this more often. But then if I did maybe these entries wouldn’t be as interesting. Heh. So by now I’ve had that infamous first round. I’ll catch up to that in a minute.

So a few things have happened since my last entry. With a 5-minute advance warning at the Aug 7th ACS Westminster Relay for Life, I was asked to since the National Anthem to a field of at least 100 people Yikes! Um, can anyone slip me the words on a post-it note?

That’s me in my pink “LIVESTRONG” shirt:

Below, that’s me in the pink shirt standing out like a sore thumb amongst the crew of other Survivors. This year I made a personal decision to continue wearing the pink Livestrong shirt, yet honoring the 2009 Survivor purple shirt over my shoulder:

Also new… I’ve cut my hair shorter! This was a drastic change for me. The fateful day was August 15th. The last time my hair was short was 17 years ago – coincidentally shortened because of the pseudo hair loss from the radiation treatment I received at the time. So since then I’ve had long hair and haven’t gone back until now. WOW.

Here’s an example. 1992-something:

THE HOLY COW DAY…

Lexi and I: pre holy cow. My stylist for the past 4 years.

Gotta have a PBR for times like these…

Last strand standing!

Boom! Check out Rebel Salon off of 33rd & Blake:

So now (surprising to me) this new drastic measure of mine has been quite rewarding! Had it not been for the impending hair loss I wouldn’t NOT have considered doing this. But given the number of compliments it warrants, I’m re-thinking my decisions. So when it grows back folks I might let it hang out at this length for a while. TBD…

Here’s Amanda and I at Red Rocks on Aug 17th:

Our buds of “Something Underground” with Tempa, Pauly, TD and Hazel Miller played on the main stage – opening for Woodstock the film.

The IVF freezing process was a success! Two weeks of night and day injections paid off. The surgery was a flawless and now I can rest easy at night knowing that I have this safeguard behind me. I learned through this process that many women in my situation do the same thing. I am not alone. Except for taking goofball self photos like this one…

As planned, my first treatment (first of 6) was on Thurs, Aug 20th. My friend Stephanie was with me for the 1st half, and then Melissa joined me for the 2nd half. How did it go? Well, weird.

Friendly Stephanie:

Me freaking out (just kidding)

And so it begins. My expression, “you’re kidding… right?”:

When I got home I had little to no energy. It was like a heavy feeling like molasses. But then by Friday I was bouncing off the walls. Then the weekend came and went and I was drained of energy, napping at random, yet able to run errrands just fine – like paint my kitchen Terrarium (when it was previously boring white). I was feeling creative. I did the whole kitchen and yes – all by myself! Hi Phoebe buttercup. =)

Things are in-between and in-the-middle of things. We’re looking at post surgery, in the middle of daily injections and office visits, and 2 weeks out from chemo (slated to start Aug 20th), and I perform tomorrow night at the American Cancer Society (ACS) annual Relay for Life in Westminster. Wild! But hey, I’m a trooper, have my wits about me, am strong and gotta do what I gotta do. I can’t imagine what it must look like to those looking in. Stressful, yes, but not to fret. You take your already-existing skills with you when you enter new challenges. You also try to sieze every opportunity.

Speaking of siezing opportunities: Outside of enjoying this summer’s Mile High Music Festival (with Thievery Corporation, Jett and Widespread Panic to name a few!), one of the coolest things happened while being “in between” things. I took advantage and skipped off to the Indian Peaks Wilderness for a weekend of camping! July 24th & 25th. Thanks to my lovely girlfriends Tiffany and April. Yayness!

Which leads me to a sneaky dropping of a hink. WINK. Come spring / summer 2010 I want to do a “celebration trip” with any takers for a possible week-long backpacking trip in the Yellowstone National Park! Sound cool? Only a few seats left.

Here’s some pics from our adventure. More pics in alumn bottom right.

Three cool chicks in a super cool forrest…

Check out our posh cribs. Our canopy rocked! Jealous? Hehe.

THE coolest place to have lunch…

4 miles in on our 8 mile hike. In other words, our turning around point. Our “Eureka!” view:

After living in Colorado for 7 years, I still can’t get over the Alpine wildflowers…

You can jingle my bells.

I love the smokey mountains in the background with glaciers resting upon them….

Ain’t nothing like some good Indian food after some good camping in the Indian Peaks Wilderness!

The great crowd during Theivery Corporation:

Jet

Tempa and I having some “hair” fun… Cute!

My boss Ellen recently participated in Aspen’s “Race for the Cure” and wore my name and her Aunt Libby’s name on her back! Thank you Ellen! That’s her baby Wiley with her. Everybody say “aaaaaawwww”.