Happy Birthday to Me!

It's official. I'm 30.

Just about 3 years ago at this time, my hair started to fall out. I had 1 treatment of chemotherapy and my skull ached. Nate was over and I asked him to run over to CVS to buy an electric razor and off my hair went.

Now, I'm sitting in my cozy apartment reflecting on the greatest week of my life. Who would have thought turning 30 could be so exciting?

Well, when I think about what my 30's mean for me, I think about my life with Nate. My little niece Caroline growing to be a kid! I think of maybe even some kiddies for me! I think of how much stronger and smarter I am today than those crazy days in my 20's. They were fun (except for some time while I was 26/27), but they were a mess!

My birthday was February 17 and I actually thought my mom and sister were only celebrating with me by having a small quiet dinner at my moms house. I should have known better!

On February 11, I got ready to go out to dinner with Boosh and Nichole and Nate said "you know Kar, you should go all put tonight. Put on a dress, some heels, get all done up!" Nate normally doesn't suggest what I should wear, but I didn't flinch. I thought it was a fabulous idea!

By 8:30pm we were headed out the door for dinner. The host took us back to our table.... To find my whole family and best friends yelling "Surprise!!!". I was shocked!

My birthday began the week before I turned 30 and didn't end until the weekend after. I was spoiled!

The night of my birthday, I went home to Pompton Plains for a night with my immediate family - my love, Nate the Great, Mommy, JB, Dana, Steve, Caroline and the Saginario's. Little Carmen played the guitar (he's amazing), and my mom made rump roast. It was the best. Until it was time for presents. I thought the surprise party was my present!

I opened up a box, to find another box. As I unwrapped the paper, I saw it. CHRISTIAN LOUBITIN. HOLY CRAP! I started crying. I started shaking. To some, these are just heels. To me, these are the Holy Grail. The most amazing shoes on the planet. Black patent leather. With RED SOLES!

The next day, February 18th, Nate and I hurried back to the city to meet my girls from college. Allison, Ricky, Meaghan and Tim arrived and we were going out to hit the town! We went to a fancy brunch, then off to the Beer Garden at the Standard Hotel. Took some time to rest after day drinking and had a fabulous dinner then drinks at the Maritime. What a night - it was fabulous!

I truly cannot thank Nate, my family and friends enough for giving me the best birthday a girl could have. And it's not just because I had an amazing party, and got the most beautiful shoes a woman could ask for, but because for a whole week, I was surrounded by people whom I love and I know love me right back. Healthy or not healthy - my friends and my family make me who I am and have been my support system through everything.

So thank you everyone! I love you all!

Silly me

Silly me...just got an email from an actual contact at Extend Fertility saying that she included MY STORY in this newsletter too! Keep scrolling down and you'll see a blurb about me:

Egg Freezing Provides a New Promise for Breast Cancer Patients

Extend Fertility Client Shares Her Story With ABC News

In the feature "Breast Cancer: New Options and New Promise" with ABC News 7, Kara Skaflestad, an Extend Fertility client shares her personal story. Kara froze her eggs as a Fertile Hope patient at Extend Fertility affiliate, Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. "My eggs are frozen, living in Boston". Listen to Kara's story about becoming a breast cancer survivor, falling in love, and freezing her eggs.

And a link to the piece that Nate and I did with ABC News.

Here's to healthy eggs and future healthy babies!

Success in Egg Freezing

Just came across an amazing article this morning from an alert email that I receive weekly from Extend Fertility, the fertility "house" where my existing 32 children (frozen oocytes) are stored. I was happy to read that the woman who is currently pregnant, not only had her eggs stored at the same facility that I do, but she was also treated at RMA of New York - the same place I went to for the treatments and egg retrieval.

Though this article is mainly about women "buying time" through egg freezing, I'm happy to know that the places that I went to, were a success for this woman at 42 years old. And thanks to Oprah for reporting on it!

http://www.oprah.com/health/Egg-Freezing-Technology-Freezing-Your-Eggs#ixzz1kQ3mdufp

Thank you to the American Cancer Society!

First, I would like to say sorry to those who are following my blog. I haven't been updating it nearly as much as I should be. But I guess that's because I'm healthy, happy and sometimes can't bring myself to try and reflect on my current feelings.

However, there has been so much going on! Which is absolutely fantastic.

Before I continue to post,  I'd like to send out a HUGE thank you to the American Cancer Society. The last few weeks, they have been absolutely incredible in helping me tell my story and share my experiences with the world.

I was asked to speak at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer breakfast here in New York in mid-August (where I tried to post my speech but it didn't work). I was also asked to share my story on realbeauty.com along with other breast cancer survivors - which should go live any day now. And Nate and I were given the opportunity to be interviewed by WABC News (local ABC), Channel 7 to discuss our journey through breast cancer.  


If you would like to view the segment, please visit:
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=8371550&syndicate=syndicate&section


Please stay tuned for my future posts. I promise I'll be better at updating!

Making Strides Breakfast

For those of you who may not know, the American Cancer Society asked me (yes me!!) to be the survivor speaker at their annual breakfast for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk.

On August 18, 2011, I spoke at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Grand Central Station in front of 1500+ people and was accompanied by my amazing Mom and Nate the Great.

Take a look to see my speech below....

http://makingstrides.acsevents.org/site/TR/MakingStridesAgainstBreastCancer/MSABCFY12Eastern?fr_id=35997&pg=entry

Yey!

Making Strides in more ways than one.

Since my treatment has been over, I've really been trying to get involved with breast cancer awareness and really trying to reach out to people in their time of need. In doing so, I reached out to the American Cancer Society. In just a few weeks, they had me do a photoshoot with realbeauty.com highlighting breast cancer survivors, an interview with ABC News (scheduled for October 1!) and just recently, to speak at the annual kickoff breakfast for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.

I can't even begin to explain how lucky I feel to be healthy, happy and to be able to share my experiences. There were women who came up to me after the breakfast just wanting to introduce themselves, wanting to kiss Nate the Great, give my mom a hug and kiss and thank me for telling my story. Having these women approach me and say the things they did just gives a little bit of reason behind going through such a terrible thing.

So I'm writing this entry to thank all of you out there for keeping me strong and keeping me positive and allowing me to share my story with you.

We are all making big strides, together!

So much has happened!

Almost a year since my last post! You should see my hair! It's past my shoulders now can you believe it? More than that, my sister has had a baby girl: Caroline Hafner. She is by far the cutest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. So many joys have taken place over the last year. My mom is doing so well, my friends have gotten married and had babies, my sister has given birth to my favorite person in the world and I am feeling better and healthier than ever.

There have been some things that I will get into that aren't 100 percent ideal but they aren't bad! Things like finding out hummus has natural estrogen and that maybe I'm not approved to bear children...but watching your sister raise a child and learn to breast feed and walkthrough the challenges of being pregnant and giving birth with such ease makes me so happy that even if I can't, I'm just so thankful that she can. Because I would have been utterly pissed at god if he took that away from both of us.

So much to be thankful for this past year. I said in the beginning of 2011 that I think it's going to be the best year ever and I believe it! Until next year, when that's the best year! And then the next and then the next and so on!!

I have to go to bed because I'm extremely tired. But I have to end with this. Kim kardashian, please for one minute stop f-ing worrying about your psoriasis and come crying when you have one real thing to worry about. I normally love watching your show, but you truly made me annoyed tonight. Please just appreciate what you have. Because you're acting ridiculous.