Blog Post #1494

Did ya miss me?

I just returned from a little trip to the beach.

• It was heavenly. Although we had torrential rain most of the time, we managed to entertain ourselves.
• I began a 5 day juice cleanse yesterday.
• It has been almost a year since I moved home to Tennessee.
• The entire year has been restorative, healing and enlightening.
• I am so glad I am here.
• Dora went to Connecticut for the summer. I am going to Connecticut, too. In 11 sleeps.
• I am looking forward to seeing as many people as I can, celebrate some birthdays including my babies' who will be 22. 
• I am wondering if this blog has run its course.
• My babies are almost 22?
• I have discovered a new fountain of youth in skincare.  I am thinking about marketing it as well.
• Life is awesome.
• I am off to my 6 month oncology appointment this morning.  It's all good.
• Then to work.  Business is booming.
• Y'all come visit.
• Wait. My babies are 22?

Monday Mashup

• When I typed "mashup," I thought of mashed potatoes.
• Dora and I are heading to Alabama tomorrow for the week.  I think I may have some mashed potatoes.
• I don't understand all the Twinkie drama.  Those things are disgusting.
• I have been making arrangements for my babies' graduations.  College graduations.  Where did the time go?
• They are graduating the same day.  One in Philadelphia and one in Virginia.  Sigh.
• I have become slightly obsessed with brussels sprouts.
• I just had my first post-cancer mammogram.  Have you had yours this year?
• I am so grateful for proactive heathcare options.
• I am so grateful for every single thing.
• So grateful.

This 'n That Thursday

Blather:

• I have lost 7 pounds since I moved back to Tennessee.  This is a very good thing. 
• Living without wheat is not as hard as you think, and I feel amazing.
• I have a lot more to go, but 7 pounds is a good start.  
• Dora is slimming down, too.  We do a lot of walking and stair climbing.  A lot.
• I wish everyone would leave that Kristen Stewart alone.  You'd think she was the first actress to do that.  
• I have a meeting with a new doctor today.  
• My cancer diagnosis may have been was a blessing in disguise.
• I'm going to my nephew's football game tomorrow night.  So excited.  My brothers went to the same school.
• I hear the east coast may be in for a rough winter.  heh
• Have you ever had kimchi?  It's my new favorite food item.
• Also?  My coffee press is the bomb.
• Are you sufficiently bored?
• What are you up to these days?

This 'n That Thursday

Some survivor perspective:

• I was diagnosed with breast cancer 133 days ago.
• I completed 6 weeks of radiation 9 days ago.
• After you hang up the phone and dry your tears, you are already a survivor.
• The words "I have cancer" are actually empowering.
• Not since the birth of my twins have I ever been more proud of my body.
• My body has taken some abuse, and I am determined to treat it more kindly.
• I am going to layer in a lot of more holistic therapies into my repertoire.
• I am truly happy.
• I am truly blessed and grateful.
• I am most likely moving back home to Tennessee this year.
• That adage about life being short is really true.
• I will not live in a world of "should." 
• We are all capable of living out our desires.
• I have the most amazing family and friends.
• Some of my friends live in my computer. I will meet them some day.
• Today is going to be an awesome day.
• Yesterday was an awesome day.  We celebrated.

• I am so very blessed.
• Go get a mammogram.

Hump Day Haiku

i loved irony

and dreamt of rollercoasters

that was yesterday

A Wednesday Quiz

When you are diagnosed with cancer, the words "Bucket List" crop up in your head a lot.  Now that I have had my warning shot, I think I may actually do some of the things on my list.  You?

You Should Write a Book

You may not feel like you could write a book, but you actually have a lot to say. Just let it flow! You already live in your own little world. You may as well introduce everyone else to it. It's likely that you feel like you have a lot of baggage you'd like to unload, and writing can be cathartic. By writing a book, you would feel a huge sense of accomplishment. And you'd have a legacy to leave behind.

How about you?  What Should Be On Your Bucket List?

Hump Day Haiku

baby girl is here

and first radiation done

cotton candy bliss

Eerie

Aquarius Horoscope
For The Week Starting February 27, 2012


Stay with your new plans and still keep your final goals in mind. If you have not yet brought your dream to reality you have a last chance for it in about another six weeks. By mid April you should have it all finalized . So concentrate on what you want and everything else should fall into the proper place. If you have had the bad luck to lose one source of money, another one will take it’s place in about two weeks.


I have a lot of things going on in my small little world right now.  For starters, my radiation treatments start next Tuesday; but this whole horoscope is so eerily spot-on for what is in my head and heart right now that it almost takes my breath away.  


Mid April will be here before I even know it.  I have a lot to do in the meantime, and I think I will print this out in a pretty font and put it on my mirror.  

"So concentrate on what you want

 and everything else should fall into the proper place."

I'm concentrating.

How about you?

So. I've Been Thinking.

I know-- you're all: What?!

But.  I've been thinking.

I went on an extra long walk with Dora The Explorer today.  We have been blessed with the most extraordinary weather this winter, and today is no exception.  It's been especially budget-friendly in terms of snow removal costs for us all.  That is, unless you are in the business of snow removal.  But I know those guys are looking forward to making up for it in all the early spring landscaping work that is heading our way.  I can just feel it.

But I digress.  I was walking and thinking about how my life has been lately.  How it's all become one big medical appointment.  How much I have to look forward to now that I am making some decisions about what I want to do for my Second Act.  How lucky I am to have my children, family, and friends who continually seek to do for me.  Just how very lucky I am.  Period.

I was thinking about my breast cancer diagnosis.  You can believe me when I tell you that, even though there was a small part of me that had an inkling there was something bad in those little calcifications, I was blindsided on the morning of December 14 at 9:06 am when my surgeon called to tell me I had cancer.  Blindsided.  That is the day my existence as one big medical appointment began.

Now I am preparing to begin my radiation treatments which I will have Monday - Friday for about six weeks.  They start on March 6, and I am so ready.  Both my medical oncologist and my radiation oncologist are reassuring to the point that there are times I feel like I am going to have super powers by the time they are done with me.  I am lucky.  Expect no side effects.

However, there have already been side effects to this disease.  Side effects of the soul-searching, taking an objective look at oneself, owning your bad habits kind.  It's been interesting.  And I am being somewhat facetious when I say interesting, but you probably already knew that.  I was a social smoker in college, quit for 15 years, and picked it up again in the late 90's.  I quit for good almost 10 years ago.  But there was a little nagging voice that wondered if that nasty habit had caused these cells to misfire.  It's no secret I like my wine.  Sometimes a little too much.  Did that do this?  Did the 3+ cups of coffee I drink every day do it?  White flour? Red meat? Bacon? Hair dye?  What??

The answer is that we don't know.  All of us are walking around with cancer cells in our bodies, and it could be any or none of the above that caused mine to spring to life.  And my busy cancer cells have inadvertently given me an incredible gift:  A wake up call that I need to stop taking my amazing body for granted any more.  If this Second Act is going to be as grand as I am envisioning it, I need to straighten up and fly right.  While I will never be that person who does an all-or-nothing type of lifestyle change, I am going to change some things for a while.  Well, with the exception of the smoking part.  That is a permanent nothing.  So done with that.

I have been collecting all sorts of food-for-cancer books and articles.  I have Googled myself into a tizzy.  I have gone to my appointments with lists of questions.  And I believe that I really don't have any more answers.  Medical answers anyway.  In that vein (pun intended), I've decided to do my own part to help kick this crap out.  I am going to treat everything I eat throughout all my treatment as my medicine as well.  I haven't formulated a specific plan.  I cannot do severe plans.  I have a little disobedient streak--it's called being an Aquarian.  So we'll see.  But cutting out dietary toxins and helping myself heal during radiation is my goal.  Any suggestions will be welcome.  I've thought about Daniel's Diet.  I like everything in it.  Although I would miss my wine, my coffee, and my cheese, just to name a few, I am looking forward to the challenge.  I'm starting to enjoy challenges.  Another little side effect...

 I don't want to miss my Second Act. 

Dora seems to agree.

This 'n That Thursday

Randomness interspersed with gratitude:

• I am sick with a double ear infection and bronchitis.
• Need to figure out how to boost this immune system of mine before radiation starts.
• Gah.
• Has anyone noticed how amazing the red grapefruit are this year?
• I love my doctors.
• There's a new study out that says you should have chocolate for breakfast.
• I have the best family and friends in the world.
• Here at The Complex, we are getting all new kitchens and bathrooms in the next few months.
• Thank goodness for mammograms.
• My dog understands everything I say.  She can even spell some words. Like B-A-T-H.
• Lots of my friends live in my computer, and I consider this completely normal.
• Have you had a mammogram in the last 12 months?  Have you?
• I am a morning person.
• Double ear infection.  At 52?  Seriously?
• The is no greater comfort than knowing "It gets better."  None at all...

This 'n That Thursday

Randomness and breast cancer:

• I had 4 lymph nodes removed in my right arm.
• Radiation will start in about 3 weeks.  No chemo for me.
• Yay.
• My radiation oncologist diagnosed me with a hernia. I laughed.
• I would really like a Hi Heidi doll.
• My team of doctors is like a Words with Friends bonanza: Dr. V, Dr. C, Dr. Z, Dr. G and Dr. P.
• I can never get another shot, a blood pressure cuff or blood drawn in my right arm again.
• I am so very lucky.
• My first Hi Heidi doll was a gift from my mother when I learned how to tie my shoes.
• I am hatching a plan to get that hernia repaired along with a tummy tuck. I believe I can finagle it.
• I found a Hi Heidi doll on eBay with a pristine red carrying case just like mine.
• Have you had your mammogram this year?
• I am so very lucky.

Hump Day Haiku

blessings abounding

i am better ev'ry day

get your mammogram

*photo taken with phone and under the influence of nice pills
**nice pills long ago abandoned in favor of Tylenol
***bedside flowers courtesy of the wonderful Kate.

Tuesday Text: Parentexting™

The day when I let The Baby Bird Nursemaid leave the house for a few hours:

But mama won't leave her alone:

Because, you know, stamps are critical to my healing...

The next day?

She actually wore two different shoes.

Voila:

Do you think she was in a hurry to get out the door?

Poor little Bird.

Thank you all so much for everything...my lymph node report came in negative yesterday. Now I will have radiation followed by hormone therapy. Life is Good. Now go get a mammogram.

13.1?

✔

How was your Saturday?

And that boy with me?

The one who trained for a half marathon

by running 8 miles in total?

He beat me.

yup

It was magical.

Thank you all for your support!

I hope that we find a cure soon...

For all cancer.

Tuesday Text: Parentexting™

One more sleep:

Tomorrow, The Bird, Augie and I venture to Disney World where Augie and I will be running the half marathon on Saturday. We are doing this in memory of my mother whom we lost to non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma almost ten years ago. There's still time to donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on our webpage. 75% of all the money we have raised will go directly to the mission of LLS which is dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing information and support to blood cancer patients and their families.

Click here to donate. To those of you who have already given to us, please accept another heartfelt thanks, and be on the lookout for your proper note after the race;) Any and all amounts are gratefully accepted...

Relentless for a cure....