Fun in the Sun!

Man oh man, what a difference a year makes! Like this weekend, we took off a year ago to be with dear friends, sharing their condo timeshare in Cabo, New Mexico! Like this weekend, we absolutely pampered ourselves silly, laughed loudly all day long, ate great food, swam in the pool, soaked in the hot tubs and permitted ourselves a refreshing mojito even in the afternoon!

Unlike last year, I have HAIR, I don't have to completely stay out of the sun due to the chemo and I can actually awaken early to help secure our 'spot' on the beach!

It will be a sweet, sweet time this year!

Social Networking and All That Jazz

Social networking sounds fun to me...I just don't have the time to do it! I see Ted laughing and truly enjoying his 'facebooking' during the day. I've even had to remind him to put down the laptop lid while we're eating dinner (perhaps he's due for an intervention?)!

So I had tacitly decided that social networking was not gonna happen for me.

But then, there's our son Joel. So when he sent us the Google launch info regarding "Buzz", Google's entree into facebook-land, I had to be supportive right?

So I entered the world of 'buzzin' today. It's so cool because Buzz is right inside your Gmail, so you don't have to go to a separate URL to see what's happenin' out there. I must admit that every time a little number appeared in parentheses next to my Buzz logo, I couldn't wait to see what someone had commented. You don't yet have a Gmail account...what's wrong with you?? Let's get with it people! I should talk right?

I'm hooked.

Good Report Today

It was a big day. Up at 6:45, out at 7:40a for a quick run to Starbuck's for a Venti Awake hot tea to sustain me through the morning, mammy's gramed at 8a, bone density test at 9a, quick check-in with research clinical trial nurse at 10:30a, exam and nice chat with surgeon Dr. Goulet at 11a, check-in with oncology nurse and exam at 11:30a, then labs drawn around noon and a 45-min wait for the OK to proceed, then Zometa from 1-4p.

So the net/net out of all that was I'm FINE! Only thing we found out was that I have osteopenia (the first hint of less bone density). So I can't imagine what my bones must have looked before I had 8 Zometa bone-strengthening treatments! Turns out this participation in a clinical trial thing might just have some side benefits in addition to preventing cancer recurrence in my bones!

Cool beans! Feels good to be getting through my time of highest recurrence risk.

Off to bed now...

Pausing

The picture says it all. I can't believe that I haven't posted for two weeks. School has been crazy busy. In addition to my teaching load, starting one grant and submitting another have added to my work hours. Ted and I escaped last weekend to FL for a quick visit with my wonderful sis and bro-in-law. We had friends in all this weekend because we gave a baby shower here for a dear friend's daughter-in-law on Saturday. I leave Wed-Sat for a nursing conference with the deans in FL again.

But amidst it all, this picture of our new Harrison reminds me of what truly centers me....our three amazing grandchildren, our sons and beautifully-spirited daughters-in-law, Teddy, our extended families and wide circle of friends and most core to my heart....my Lord above. I'm totally centered on them...they are my life, my reason for being...all the rest is peripheral.

Doing What We Can Do

Friday night was absolutely freezing outside here in Indy, so Ted and I decided to bunk-in for a big movie night. We watched "Food Incorporated" and I was deeply affected by it. The movie basically chronicles how we've gone from locally-grown food provided by our regional farmers to 3-5 large companies controlling and mass-producing our food and holding farmers hostage to a "my-way-or-the-highway" process.

Notice how many food recalls we've had lately? Watch this movie and you'll absolutely understand why and how this happens. I swear I'll never buy a package of hamburger again, much less trust eating one from a fast food chain.

Not only did the movie reveal huge quality and safety issues with our food, but it also provided a deeply troubling look at the way these companies abuse animals in how they're raised and killed, but also how they knowingly hire and badly-treat employees who are not able or willing to speak up regarding frightening working conditions.

I told Ted that if I was 25-years-old again, I would take this on as my mission in life! So what to do as a 56-year-old who has a full plate and a lot less energy? First of all, order/download this movie! The producer provides an entire list of action items at the end. Second, if you can...buy organic produce, preferably from local farmer's markets. My friend Ginny has done this forever! I admit that it's a new habit I need to start as I live a block from a weekly farmer's market...no excuses for moi'. Also try and buy your meat/poultry locally. Again, I did this religiously when my kids were small as I was scared to death about feeding them meat/chicken with growth hormone, now banned. But I fell out of the habit as I went back to work.

Most importantly and I'll tell you that this is a habit I've had for years...play a game as you're shopping at your local grocery, to NOT go into any aisle (cleaning and laundry supply exceptions allowed). Rather, shop the perimeter of the store...produce, then meat, bread and dairy...then out the door. You'll be healthier for it.

I can't stand the thought that the scenes I saw in this movie happen daily...the abused animals and employees and our precious farmers. I am vowing to do my part to change my consumer behavior. In response to its customers, even Walmart is looking at and changing some of the products it buys. So the most important way we can change the industry...as customers, is to change the way we buy. In what we demand by our buying behaviors, we can make this change happen!

Stay Warm Today!

Is there anything good about this time of year in Indiana? It's perpetually gray. It's perpetually dark. We hardly see the sun. We slip and slide on the roads and sidewalks. This is a picture of just east of St. Louis on Christmas Day when the roads were so slick that we encountered multiple car accidents every mile and they finally closed the interstate, forcing us to get to Brian & Brooke's on the city streets (thank you Garmin!). Oh, the cold and wind...brrrrr!

So here's my list of what's good about all this cold....

• Cuddling with Teddy to stay warm
• Eating hot stew, hot soup, hot whatever
• Wearing bulky warm sweaters
• Wearing my Ugg boots which are so comfy
• Having nightly fires in our fireplace
• Doing what I call 'hunkering down' at home...I do lots of catching up in the winter because I just want to be outside in the summer

So stay warm everyone and think about your own list of 'what's good' about these cold days!

Self-Reflections on Cancer Treatment

I wish someone had told me sooner. So that's my motivation to write this post. Most every woman diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer completes surgery and radiation and perhaps chemo, then starts oral medication that is taken, typically for five years. The 'go-to' med is tamoxifen, but I got cancer while taking Evista (a cousin of tamoxifen), so my doctors knew that drug would not provide protection. So I was started on Arimidex. Most women tolerate this drug just fine, with some early morning aching that dissipates as the day goes on and of course, the accompanying hot flashes that come from the estrogen-suppressing effects of these drugs. So it was true with me, though both the aching and hot flashes were fairly severe and constant.

But in November, when my doc asked me how I was feeling, I credit Ted with speaking up. So often he is more keenly aware of how I'm feeling than I am. I have this ability to suppress how I'm feeling so that I can keep going. So the nurse practitioner pressed me a bit more and proactively suggested that we try a different regimen. I went off the Arimidex for one month, to give my body a chance to recover from the effects, then I started a sister-drug called Aromatase, which is chemically just a bit different, but with the same estrogen-suppressing effects. I was also started on a drug called Neurontin (gapapentine is generic name) for the hot flashes.

The results have been pretty dramatic, now that I have about a month of the new treatment effect. I no longer ache all day. The 6-7 hot flashes per hour that I was experiencing, are mostly gone. I'm sleeping most nights all night long vs. waking up every hour due to hot flashes. I'm sure you can imagine the impact this is having on my energy levels. I now have some hope that I might return to my 'old self' one day!

So my take-away message is this. If you are a breast cancer patient reading this message, speak up when you see you doctor. I didn't think there were any alternatives, so had resigned myself to feeling crummy. What a blessing it was that Ted spoke up on my behalf!