Monday, November 10, 2008

Time flies

Wow, I didn't realize it had been that long since I last updated! Okay, the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on my birthday turned out to be a beautiful day! We had 12 walkers on our team, including my boys. You can check out a team picture at http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/MakingStridesAgainstBreastCancer/MSABCFY09Midwest?JServSessionIdr001=0ipaenq0y1.app311b&team_id=341437&pg=team&fr_id=11701. Our team "ranked" 7th out of all the Twin Cities teams involved. THANKS again so much for the generous donations! Let's hope & pray that the $ raised will help make a difference. I've been invited to be part of the ACS "team" next year (because I'm a team captain & I emailed several questions!) - I'm still considering that offer. I need to make sure I don't take on more than I can handle, and keep the priorities in order as much as possible.

I have met with Dr. Bellairs, the radiation oncologist. All looked good from her view, so I'll see her again after the MRI, which will be scheduled in just under 5 months. I'll see Dr. Hartung again in early December. I still need to schedule a check-up with Dr. Koeplin (surgeon) and just keep moving along.

I had a great follow-up appointment with Heidi Ganzer, the nutritionist @ MOHPA. She said she is one of only 75 oncology-specific registered nutritionists in the nation! That is unbelievable. I feel very fortunate that she is here & available to me. We have "upped" the Vitamin D intake through additional supplementation and talked through many nutritional topics. She is such a wealth of information & tremendously positive. I would highly recommend a nutritionist to anyone wanting to ensure they (their good cells!) are as healthy as possible when undergoing something like this. I certainly "slip" often enough, but in general am trying to maintain the new "habitual" good eating habits.

Work is very busy right now, so there was not much of an easing back in period! Better than having not enough to do, that's for sure. I am fortunate to work for a company with good benefits and flexibility to allow me to be off for as long as I was. I am certain that listening to my body (& chemo-brain mind) and laying low truly helped me to have the results that I did. That, along with mighty & effective prayer from all of you, and excellent medical treatment, of course, carried me through the journey to this "end" point (I don't think it's ever really "over/done" because it's on your mind every single day).

My "little" boys turned 10 and 8 in the last 4 days! That, also, is amazing to me. It seems like they were just little toddlers! I still have a few old voice messages from them on my work voice mail system that cycle through every 14 days. I get to hear those sweet little voices and be really careful to not delete them! :O)

I will sign off for now, but just wanted to put forth a quick update. I cherish your positive thoughts and prayers so much! Have a beautiful upcoming holiday season, starting with Thanksgiving. Every day (minute, second) is a perfect day to give thanks to God our Creator, without Whom nothing is accomplished, but with Whom all things are possible!