In honor of the Oscars. . .

--I'd like to thank everyone for their celebrating, eating chocolate, eating pickles, and rejoicing with us.*

--I'd like to thank everyone who has helped us along the way by visiting us at chemo, cleaning, cooking meals, babysitting, traveling long distances to help us, helping us monetarily, being our friends, and just praying.   

--If I started listing names I would go well over my 45 seconds!!!!   Each of you know who you are, and please know that you are appreciated more than you could ever, ever know!!!  

It is such a relief to finally have some breathing room.  The relief has definitely shown on my face!  When you start something new, it is always stressful wondering if it is working or not.  I am recovering well from chemo, so that has been nice.  My taste buds are back in full force.  I am getting stronger in that I can do more and not get so exhausted.  I have a nice "army" look growing on my noggin.  Hair is a nice thing to have!  I am just so grateful to have been given these months off of chemo.  I am praying for this to work for a good long while.    It truly is amazing that I had regression on just the pill.   It humbles me to know that I am one of the fortunate ones going through this.    I have been given more time off chemo and more life.  Thanks be to God. 

My doctor aka the parole officer (my new analogy) was very surprised with my scan results.  I am sure she didn't expect that to happen at all.  She had talked about me even doing a couple more rounds of the chemo last month when I visited her which really depressed me.  Thankfully, she waited to make that decision until after scans.   I was extra nervous because of that though.  If that wasn't enough, when I was getting the scan, the tech asked me in the middle of it if I had a history of smoking--which I don't.  They had never asked me that before that I could remember.  Needless to say, my mind kept worrying about every little ache and pain.  I would obsess over whether or not I felt any heaviness in my chest or whether I was getting short of breath.  Lets just say anxiety can cause those side effects too!  You just get more worried about little pains when you have cancer.  I figure I am out of the jailhouse when I am off chemo, but the parole officer keeps a close watch on me.  At least I am not on house arrest like Martha Stewart or something!  The problem is that Cilgamore is such a crazy, wild beast of a criminal, that we never know if it has been behaving or not.   I, of course am the innocent victim here!  :-)  The scans and tumor markers are the only way to tell its behavior.  By the way, did I tell you that my tumor marker had come down again too???  It is 39, very close to the normal range which is below 35.  Lower, lower, lower, lower, lower, lower--stomp Cilgamore lower--is the key.  (Anyone remember that song from children's church?)  The lesion is down to 4mm, down from 7mm the last time.  WooHOO!!  Also there were a few tiny, unmeasurable ones that are now gone or that look like scar tissue only.  

The pill that I am on is called an aromatase inhibitor.  It blocks all the estrogen in your body.  I actually get a shot to put me in a post-menopausal state, if you will, in order to be able to take this drug.  Unfortunately I am getting all of the side effects that people get as they get older.  I have been having quite a bit of joint pain and muscle tension.  Fatigue is also a side effect.  So, although I am feeling a lot better than I did on chemo, it hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be.  I guess I thought it would be easier because I did not have these side effects as much when I was taking Tamoxifen (another anti-estrogen type drug).  I have been having a lot of my pain in my heels of my feet.  They mainly hurt when I first get up after resting for a while or first thing in the morning--especially on the stairs.  Once I get going, they start feeling better.  I am going to see a podiatrist to see if it is plantar fasciitis.  At the very least perhaps they can help me get some inserts for my shoes or something to help.  If I walk a lot, they will hurt more.   Then there are days they just hurt and days where they don't.  The cold makes my joints worse too.   Tylenol and Ibuprofen help with the muscle aches, but not the heel thing so much.  Okay, blah, blah, blah enough complaining.  Just keeping everyone informed as to my life, right?   

I am also seeing a physical therapist 3 times a week to get help for my lymph-edema in my left arm.  It is something you can get anytime after having major surgery like a mastectomy where they remove almost all of your lymph nodes--even 6 years later.  It started this past summer due to the chemo, and I really didn't have the strength, energy, or time to deal with it while on chemo.  So, now I am trying to "catch up" on all the little things that go by the wayside--like dental appts., etc.  My hand is quite puffy, and Emma thinks I said it was a puppy.  Needless to say, ever since then I have had a permanent, make-believe toy attached to my body.  She talks to it, gives it commands, pets it and holds it.  It is quite amusing how she "loves" on the puppy.    Gotta love a child's imagination.   Hopefully her puppy will lose some weight with the therapy.  It has already helped after one week of getting it massaged and wrapping it with bandages every night.  I am getting juiced like the blueberry girl on Willy Wonka as one friend put it!  (Love ya--you know who you are! Ha, ha!!!  )

See, this is the problem when I don't post for awhile.  I end up having to play "catch-up" and type like a mad woman.  I have got to stop this habit!!  You all are going to give up and not read all my madness.  I guess my excuse is that it was a dark couple of months of recovering mixed with depression and anxiety.  Thankfully we are climbing out of that hole now.  If you read all this, you are a true friend for sure.  That is all I have to say now! 

*Yes, I am addicted to pickles,  I went out and bought the big jar of Vlasic hamburger chips from Sam's Club after my good results!  I also like to indulge occasionally on the big jar of deli pickle spears in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.  They are my "six pack" so to speak!  Ha, ha!!  They truly do make my mouth happy!  Josh even got me a jar for one of my Valentine's presents.    The other present was tickets to see Celtic Women, lest you think I was cheated out of a nice gift.