Finally!  Great weather for building a snowman.

Where to start?  I've been thinking about writing for weeks and the time just seems to get away.  I've just completed treatment 19 out of 33 - over halfway finished with radiation!  Other than fatigue and extreme redness/burn, I've been doing well.  You can now see very clearly the fields that they are radiating.  I've been keeping a variety of lotions on the area and have prevented anything too painful at this point.  My only pain this evening is a self-induced twisted ankle.  I rolled it when I missed a step this afternoon and now it is swollen and stiff.  

One of my newest observations is that my eyelashes are growing back, but now my eyebrows are falling out!  I've never been fond of the drawn-on eyebrow look and have never understood why someone would pluck all of their eyebrows just to draw them on.  I have new understanding and empathy...maybe they never had control of losing their eyebrows? 

In the past month I've had an echocardiogram, bone scan and an appointment with the Gynecologist. The Gynecologist told me I would not need a hysterectomy, however after consulting with the Oncologist he called back a few days later to say that yes I would.  I will also have my blood drawn this next week to gather baseline data prior to starting the aromatase inhibitor in January.  I'll go over all of those results with the Oncologist at the beginning of January when I'm about finished with radiation.

I started a detoxification regimen.  I was tired of feeling so crappy, and tired.   In addition to the formula that I blend up and drink each morning, I'm not eating any dairy, gluten, wheat, red meat and a few other things.  It helps that the whole family is now moving in that direction, although not necessarily by choice.  Jared's anemia and allergies to fruit led us to do some follow-up allergy testing.  He has food sensitivities to wheat, gluten, cow milk, coffee and a few other items.  I'm quickly learning a lot about cooking wheat and gluten free.  I've made a few loaves of bread that flopped and purchased a few "yucky" tasting items, but am figuring things out pretty quickly.  Today I made a delicious loaf of bread that served as our dinner - the menu called for french toast with hot cocoa.  I also made some chocolate chip cookies with sea salt that I had a hard time staying out of.  I got a thumbs up from the entire family.  Although trying to switch to gluten and wheat free cooking has been a little bit of a challenge, I think it is contributing to my feeling better.  

I tried hot yoga this week; I went to an hour class at Anchorage Yoga and really liked it.  It was another suggestion by the naturopathic doctor - a way to detox, as chemotherapy drugs will stay in fat cells as long as a year.  I'm trying my best to flush and sweat them out!

My favorite things to do while being at home - spending time with the family and cooking.  I appreciate  all of the prayers, emails, notes and phone calls.   

Cow bells, cow bells - no more cow bells!  At an Aces game.