Waiting...

I had a wonderful holiday with family and friends.  Having Sophie here was the frosting on the cake. She's a wonderful ten-year-old: fun, mature, bright and considerate (no bias on my part!).  On Monday my brothers' families and ours gathered together for the afternoon and evening.  Besides visiting and catching up with each other's lives, we tobogganed, did a 'Room' Rally and shared a delicious meal together.

The "Room Rally" was put together by Cathy and Dan--an inside Road Rally.  She had three generations on each team and no siblings together.  It was a challenge and a delight. We put puzzles together, climbed stairs to math problems, answered family questions, counted items and identified music from songs -- in order to solve the clues. The young ones were as valuable as us old ones for solving the clues.  We were all blown away with the professionalism of how it was put together.  Sophie enjoyed it so much that she did her own Room Rally to challenge us on Christmas Day.  The winner won the honor of being first to open our gifts from her (all homemade with much consideration as to personal desires).

Christmas day Sophie had us out tobogganing again--me included.  Wow!  I think it was the best tobogganing we've had since we moved in 31 years ago.  We'd go all the way across the pond to the other side.  It was just what I needed--getting out in the fresh air, climbing back up the hill and having fun. It was a great distraction from waiting for the Oncotype DX test results.

I'm on edge with my emotions on the surface.  Don and I watched a superb DVD titled, "Breast Cancer: The Path of Wellness and Healing".  It's 5 hours of invaluable insights on fearlessly confronting cancer; a great tool for building knowledge and inspiring hope.  I'm feeling more prepared for whatever the outcome of the test. Here's a link to find out more about this incredible DVD:   http://breastcancerdvd.org/

Good things await you on the other side of this ridge.  This is a hill you can climb.  Just put one foot in front of the other.

Latest News with a Twist

I'm feeling really great. I'm pretty much back to my "old" self. Back to doing almost everything--even the ironing!!

I saw my surgeon this past week and she was ecstatic about how well I was doing. She said that usually she'd have me coming back at two week intervals a few more times. I won't see her again until June and that's because I'll need to have a mammogram of my other breast. It's amazing how well the reconstruction has gone, too. It's almost all healed. I don't need a second surgery--just a nipple construction and a tattoo of the aureola (probably in February). It's all pretty amazing! I have to keep my arm elevated--too much time on the computer causes uncomfortable swelling.

I thought I was out of the woods and wouldn't have to have chemotherapy...the oncologists are seeing the picture a little differently. My tissue has been sent to California where it will be analyzed to see what my risk of recurrence is and whether my risk can be reduced with chemo. I'll get the results back later this month. So, I'm asking you to be positive, pray and believe that my risk will be very little and no chemo will be necessary. Then, we'll all celebrate in January!!!
 
Cathy's flying out to pick up Sophie in California on Dec. 17. They'll return late on the 18th and then our Christmas celebration will begin. I'm looking forward to having time together with Sophie and having our extended family together on Dec. 19.  Jeff will take Sophie back on Dec. 26.