Christmas Wishes . . .

. . . to everyone reading!

Pretty quiet Christmas here . . . presents, church, family, snow, baking, cooking and wine. What more could anyone want?

Eat,live,run recipe update

I added three recipes to my project - Turkey meatballs, Broccoli, Cheddar and Potato soup and Turkey Taco Casserole.

Sunday while watching the Packer game I made the turkey meatballs, HERE. Positive comments from everyone. The meatballs were good and the marinara was quite tasty. Until the meatballs go into the marina they aren't much to look at, ground turkey has a way of looking pale and (honestly) somewhat sickly compared to beef.

On Christmas Day I made the Broccoli, Cheddar and Potato soup, HERE. Usually I make cream of broccoli soup for Cristmas Eve - but since we celebrated on Tuesday, I decided to switch it up and made soup on Wednesday. I have to say, it was hard for me to not make my customary Cream of Broc soup - but I gave Jenna's recipe a try. The recipe called for blending the broccoli and cooked potato. I used my immersion blender and left a few chunks of broccoli and potato. The recipe includes a bit of cayenne, mustard powder and sharp cheddar cheese - this all gives it a bit of a bite. It was really creamy and yummy. Another great one. This is a pic from my lunch today at work - I remembered that I had not taken a photo, so this had to do!

Although I was thinking we would order pizza tonight I arrived home and decided to make Turkey Taco Casserole, HERE. Easy to put together and ohh so good. It is quite apparent I need to learn to take better food pictures. Well, if you want to see better pic's make sure to check out Jenna's blog - she takes much better pic's! I added sliced black olives to the recipe.

I am off to make a Cosmo in celebration of getting released from infusions today! I saw the Doctor today and she decided today's infusion was my last. My arm looks good and I just need to keep an eye in it and make sure to call if there is any type of recurrence.

Tomorrow I am heading out for a run and will be adding the squats and lunges to get ready for skiing.

Enjoy the moments!

 

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Updates . . .

. . . First the Recipe Update:

During the last week I made two more recipes from Jenna's blog, eat, live, run HERE. Both were easy and worthy of making again. Although based on my resolution to make all of Jenna's main course recipes over the next year - I won't be making them again until next year . . . but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't make them sooner!

Last week I made Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, HERE. I loved the earthy, cheesey flavor. The recipe fed us several evenings and I was able to freeze 2 containers of the meat sauce which is great for a quick meal during a busy work week.

Tonight for dinner I made the 30 minute lemon brown sugar chicken, HERE. Another easy recipe. The chicken didn't get as browned as in Jenna's pictures, maybe I should have left it in the pan a little longer but the flavor was bright and sweet. My son, Charlie thought it was a little to tangy because of the lemon juice and zest. As the name of the recipe says, it was ready in 30 minutes, which would be great on work nights.

 

Medical update:

I was at the clinic this morning for my second antibiotic infusion. My arm looks and feels better today; it is not nearly as swollen, the color is closer to normal, and my temperature is only slightly elevated. I still am a little achy - but it didn't stop me from doing some shopping, baking and cooking!

I have another appointment tomorrow morning. To counter balance the effects of the antibiotics I have been eating yogurt and bought a container of Kefir. I have appointments scheduled through Christmas Eve day and hope that will be enough. I have had lymphedema for 9 years and have never gotten cellulitis - I am trying to hope that this is a single event, even though it appears that once you've had it, you are more prone to contracting it again.

In the end, no matter how much I try to put it behind me - - it is always staring me in the face - Cancer Sucks!

Enjoy every moment!

 

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What a day . . . .

. . . that I wasn't prepared for. Last evening, somewhere in the wee hours of the morning I woke up feeling achy. At first I didn't think much of it, after all I have added squats and lunges to my morning run with Sophie to prepare for our annual ski trip to Colorado. With less than 4 weeks to go - I have been pushing it a bit. But last night I also felt like I had a fever, so I got up and checked and my temperature was 99.9. Slightly elevated, so I took a couple Advil's and went back to sleep. This morning I still felt a little under the weather, but needed to tough through the aches and get to work. For accountants, year end is an extremely busy period and I knew that with days off for Christmas next week, I needed to get some work done. Plus I was planning on taking my staff out for a 'thank you' lunch and I certainly didn't want to cancel that.

When I got to the office I noticed that my right arm was red and quite warm to the touch. As a result of my breast cancer I had a right side mastectomy. In addition to breast removal I also had 15 lymph nodes removed which resulted in my developing lymphedema, a condition of localized fluid retention and tissue swelling caused by a compromised lymphatic system. Because of this added lymph fluids in my arm, I have to be concerned about infections. The lymph fluid is a protein rich fluid, so any infection can quickly grow and easily spread through my body. In other word, it isn't something to take lightly! I immediately called for a Dr appointment and was lucky to get in within 1/2 hour. As soon as my Dr walked in, I could see her concern. "We need to get some antibiotics into you as soon as possible." She left the exam room to make some calls and get the arrangements made. When she came back, she was very apologetic, because the clinics infusion center was swamped, I would have to head to the ER at the hospital. So off I go to the ER. I gave one of my co- workers a call - "the lunch would need to be cancelled! Would you cancel the reservations and send an email to my staff?"

Once at the ER - the nurse drew lots of blood to test for bacteria and then started the antibiotic infusion. By -1pm I was back at work, with appointments for Saturday, Sunday and Monday for additional infusions.

Not exactly what I wanted to do this weekend.

Lower portion of right arm

My Dr drew on my arm to see if the redness continued to climb. Tonight I don't notice any positive change. My arm is still very red and hot to the touch, and every muscle in my body is aching. Time to take a couple Tylenol and head to bed!

Enjoy the moments - my eyes are heavy - it has been a long day!

 

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This week . . .

. . . has been devoted to work. Lots of late nights and little time for anything other than eat, sleep, work and repeat.

At my oncology appointment, my Dr asked me "how it was going?", my response: work is stressful and really busy. My semi annual check ups are pretty routine, but I never forget I am at an Oncology office. Not everyone is so lucky!!!! After my exam, we chat for almost an hour (I am his last appointment of the day and he is on call, so ample time to spend chatting) about running, biking and his decision to enter next years WI Ironman! I tease him, I am sure I am your favorite patient - he doesn't deny it! We have a lot in common, besides the obvious!

As of today, Saturday, I still haven't got my mid-week long run in. Oh wait, it's not even mid-week or late-week - it is the weekend! Well, I also didn't get my long run in for the weekend. I had great plans. Run 4 with Sophie and then drop her off and head back out for 5 more - but upon returning home my son and girlfriend were at the house and I decided to stick around and visit instead of heading back out. We raked leaves out of the flower beds while my husband ran over them with the mulching mower which created a great mulch layer for the lawn. My son thought that the chopped up leaves didn't look good in the yard - we assured him we didn't care and by next spring it would all be gone!

Tonight I am running in "The Glow Run" with a couple of friends. This isn't the kind of event I usually do - It isn't that I am a running snob(or at least I hope I am not) I just usually figure if I am going to run - I am going to run, not jump around for fun - but thought it would be fun to run with friends, Kim and Scott. I will be back with my assessment later. We had great temp's today (low 50's) for running, but a front just passed through with lots of wind and what feels like a 10 degree temperature drop! Brrrrrr

Ending with some random pictures from the week - every day I had hopes of posting something about the pictures but instead they just end up as color on a otherwise boring black and white post!

Early morning Pilates - outside lights are still on!

Rainy Thursday morning . . .

. . . did bring drier sky's throughout the day and a pretty evening sunset over Lake Mendota.

Leaves leaves and more leaves.

Enjoy the moments

PS: this post has been rewritten several times because

1. it was started earlier in the week and was no longer current
2. it was started later in the week and was no longer current
3. I was trying to delete a photo and somehow deleted everything I had typed! I couldn't figure out how to undo my delete! I am using Blogsy for myiPad.
4. this post still has formatting issues, but I am going with it!

 

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Another Sunday . . .

. . . actually another beautiful Sunday. I just can not get over the beautiful weather we are experiencing in WI! We have had week after week of beautiful fall weather. Sunny days, more than I remember in Octobers past!

EXERCISE: I took advantage of the warm temp's and biked to work on Monday. I took Friday off and Todd and I biked to New Glarus on the Badger State and Sugar River Trail. I attended my first of 4 Yoga For Runners classes and a early morning Pilates class. I also managed to run 2 miles on Monday, 5 miles on Wednesday and am trying to get 12 miles in today. After today's final run, I will have 7.5 hrs of exercise for the week?

This morning while I was running - around 4.5 miles - I got a text from my friend Trix (normally a biking buddy) - but this morning she was signed up for Gilda's 5k run - she was wondering if I was doing the run? I called her back, because it is far easier to run and talk than run and text - When does it start? 11:00 - Sure. I had time to head home, grab my keys, explain to Todd, I am going to run a race with Trix and off I went. I got there about 10:20, registered and met up with Trix. This was her first 5k with a timing chip and she wanted to run the whole thing! No problem - she did great! We finished at 33:13.

So after this mornings run of 5 miles and the 3.1 mile race I have a total of 8 miles in and 4 more to go. As soon as the Packer game is done - I will be heading back out for 4 more miles. Strange way to get 12 miles in - but 12 miles will still be run today. (UPDATE: I finished 4.5 miles after the Packers win for a total of 12 1/2 miles)

As I mentioned above, I took Friday off and Todd and I biked to New Glarus. We stopped at Maple Leaf Cheese and Chocolate store for Fudge and then stopped at Fat Cat Coffee Works, where I enjoyed a latte and we ordered sandwiches to take to the brewery to enjoy with our beer.

When we got to the brewery - and were selecting our beer - the bartender took one look at us, "oh, it's you two again, how was your bike ride?" They know us! :-) I selected a Staghorn and Todd chose Spotted Cow. We sat outside and enjoyed our sandwiches and beer. We have yet to see the brewery bottling, but today they were filling 1/2 barrels, so we went inside and watched that for awhile. It was then time to head back.

The day was quite windy, with a S-SW wind at 15-17. We knew we would have the wind in our face biking to New Glarus, and figured that it would be at our backs coming home. But that didn't work out. New Glarus is south west of Madison, so our return trip was headed NE, which still allowed the wind to swirl around and ended up in our face, or at our side for much of the return trip. I am usually OK with the wind - but after biking 22 miles into the wind to get there, I was counting on putting it in cruise on the return trip, instead I was complaining, so much so, that Todd said he has never heard me complain that much! Oops! Be thankful to be out biking on such a beautiful day and keep the complaints to a minimum!

Enjoy the moments!

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Prosthesis

Inquiring minds want to know about my breast prosthesis.  

First a little background.

As a result of breast cancer I had a right side mastectomy without reconstruction. My cancer was fast growing and aggressive - I had my routine mammogram in May 2004 with no problems identified and was diagnosed in Sept 2004. My Oncologist wanted to start me on chemo asap to hopefully reduce the tumor size, then schedule surgery and then get me back on chemo.  

As a result of this there was no time for reconstructive surgery.  It would have meant a much longer recovery period - and getting back on chemo, (such a wonderful thing to look forward to) was my number 1 goal.  

At the time - I didn't worry or think much about reconstruction - my goal was to live.  

After being inundated with scans, Oncology appointments, blood draws, radiation appointments, chemo treatments and everything that goes with treatments - - I was done thinking about cancer.  

But eventually I decided that I would look at reconstruction alternatives.  There are two main types of reconstruction available - 1) implant with saline, or silicone or a combo of both or 2) autologous reconstruction (tissue transplanted from another part of your body (such as your belly, thigh, or back)).  

Since I had radiation, option #1 was not available. As a result of being blasted by subatomic particles for weeks on end -  the skin on my chest wall is very thin and non-elastic.  Surgeons won't generally perform implant surgery because the chances of failure are too great.   Option #2 involves removing skin, fat and sometimes muscle from somewhere else on your body and either reattaching it or literally tunneling it under your skin to form a mound to create a breast.

I have talked to several different surgeons and they agree that option #2 is the only option for me.  I have never walked out of their offices thinking - "I want to do that!"  I don't place enough importance on a breast to justify taking muscle, skin and fat from somewhere else to try and rebuild a fake breast. I have given cancer enough time and attention!  I am fine with my single breast and will wear a prosthesis.

So what does a prosthesis look like and how does it stay in place?

I have several different versions.  Of course I have a favorite and here it is.  

This is my go to breast form.  It is a little smaller than some of my others and works great for both everyday bras and sports bras.  All my everyday bras are mastectomy bras,  they contain a pocket within the cup to insert the breast form into.  

For running and biking I just slide the breast form inside a sports bras.  I use regular sports bras since they are pretty snug. I have never had any irritation or sliding in a sports bra. 

I also have a simple form that is great for sleeping and some bras.  

This one is very light and is easy to wear - it adjusts to the cup/pocket.  

I don't normally wear a bra to bed - but if others are present - sleep overs, or in a hotel - I usually will sleep in a light bra and use this form.  

Two funny stories about breast forms.  

I was on vacation with a group of women where we rented a condo.  I had taken a shower and set this light form on the side of the tub. One of the women came out of the shower later and mentioned the weird shower pouf / loofah. She was complaining that it wasn't very good - there was no exfoliating material.   I laughed so hard and finally told her that it was not a shower pouf - but my breast form!  

The other funny story involved yoga. For some reason I had worn a regular bra to work that day, I think I needed a black bra and didn't have a mastectomy version in black.  I had simply set the form in the bra cup - it seemed to work fine at work.  Well, I went to yoga after work and while in downward dog position - it fell out!  I quickly picked it up and slide it back in my bra - hoping that no one had seen it!  I had problems with it the entire class.  Lesson learned - always wear a mastectomy bra to yoga!  

Peace and Enjoy the moments!

I'm Back

It has been almost a year since I last posted.
Why was I gone: I was busy, and felt unmotivated and really felt like I had nothing to write. Being a person that doesn't like quitting - I didn't officially stop blogging, instead I simply dropped out.
Why do I want to start blogging again: I am still busy and actually have a huge work project going on right now, but I do feel more motivated and I recognize the benefits of putting thoughts on paper and/or screen. As I have always said, I blog for myself.
What have I been doing: Running, Biking, fishing vacation, skiing vacation, sailing vacation, working - simply put - I have been living.
Running Races I have completed
WI Marathon - 1/2 version
Komen Race for the Cure - 5k
Ragnar Madison to Chicago - 200 miles (with the absolutely best group of women - EVER!)
Full Moon Run - 5k (one of my favorite runs)
Tyranena 1/2 Barrel - 1/2 marathon
Crazy Legs - 8k
2012 distance run was 870.
Bike Rides I have completed
Boys and Girls Club Ride - 50 miles
MS 150 bike ride - 150 miles
Biked to work 49 days from May - August last year for a total commute distance of 685 miles
Biked for sport for 959 miles
Biked to New Glarus Brewery 4 times, Minhas Brewery in Monroe and Tyranena Brewery in Lake Mills
Total biked milage of 1644
Vacations taken:
Fishing in Canada
Ski trip to Colorado
Sailing in the BVI's
Cancer status:
I still see my Oncologist every 6 months
August, 2013 will be 9 years since my diagnosis
I am still taking Arimidex
Lymphedema - still present in my right arm - probably a little worse now that earlier and this is probably due to my lack of care.
Family status:
#1 son - has been out of college for 3 years, loves his job and just bought his first house (just down the street from us!!!)
#2 son - transferred to UW Eau Claire last fall and is majoring in Information Systems and loving it.
Hubbie continues to work at UW Space Science and has announced he will be retiring next March!
Invisalign
Still wearing my trays - completed my first round in November and reinlisted for another set of 8 trays
I feel different and hope that this is a result of growth. I know there are certain aspects of myself that I would like to change - and will try to weave that into my blog.

Some thoughts on Cancer

Although the title of my blog is Mom Running from Cancer, I don't tend to talk a lot about cancer.  I think a lot about cancer . . .  but I don't talk a lot about it.

There is something about having had cancer that is hard to describe.  It is a club that you are a member of . . . but I am not really proud to be a member.  Whenever I start a post, it starts out OK, but I always delete the post prior to posting.  Well not this time.  

To refresh, for anyone who doesn't follow my blog closely, I was diagnosed with stage 3b Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) on Wednesday, September 8th, 2004.  I started chemotherapy 8 days later on Thursday, September 16th.  From there my treatment included:  1)  4 chemo treatments using A/C,  2) a right side mastectomy, 3) installation of a port under my chest skin to make infusions easier 4)  4 chemo treatments using Taxotere, 5) weekly chemo with another drug, Herceptin for 1 year and 6)  30+ days of radiation.

I have remained cancer free for the last 7 years and plan to continue living cancer free for the rest of my life.  I didn't use to think that.  I was convinced, based on the severity of my cancer staging and aggressiveness of Inflammatory breast cancer, that my breast cancer would return.  When I was diagnosed I never once asked my Oncologist what my chances were or whether he thought I would make it.  I am smart enough to know that a single individual is not a statistic and I figured that the data is available on-line so I could always look it up myself.  Per cancer.gov , the 5 year survival rate for patients with IBC is between 25 and 50 percent.   Trust me, these are not statistics that you want to hear out loud - the only time you want to look at statistics like that are late at night, alone, on the computer.

Today . . .  I think I just might make it out of this world without breast cancer coming back . . . maybe!

Now every once in a while I allow my thoughts to head towards the possibility that, I just might live a long breast cancer free life . . . . and who knows, instead of breast cancer returning, I just might get hit by a beer truck, which if that is the case I hope it is Spotted Cow or some other small brewery . . . I would absolutely HATE to get hit by a Pabst Blue Ribbon truck.  


Anyway - Here are 11 random things about cancer.

1. I lost ALL of the hair on my body during chemotherapy.  Yup - everything. 
2. That includes the little hairs inside your nose  . . . which means when your nose runs it really runs.  Those little hairs in your nostrils help slow down the drips . . . without them . . . watch out!
3. Chemo brain is a real issue.  It is no wonder, when you consider the chemicals flowing through your body - even though there is a brain / blood barrier - you get foggy. 
4. I hated the taste of water while I was undergoing chemo treatment.  Grape Propel was about the only thing I can drink.
5. I received approximately 5000 centiGrays, delivered at the rate of appox. 180–200 rads per day for 28 days and then 1 week with an additional boost of 2000 centiGrays for a total of approx. 7000 centiGrays  (measurement of radiation) during treatment.  A standard mammogram delivers 0.2 centiGrays and a chest x-ray is 0.025 . . .   Thank goodness for targeted treatment!  
6. When my hair came back - it was grey . . . oh - wait -  that probably started to happen before my diagnosis, I just didn't know it!!!!
7. I wish the hair on my legs would have never came back.  Seems like there should be some benefit that comes from all this.
8. I did not have reconstructive surgery after the mastectomy.  I wear a silicon prosthesis inside of my bra - I don't think anyone knows.  
9. I love my oncologist and believe it or not, love going to see him.  I get to see him every 6 months.  
10. I believe that the drug, Herceptin was critical to my successful treatment.  My Dr. started me on Herceptin, "off label".  At the time, per the FDA, Herceptin was only prescribed for Stage IV, malignant breast cancers.  But there were several large drug studies going on and he felt strongly that Herceptin would also benefit earlier stage cancers that expressed a Her-2 gene and started me on it.  I received Herceptin weekly for 1 year.  Mid way through my yearly Herceptin, the studies were called off because of the success rate.   During a study, some patients receive the drug and some patients receive a placebo . . . since it was so clearly successful, they wanted to make sure that those individuals involved in the study received the drug . . . not the placebo and stopped the studies early.  Lifetime had a movie, back in 2008 staring Harry Connick Jr. called "Living Proof", which chronicles the discovery and push for the drug.  It is based on a book by Robert Bazell, called "Her-2, the Making of Herceptin, a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer" which is in my ibook library.  
11. Cancer does Suck

and last but not least . . .        I final comment about the news this past week . . . With the uproar regarding the Susan G. Koman organization pulling funding from Planned Parenthood facilities because they were under investigation . . . to reversing their decision . . . I am left with very confused feelings towards the organization.  How about you?  Were you bothered by Koman's withdrawal of funding?

Peace and 

Enjoy every moment!

WWW

Weather

Work

Wednesday

Weather:
Today started with temperatures in the upper 30's and rain - lots of rain.  When my alarm went off at 5:20 I laid there for a few minutes, listening . . . yup - that was rain on the roof.  I thought - Maybe it was just a drizzle . . . nope - it was raining1  ;-(  No outside run for this morning. I reset the alarm ;-)  and slept for about another hour.  Somewhere around mid-morning the rain went into a head to head fight with snow . . . with rain winning out downtown and snow winning out at my house.  The temperature has continued to drop all day.  The low for tonight is 24 - so it looks like a chilly run tomorrow morning - BUT the great news is it won't be raining  ;-)

Work:
My work has been pretty stressful lately.  Oh well - I deal with it pretty well and for the most part love my job - but sometimes !!!!!!! YIKES - I could use another vacation!  Remember I was just in Florida at the end of October and on Sunday I am flying to Miami for 3 days to attend a conference.  I plan to attend the conference - but any spare moment will be relaxing and again running outside without jackets, hats and gloves!
Besides the stresses of my job -the BIG stress that had be weighing on my mind lately has been that one of my staff was diagnosed with breast cancer in August.  She had a lumpectomy and will be undergoing chemo, starting next week.  This all just brings back way too many memories.  I was diagnosed 7 years ago and started my treatments - chemo - surgery - radiation in September 2004.  I KNOW that this is about her and her journey and her treatments . . . NOT ME - but I can't stop dredging up the fears of my journey!  Everyone . . . well not everyone, but many MANY people have been saying to me - "Oh she is so lucky to report to you . . . you understand exactly what she is going through" . . . although I do understand what she is going through -

   what happened to me
         how I dealt with cancer
               how I felt after chemo
                       how I felt about my mastectomy
                                  how I still feel about my mastectomy
                                             how I dealt with the fears
                                                       how I felt when I lost my hair
                                                               how I continue to deal with lymphedema
                                                                       how I worry about my future
                                                       
Was MY Journey -  I have a hard time sharing - offering advice - . . . . it is just hard.

I have no wrap up of my comments / no "it will be OK" / no summary . . . these are just my feelings - good or bad and seeing my thoughts in black and white is part of my journey.  

Wednesday:
Hump Day - YAHOO!

                               

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

Done - warm and muggy - just as I predicted!

I went back and forth about using my iPod - finally decided against it - then just after I got in the car and started heading down the street, I remembered that I had forgotten my Garmin.  I slowed down - and then decided to just not bother.  I figured with the heat - I would just run and not worry about headphones or watches.

Pretty happy with my time - 27:40 for a 8:55 pace.  Finished 6th out of 46 in my age group (51 - 60) - fyi - of the 5 women in front of my in my age group - 2 of them were also breast cancer survivors. In the Survivors group - I finished 13th - there are some pretty fast Survivors.

The Race was expecting about 14,000 people.  So instead of fighting the traffic I decided to stick my bike on my car and then drive down to my office and then bike to the Race, which is about 2 miles away from my office.  It worked out perfect.  No traffic on the bike path, while cars were backed up to enter the Coliseum grounds.

Got to the race with no problem.  Our team from MGE (my employer) was going to try and meet up outside of the Survivor's Tent.  Only a few of us found each other before the race.

Here is a pic of the group - there was a team of 20 in total - but only 5 of us found each other.  Next year we need to have a sign so that we can get a group photo before the race.

 

Here is a picture of the stuff, as described in yesterdays post, in my goody bag.

 

After the race, I grabbed some water and a banana, walked around a little and then grabbed my bike and headed back to my office and then home.

It was a great way to start the day!

Hope you all have a great weekend.

 

 

Tomorrow's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

Tomorrow's Race for the Cure will be my 7th race as a breast cancer survivor.  I can still remember my first Race in 2005.  As you can see, my hair was just starting to come in.  I had returned to work full time and had started to go to work without a scarf about a couple of weeks before.  The race was on June 4th and I had finished my chemo treatments at the end of February and finished my radiation in mid April.  I still had my portacath, which is installed under your skin and was used to make infusions easier on both you and the nurses.  No searching for a vein - one simple stick and the nurse had direct access.  Since I was receiving a chemo drug called Herceptin on a weekly basis for a year, this port stayed in until the beginning of 2006.

I was 49 years old and finished the race in 31:32.

 

 

Today I received my race bag.  So as a Survivor, what is in my race goody bag?  Lots of stuff!

• the bag is a pink carrying bag, (reusable grocery bag) sponsored by All Comfort Services, a local heating and air conditioning company
• a Warrior inspired scarf, sponsored by Ford
• a bottle of water, sponsored by Enterprise Car rental
• a Sobe drink
• Goat's milk bar of soap
• bags of raspberry tea
• chap stick, sponsored by Johnson Bank
• Revelon hair spray
• A furry pink box, that must be to hold lip stick based on the divided insert?
• Pizza coupons,
• $25 off from The Diamond Center
• $25 off from Pink Warrior USA
• $10 off New Balance
• A copy of Madison magazine
• Pink Race for the Cure Survivor tee shirt
• Regular Race for the Cure tee shirt
• Pink Race Bib
• Pink Hat sponsored by Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity

Tomorrows race will be a HOT one!  I really hate to complain about the weather - I usually simply Take what comes . . .  but we have really experienced some weird weather in the mid-west this spring - it is either unseasonably cold - or unseasonably hot . . . right now we are in a "unseasonably hot couple of days" period.  As I write this, I am sitting on my screen porch, the time is 7:57PM and the temperature is 89.  That is not normal temperatures for WI at the beginning of June.  The Normal high at this time of year is 75 - so we are way outside of the norm.  Of course with these hot temperatures our dew point is also high - so that means that the temp's tomorrow morning are likely to be warm and muggy.  Great!  While I love hot humid weather - I don't like to run in it.

But I am going to embrace the warmth and give it all I have. I just checked tomorrows forecast and at 8:00AM, they are predicting a temperature of 75 with a humidity level of 81% . . .  warm and muggy . . .  I will certainly get a chance to EMBRACE the warmth.

Wish me luck - I am off to drink a big glass of water - take the dog for a short walk - drink another glass of water - head to bed (yes I turned the air conditioning on when I got home from work today).

Tomorrow, hopefully I will have wings on and will be able to fly through the race . . .  not likely . . . but I can hope!

back tomorrow for a short recap!

 

Tired – Blah – Just one of those weeks

We all have these type of weeks . . . don’t we?

I have been absent from bloggie land this last week. Although I have been reading blogs – I haven’t commented . . . just didn’t have anything to say. There are just times that the days slide by and it doesn’t seem like we get our “normal” load of things done. Well this was one of those weeks.


I have been feeling blah since Monday. As a little background – as part of my adjuvant treatment (after chemo, surgery, and radiation) I have been on Arimidex for the last 5 years, a drug that works to block the effect of estrogen. Since my cancer was estrogen positive, Arimidex was the drug of choice. The “gold standard” is to be on this drug for 5 years. My time was up in May. My oncologist and I have been talking about whether to extend the Arimidex or stop. Since this is a relatively new drug, there are no studies showing long-term results. There are current studies going on to see if taking this drug longer than 5 years continues to be beneficial or not. Since my cancer was quite aggressive and staged at IIIb – my Oncologist and I decided at my last appointment that I would continue on the Arimidex. The downside of taking Arimidex is that because it lowers the amount of estrogen in the body, less estrogen reaches bone cells, which can lead to bone thinning and weakening and a higher-than-average risk of broken bones . . . and eventually Osteoporosis

My recent bone density test, (I got the results last Friday), showed Severe Osteopenia – which is the name that the medical community calls the stage before Osteoporosis. It isn’t a disease in itself (in my opinion) – simply a warning that significant bone loss has already occurred. Not everyone with Osteopenia will develop Osteoporosis. To offset the bone loss I was prescribed Fosamax. I was in a pissy mood last Friday and Saturday. Mad that this was happening to me. After all, weigh bearing exercise like running is one of the ways to prevent Osteoporosis.

I finally decided that whether I continued on with the Arimidex or not (I am now rethinking staying on it) – I need to take the Fosamax because my bones were already in questionable shape. So on Monday I took my first Fosamax – it is taken once a week. Monday came and went and I felt OK. Well I woke up on Tuesday and was suppose to run 6 miles . . . I only made it 2 miles all the while thinking that my shoulders and back and neck were really sore from my 45 mile bike ride on Sunday. So I cut the run short and went home to stretch. Well the achy pain continued throughout the day and then I finally had the “ah ha” moment . . . muscle and bone aching is one of the side effects of Fosamax. AAAAAAACK!!!!! So all week I have been feeling like I got hit by a bus. Neck, back, shoulders, hips, knees . . . all hurt.

In the exercise arena – it has been a slow week: On Tuesday I ran 2 miles and biked to work, on Wednesday I had a GREAT 9 X 400 repeat session and ran 5 ½ miles this morning. Tomorrow I am planning on running again – I would like to get in a long run of 12 miles and also have bike rides planned for both Saturday and Sunday. The MS 150 is next weekend – so this weekend will be the last longer training rides that I do before the ride.

I emailed my Dr. about the side effects of the Fosamax and she suggested that I wait a couple of weeks before taking my next dose. She knows that I am doing the MS 150 bike ride and then the Madison Mini Marathon two weeks later – so my plan right now is to wait until the Mini is over and then give the Fosamax another try.

Sounds like a plan. And we all need a plan.

PEACE

Sunday morning - 4 mile run

Hot and sticky - but feeling great.  I ran 2 miles with Sophie - my dog.  Dropped her off and then did 2 more miles and I feel wonderful.  Oh it is so good to be able to run again.  Speed wasn't there - but I am OK - it was 4 miles in 39:33 - all four miles under 10 minute miles.  Yahoo!  The Komen Race for the Cure is coming up on June 5th and I helped get a corporate team started at work.  I am looking forward to the race.  We are ordering Bondi bands with our corporate logo . . . sweet.  ;-)

Hope everyone has a great Sunday.  My day includes a celebration at church for all of the members who are 80 years old and older . . . I get to pin flowers on them.  ;-)

Time to stretch - do a few push ups and shower for church.

ENJOY the DAY!!!!

Losing weight and Lymphedema

Since I have not been able to run . . . did I mention . . . I feel like a broken record. . .  I have a stress fracture . . . I have to add some other methods of exercising.   I purchased a Jillian Michaels 30 day shred DVD and as of today I am on day 5. So far so good. I am still doing level 1 - but figure I will move on to level 2 tomorrow.  I am committed to doing this 5 days out of 7.

I am also going to try and lose 6 pounds. I have lost a couple of pounds since winter - in February I was at an all time high, except during my pregnancies ;-)  of 138.  I am currently at 135 . . . but would really love to be under 130.  Beyond the "normal" reason that it would be nice to weigh less - I actually have a medical reason to lose some weight.

As a result of some of my treatments for breast cancer, including surgery and radiation, I developed Lymphedema in my right arm. Lymphedema is a swelling of the soft tissues caused by a build-up of lymph fluid. The swelling can be accompanied by pain, tightness, numbness, and sometimes infection.  Any excess weight can be the enemy of lymphedema . . . so losing 5-6 pounds should help with my arm.

In 2004, at the time of my mastectomy I had 13 lymph nodes removed, as a result of that - my remaining lymph nodes are not adequate to transport the lymph fluids through out my right arm.  Although I do not have an extremely serious case - my right arm is at a minimum 1 inch larger than my left arm. I wear a compression sleeve most days.  I am very thankful . . .  actually I am extremely thankful, that my hand is not really effected by the lymphedema.  Otherwise, I would have to wear a compression glove on a daily basis.

I am suppose to wrap it each evening.  I have not wrapped my arm in months.  Trust me - I had done it almost every single night for almost 5 years - and this last winter I just got fed up with it and decided that I would take a break. The wrapping should help reduce the swelling over the evening - but honestly - it doesn't make that much difference.

So my mission for the next 3-4 weeks is to lose weight - and use other methods to exercise.  I was in my flower gardens for 5 hours yesterday and about 4 hours today.  Plus today I biked for 10 miles - 8 by myself and 2 with my dog, Sophie.  

My goal is to be 130 and maybe - just maybe 129 by June 1st.

I will keep you all posted.

Cancer Sucks . . .

Sorry for the off topic subject . . . but someone from work died over the weekend.

I have got to tell you . . . Cancer SUCKS . . .

She isn't someone that I was necessarily friends with - but I would see her in the stair case a fair amount. Both of us always take the stairs instead of the elevator. We didn't work together - she was in the Administrative Support area and I work in Accounting. But she was always very friendly and kind.

It doesn't care who you are . . . Cancer SUCKS . . .

When I found out that she had died over the weekend - I was thinking that I "know" that I saw her in the office . . . not that long ago. As it turned out - she was diagnosed with breast cancer in November - it had already metastasized and was growing rapidly. She only survived for a couple of months.

Two short months . . . Cancer SUCKS . . .

As I mentioned in one of my first blog posts - I was diagnosed with breast cancer a little over 5 years ago. My cancer was staged as III B. Her cancer was staged at Stage IV which is metastatic - so I am just about as close to metastatic as you can get . . . to be accurate - there is a stage III C. But my III B is about as close as I EVER want to come to metastatic.

I consider myself VERY lucky. I don't ask WHY . . . I simply enjoy every day and always think that "this might be the best day of my life". Really I do!!!

But whenever I hear about someone else getting cancer or in this case dying from cancer so quickly - IT STOPS me in my tracks.

And I want to scream . . . CANCER SUCKS . . .

AND I want answers . . . REAL answers . . .

Didn't she notice something?

Anything?

Wasn't there some indicator that something was wrong?

How can cancer grow to that extent and not be detected?

I want a cure.

I need answers . . . But I know that there are no real answers.

If there were answers . . . well . . . then I would know

why . . .

and how . . .

what caused it . . .

will it come back . . .

is so, when . . .

Maybe Cancer wouldn't suck if we had answers.

Until then . . . CANCER SUCKS . . .

Running Saved my Life

I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer 5 years ago. Running saved my life . . . .

Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) doesn't usually present itself in the same way as other breast cancers. IBC grows in a sheet, not a mass like most other breast cancer and because of that is much harder to detect through mammography - it is usually found in later in the staging process - and has a much worse survival rate. According to data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, for women who were diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer between 1988 and 2001, the 5-year relative survival rate was about 40%. This compares with about 87% for all breast cancers combined. For more information on Inflammatory Breast Cancer visit IBC Research foundation.

So here is my story

I had my annual mammogram in May with nothing unusual identified, and my cancer diagnosis happened four months later in Sept. It still amazes me how fast this whole thing happened.

I woke up on July 30, 2004 and went to put my sports bra on for my morning run. As I was pulling it over my head (don't you just hate how tight those things are) I noticed that my right breast was swollen and slightly warm to the touch. When I got to work - I immediately called my Dr. and got in to see her that day. Both she and I thought that it was an infection and I was given 2 weeks of antibiotics. While my breast got slightly better it did not resolve itself and was put on a 2nd batch of antibiotics. I went back to the Dr and had a biopsy performed on the Friday before Labor Day. I received the diagnosis from the Dr. on the following Wednesday, Sept 8 and started chemo on the following Thursday Sept, 16, 2004.

My treatment involved:

• 4 doses of Adriamycin / Cytoxan - every two weeks - side effect: nausea
• Surgery - right side mastectomy - the cancer that was removed was 12 cm - which, even though it has been 5 years, still astonishes me. I find it hard to believe that I had a mammogram in May and this didn't show up - but that is the sneaky thing about IBC - since it grows in sheets, it is much more difficult to find. I also had lymph nodes removed during the mastectomy - 13 were taken out with 6 of them containing cancer.
• 4 doses of Taxotere - every three weeks - side effect: blister type burns on feet, hands and inside of my mouth
• Had a port surgically implanted in my chest - to make the weekly injections easier to handle
• 28 Radiation sessions
• Weekly chemo drug called Herceptin for 1 year

From start to finish - 16 months of treatment.

I am so thankful that I noticed my breast and took action that day in July. We were heading out of town for vacation at the end of that day - but I am so thankful that I took the time to see the Dr. that day. Who knows how much more it would have grown had I waited for any amount of time.

Cancer has made me so aware of my surroundings. That includes people and space. I try to make sure that I only do things that I want to do and are surrounded by people that I like. OK - that isn't always easy - but if I have a choice. Complainers and people who are not happy about anything drive me crazy. I am so appreciative of each and every day. I used to always think - if only I had this or that, or lost 5 lbs, or had new furniture, or ran faster or had a bigger house but now I am thankful for every day and realize that maybe . . . just maybe, this is as good as it gets, because things can change in an instance . . . Enjoy the day . . . enjoy your life . . . enjoy the moment . . . it might be the best day of your life.

The beginning

Well - What to say - This is the beginning of my blog.

I will be keeping this simple because I don't have much time. Over the last month I have found myself absorbed in the blogs that I follow - and have decided to give it a try.

Even though it is a little early - this is going to be my 2010 new years resolution.

Back in 2000 I resolved at age 48 that I was going to run a marathon for the first time - up to that time I had only run 3 miles at any one time - five months later I ran the Madison Marathon in 4:17. Not the fastest time by any means - but I am still happy with that time.

This year I am going to resolve to Blog - using it to put to my thoughts on running, being a mom, staying in shape, surviving surgery - chemo - radiation to battle breast cancer out here in blogland for all to see and read.

My motto: do what you like in life!

Welcome