Long time, no blog.

Sorry for the 'down time.' I've been busy taking advantage of Jake's visit with Dan and getting some Christmas shopping taken care of.

Thanksgiving was really good. I went to my mom's and most of my family was there. The food was yummy and the conversation was good until Obama's name came up and then I suddenly needed to leave....lol

Anyway, I'm doing pretty well. My friend Kim told me a few months ago that I am way too hard on myself and I think she's right. Over these four days I had grand plans in my head to finish my decluttering project. That didn't happen. Instead, it ended up being a pretty busy 4 days. So instead of sitting here and giving myself a hard time for what I didn't get done, I'm going to praise myself for what I did get done:
1. Attended the concert of the Transiberian Orchestra on Wednesday afternoon (this was my sister Janet's Christmas gift to me);
2. Made 2 pies for Turkey Day;
3. Spent Turkey Day at my mom's with the family;
4. Friday....kind of a blur....I think I was in turkey coma but I did empty more then 1/2 of my clothes closet of stuff that is too big for me - I packed 12 garbage bags full of clothes and shoes;
5. Saturday my mom and I ran some errands which included donating all the clothes to CERV in Somersworth, going to lunch and then heading to the Stratham SPCA where my mom fell in love and adopted a beautiful house cat named Beatrice;
6. Sunday my mom and I ran a couple more errands and now I'm watching a sketchy Patriots game!!!

The side effects from the Arimidex continue. Improved? Yes, maybe a bit. The joint pain is not constant anymore. It comes and goes. The lethargy comes and goes. I either have a ton of energy or I feel like napping. But I haven't napped - I've just been going to bed very early!!!

I need to have someone help me with my taxes this year --- if you know of anyone, please email me the info. I think I got pretty screwed last year due to lack of knowledge and want to make sure I'm on track this time.

Jake ended up with an ear infection - poor little booger. But he responded quickly to the meds and got lots of sleep which helped.

I think that's about it. I know I have mentioned in the past that I don't look back at my blog entries, so I don't know if I have already mentioned this (and yes, my memory since chemo does kind of suck), but I'm not spending any time with my old friend "Joey" anymore. I think that somewhere along the line I FINALLY realized that we CHOOSE our friends. And when those relationships become stressful or toxic, it is best to cut the ties. I am not the same person I was 15 years ago. I am not the same person I was 5 years ago. I am not even the same person I was last January when I was diagnosed. Different things are important now that never used to be and vice-versa. "Catastrophic" has a whole new meaning to me and it no longer revolves around breaking a nail. And happiness over the simple things in life....that's what is truly important.

Please keep a few people in your prayers if you could: Pat and Ed Kelvington, Charlotte Mason and her family, Honey Cascio and her family. We all have battles - we all handle them differently - but we all look to a Higher Power for strength.

Thanks so much for checking in.
Doris