April 2015 Chemo Crew... Starting in April? Please join us!

Andrea- best wishes for a successful, non open incision surgery, and quick recovery. Try not to think of Littleblue's spaghetti or you might bust open some stitches!

Jen- BAAAAHAHAHA !!!! You cracked me UP with that bravely told story. Damn that dog AND your husband.

KSusan- Hoping your wife can nip whatever she has in the bud and no secondary infections, and is well by the time the family comes. It couldn't be from yelling on Saturday afternoons could it? Just wondering, haha.

Hoping everyone has a peaceful and enjoyable, minimal stress week leading into the holiday.

Yesterday Jack and I did a library visit where the kids read to the dogs. I loved how one mother (who was searching unsuccessfullyfor a children's book about Thanksgiving) explained to her child how Thanksgiving was better than Christmas since "Christmas has become just about presents, and Thanksgiving is about people. People and food. And I love people and I love food!" I swear there's a book contract in there sonewhere!

Andrea, best of luck with surgery tomorrow. I'd ask if you were sick of hanging out with doctors yet, but since you're a nurse....

I saw that you plan to go back to work in February...no escape from the doctors. It's probably nicer when you aren't the patient.

Susan, enough ear infections! How's the damp weather?

Kbee...I'd ask for more specifics on you're Vegas Weekend, but we all know that "what happens in Vegas...." Nov. 2-5 of last year, DH and I spent a few nights at The Mirage for our 15th Anniversary. Had I only known what I would be going through in the next year, that trip would have been at least a week.

Anyone else have a feeling that 2016 has GOT TO BE BETTER than 2015?

hi girls!!!! Just checking in. Lots and lots to read!!!!!!!! Hope all is well. Xo

Hope it goes well, Andrea! Let us know when you're able.

My PT worked over my radiation side and I feel so much better! ROM! Yay!

Hi - quick note to say thanks for the feedback. My class this week has been keeping me very busy, not a lot of time to do anything but pay attention and study, so this is the first chance I've had to catch up on posts.

I may try to get a little more info from my co-worker before taking to the manager. It may have been a totally off the cuff statement from someone who doesn't even know me, so I don't want to make a big fuss. I'm taking this class to get my PMP, then I'm going to hit the job search (internally) hard in January (when I have more hair) and get out of my group -it's not a positive organization.

I love being back to work, though. It's like riding a bicycle, and it makes me feel so normal. Until I remember I look like my brother if he were 40# heavier.

Andrea, thinking of you - hope you check in with the "all good" soon. I know how you feel about being through the ringer - I've been telling everyone that this is the end of my health crisis decade. It started when I was pg with DD2 - they discovered that she had a brain anomaly when she was in utero (long story, but she has a cyst in her cerebellum and was born with PHACE association), then DD1 was diagnosed with T1 diabetes, then last summer DH got babesiosis and was in the ICU for 3 weeks (part of which he was on a vent). then I got diagnosed and have spent this last year being treated for cancer. I'm done! I feel like someone gave me Munchausen syndrome :-)

Lynne

K- beautiful. Classy and effortlessly elegant. Except we all know.... There was a lot of effort. Our little secret.

Like Dolly P said in Steel Magnolia's "it takes WORK to look like this!"

ksusan, yr a babe! Hey, let's all post pix of us looking how we feel best, want to? I know I'm having self esteem issues...maybe seeing my sisters lookin great would lift us all up? Just a thought...

Looking good ksusan! You have a glow of confidence! It is reassuring to see we can morph back into our beautiful selves.

Jen, sounds like a great plan. I will post either Monday from Chicago's follow-ups or Thursday after Thanksgiving. We are going out to a restaurant for dinner and I will probably expend a great deal of time trying to impersonate a human being that resembles my former self.

By the by, could I have worse timing for my follow-ups in Chicago? It's 80 degrees here in Phoenix and Chicago is getting 5 inches of snow!!!!! That's it, I am packing up the sunshine in my carry-on bag.

Lynne and Renee, sorry about the work environment. It's one of the things I miss least being a work at home mom.

Renee, is my family going to freeze to death between Sunday and Tuesday. Actually, I am not afraid of the snow as much as the icy roads. Andrea, so glad your surgery was a sucess. I hope your recovery is quick so you can enjoy the extra time off work. By the way, I love that your healthcare team is so compassionate about time off. You HAVE been through quite the storm and should take the time to breathe.

Hey Dizz, have fun in the snow! I love it, but we don't get it very often down here. I grew up in S. Illinois in a tiny town which had no snow plows....and snow to me always meant a day off from school, so I have fond memories of it. lol

Thanks for the compliments! My eyebrows are thinning but now nobody's looking at me anxiously so it doesn't register for them.

I had a conversation with a woman at Zumba who was so offensive and weird about cancer that I just kicked into, "Poor woman. She ain't right."

We are having a sunny, cold day. Perfect for working the sleeves and gauntlets by moving books back onto the cases now that the new sofa beds are in and my wife has moved the book cases back into place. Folks coming in half an hour to take old furniture and sheets to donate to the women's shelter. We are continuing to get ready for Thanksgiving and will start making gluten-free, walnut-free, low-sugar oatmeal cookies soon. We have had tea and chocolate. I'm within a pound of my weight on the morning of my February surgery. Ducks are up 31-14 at the end of the first half. What's not to like about my life?

Thank you. I attribute it to clean living, judicious use of chocolate, and Zumba.

Hey, hair is hair! Looks cute! Cuter than Christopher by a long shot.

My favorite Walken: https://youtu.be/XQ7z57qrZU8

Walken video -- hah!

Jen, beautiful hair, and kBee, beautiful smile!

It's a magical winter wonderland.