DEFIANCE!

Defiance! It's our new mantra. When I feel down, Chris, my coach, reminds me to remain defiant in the face of this thing. And I do.... I do my best to remain defiant, strong, and positive. I'm giving my tough days less attention and try to move forward with life. It actually makes me feel better. Oh, BTW, I'm bald now! I'm not doing the wig thing so I'm wearing beanies. Thankfully I still have eyebrows and eyelashes so I can camouflage the fact that I'm a cancer patient.

Since our last post we discovered that I DO NOT have the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 cancer genes! What a relief! This is good news for our child, and good news too for my siblings. Still, I do have cancer and the question remains.... why?? It begs so many more questions. What did I do wrong? Did I drink too much wine? Did I eat too many cheeseburgers? Too much chocolate? GMO products? Non-organic fruit and vegetables? Argh!!! At any rate, our next step is to consult with my surgeon to discuss options based on this new discovery.

What an effed up thing to go through. It has slowed me to a snail's pace. I'm used to keeping very busy with work, family, artistic pursuits, etc..... Now, I'm keeping busy at home with simple projects like cooking and cleaning, and chasing Charlotte around the house when she doesn't go to school. It's funny, those things do infuse me with energy and I think I'm liking this pace now. ;)

I made pumpkin empanadas and figured out how to make delicious gorditas thanks to my sister's recipe!

The week after treatment 2 went pretty much the same as the one before. I recovered relatively quickly and felt well for a few days before treatment 3. After the weird respiratory issue, the nurses/docs were ready to attack it from the front end and pumped me full of Benadryl before the treatment--which promptly knocked me out. This picture shows me pre-Benadryl... and trust me... glad there's no video of me passed out, snoring post-Benadryl!

Here's Chris goofing around in the lobby at Kaiser..... look at the painting behind him. My husband keeps me laughing!

Halloween was fun, Char got to trick or treat twice over two weekends and scored massive amounts of candy. She's still good at putting off gratification and limiting her candy intake - mostly at mom and dad's suggestion. She buttoned off Halloween by pretending to be a kitty cat at her aunt Jessi's house.

Chris' dad John visited - but darn, I didn't get a picture of him! How could I have missed that?? It was great to see him! Thanks for visiting pa.

Chris and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary by going to see the movie Birdman at Alamo Drafthouse. Good movie, fun times! Best decision of my life marrying this amazing guy!

Love to all! We are doing great!!!!!!!