cooking time

Now that I have my full range of taste buds back I've enjoyed doing a little more cooking. This weekend I made beef bourgion and lemon bars for dessert (Michael's favorite). I was pleased with how both turned out. Today I made this sinful chocolate chocolate chip cookies after watching Nigella make them on her show. These babies aren't for the faint at heart- only a true chocoholic would enjoy them. They have a lot of chocolate in them. They are good but even I could only eat one ( a good thing). The remind me of the chocolate truffle cookies that are sold at Pasta and Co in Seattle. Yummmm
here is the recipe -
http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail.aspx?rid=100

While I made my cookies Reese "made" her own- a combination of leftover quesadilla bites, lemons, goldfish crackers.....I'll hold off from trying them as long as I can.

Take care

potty training

Now that Reese has been accepted to preschool we've decided to take a more active approach to potty training. I'm on day 2 of Reese wearing only "big girl" undies and sitting on the potty every 40 minutes whether she has to go or not. This is the 'sure-safe' method we've been told from numerous sources. So far so good. Only 1 accident and 10+ successes. To quote Reese- "I was scootering and scootering then pssssss".

Phase 2 complete

Phase 2 complete!!!!

Just a quick update to let you know that I am doing well. I had surgery last week to remove the tumor and check my lymph nodes. I wasn’t worried about the lymph node biopsy since it was highly unlikely that the cancer spread and that those cells were chemo resistant. As expected no cancer cells were found. The amazing news is that the tumor had shrunk (reacting to the chemo drugs) to the point where my surgeon couldn’t even see it on an ultrasound. She called it a “complete pathological response”. What can I say- I am the poster child for chemo. In all seriousness it was the best result we could have hoped for. Of course she still went in and removed about 3cm of boob. She must have done a great repair job because I can’t really tell- lefty doesn’t look noticeably smaller to me. Ha, now you’ll all be looking to see a difference next time I see you. Overall the surgery went well and I was able to go home the same day. I was up and walking around the next day. The only thing that is still bothering me is the underarm. The nerves sometimes get affected when they remove the nodes. Hopefully it is only temporary.

My body is coming back to a ‘normal’ (pre-chemo) state. My hair is starting to grow back. The fuzz has doubled-check out the pictures below.....and no I didn't walk Nate to school like that I wore my scarf. My energy level is high. I’ve even regain my taste buds- no more yuck mouth and wine tastes good again.
Only one phase left- radiation. Despite how well my body responded to the chemo and the lack of cancer cells found in surgery I still need radiation therapy. I will likely start my treatments at the beginning of July. I have to get daily (Mon- Fri) treatments for 6 weeks. UGH! I haven’t read about any nasty side effects (just redness, sunburn skin and fatigue – which I think is more from the daily drudgery of going to the doctor’s office) but we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully everything will be done by September enabling me to come back to the States for a visit.

Many thanks to everyone for the thoughtful emails, call and generous care packages of support. I appreciate the prayers, well wishes, and positive juju sent my way. It all helped!!!! That plus those wonder drugs;)

OMG -my baby turns 3

Today is Reese's birthday. She has been telling people that she turns 3 in June but had no idea when June was. She only learned that today was her birthday yesterday. After much deliberation she choose mini golf as her birthday activity (despite Nate's lobbying for bowling).

So off we went to the putt putt course. It was a full day with a lunch stop at McD's. Then after golf we took her to Target and let her pick out her own present. For a moment we thought we might be bringing home a motorized barbie jeep but Reese selected a new baby doll. Michael and I were surprised but she was thrilled by her new baby (she is pretty cool and makes drinking and baby noises).

Here are some pictures of our day:

1 week post surgery

It has been a week since I went in for surgery. I have been pleasantly surprised by the overall recovery. My boob and portocath removal spots feel find and are a nice yellow brown bruise color. What has hurt more than expected is my underarm. I guess that makes sense since your boob is just fat and the underarm is more muscle layers. It is uncomfortable to sleep and I have to be careful not to lift heavy things or reach into the back seat of the car while driving (sorry Reese you'll have to wait for your sippy cup). But for the most part I am feeling great. I have a follow up check up with my doctor this Wednesday. Then we'll learn the results of the full pathology report and get the recap from the surgery (which I don't recall from the drunken fog of drugs).

Plus great news- I have stubble. I've never been so pleased to shave my armpits. I'm sure it could have gone for a couple more weeks but I was excited to see hair. My head is much fuzzier and the color looks darker this week. It will be interesting to see what the color and texture come back as. My eyelashes are about 1/2 normal size which creates the look of eyeliner. Thanks Ali for the mascara - I look forward to using it soon :).

Reese and I went to the zoo this week. Picture is below. I saw my twin there.....

There was a woman wearing a scarf (with obviously no hair under), little facial hair and a young girl about Reese's age. Reese said" mommy that lady looks just like you". It was a bit freaky. I really don't look in the mirror that often so the kids and Michael see cancer mimi more than I do. To me I feel like me again so it is odd when I look in the mirror and see this bald no facial hair cancer woman. At least the hair is growing back.

surgery update

Sorry for the delay in recent postings. I realize that I have a lot of photos to update. But in the meantime I wanted to put out a quick message on how I'm doing. My sister has been here all week visiting - it has been great! Mixed news- we got home from vacation last week and our au pair announced she was leaving at the end of the week. Horrible and thoughtless timing so we told to just leave within 2 days (especially since Jody was here). So we need to find someone new to help. She was helpful around the house but not great with the kids so her departure is probably a good thing.
I had my surgery on Friday. They inserted a wire in the morning (yes a thin wire was poking out of my boob). Then on to the surgery. The wire was inserted (while looking under ultrasound then confirmed with mammograph so the surgery knew just where to cut. While I was under for having the lump removed they did a lymph node biospy- where they inject you with blue ink and they find the key nodes. Great news was that that biospy was negative- i.e. no cancer cells were found. That means that the cancer didn't spread. We will get the final confirmation results back next week but the initial test is 80% accurate. Plus while I was under they removed the portcath since I am done with chemo (that feels great to say). I got to go home the same day as the surgery and am already feeling ok. I was a bit groggy the first day. Just a bit still now. Not on any pain meds so that is a good sign. Another good sign- hair is starting to grow- more on my legs than head but still a good sign.
pictures soon to come (all but the blue inked boob ;)
Mimi