Rocky 10 days

The last 10 days haven't been great. 2 weekends ago I came down with a nasty viral infection that caused a fever of 102. At first I thought I had bad allergies because my sinus were draining and I had a wicked sore throat....no other symptoms. But then the fever came. The worst part was that I missed a trip to Payson with my family to look for fossils with other families. They had a blast & I was in bed. Bummer! My energy was zapped so I wasn't exercising much, which also annoys me. Ugh! The Tri for the Cure is on Sunday, so I'm feeling a little pressure to be on my bike, in the pool & running. I thought I was doing better several days later, but the sore throat was nagging and the fever came back. Really annoying!!! Then on Saturday, I woke up and thought I'd peed my pants...seriously! I thought I had another 20 years for that! I'm sure you don't want to hear about my bodily fluids......stop reading if you are really disgusted..........I was a bit alarmed with the fluid since I just had major surgery 2 months ago. I could not figure out what was going on. Why was I leaking peritoneal fluid????? So, I called my dr and they wanted to check me out right away. I went to the dr this morning and they didn't see anything unusual with my innards. There was a little spot that looked like it was pulled a bit, so she used silver nitrate to help heal it. I felt a little burning, but not too bad. It's possible there was a pin hole that the fluid was leaking from. I'm hoping this will do the trick. I'm so thankful it wasn't anything more serious. I would have cried if this kept me from doing the Tri for the Cure on Sunday. Really, I would have!! I'll need to take it easy for the next few days, but I'll be ok to compete on Sunday. Thank you, God! The worst part of my trip to the dr was that I forgot my book in the exam room. Darn! It's a 30 minute drive to north Scottsdale. Guess I'll be going back tomorrow. Ugh!!!! The book is too good to forget about. My aunt gave it to me and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone...especially those touched by cancer. It's called Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life. It's a true story of a doctor's journey with brain cancer and how he integrated conventional & alternative methods for treatment. Check it out... www.anticancerbook.com. You won't be sorry.

Neuropathy has come back in my finger tips. Ugh!!! Thank you, Taxol! I have not experienced it since I was getting Taxol in July/Aug/Sept. I'm not sure why it has returned, but it's common for it surface after treatment. It's not horrible, just slight tingling in my finger tips. Annoying! My naturopath had some ideas of supplements that can help with it......NerveFix and/or alpha lipoic acid. I'll give it a whirl.

Yesterday, I had my Herceptin dose #22. I also saw my cardiologist for a stress test. I don't have the results, yet, but the tech didn't see anything glaring. I should hear back in a few days.

Last Friday, I had a follow-up with my naturopath. My labs came back pretty good. No real changes to my protocol. He did tell me about a product sold at Walgreens called Sambucol to help boost my immunity to fight acute illness. It's all natural and contains black elderberry extract. I've been taking in morning and night. Google it if you want to know more about the product.

I planted the garden today. I'm about 30 days behind when I should have planted, but hopefully it'll still be ok. I was delayed in planting because it has emotionally hard to pull out my beautiful lettuce that we've been eating all winter. Plus, March was busy and I can't believe it's April already. I planted tomatoes, zucchini, jalapeno, parsley and cilantro. There is something very therapeutic about digging in the dirt. I love to pull weeds for the same reason. I just love being outside. :-)

Mark & I recently watched a documentary about food........Food, Inc. HIGHLY recommend! You will not look at food the same way again!!! Rent it today! www.foodincmovie.com

The Tri for the Cure is Sunday. I can't wait for this event. It was such an uplifting experience last year and I know it will be again on Sunday. It's a true example of the human spirit prevailing. I love the camaraderie of all the women out there competing.......we come from different paths & have different stories, but we share the spirit of perseverance & healthy living! In many ways, we are kindred spirits........and that feels good!

Love, srb