Hair and Shopping and Rain

You are probably wondering where I'm going with this title. It's my way of connecting a few random things into one blog post, I guess. On Friday, Ben got a hair cut. He thought it was too short and got sort of upset. I told him I didn't have any sympathy for his "short hair," not only because I think it looks fine, but more importantly, his short hair is longer than mine. In fact, I took off my hat and made him compare. He won't let me post a picture of his hair, so I'll be brave and post one of mine.

With Ben's hair, we can easily grab several inches of hair. Mine is still less than an inch but is growing thicker and longer every day.

Here's a picture of me and my new hat and scarf:

The first time I wore this, no one mentioned if they liked them or not. It's a bit different than what I usually wear, so I wondered if it worked or not. Yesterday I got several compliments from strangers. I think most of the people I see frequently are so used to me wearing hats that they don't notice them anymore. I'm still having fun with my hats, but now I'm going through a transition time. As my hair starts to come back, every day I wonder if I should put on the scarf, too. Most of  my regular hats are still a bit big on my head, so a scarf helps them stay in place. Plus, when it's cold, it gives me an extra layer of warmth. The scarf came in handy to cover the bald spots around my ears and neck, but now that I have a bit of hair coming back, it's not as necessary anymore. I still like wearing hats, which is a blessing since watching hair grow isn't one of my favorite spectator sports. 

Yesterday, Becca and I went shopping. She's fighting a cold and I usually don't enjoy shopping, so we had all the makings for a miserable afternoon. Instead, we had a blast. We were looking for a few things for our upcoming trip to Florida. We ran into some sales and Becca got a couple cute tops. I tried on a pair of jeans from the clearance rack. They didn't have the size I thought I wore, but for the fun of it, I tried one size smaller. As I pulled on the pants, expecting them to be too tight, I gloriously slid them on! I immediately knocked on Becca's dressing room door and told her to take a look. She tried not to roll her eyes as I did a little victory dance. The last time I was in this size was pre-kids, many years ago. It made my day! 

I mentioned to a friend of mine the other day how easy it has been to lose weight. Some might think it's the chemo, but most people actually gain weight on breast cancer chemo. I was one of the exceptions when I lost weight. Most of the weight I've lost, however, has been before and after the nausea-inducing chemo when I made an effort to eat healthfully. It hasn't been any one big thing that has helped me, but  lots of little things. I feel like I eat a lot, but most of my plate is filled with vegetables. I snack on fruit and nuts, although I do have a weakness for tortilla chips. Even with that I've enjoyed experimenting with the wide array of unique tortilla chips (quinoa and beans, etc.) and eat them with hummus or salsa. I have tried to be intentional about eating sweets. I avoid them as much as possible, but when I choose to eat dessert, I take a small piece and enjoy every bite.  

It's the same with my walks. My focus isn't to burn off calories, but to get my blood flowing, strengthen my heart, and work my muscles.  I don't give myself an out, no matter the weather or how I feel. It's so easy to take a long walk on a nice sunny day, especially when I have a friend along. On days like today when it's cold and rainy, it's a lot harder to make myself go. Today the boys were debating on whether they wanted to brave the rain to go work on baseball skills. We had planned to walk up to the high school together and then I would either walk the track or go off to get in my miles. We should have gone out earlier when the rain briefly stopped, but now, it was coming down in sheets. My window of daylight was growing small, so I headed out (with Sugar, who doesn't mind getting wet). Walt and the boys waited to see if they could catch another break in the rain or find some cover at a school. Once I got up the hill at the high school, the rain actually slowed to a drizzle. I then decided to add in a few neighborhoods to my loop. I thought I had escaped the rain when the clouds opened up again. We were on the way home, fortunately, so Sugar and I only got slightly drenched. We walked for over an hour, and now Sugar is napping on her bed by the fireplace. Even on days like today, I enjoy my walks. Today I actually jogged a little, but for the most part, I like walking.  Plus, with the hills around here, it's a pretty good workout. One thing I've learned, though, is exercise is easier to fit in to my days if it's something I enjoy. 

My last random thought for today, is about running my race with God. As I reviewed James for my bible study tomorrow, I was struck by how important it is for me to connect with God whether I feel like I need Him or not. Everything in my life, the good and the bad, is important to God. I like how Beth Moore writes, "We will run our race on one leg if we only engage with God in our suffering or sickness." Every detail of my day belongs to God since He is the author of my life. Because I like her words on this, I want to end my post with larger quote from the study: 

"If we are willing, God is our song when we are happy, our escape when we are tempted, our hope when we're despairing, our joy in tribulation, our strength in weakness, and our immortality in dying. Ultimately, He Himself is our health."   All I can say is, Amen!

Busy Day

I had two doctor's appointments today. My first one was the final follow up with Dr. Hunter, my radiation oncologist.  He was impressed at how quickly my skin has healed from radiation. Up until this cancer, that's been the norm in my life. I rarely got sick, but if I did, I healed quickly.  Now that an undetected lump smaller than an inch was the cancer that will forever change my life, my world as I know it seems a bit tilted. I hope that it's just a bump in the whole landscape of good health from now on, but of course, only God knows. Anyway, Dr. Hunter said he'd be happy to be a resource if I had any questions on anything going forward. He also invited me to stop in socially when I'm going in for an infusion, since radiation oncology is now just around the corner from infusion. Everything is so new on this side of the hospital. All the construction tape is down, and the hallways and offices are now open. It looks quite a bit different than when I was coming here just a month ago. When Dr. Hunter talked about coming by sometime to say hi, without specifically saying the words, however, we both knew we didn't want to meet up again for medical reasons. He reminded me of all the things I needed to continue to do (I'd be disappointed if he didn't!) to move my chances nearer to the 90% rate of no recurrence. Exercise, as he so often repeated, is one of those things that not only improve my chances of keeping cancer away, but it will also help my heart, my blood pressure, my brain, my joints--things that will benefit me long after I've survived this cancer. I can't lose with exercise, in other words. I'm a big believer in this.

Then I went to the other side of the hospital to meet with my surgeon, Dr. Clinch. He, too, commented on how well everything has healed. I was concerned about what I perceived as some lumps in my right breast (the other side), but after checking both sides carefully, he reassured me that everything was normal. These tiny lumps prior to all this wouldn't have concerned me a bit, wouldn't have even reached the beginning of my radar. But since my senses are heightened and I consider every twinge and bump, I was thankful for this appointment to talk it over with him. He asked when I had my last mammogram (October), and I mentioned I already scheduled my next one (April). The next time I'll see him is sometime in June or July when I get the word from Dr. Kohn that I'm ready to get rid of my port. I'm looking forward to that day so I can start swinging a golf club again. I appreciate Dr. Clinch, not only because he is always on time for his appointments, but he listens and does his job well. He even asked me about things that had nothing to do with the surgery, such as what was the hardest part for me with chemo and how I got through it.  

After my appointments, I had time to make a quick stop at Costco. The guy checking my receipt as I left told me it looks like I was pretty successful. I mentioned I only came in for a few things, but before I knew it, my cart was full. He said he usually spends more than he earns working there. (He looked like he was retired and working at Costco part time.) The kids were happy to see the food I brought home. Our cupboards were getting a little bare. I picked up a couple of athletic pants for the boys, but Ben's was too big. I guess I'll have to fit in another trip to Costco soon to exchange the pants and see what other goodies I can find.

The boys were finishing up the last of their school when I got home, and then we headed out again for their scheduled preseason baseball training. (Becca was at her weekly babysitting job.) Today they were working on fielding. The temperature was in the high 30s (baseball weather around here!) but soon the boys threw off their sweatshirts as they began to work up a sweat. I wasn't expecting to be outside, so since I only had a sweater, I was thankful for Nathan's sweatshirt when he didn't need it anymore.

We are fortunate to have such a top-notch training facility so close to where we live. This was their third session. Usually Ben and Nathan have a session to themselves, but the trainer they were scheduled to have was running late, so they combined with another boy. They matched up well, and on some of the drills, having one extra person before them gave my boys a welcomed breather.

As soon as we were finished here, we went back home so I could pick up Becca for her horseback riding lesson. Today was a make-up lesson from a couple of weeks ago when she was sick. I should have stayed so I could include a picture of her, too, but it was getting dark and I needed to get my walk in. Today was just a shorter, neighborhood walk, but Sugar was good company. Then I prepped some things for dinner and went back out to get Becca. Nathan also had his small group meeting tonight for youth group at church, but thankfully it wasn't my turn to drive carpool on that. When I got home from picking up Becca, I was just able to say goodbye to Nathan as he darted out the door. I got to stay home for the rest of the evening. Walt and I watched the latest episode of Downton Abbey after dinner, and now I'm finishing up this blog before going up to bed. It was a busy but a very good day.