Holding Steady at Mile Five ... Seven to Go

Well, nothing as exciting as last week. Of course, I didn't get an "official" measurement today so nothing to report there. The treatment was status quo and my red blood cells were borderline on whether I needed the Procrit but I got it just to raise my red blood cells. I'm struggling with the shot glass full of red wine each day ... you would think I could handle that. It just sounds horrible which is not my usual perspective on red wine, or white wine, or anything with alcohol in it really. In really wacky news, I had thrush on my tongue this week ... it kind of looked like the fungus that grows on mulch after a hard rain. Brown, thin and crusty ... apparently, it's relatively common with a weakened immune system. That night Jeff kissed me on the forehead that night. It looked pretty bad but went away quickly.

My long time friend Kathy took me to chemo today which was a huge treat. She is a two time survivor, 10 and 6 years. It was fun to talk about all the changes in treatments since her breast cancer diagnosis 10 years ago. We talked a lot about mastectomies and the decisions that Jeff and I will face in August. Her mastectomy became a big topic here on Sun. night when the girls realized that Kathy had breast cancer and a prosthesis in her swim suit. We had a big discussion about how loveable and great Kathy is and that it doesn't really matter what's under someones shirt. The girls asked a lot of questions. I tried to compare it to taking out a really bad splinter ... but I didn't want to terrify them and scare the girls into thinking that I will cut off their toe with scissors the next time they play outside without shoes on.

In a case of good news/bad news, I found out tonight that I will not be running the New York City Marathon in early Nov. I signed up right after I found out I had cancer planning to defer to next year if I was lucky enough to get in. I'll have to play the lottery again next year and so will Nancy. Darn our luck, I bet hotel rooms in NY will be down in price with this bad economy. (Yes, I do know that there is NO WAY I could run it yet this year.) I did have a great and very inspiring meeting with a doctor who runs a program that specializes in cancer and exercise. He runs a program for men and women who are finished with treatment but he helped me map out some reasonable goals that won't wear on my body but help me to maintain my muscle and just continue to keep a decent cardio base. I needed those positive words from "someone in the know". I'm going to do very light weights this weekend with one of the other executives from the program who can offer a lot of guidance. She is working on becoming a personal trainer specifically for cancer patients -- although she uses much fancier words.

And, we're starting to distribute the t-shirts and race packets for Ann's Fans. (My sister made us tie all the Race for the Cure shirts very fancy.) The shirts look great and we've raised more than $11,000. If you're local, I'll be calling you this weekend to find you. If you'll be getting it via the mail, you've got a few days yet.

Love to you all,

Ann -- not running NYC -- survivor