Get yourself a POSSE!!!

A word to the wise... if you do not currently have a posse, start recruiting worthy candidates immediately. It does you no good to attempt to assemble one once a tragedy or disaster or bad haircut (they do happen to good people, after all...) happens. You need to have your posse solidly in place when you look into your radiologist's eyes and see the word "cancer" before she speaks it. They need to be ready when one of your parents is deathly ill, when a baby is born, when hair is falling out and when there is just no other time except the middle of the day when you can schedule an appointment. And then, every so often you need to slip away with your posse to hike, kayak, shop, eat, drink wine, LAUGH, cry and dance. I've always said that I am not a "girls weekend" kind of girl, but I've come to learn that that time is sometimes the very best thing for you (and, by the way, there is a lot of truth to that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" stuff...). Although I may never own a Upole of my own (and you all heard Halley say it was mine should she meet an untimely end...), I have the greatest posse ever and I love each of you so much!! Not to mention the wonderful husbands who stayed at home to watch over our combined 15 children... we are lucky and blessed to be yoked for life with you!

Today it is back to reality and the "cleanse" that Kelly has talked me into (that and a beating at the gym with she & Gina... maybe I'm not so happy that you have those free passes, Kel... ha ha!). It should be interesting to say the least! The best part is that it is full of the foods that I eat already (so, I'm secretly thinking that I'm probably pretty cleansed to start with...). However, I'm struggling to eat the prescribed amount of fruit (I'm more of a vegetable girl) and feeling a little deprived by the sparse amount of coffee. Darin decided not to let me walk this path alone so we'll see how a few days of rice, beans and green leafies serves us all! I actually think that it is a great way to get (back) on track with healthy eating. Thank you Kelly!

I am making an appointment to see my physical therapist for a lymphedema check-up. I can hardly believe that it has been over 6 months since the first time that I went! And I will likely be scheduling surgery this week for some time in late September (with the hope that I will be all healed up for the holidays!). My final monthly Zometa treatment is tomorrow morning (which I will combine with a trip to Whole Foods - I got some moldy pancetta there last week and they very graciously offered me a gift card for my disappointment... very impressed with the rapid email response and the offering. If I wasn't already such a huge fan, I would be now!!). I can hardly believe that I have been through 6 months of that as well. Now I will begin doing them every 3 months (for 18 more months... which, sadly, means that I will not be having my port removed during surgery in September... ugh). Sometimes it all seems very never ending! I'm still not 100% sure about what I want to do surgery-wise but I have to say that the summer has reinforced my reluctance to remain like this for the rest of my life... please pray that I will have some clarity and peace about the situation. It has been a very stressful phase.



It has been lots '0 summer fun around here for the past month or so and I still feel as though I haven't settled into a good summer "rhythm". Before you know it we will be on vacation and then thinking about heading back to school (I've already received "Back to School" shopping brochures... what is up with that???). Maybe I should just give up on a rhythm... it's over-rated to be so organized. :)