[NEDenise]

Lois! Congrats on the new home! Missed that smile...so I'm glad you're back!

Paula! Missed you too...glad you're doing well!

Steph (please read in a VERY whine-y voice) "But, Steeee-eeeph, I don't like tea! And I really like sweets. And coffee!" thanks for letting me share that...cleansing for my soul.

Sooo....

I worked a "full day" at school the other day...setting up my classroom. Boy! Was that fun! Seriously! It's like riding a bike...I walked in...got started...it felt like I hadn't been away at all.

I did however, notice that...
I now sweat A LOT when I'm working. It was 70 degrees in my classroom, and about an hour into my workday, my hair was soaked!
Like I had just washed it. Okay...maybe more like after a thorough towel drying...but still!
I may have to buy a little fan that actually clips onto my blouse or something!
The rest of me was okay...but the drippy hair...yech! And oddly, I didn't even feel that hot...my scalp was just acting like a leaky lawn sprinkler! This journey is nothing...if not interesting.

I also ended up so tired (and ache-y) that the following day, I pretty much sat around and recuperated from the day before. (And that, BTW, was with my sons doing all the "heavy" stuff for me)
The good news is...teaching is much more mental than physical usually. I seldom have to do as much lifting, pushing, pulling, and stretching as I did this week. So I'm feeling pretty good about being able to pass muster when the kids return. I'm just so excited to get back to being me! All of me!

In other news...My face now looks like I am the proverbial fat lady in the circus freak show. My eyes are not bulgy...but my cheek bones are nowhere to be found. It's actually MORE puffy than it's been so far! I've started weaning from the steroids (down to 8mg/day) so I'm really, really hoping that starts the face deflation. I'd post a photo...but it's bad enough that I have to see this...I don't want it out in the world!

Still no Tykerb side effects. Yay! Hooray! (Knock wood!) So I'm starting to add fruits and veggies back into my diet...a little at a time.
Garden tomato season is sacred in our home...
we await it...
we celebrate it...
we mourn it's end.
It's a little pitiful, now that I look at it objectively...but, at any rate...and I've been sadly remiss in my intake. (I've been known to eat enough of those bad boys to get mouth sores, even without the help of medicines!) And, I have it from a reputable source, that tomatoes have tumor fighting properties! So...there ya go!

No headaches, or anything else I could attribute to Gammaknife healing/side effects.

All in all...feeling pretty darn good! (Except for that whole freakishly fat face thing!) I have an echo next week (baseline for Tykerb/Herceptin combo). And I see the Gammaknife docs the following week...I guess just to check in...because the first post-treatment scan isn't until November.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Love to all my peeps! (And Chris...so glad you're one of them!)
Denise