An exciting 2007

I keep meaning to blog more often; there are so many things that I'd like to say, and so many updates that I'd like to give...and yet life often gets in the way and I am so busy all the time that time passes without my getting to the computer.

Here is a short attempt to catch up:

My single New Year's Resolution is to be more patient with Tessa. I find myself barking at her, or giving a time out, too often, and I am determined to check myself and to be more understanding of her wants and desires. Included in this resolution is the promise to spend more active 1:1 time with Tessa. Of course, she and I are together almost all the time, but often we are doing different things when we're together; I'm chatting with another mom as she plays with her friend, or I'm making dinner while she's doing art, or I'm cleaning up breakfast as she's playing. I'm trying to read to her more often, really play with her at the park, and get down on my hands and knees to make puzzles, play Polly Pocket, play a board game, etc. This is my number one priority for the year. Time has already been stolen from us, with over a year of cancer treatment, and I'm determined to make the most of our time together. Tessa will never remember if the laundry was caught up, but she will remember that her mother played with her.

2007 has started with a bang, and many exciting opportunities are on the horizon. It is my goal -different than a resolution, I think - to run a marathon in 2007, and so I'm training toward that goal. I plan to do the Whidbey Island Half Marathon in April, right before we go to Hawaii, and to have a bikini-ready body for Hawaii. (Wahooooo!) "The big event" is the Portland Marathon on October 7, 2007....if only I could travel again right after that! LOL

My breast cancer life has changed quite significantly in the past year, and it's not just the length of my hair that I'm talking about. Last year, there were dozens of appointments each month, and I felt so terrible that every moment was taken up with breast cancer. This year, my personal fight has turned into a public one, and I'm fighting the beast in other ways. I have three main "breast cancer" events in 2007:

- The Breast Cancer 3-Day. We have assembled a team of more than a dozen women, and I'm so excited to do this event again. Last year we raised $32,000 - I hope to raise $60,000 next year. It CAN be done, and I'm looking forward to it!

- Working actively with The Komen Foundation. I am getting quite involved with the local office (the Puget Sound affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation), and I'm on the committee for Race for the Cure. (It is my primary responsibility to write web content for the race.) I am also talking to the local Komen CEO about a speakers' bureau and participating in such.

- (This just in!) Today I spoke with a representative of Genentech, and I am officially signed up as a Patient Advocate. As such, my responsibilities would include public speaking, media opportunities, and possibly educational or promotional videos, all to promote breast cancer awareness and Herceptin. Genentech is the manufacturer of Herceptin, a drug which I have been taking since last September. Herceptin is perhaps THE biggest breakthrough in breast cancer research, and promises to cut my risk of recurrence by 52%, and so I am quite comfortable in promoting it. As Genentech is a for-profit corporation, I feel no need to work for them for free, so I will be paid an "honorarium" for my services to compensate me for my time. I'm excited to speak out for the cause, and I'm also excited to bring in some income for our family - we will see where this takes us. I will be working only occassionally, sometimes doing a telephone interview from home, and occassionally traveling within the northwest to do speaking engagements. My first activity is a training weekend in San Francisco next weekend, and I'll get paid for that. I hope that this is the begining of a very productive relationship between Genentech and myself...so we will see!

With that, I will close, as I am tired and the slopes of the Cascades (snowshoeing and sledding) call for tomorrow morning, weather permitting. It is mostly a good life that I lead, despite it all.

Love,
Kristina