Anniversaries

May 25, 2005 I found a lump in my breast.

May 25, 2006 I achieved Lifetime status at Weight Watchers.

May 25, 2007 I don't expect anything out of the ordinary to happen (and boy am I relieved by that!).

Two years of Cancerville - wow, that blows my mind. Every day I deal with the side effects of the treatment - limited range of motion and/or shoulder pain; joint pain from the Femara; all of the symptoms of a brutally induced menopause (if you don't know, don't ask...let's just say that hot flashes are terrible but not the worst of it). I'm still not done with surgery (no nipples), and I'm still not done with Herceptin or Femara. Amazing. I have to do an MRI follow up in a couple of weeks - routine - and I'll feel sick about it until I get my results, though I'm not particularly concerned except in a very general sense of fear....but this is the new normal.

And yet, every day, I feel pretty good. A day with joint pain is still a day that belongs to me, and I intend to seize every minute, to squeeze everything I can out of each second. Cliche'? Probably, but it is also my truth. I know what it means to be in fear of dying, and I know what it means to feel real, deep, brutal pain, both physically and psychologicly. I also know how grateful I am to be free of agony, to be filled with hope, to be productive, to play with Tessa, to picnic on the beach with Ryan (tonight's plan before my parents bring Tessa home!).

I am grateful for my time. I am grateful, even when I'm resentful, that I can carry a load of laundry up our steep, narrow, 1923 basement staircase. I am overjoyed by sunny days. I still get mad, I still feel petty thoughts, and I'm still human...but I'm filled with gratitude that I am alive.

And as for that second anniversary? Well, I'm fighting a pesky 5 pounds that I'd like to lose, but I know that I WILL lose them, and I am thrilled with the progress I've made in that regard. I am still below my official goal weight, and I know that my BMI is excellent. My size 4 and 6 pants are my gauge - right now the 4s are snug but the 6s are fitting well....and my old size 10 self doesn't see much to complain about in that sentence, even when my new self is irritated by the small upward swing. I know I've improved my health, and I know that I know how to keep the weight off, and how to re-lose those five pounds. I know that I am an "after" photo, and that I know how to stay this way. It feels good to be slim, and I will keep that feeling. Five pounds one way or the other is fine....but I vow to never let it get out of my control again like it was before Weight Watchers. I am as proud of maintaining my low weight as I am of losing it, and the anniversary is one worthy of celebration. Instead of cake, maybe I'll go for a nice long run tomorrow. ;-) (Yes, I still eat cake, just not as much as before. And yes, it's worth it to me to live that way!)

Speaking of running, it still hurts, but I'm staying on Femara, and I'm going to run despite it all. Today at my Herceptin appointment I listened to two ladies talking, and each of them had been early stage and then recurred to stage IV. Maybe I'll do that anyway, as it's not totally in my control, but I will not give up on fighting. I imagine that either of them would take my joint pain, AND my cancer free status, in a heartbeat if they could. I nearly forgot that lesson, but I remembered today. I will add Aleve to the handful of vitamins I take each day, and I will keep taking Femara. Heck, it's only 3.75 more years of it. I can handle that....look how much worse I've handled in the past two years!

Off to more chores, but tomorrow we're having PEPS over and it will be busy, and I couldn't let the anniversaries go by unnoticed. Happy anniversaries to me - I'm so glad that the hideous one and the proud one go hand in hand...there's a not-too-subtle lesson in there for me.

It's sunny in Seattle, and I'm enjoying it. Carpe diem!
Kristina