Don't wait

Update on how I'm doing at the bottom if you don't want to read all my philosophical blather.

One of the fun things about having cancer is that I get to be all philosophical and stuff because I have this new perspective on life...and you, my loyal readers, can learn from that (hopefully while skipping the whole horrible illness thing).

I have had lunch with three different friends this week. One I rarely see, although we interact on facebook. I wish it hadn't taken me getting sick for us to make time to see each other. Of course, it helps that I'm not working much now so I have more free time when I'm feeling well enough to see people. But these things are so important...you'll much more regret not seeing someone than you will taking a couple hours every once in a while to catch up. So, my charge to you today (since you all went and got your mammograms and whatnot) is to hit up a friend you haven't seen in a while and get together. You'll be glad you did....either because it was so good, or because it was so bad you can now write them out of your life and move on! Ha!

On the same vein, I wrote the following and posted it on facebook a few months before my marathon and I thought this seemed an appropriate time to repost it. Enjoy. Then I'll let you know how I'm doing.

A couple of times in the past few years, someone has said something that had a huge impact on me, although these things tend to slip. When it was said again a couple weeks ago, it was a great reminder. They all happened to be women who now suffer from chronic health issues that limit what they are able to do physically. The point they all made was...enjoy what you can do now, because you never know what will happen in the future. Another statement I've heard that's equally profound is "you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the things you did."

I think that's an amazingly relevant statement for all of us. Don't put off that new thing you want to try because you think you're too old already/don't have time/it's too hard/you'll look stupid. If you want to try it, try it. Go ahead and look stupid and laugh at yourself. Learn to dance. Or water ski. Or visit a nudist resort. Whatever. Because a year from now, or five, or ten, you might not be able to. And when you look back on this time, right now, when you're healthy (or or at least more so than you might be then), will you smile thinking about the experiences you had, or will you revel in the fact that you never did these things you wanted to do, but at least you never looked silly?

If a 42yo clinically obese woman can run 18 miles and will run a marathon (26.2 miles) in about five weeks from now...you'd be amazed what you can do. But you have to stop making excuses and just start.

So, let's have it...what amazing thing are you going to do?

PS...while on the marathon, we saw a spectator holding a sign that said something like, "someday you won't be able to do this. Today is your day." I am so glad I did it when I could. Oh yes, I'm planning to again, but not this year. 

How am I doing?

This damned disease is an emotional roller coaster. I posted a couple days ago talking about how great I felt. Wednesday night I didn't get enough sleep, and yesterday was kind of hard. We went to a movie (Ant Man--super fun) and I enjoyed it, but I was pretty tired and wrung out all day.

Also, the mouth sores started forming. They're not open, at least not yet, but there are tender spots in my mouth and it was pretty uncomfortable. It was uncomfortable enough to swallow that I decided I couldn't eat the ribs Michael made for dinner and had all soft stuff instead. It made me feel pathetic, like an invalid. Which, of course, made me cry. I did my mouth rinse a couple times, and today I felt a little better and was able to eat, although the tenderness is definitely still there. Energy level and everything is much better today.

Went to the ACS office today and got a cute brunette wig. I tried a couple long blonde ones...they were pretty, but made me look like a stripper. I should have taken pictures!

Next treatment is next Wednesday, so I probably won't be doing any visiting for a few days after that.