Wow-our 15th wedding anniversary!

Today marks our 15th wedding anniversary~time sure flies by. This year by far has been the hardest we have had and I am thankful every day for the support I get from Rich. I've certainly felt the worst I've ever felt this past year. Rich is my positive thinker and my moral support, and for that I am grateful.

This journey into cancerland has been a huge learning curve for us as well. Drugs, side effects, treatment options are on my mind alot. Now that I have a bit more free time I'm trying to educate myself a bit more on what is out there for cancer treatments. My mom and I saw a great movie about the true story of the doctor who discovered the drug Herceptin. It took him about 10 years to get it on the market and available for women. I had no idea that drug trials could take so long and that drug companies could be so difficult to work with (the movie was called Living Proof, in case anyone is interested). After watching that movie, I am even more grateful for the drug Herceptin. On Monday I had my 11th treatment of Herceptin out of 18~the drug takes about 45 minutes to administer but for some reason I end up in the chemo clinic for 5 hours! That's another thing I have been learning alot about this year....patience!

We enjoyed a great vacation in Florida last week and spent some good time together as a family. We had awesome weather, hot and sunny every day! We were able to see alot of the Disney theme parks mostly because of the minimal crowds, which was another bonus. In this picture we just got off a ride that had alot of water thrown at us. Megan and I seemed to get the worst of it!

We stayed at a resort that had a great pool and we were able to come back most afternoons for a swim. I was very glad that I was able to keep up with Rich and the kids at the parks. Even though we did alot of walking, we took in alot of shows and spent time at the pool relaxing. I'm getting much better at this energy conservation thing...!

This is the kids posing in front of Cinderella's castle at Magic Kingdom. We really had a blast and Rich and I were very happy that the trip went so smoothly. We are now back into things full speed. I seem to have alot of appointments over the next few weeks and had a herceptin treatment the Monday we got back. The week off from appointments was very nice....Anyways, I am also trying to get a bit ready for the upcoming surgery on Dec.10. I'm trying to get ready for Christmas so we'll see how that goes!

With flu season hitting all of us hard this year, it has made me very aware of how vulnerable we can be at times. I also realized that I am part of the priority groups to get the H1N1 vaccine (so far the only positive thing about having a cancer diagnosis). I'm dealing with a rotten cold right now and even that has me worrying more than normal, thanks to my sorry state of an immune system. So I go tomorrow to get my shot....

Looking at the calendar, I have a full 2 weeks off from appointments and/or treatments. Very exciting for sure! We are planning a family vacation to Florida next week and we are all excited about heading south (especially as it is snowing right now!). We are looking forward to spending some good time together.