HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

WOOHOO, I love this day! We all dressed up for work, and this is what I went as... A Gryffindor student! Everyone knows what a Potter-head I am and although I've worn this costume in the past to other events, I couldn't dissapoint! I ran around yelling spells at everyone all day, it was pottertastic!

Wait... I'm taking WHAT?

These days I take so many pills its hard to keep track of what is what. However, today I was taking a closer look at one of my meds and happened to see this: (all the way at the bottom)

No, I do NOT have cancer! I always knew that Femara was originally intended to be used by women with breast cancer, but I guess I never really thought of it as chemo... Scary, huh? And what does "Dispose Of Properly" mean anyway? Should I have some sort of biohazard container laying around in case I have some unused pills? What does that say about what I'm putting into my body? Hmm...

Miracles DO Happen!

Some days are just hard. You look back on things in life that just didn't quite turn out the way you planned and are tempted to despair. I've been guilty of this myself, and when those times come around, I'm glad for little reminders that Heavenly Father is watching over us. Not only that, but that He has a plan for our lives, much grander than we could ever dream up for ourselves... even if we don't realize it right now.
I have a friend that has had to struggle with some pretty rough things over the past few years, and especially the last few months. She's made a video that explains it in a way that words cannot. Here is her story, her own personal miracle. Hooray for Kim and her little man, I am so amazed at how far Anthony has come! I'm so grateful for miracles and the reminder they are of God's hand in everything. It is a great comfort to me while I try to patiently await a miracle of my very own...

Race For The Cure

Today I did something I've been wanting to do for a very long time... The Race For The Cure! I lost an aunt to breast cancer a few years ago and so this year I raced (well, more like walked, due to my innards being a bit sore still from the Lap!) in her honor. One of my co-workers is a 6 year Survivor (woohoo!!!) and so I walked with her and her family. It was an amazing experience, and am so excited to do it again next year! (And the year after that and the year after that, etc!)Here are some pics:

This is the sign I wore on my back

And... we're off!

We made it, WOOHOO!

Here I am with Donita, my hero! She is such a brave woman.

This is the Survivor Ceremony after the race. The youngest survivor was 29 and the oldest 84!

HOORAY!

Ok, ok, I know... How many times am I going to change my blog? I just haven't ever been completely happy with its look and its taken me a while to figure out how to edit the HTML. I've been at it for hours and this is the end product... TADA!!! I really like it, thank goodness. Maybe now I can focus more on actualy blogging instead of revamping its look.

It's BACK!!!

My bellybutton, that is!!! I've been fretting over it staying a shriveled up raisin forever and fearing what my doctor might try next to "fix it" for days... What if he decided to put something else on it(that made it foam, change color/texture, and hurt for DAYS!) or simply picked up a pair of pliers and yanked it out? (I know, I know, doctors don't do that, but still...) That appt. on Thursday seemed to be coming much to quickly and my bellybutton was NOT reverting to its old self... I've been trying to scrub it off (gently, ouch!) but to no avail... its refused up till just now! I took a look at it and realized that the black "stuff" (looked like a huge scab, ew) was just barely hanging on by a thread and when I touched it, *poof* it fell right off! HOORAY!!! I was so estatic that I got my camera and took a picture of it, fully intending to post it here, thats how proud I was! Then upon closer inspection, I realized it still looks pretty gross, seeing as remnants of that "rash/infection" are still very much present... so I will spare you the sight. But yay, I've got my bellybutton back! It's still an outtie, by the way, but WHO CARES? At least its no longer a raisin!!!! :)

I Failed!

My goal that is... In my last post I set out to try and make it to my 6 week post-op with no more "new" problems. Its only a week away, how could that be so hard? Well, when you're Alex, I guess thats just a dumb question to ask, huh? I woke up this morning feeling a bit odd. Nothing huge, but just kind of sore all over, like I'd slept funny or something. As I was getting ready for Seminary, I realized that my scalp was particularly tender and it hurt to brush my hair. Then when I got to work I noticed it hurt when I reached up and scratched my neck. A few hours later, I was back at home for lunch and thought to myself, "Gee... my mouth sure does hurt!" as I chewed on my sandwich. You get the picture, right? As the day wore on, I started feeling more and more pain in more and more places. By 5:30 I was just one big ball of pain. All my muscles were seized up and tense, and I felt like I'd run a marathon or something. I got home and collapsed on the couch, unable to get comfy because every inch of me hurts to be touched... meaning just laying on the couch caused pain. Can you believe it hurt to blink?
I've been running a slight fever and Ben's theory is that since I've been on high-dose steroids (for that stupid rash!!!) that lower your defenses (it says so right on the label)I might have caught a bug. Mind you, I've been on high-dose antibiotics too (for the stupid infection!!!) but Ben was kind enough to point out that if the "bug" is a virus, all the antibiotics in the world wouldn't help. Makes sense, huh? So yeah, I've got some major aches and pains and a low-grade temp and feel like crawling in bed and sleeping for a month... or at least until that appt. next week. As long as the fever doesn't get out of control, I think I'm just going to let me body try and fight this one out... I'm so tired of pills and more pills.
Ok, my hands hurt... why am I still typing?

Oh, The Fun Goes On..And On...And Oooon...

Hmm, so the glue I spoke of last time seems to have worked quite a number on me. On top of that, I managed to get an infection in one of my inscisions (belly button) and have been feeling not-so-great for the past week and a half. Ended up going back to my doc who after telling me he had never seen anything like this before (yeah, thats reassuring!)promptly put me on some antibiotics and steroids. Its been less than a week and we are finally starting to see some progress, woohoo! Unfortunately my belly button looks like a shriveled little raisin now, due to some medicine he put on it last week... *sigh* First an outtie, and now a somewhat more innie, but shriveled up and black (no joke, the stuff made it turn black!) like a raisin... I wonder what more is in store for my belly button? I guess only time will tell. I have my 6 week post-op next week... my goal is to not have any new complications for my doc by then! Can I pull it off? Stay tuned!