May 6th, 2012

It has been forever since I wrote on here, and am writing to update my life for those who still like to check this site.

First: I have hair.  It was so weird when I started to get little stubble back.  Honestly, its gotta be like when babies first get hair.  And like mothers of babies know, baby hair is unpredictable and often unmanageable.  Same thing happened here.  Its coming back kinda curly/ wavy.  I have a hard time with having such short hair after having such long hair most of my life.  I dont really know what to do with it. 

Second:  I have energy back.  I stopped having the taxol/ herceptin chemo back in October.  I continue to have herceptin treatment every three weeks until August, but it doesnt have any negative affects on me other than making me tired for the rest of that afternoon.  In October, I also started taking the oral medication, tamoxifen that blocks the hormone estrogen.  Shortly after, I started having very bad headaches and blurry vision.  I would literally just have to close my eyes and go to sleep (or try to) so that my blurry vision would stop driving my crazy.  So about 6 weeks ago, I decided to stop taking it.  It just wasnt worth it to me.  I have placed faith in God, and believe I dont need this drug to prevent a reoccurance of cancer.  I have faith His will will be done with me, with my life.  And I have decided to have much less faith in medicines.
So overall, I have a lot more energy, and truly didnt realize how little energy I had before until I started actually feeling like doing stuff again. 

Third:  I completed my reconstruction surgery in December.  It was a piece of cake and everything went well and the healing was easy and painless.

Fourth: I celebrated my Cancerversary March 24th with several friends.  It had been one year since my surgery.  Two weeks after, I participated in my first Relay for Life at UNI.  Doing the survivor lap was kinda intense, having so many people supporting and cheering for me and the other survivors. 

Fifth:  Our family has made several new lifestyle changes.  First, we leased out our first "green space" in Waverly.  (Green spaces are lots that once contained a flood damaged home, that FEMA bought out and then the City demolished the house.  These lots can not be built on in the future, so most will sit empty or can be leased for gardens)  We have started a very large garden on our first lot.  We also are leasing the lot that is right next to our garden, which we plan to start our own orchard on. 
So far we have planted carrots, spinach, lettuce, radishes, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and peppers.  We still have green beans, cucumbers and squash to get into the garden, but our off and on again rainy weekends have made it hard to get those going.  On our actual home property, we have a small garden with strawberries, asparagus, blueberry bushes and raspberry bushes.  On our orchard lot, I want to plant apple trees and pear trees.  We will start small because the trees are expensive, so it will evolve over time.
We hope to be able to not only live primarily off our garden produce, but be able to share veggie baskets with friends and family. 
Also, in March, we got chicks.  And for my birthday, Dan made me my own small chicken coop.  We have 4 hens that we are trying to feed mostly vegetables and foods that we eat.  We will have approx 16-20 eggs a week when they start laying in late summer.  (and yes, we will be sharing those as well!)
I like to consider myself an urban farmer.  :)
With the exception of the eggs (once the chicks start laying), our family has become vegetarian.  And while I never would have predicted that I would stop eating meat, it has been wonderful for my family and me. 
It all kinda fell into place.  First, my insurance company had sent me several readings on starting a plant-based diet to reduce the risk of cancer occurance.  Then, this gardening thing kinda hit our family and excited me with the prospective of "living off the land" and saving money on the grocery bill. 
While planning the garden, I was seeking scripture about what God has instructed us to eat.  What I found was: Genesis 1:29 Then God said, "Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.  This was God's original plan.  Although, later in Genesis, after sin had entered the picture, He gave humans the authority to use all living and moving creatures as food, I still feel like His original plan is the purest and best way to live.  After all, after He gave humans the seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, He looked around and saw that all was good!  :) 
It hasnt been hard to stop eating meat, for me anyway.  In fact, making new foods that are beautiful with their rainbow of colors from variety of veggies, is fun.  Its also rewarding to know how much better my kids are eating now that they are getting meals that are chuck full of veggies and fruits (meaning full of vitamins and anti-oxidants).  Dan eats Clif Protein bars to ensure he has protein for his weight-lifting and working out, and so he can keep his muscles.  I am very blessed to have a man that not only gives my opinions time to be heard, but also took the time to learn what I had been reading and accept this lifestyle for our whole family. 
And then there have been things in the news that, of course, helped with the vegetarian cause.  Anyone heard of pink slime?  How about salmonella or e-coli? 

Sixth (and final for this post): Dan and I have started taking our ten week course to become foster parents.  I have believed that we were called to have a non-traditional yet loving and close family.  And I believe this is the route that God has lead us to.  At this time, we plan to foster small children (0-5 yrs) and hopefully adopt through the system.  I think we will only adopt one child, but am willing to accept what God has in store for us.

Weve been busy, and I know we will continue to be so until our kids are having their own families, and we are retired and can sit on our front porch, watching the Cedar River and reading the newspaper together (if people still read the newspaper in those days)