Life IS like a box of Chocolates…

Forest Gump May have been a quirky dude, but he sure did get a few things right! I can only hope this year can have as many ups as downs. It seems since I have less “cancer stuff” to chat about my blogging has obviously dwindled. What I have written about lately is a bit Debbie Downer-ish due to the several deaths in our family. So I currently am finding myself writing now for a few reasons. One of which I feel is reminiscent to why I started this in the first place…to vent! To write in hopes of feeling better when finished as if I left a therapy session with the head doctor.

Today I found myself anxious and overwhelmed with life, but not cancer life. The kind of overwhelmed I’ve felt many times in the past. You know the feeling…when the “to-do” list keeps getting longer yet it seems nothing is getting checked off. As I begin to get back into “normalcy” I’m happy that I’m not overwhelmed with healing, but I don’t want to feel stressed. I want to enjoy life one day at a time, take in time with family and not get overwhelmed with laundry, work, house projects etc. etc. My head feels clogged with chemo brain yet I so badly want to get back to being me. Simultaneously I want to blow off tasks and chill on the couch with the girls and watch Big Brother, so I’ve been choosing the latter often. Since I found myself getting irritable, anxious and overwhelmed today, I hope to feel all warm & fuzzy when I finish writing this post.

The 2nd reason I began to blog was to help me remember. Remember my journey this year and the support I’ve received along the way. Chemo brain sure has made it hard to remember yesterday, let alone months ago, so thank goodness this blog will allow me to look back someday.

3rd reason I started blogging was to educate & inspire and stay positive. All of which have been a bit difficult lately. Now I shall attempt to make up for slacking in the educate, inspire & stay positive department.

Since I haven’t updated on my cancer phase, I’ll explain a bit. I’m currently getting a shot at the beginning of every month in my abdomen, along with taking an oral Med. The combination will shut down my ovaries and put me into menopause. This will hopefully prevent my cancer from coming back because it will no longer have hormones to feed off of and develop another tumor. This protocol is supposed to continue for up to 5 years, which sounds nuts to me. I’m shooting to just have them yank the ovaries and call it a day. It is not recommended that I go that route for 6 months, per my oncologist. I am also scheduled for both my phase 2 reconstruction & my hip replacement. I’m ending 2019 with a bang in hopes to keeping 2020 full of ups!

In the positives department – my hair is growing nicely and looking Mohawk-ish. My eyebrows are coming back and I’m hoping the eyelashes start moving along a bit quicker.

Meanwhile, I’m in the process of selling our rental (previous house), playing catch up at the office, attempting to get the house back in order, getting kids ready for school, starting to coach volleyball again, planning for 2 surgeries and WHAMO – along comes an amazing opportunity…

Anyone remember my Instagram post a while back regarding #roadtriprewind? Well here’s the post and the gist. Ford is doing a competition for someone to relive a road trip from the past in their new Ford Explorer. The winner of the contest gets to relive the trip on their dime. Well, I AM A FINALIST! What started as somewhat of a joke or “let’s just see what happens” may actually turn into reality.

This trip I took was in 1996 with sorority sisters whom are great friends still to this day. They supported me tremendously along my cancer journey. They’re my “ride or dies”. Our trip was one of a kind and has us cracking up these days every time we reminisce. To redo it would be an amazing UP to offset the many downs of 2019. So cross your fingers & toes, say a prayer or seven and hope beyond hope that we win! I’ll be sure to blog along the way and share the adventure!