Catching Up

The leaves have not all turned yet, but maybe the cooler weather this weekend will help. Here are a few around my neighborhood and on the way to work. I love this time of year.

I've been a terrible blogger this week. For the past few days I've had a cold and just doing my normal activities is about all I can drag through!

Wednesday I had my 6-month check-up at Duke. Since I had breast cancer in 2004, I have been seen there first every 3 months, then 6 months, and Wednesday I graduated to a year! Yeah! I have to say everything about Duke is wonderful. I love my oncologist, surgeon, the chemo nurses were exceptional, and the nurse practitioners great. But, the drive and the wait for tests and doctors appointments makes it a long day, so moving to once a year is welcome.

I had a great check-up. Mammogram read "no sign of cancer" no better words for a survivor to hear. My bone density showed a 3.5% increase in bone in my spine which means I won't be getting too much shorter soon! It was all a great relief.

For BC month, volunteers had a table set up with lots of materials and give-a-ways and provided a delicious lunch for all the breast cancer patients and their families with appointments that day. I've been so fortunate to live close enough to Duke to have the opportunity to get all my treatments and follow-up there.

Last night I watched the movie on Lifetime about the doctor who developed the drug Herceptin, which has made such a difference in the diagnosis of breast cancer for some women. I fall in that group and was selected for a clinical trial for Herceptin. My clinical trial was to see if it would help prevent cancer from returning in women whose cancer had not spread. At the time I started the treatment it would have not been covered by my insurance so I would not have gotten the treatment had I not been selected. It was surprising to me in watching the movie how long this doctor had worked on Herceptin and hard it was to get support for it. I'm very thankful he kept trying!

Starting Thursday night I came home from work just wiped out - later that night my throat got sore and nose stopped up. I rarely have a cold and hope this doesn't last too much longer. I haven't been out of the house this weekend except for yesterday afternoon when we went to see The Secret Life of Bees. I had read the book and was not disappointed by the movie. It is wonderful! I heartily recommend it.

I have done a little knitting this weekend (when I am not napping). I am now on the sleeves of B's sweater. On yeah, an update on that. If you remember I was worried about the size. When she was here last weekend I had her try it on, and even though it was big, so wanted it that way so asked me not to make it any smaller. I hope it will work.

And I leave you with a picture of my little helper from last weekend. She loves to help her Mama clean, and she loves to dress up! She was a little diva with the knitted fun fur scarf.

Have a good week!