Yippeee -- Vast improvement in the past week!

Wow, how time flies. It's hard to believe it has been a week and a half since I last wrote on the Blog. I had to reread my last entry to realize HOW MUCH I've changed since then. That was a good thing to do because otherwise I just take it a day at a time and don't necessarily see the cumulative improvement. My food quirks have greatly improved (although I'm still somewhat perverted in my eating habits). I'm hungry much of the time, and into high calorie meals. I really enjoy Stouffer's meatloaf dinner as well as the turkey dinner with dressing and mashed potatoes and gravy. Sometimes I even eat the leftovers for breakfast. I can even eat out now. My first outing was a lunch with the Mixes, to Splash (the casual dining restaurant at the Bellevue Club), where I had half of a French Dip sandwich. That was about a week ago. I've been back twice and now am able to happily devour the entire sandwich, and let me tell you, they are yummy! The meat is so thinly sliced, with a great au jus. Al and I feel slightly embarrassed when we fill the shopping cart with boxes of Stouffers dinners, but hey, it's what I like to eat. I've also moved on to full bologna sandwiches, including cheese, lettuce and tomato.

My attention span is returning. I can sit through an entire DVD without going stir-crazy, and on Monday we even went to see "The Queen", which was excellent. I cried, of course, since I was such a Princess Diana fan. I also ate an entire bag of popcorn, virtually by myself. Afterwards, we went to Splash for more French Dips. Even when I'm resting I'm not necessarily sleeping now. I'll stretch out with a magazine, or watch TV. I was very much into the election returns, and the commentaries the next day. How exciting to have a woman as the Speaker of the House! You go girl!

I have read the last two People magazines from cover to cover. For those of you who don't have time for such nonsense, you can check in with me if you want to know why Reese is splitting with her husband, how Josh Groban's new CD is rated, or how Nicole feels about Keith's addiction. I won't be picking up the new People, however, because Britney is on the cover, and I have vowed to never buy a magazine that features her (or Paris Hilton) as the main attraction. Britney is such a dope. What was she doing bringing two children into this world while married to that idiot, K-Fed? On a slightly more intellectual front, I've also read Conde Nast Traveler quite a bit, much more so than in the past (even though we've had a subscription for years) and have "visited" from India to the Grand Canyon (in a raft). More fun news -- I think I'm almost ready to pick up a novel. I have several stacked up, and it will be refreshing to get back into being able to read a real book.

Speaking of the celebs, I look at Nicole Richie and wonder how dumb she can be to deny that she has an eating disorder (apparently she's finally admitting she needs help... duh!). I know that I have an eating disorder currently. It's just not that hard to figure out, Nicole. I read that her hair is falling out from a lack of nutrition, which makes me wonder. Is my hair falling out because of my eating habits of late (I've started taking my multiple vitamins more diligently!), or because of the effects of the chemo? Ugh. It still comes out in clumps and I'm getting a shiny little bald spot (like where the men first get them, on the crown). I'm going to the salon next week, and assuming all of my hair doesn't go down the drain when Tiina shampoos and conditions it, I'll have her cut it quite short, and work on some kind of "comb over".

Yesterday Jan and I took a little shopping trip to Nordstroms. We didn't realize it was the first day of the Half-Yearly Sale, so it was a little more crowded than we had anticipated. We both accomplished what we had on our lists, just in time before I started to fade, and needed to go home to rest. But, this was a major outing for me. Yay! Al and Steve were up at our Mt. Baker condos, installing a new dishwasher in Jan and Steve's condo. You know how the boys are, I'm pretty sure they also wanted to head north to inspect the flood damage along the rivers. It's very sad how many people's lives have been impacted by the severe flooding in Western Washington. In some places the rivers have changed their course and entire homes have been washed downriver. I feel so badly for the Preston family, who had worked on their dream home as a labor of love for the past ten years. They were looking forward to moving in in about three weeks. Their home was 70 feet from the river. Now the river has knocked the house off of the foundation, and it cannot be repaired. The house hovers right over the river, and their vehicles are stuck in the garage, ready to float away.

I imagine some of you are wondering what comes next, since I've completed this first round of treatment. In early December I'm scheduled for a CT Scan. Dr. Picozzi will then review the results and prescribe the next protocol. It's not something I spend time thinking about. What will be will be, and we'll just move forward to the next step. In the meantime, I've started packing for the Panama Canal cruise! A couple of swimsuits fit fine (the ones that I used to look fat in), but my two favorites are definitely too big. I also have a cute Cutter & Buck sleeveless dress, which I thought I should discard many times because my stomach used to protrude. Now it's perfect. I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of it on this trip! It goes to show that one should have a wardrobe that covers a range of sizes because you just never know when you might be able to use those clothes again. (I'm sure Al will "love" hearing that....)

Hey, a special thanks to Kathi Atkins for the hysterical Cattitude calendar. It's perfect, and so cat-like! Congratulations to Russ and Verona for making it into the "society pages" of Peninsula Lifestyle magazine (plus thanks for sending me the magazine -- I've enjoyed reading it). And, thanks to Kathy Anderson for the Belgian chocolates. I hadn't really gotten back to eating chocolate, but with the arrival of this gift, I thought I'd better try it. It's delicious. Al though so too! EJ and Annie, I'm using the chenille comforters daily, and think of you each time. LK, I exchanged the robe for a smaller size, a mint green Natori. It's ohhhh so soft and cozy... Thank you!

That would be all for now. I will definitely try to write sooner next time.