A Whole New Year!

Ok, I'm blushing...I have been feeling guilty about not updating my blog for quite some time now. I knew in the back of my mind that I had not posted since my last chemo. I've been meaning to post, but life got busy. Since I was feeling like me again, I got busy with it. I felt better by the end of October. Halloween turned into Thanksgiving, which turned into Christmas, and here we are in 2011. The most embarrassing part of not updating my blog is that until today, the background was still a fall scene. Yikes!

I'll do my very best to catch you up on things. I enjoyed every single turning leaf in October. Each one was majestic. I was honored to witness each one turn then drift to the ground when it couldn't hang on any longer. Kevin, Jack, and I enjoyed being a healthy, happy family.

In November, my good WGU buddies Jen Smolka and Scarlette Studdard met me in Memphis for a girls weekend to celebrate being cancer free. Debra was going to meet us there, too, but she got sick the week before. We had a great time...good BBQ, good drinks, good fun. When you work online, you rarely get to see your best buds that you work with. We added a new member to our family in November, 11 year old Aurora. Yes, I said ELEVEN. Never a dull moment around here. Also in November, my Dad had open heart surgery. The surgery was successful, but he'll feel much better when he is completely healed. I wasn't able to be there with him and the rest of my family, but I'm very grateful to my sister and brother for keeping me informed and supporting my mom through this very scary time. The most exciting thing for me in November was the reappearance of hair on my head. Yippee! It was a pretty big deal for me...a sign of health. I now have eyebrows and eyelashes, too. :)

In October and November I lost 20 pounds with weight watchers, but have gained about 5-6 back since Christmas and New Years. I have really got to get back on that train! Losing weight is important to keeping the estrogen that causes my cancer as low as possible.


December was filled with joy and happiness in the Riley household. God gave us all another Christmas together. I plan to celebrate each and every one of them to the max. Please don't feel unloved that you did not receive a Christmas card from us. It's all my fault. I was busy being healthy and happy. Kevin and I thought of each and every person who have made a difference in our life over the past year. We are so grateful to count you as friends and loved ones. Christmas was wonderful. The best part was the surprise snow that fell during the night on Christmas Eve. The kids woke up to a winter wonderland after Santa left. It was magical!

So, that brings us to January. Like most of the rest of the country we've been snowed in this week. We were excited to receive over 7 inches of snow. It was beautiful, and it's been so cold that it is just now beginning to melt.  

The real reason I decided to finally post another blog today is that I had my first 3 month check-up since going into remission and finishing chemo. Dr. Reed said everything looked great. What a relief. I told him about a little cough I've had at night for the past few weeks. I also had one when I was going through chemo before, since my metastasis was in my lungs. So, just to be safe, we decided to move my CT scan up three months to next week, rather than wait until April. I don't expect there to be a problem, but it's natural to be nervous. So, my CT scan is Tuesday; and the follow-up with Dr. Reed is next Friday. I promise to let you know what we find out. I'm sure many of you will be praying right along beside us.