Mad, mad men

D picked up the first two disks of the first season of Mad Men this weekend, and we plowed right through them. This show is pretty cool. It's crazy to see how different things were in the 60s. I have been getting slightly nauseated from all the smoking they do in every episode. It also blows my mind at the way in which women were treated. It was a sexist, chauvinist society, and women just had to take it. I'm sure the cultural norms have been heightened for the purposes of entertaining television, but it's still, I believe, a somewhat accurate portrayal of the social norms at the time. If you haven't seen this show, I highly recommend it. Quality acting, interesting story lines, complex characters..... I'm a fan.

The big 12-miler came and went. I think it went pretty well considering. We finished, and we finished in a respectable time. I'm going to make it through this event, there's no doubt about it. I am so, so, soooooooo sore today, but I feel good.

Tonight I'm doing HH with one of my best friend's from high school, MC. She lives in NYC now, but happily, I've had the chance to see her a few times this year since friends have gotten married. I'm ready to kick back and continue to ring in the holiday season with a couple of cocktails. :) I ran 12 miles, I earned it :P

12 miles? What the fuuuuuuuuu...........

Tomorrow I will be waking up at 4am to drive out to way, way West Houston to meet all the Team in Training groups from around the city for our 12 mile run (21 for the full-marathoners). Good lord, I didn't think I would make it to this point. They are going to try and simulate real marathon conditions. We are supposed to wear the clothes we think we might wear on marathon day, eat the same thing, carry the same stuff.....

It sounds totally intimidating to me right now. 12 miles? As D said this morning, oh-so-helpfully, "I don't even want to drive 12 miles".

I'll do it. I'm confident I'll make it through the mileage. There may be some walking involved. Who am I kidding, there will most definitely be some walking involved. I'm still not a runner. I think going from zero to half-marathon in 6 months was a little ambitious.

I'm still so committed to the cause, and so committed to following through, so I'm going to grit my teeth and do it! I'll have my running buddy with me, and we'll make it through a sucky morning :).

I'm actually going to play it low key tonight. Sometimes I have a problem doing that. I'm a fun-loving girl, what can I say? :)

They have asked me to say a few words before we begin the run tomorrow. Gulp. This is going to be a large group, and I hope I don't stumble over myself. Or fall down. Or burp or fart or something. That would be bad.

I think I'll start practicing my speech now!

Christmas Surprises!

Last night D surprised me by taking me to a performance of the Nutcracker and dinner. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Nutcracker, and we didn't have the opportunity to attend last year. D told me that we were going to a "work event", and then we ended up downtown at the ballet :). He got really good seats, and it was a fabulous evening (complete with champagne and everything! :))

We are going over to my friends' E and S's house tonight for a couples ornament exchange. When I informed my younger sister what our plans were she said "Wow, y'all really do old people stuff." This was funny because S entitled the invitation email "When old people get together". I'm okay with being old people, as long as it involves dessert and wine.

Just a couple more days of work this week, a couple next week, and then..... holidays! 12 days off! Christmas! Family! Food! Friends! Fun!!!!!!

Just popping in for some good news.....

Had my results visit this morning, and I am still cancer-free! I'm so happy, relieved, and I'm more determined and ever to continue kicking it's ass, both by staying in good health, and by raising money for LLS.

Woo!

A small wedding?

This past weekend I attended the wedding of my college buddy, BR. The wedding was small, only about 80 people, but it was very fun. I realized the advantages of having a smaller wedding. Everyone there is "a-list". You have your closest family and friends in attendance to witness your big day. You have the opportunity to speak with everyone without feeling like you spend your entire night talking to your father's dentist's son's wife our of obligation. There is an opportunity for lots of people to toast the couple. There is a certain feeling of intimacy, which is nice.

They had a great DJ, and the music was very fun. BR's wife is from Colombia, so they found a nice balance of American Latin fusion. It was a beautiful wedding, and all of my college friends had a great time.

I had dinner last night with my friends MM and J. MM cooked fabulous crab cakes, and a chocolate lava cake to die for. I think it will need to be a repeat recipe, since D loves the chocolate lava cake at Fleming's.

Last full week of work before the holidays..... and tomorrow I get the results from last week. Please say a prayer for me if you have a chance. I want a healthy holiday season!

Snow and barium!

Didn't get the chance to post about Wednesday night's snow yesterday, as I was at the MD. But, it was actual snow. It even stuck a little bit to the ground before melting. We took a brief walk through the neighborhood, stuck out our tongues to catch snowflakes, and frolicked in a rare Houston winter wonderland.

Yesterday was far less pleasant. I arrived at the MD, took care of my bloodwork and chest x ray, and then went to go sit in the waiting room of the catscan area until it was close enough to the time of my appointment to check in. Catscans are quite a process, with an hour and a half of prep time before you can actually do the scan. I finally checked in around 1:40 for a 2:10 prep time start. This ain't my first rodeo, so I know that going to the hospital involves lots and lots of waiting. They are very rarely running on time. My hope was that this would be the one day, the Christmas miracle, much like the rare snow miracle the night before, that they would actually be on schedule so that I could make it out of there in time to get to D's holiday cocktail party.

Well, let's just say the MD ran predictably. I didn't get called until around 2:55, and they gave me my first cup of liquid barium. Mmmmmm, berry flavored barium! They even call it a "berry smoothie" on the front of the bottle, as though it makes it better or more palatable. I got called for my second cup at 3:25, and although I was scheduled for a 3:40 catscan, and I knew I wouldn't make that time, I still thought I would be out of there within a reasonable amount of time.

Wrong!

4pm comes and goes. 4:30 comes and goes. 5:00 comes and goes. At this point, it's been an hour and a half since my last bottle of barium, and I am supposed to have one bottle every half hour over an hour and a half. D's party has already started at this point, and I am losing hope that I will be able to attend, but I am still hopeful that maybe we can have some fun later in the night. I ask the nurses for the umpteenth time when I'll be called back into the "inner" waiting room. Oh, that's right. I was in the outer waiting room, I hadn't even been called back into the inner waiting room, where you change into scrubs, drink your last bottle of barium, have your IV inserted, and generally wait a little closer to where the machines are located.

Finally, at 5:20 I'm called back into the inner waiting room. I change into my scrubs, get my warm blanket, and settle into another chair for another wait. I get called to have my IV inserted, and since there had been such a lapse in time from when I had my last bottle of barium..... I got two :). Gross, yuck, gross!!!!!!!

I waited in the inner waiting room for another hour. For some reason, it seemed to be lung and throat cancer day in the catscan area. Never before have I heard so many voiceboxes or such..... hacking. It's the best stop-smoking campaign I've ever seen. I'd prefer not to have a gaping hole in my throat at any point in my life.

Finally, around 6:30ish, I get called for my scan. I haven't eaten since 8am, since you can't eat for a few hours before you start your prep, the barium was causing me horrific stomach pains, and the..... additional barium they give me while I'm in the machine didn't help things either. The iodine contrast also felt funny.

The scan itself only takes about 20 minutes, so it was the most efficient part of my day. I rolled out of the MD around 7, went home, bathed, and crawled right into bed. I missed D's holiday party, was in no condition to have fun, and just wanted to sleep. D came home from his event after I called and said I was done at this hospital, and I got really weepy when I saw him. For as often as I do this, I still get so emotional about it. I hate the hospital. I have come to loathe it, because I feel like a sick person when I am there. I'm feeling better today, still a little uncomfortable from the barium, but generally alright. I feel like a big, huge baby for whining about it.... but I'm tired. I know this is what I have to do for my health, but it's still tough.

So, now begins the waiting game for my results appointment on Tuesday. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I'm very lucky to have a full, fun weekend ahead of me to keep me plenty distracted.

And after that lengthy, downer post, a happy Friday to everyone! :)

MD Day

My MD Anderson day is almost upon me. Tomorrow I just have tests, no results, so it's somewhat anti climatic, but very, very exhausting. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I hate the poking, prodding, and feeling like a sick person. I want to get the most boring tests results ever- no change! Still cancer-free! Scar tissue continues to decrease in size! I'm starting to get the butterflies that I get around this time every test day.

I'm going to think positively, and I hope everyone will keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I am confident I will get good results, but once you've gone through the big C, there is a part of you that always anticipates the worst.

Tomorrow night I'll be attending another one of D's firms holiday parties after my full day of patienting. I'm hoping it will be a fun end to a very long day. At least there will be a big drink at the end of the road ;).

D and I are attending a wedding this weekend for my dear friend from college, BR. BR is an awesome guy, and I am very excited for him. Several of my college friends are descending upon Houston this weekend for the festivities, so it should be a lot of fun. I already have pedicures scheduled with one of my best girlfriends from college, J. :)

After this week, just one more full week of work, and then a short week..... and then almost 2 weeks off at Christmas! I can't wait for the holiday, my dad and his wife, plus my brother and his wife and 4 kids, plus all of my huge family here will be celebrating. It's D's first Christmas with my family (we spent last year with his), so I'm hoping we do it up in style for him.

Happy hump day!

I think I might hate running

I think I'm hitting a running wall. I hate that it's the only kind of exercise I have time for. I hate that I'm still awful at it, and that I only seem to be getting worse. I hate the fact that running has to dictate my entire schedule, because not running for a day doesn't just mean not exercising, but it means not training for this event that I have signed up for in just a little more than a month. Gulp. The cold weather is, oddly, making running even harder on me. I'm having terrible trouble with my breathing, and it is hindering my endurance. I HATE YOU, RUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, calm down.... vent over..... I just experienced some extreme frustration in the past few days, and a true realization that I'm probably not going to be able to run this whole thing. I'm scared of even being able to run most of it. I feel like I've made a promise to lots of people, and I am letting them down. I've also been having some terrible back pain. I've had lower back problems for years, and sometimes it flares up worse than others. It's becoming increasingly difficult on my back, especially during the long distances.

Alright, enough about that. January 18, I'm going to be there and put forth the best effort I can, and I will continue to put forward my best efforts until that day.

A quick recap: Thanksgiving was great, I enjoyed spending time with D's family. We did some shopping up in Frisco, and we looked at about 30 different furniture stores. Seriously, D's new favorite hobby is home furnishings. It's all he wants to do! We found some very cute home accessories at Ross and Marshall's. D is also really into vases :).

Last week was fairly uneventful at work, and Friday night I had two parties. One was D's firm Christmas party, the second was a birthday party for my friend M...... and it was a slumber party! Yay! I got all fancy and gambled with fake money at D's party, which was actually quite fun. I got very lucky for a while playing roulette. I left him behind to head over to M's, where we drank grown up party drinks, gossipped, and ate Crave cupcakes. I swear, they will be my downfall.

Saturday I did some shopping, and we bought a Christmas tree. Sunday I volunteered with my sister's organization, the Pink Ribbons project, and Sunday night we put on Christmas music and decorated the tree. All in all, a fabulous weekend.

This week I go back to MD Anderson for my next round of tests. It would be the most awesome Christmas gift ever to know that I'm still in remission. I still get so scared and nervous. I'll get my results of Thursdays tests at my doctor's appointment the following Tuesday. So, if you could all start thinking healthy thoughts for me, I'd appreciate it.