lots'a'stuff

Hello all! Can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post.

The 5K "Walk by Faith" benefiting Addi's Faith Foundation went really well. Christa (my 12-year-old daughter) and I finished it together and it was a lot of fun. I felt good and my knee has been fine.

BUT I have a new problem now! My left hip is hurting me, intermittently. Only when I walk ... but not every time I walk. Sometimes it's bad enough that I limp, sometimes it's really fine and I don't feel anything at all. It's weird. I'm trying to figure it out. Wish someone could tell me exactly what is happening. Even though I fulfilled my commitment to myself to do my during-the-week training runs, because of this new issue, I had to miss my long Saturday run this week. I think I'm going to take a week off from running and see what happens, which I HATE to do ... it's not looking good, at this point in my training, that I will be able to resume training and be ready for a half-marathon in January if I take off for too long. It's really depressing! As I said before, I'm trying to figure it out. What could it be (besides the cancer returning!)? What have I done differently lately? Well I got a treadmill ($50 at a garage sale -- woohoo!) and used it once. That went fine. I did do one different workout while watching tv the other night. Laid on my back and simultaneously lifted my left leg and right arm, keeping both straight, until they touched. It didn't seem too hard. I felt nothing pop and it wasn't too painful. Hmm. It's interesting. Hope it goes away soon!

OK ya know I'm getting old when I have two totally different ailments to discuss in the same blog post! Going back to my previously discussed "problem." Let me say that the mystery treatment that I found online and was too embarrassed to share on this blog did not work in the least bit, which I thought was a last-ditch effort anyway. Soooo, finally went to see a new gyn this past week. Last year's new gyn was the one who prescribed a hormone cream for decreased libido ... which my oncologist gave a quick thumbs-down to. At that time, I also complained of painful sexual intercourse, but it was somewhat tolerable then -- nothing like it has been of late -- and she basically told me that it was due to the lack of estrogen and there was really nothing that could be done, and to more or less just do it to make my husband happy and deal with it ... hence the beginning of my feelings of hopelessness about the situation. This year's new doctor was very caring and professional, and she actually had a LOT to offer in the way of thoroughly explaining my problem and ways to help: Prescription, over-the-counter and some internet-only products. She gave me HOPE when I was feeling hopeLESS! Can't wait to start using these items and maybe get my marriage back to some semblance of normalcy. I miss it!

Skipped my dance class this week (on purpose) to attend my "Cancer Caring Group" that Amy and I started a couple of years ago but that I've not attended regularly in over a year since I started my dance class that meets on the same night. It (the cancer group) has really grown, and I felt like I didn't want to completely lose touch with these ladies. One gal in our group (33 yr old sweetie with triple negative bc) was recently diagnosed with a stage IV recurrence to brain, lungs, bones, and liver. Horribly sad, but Wow is she ever positive and encouraging! It's amazing. What an inspiration to us all! I vowed that night that I would try to attend at least every other month.

As I vow to do even more, I want to take this opportunity to officially "throw in the towel" or "wave the white flag" on handling all of the survivor stories that are being submitted to my blog. I simply can't do it, and my inability to keep up is just not nice to all the ladies who have taken the time to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to tell their story. It's wrong. So although I'd love to personally respond to everyone, I must admit defeat and ask for help! Fellow breast cancer survivor and good friend Amy has offered to field the survivor stories and "guest blog" for a while. I'll continue to blog, but I won't always be the one who's posting the new stories and responding to them. I am sure everyone will be understanding about this. Look for Amy's first post to appear in the next week or so. I'll ask that she introduce herself and post her own story. I trust that her perspective and comments will be informative and valuable to our blog's readers.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading!

Kim