Wow, it’s been so long since I have updated this. Oops! It’s obvious I live a full life and cancer is just a small part of it! Thank heavens for that. I would hate to have cancer be the only thing I have going in my life. That would be a drag.
I am all done with EVERYTHING!!!! I finished radiation in November. I seem to be doing fine. People always ask, “Is it all gone?” Well, no one really knows the answer to that. Not even the Doctors, but I have done all that I can do and the rest is up to the Lord. It’s a hide and watch game at this point. I take Tamoxifin, a hormone pill to help. The side effects are, a slight chance of uterine cancer (yippee), blood clots, hot flashes (hate that) and yadayadayada. I call it my ugly pill because it has all the wonderful side effects of menopause. I am still pre-menopausal. I was kind of kicked into a temporary menopause during chemo. The post menopausal drug has even more side effects. Bone density problems, thinning hair, and yadayadayada. But I’m not dead right?
I will be on drugs for life if I want to increase my survival rate. Fun! Fun! I still deal with ringing in my right ear. It’s more like a rhythmic humming noise. I notice it most at night. I’m also having problems with my thumbs. They get stiff and won’t bend. My right thumb pooped out on me just before Christmas. I’m seeing a Doctor to try to get it back into commission. All in all, I can’t complain. I’m not dead.
The stage of cancer is a random thing. I’ve known people who were at stage 3 or 4 and completely recovered and others at stage 1 and it came back with a vengeance! Bottom line, it’s in the Lord’s hands. Thy Will, Not My Will. I will continue to follow up with my Doctors of course! I feel very positive and hopeful. My blessing says that I will live as long as life is desirable. I guess if I got really sick it wouldn’t be too desirable. hahaha . . . . so, I don’t really know how to interpret that. I am feeling positive and hopeful. I don’t let things bum me out too bad. Life is too short for that!
Radiation was no biggie! I quickly ran to radiation every morning with Emily. I dropped her off at school and ran to my job as a Teacher’s Aid in the afternoon before the kids got home. It was a crazy schedule to keep and still is, but I can’t wait to get rid of all the medical bills and stupid phone calls from bill collectors. The financial stress has definitely been harder than the illness. Yes, we have great insurance but as you all know , there are still co-pays, and a deductible for major medical problems etc.. (Ours was $5,000) Thank heavens for insurance! The deductible would have been okay if that’s all we had to worry about. However, my diagnosis followed four weddings in two and a half years, an ankle fusion, Jared’s major surgery and a struggling business.
We are trying to keep our chin up and keep marching forward. We continue to feel peace during this crazy storm. I have been desperately looking for a full time teaching position so I can make more than $12.00 an hour! Somehow the Lord will provide. Lee has been a trooper and is an amazing man. Please forgive me for complaining here. He would feel so bad. He has been, and is, an amazing provider. Crappenstance happens! 
Lets see, what else. Oh ya, the hair. Lot’s of questions about the hair. It’s coming back fine. Pretty gray, so I dyed it . . . not ready to be sixty. It’s actually very pretty gray. I do make a classy older woman if I do say so myself, but I am not ready to be salt and pepper yet. (Lee liked it . . .so hey, I know he’ll still love me when I’m old and gray lol) I have a five year old for heaven sake! The poor thing doesn’t need people asking me if I am her Grandma! My hair is a little wavy and I’m trying to decide when I want to start dealing with it again. I have NO time in my life. The wig has saved me getting to work. I think I’ll just wear one for life! hahaha Or at least until it gets hot again! It’s been great during the winter.
Well, it’s Friday night. Lee’s on a camp out with the boys and I have a boat load of laundry to catch up on. By the way, I do love my job! It’s just hard to balance home and work. I’m working with a bilingual Spanish class and I tutor sixth grade math. I was terribly overwhelmed with math tutoring at first, but now I love it. It has been great to see the difference it has made for my students. Let me know if you hear of any teaching positions. lol If I were teaching full time, I could hire someone to do the mundane house stuff. Where’s Alice from the Brady Bunch when I need her? I’ve been up to my ears in house stuff for almost eighteen years. I’m ready to have my brain challenged with a job, so I feel okay about possibly working while the kids are in school!
The kids are doing great! I just went to their parent conferences and they are doing fantastic. Good grades and good attitudes. You can’t ask for more than that! Their teachers said, “I would have never guessed you were dealing with cancer by your child’s performance.” The kids are at peace and functioning very well. I have tried really hard to seek normalcy at all costs. Hey, I got a lot of good practice during my pregnancies! I had to function all the time when I felt awful. I also know it is an answer to prayers.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for blessing me to “breeze” through cancer as well as I have. I KNOW it is an answer to many prayers and I feel very humbled and undeserving, yet grateful. I love you my dear friends and family. I know that God lives and he is very aware of us. I know that he doesn’t always make us comfortable, but he comforts us. We must go through “uncomfortable” things to prove our faithfulness to him at all costs. The atonement is very real. It can bridge the gaps in our life. The Savior suffered for our sins AND our sorrows. When we go through tough trials the miracle of the atonement is not that the trial changes, but that our ability to deal with the trial changes.
May God continue to bless each one of you on your journey in life. I can’t wait to “pay it forward” someday and bless others with the same kind of love and support I have received. I love you. . . . we can do this life “gig”!!! It just takes some perseverance. Take care. I don’t know when I will get back to this with all I am trying to keep up with, but you can assume I am doing great unless you hear otherwise. Love ya tons!!! Keep on keepin’ on. 
All My Love,
Annette