Happy Thanksgiving

I hope all my readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving and gave thanks for all the great things in their lives.  I have so much to be thankful for.  There are far too many to list.  I have been enjoying a fun weekend with family, friends, and lots and lots of yummy food.  We even had a little family outing and cut down our own Christmas tree today.

I have gotten a lot of my energy back, so it's been nice to be feeling better and doing more.  My immune system seems to be a little low, but aside from a little stomach bug, I have been pretty healthy.  My hair is growing extremely fast and is coming in much curlier than before. 

Charlee and I have been back to work and daycare full time for a few weeks now.  We both seem to be transitioning well and are getting back into the grove.  Char loves daycare and aside from not napping while she is there, she is doing great.  She gets right down and plays when we get there and does not seem to mind us leaving.

I think I wrote in a earlier post that I was going to stuff one side of my bra to help balance out my current unevenness.  I have not been doing that.  I try and wear shirts, sweaters, and scarves that hide it.  It's not the most comfortable thing to have something pressing against my left (deflated) side, and it was not worth the discomfort for me.  I am pretty much all healed from surgery and back to all my normal activities.  I still have some occasional pain, which can usually be traced back to carrying Char too much or overdoing it.  Since radiation increases my already heightened risk of lymphedema, I have to consciously be mindful of carrying things only with my left arm and not sleeping on my right side.  
      
Radiation Update:

I had my planning session, which included lots of x-ray pictures and some purple marker marks (5 total) in various places on my chest and sides.  I also got a tiny tiny tattoo that is about the size of a freckle.  During my final session "simulation",  they made sure all my markers lined up with the plan Dr. A wrote for me.  They removed the marks made during the planning session, but added a few more with black marker in various places (7 total).  A few marks are pretty hard to hide with scarves, but it is what it is.  This past week I had my first 4 daily radiation treatments.  So far, everything is going well.  It's a very quick session.  It lasts maybe 3 minutes total, and I don't feel anything.  It's a little strange, because I can hear the radiation but can't feel it.  So far, I do not have any skin burns.  My doctor showed me the radiation plan on the computer.  It was really cool, although I only understood a little of what she was explaining about all the different colors and radiation paths.
  4 down, approx. 25 more to go.

Here are a few recent pictures.