What a Difference a Year Makes

April 5, 2012 was the day of my first treatment of AC.  It was by far the most difficult day I have faced.  It was worse than the day I had my double mastectomy.  My life in an emotional impasse and the months of chemo and radiation stretched out in front of me.  Char was 6 months old, and the inspiration I needed to push through and get out of bed and keep going.

Happy April 5, 2013 everyone!!!!!!  It's a great day.  Just one year later and I am busy, busy, busy.  I have lots of plans and so many fun things to come.  Char is 18 months old.  She has a strong personality, beautiful smile that lights up a room, and is quite the talker.  I have been taking Tamoxifen for about 3 months.  So far, not a lot to report on that front.  I have temporarily stopped the Metformin trial at the recommendation of my nutritionist.  I had been losing weight and was looking a little too thin.  I had zero appetite, which was most likely from the Metformin.  I stopped about three weeks ago, and I have seen an improvement in my appetite  I have gained a couple pounds.  My next, and hopefully final, surgery is scheduled for 6/27.  Big question..................silicone or saline?  I am sure there will be a forthcoming post related to this decision.

Now, onto my super exciting news and what has been keeping me so busy on top of wife, mommy, work, and home.  Pushing Pink Elephants is being transformed into a non-profit.  I am working along side some wonderful ladies who are working tirelessly to get this organization off the ground.  We are so looking forward to all the great things we plan to do in and around Baltimore.  We are currently in the development/planning stages as we wait for our 501(c)(3) status to be approved by the IRS.  The mission of our organization is "to equip the community with resources to gain a deeper perspective about breast and ovarian health".  We will have a big focus on education and overall health that will hopefully be eye opening and empower change in the community.  We are working on our website and hope to launch soon so we can start sharing our plans in more detail.  I look forward to sharing more details on this soon.

I have been researching and reading a lot of books related to diet, health, cancer, pink ribbon culture, and the list of must-reads keep on growing.  I will say an eye-opening book I recommend reading is Pink Ribbon Blues by Gayle A. Sulik.  Although I did not feel the same on some of the topics covered, this is a great book if you are questioning why all the pink/awareness does not seem to be dealing with the issues about breast cancer.  I had been asking myself this very question when my friend Carey (and co-founder of Pushing Pink Elephants) recommended I read this book.  It answered a lot of my questions and changed the way I look at the pink ribbon culture.
      
I hope you all have a great weekend!!!!  Celebrate life, love. and happiness....Cheers!!!!!