Friday, September 11, 2015

31 Years

I am a bit late on posting this, but Happy Birthday to me! I turned 31 years old on the 6th. Normally I would be like….oh, another year? I’m getting old! But this time, I am more than grateful to see 31. After 2 battles with cancer you look at life differently. All of the little things don’t matter anymore. You enjoy every moment and live every day to its fullest. You take in every day as it is your last. Cancer changes you and you learn to appreciate and embrace everything.

My family came out from Colorado to celebrate with me. My sister stayed the weekend and my parents and grandma the whole week. My birthday was low key, and exactly what I wanted. Braxton, my sis and I went to the famous Waffle House (a big deal out here) for breakfast and the whole family (minus Braxton who had to work) went to J. Alexander’s for dinner. That was one of Braxton’s and my favorite places when we lived in Colorado and I recently discovered that there was one here in Atlanta J We ended the day with a delicious cake from a bakery called Piece of Cake. I ordered an Oreo cake which was Heaven!

Another exciting happening in my life was I went back to work (in the office) this week! Now that I am off of my immunosuppressant, my doctor cleared me to return. It has been an awesome week with a welcome back/birthday party by my wonderful coworkers and boss. They threw me a pizza party with more cake, a gift card to Chipotle, and balloons. I guess I was really missed, and I am more than thankful for all of their support, understanding, and patience while I was gone. It has almost been a year since I got the dreadful phone call at work that my platelets were extremely low. Once I left work, I never came back, until now. It was a long time, but didn’t seem that long once I got settled back into my office. My desk looked exactly how it did when I left that day (except for about an inch of dust accumulation). I am thrilled to be back!

I am feeling great these days. I am still having some issues….weight loss (might be GVHD) and skin issues. I have to go see a dermatologist to help manage my skin problems. I have seborrheic dermatitis, which is basically dandruff or flaking of your skin. I have it on my scalp, face and ears. My scalp has been the hardest to treat, and am working with the dermatologist to find a solution on managing it. My face has been a little easier to manage. But I do have to use a medicated cream on my face every day or the flaking flares up. It’s annoying and I hate when I have flare ups but I will take this for the rest of my life over the cancer. I also have red spots on my legs that the dermatologist says looks like psoriasis. I’ve been working on clearing those up. I keep losing weight, and they said it could be GVHD. I do eat and try to eat more than I normally would throughout the day to help keep my weight stable. This is one the rare times I have to eat, eat, eat to avoid losing weight! I have also been running more, so am hoping that is what is causing it.

Other than that, I am doing wonderful! Londynn and I are getting ready for football season. Braxton’s first home game is this weekend. It’s kind of a love hate relationship I have with football. I love to watch and go to games, especially ones Braxton is coaching, but I hate the long hours he has to work during and shortly after the season. I always see shirts that say “We interrupt this marriage to bring you football season.” Couldn’t be more true, LOL!
I am getting really excited about fall! Even though I was diagnosed in the fall both times, it still remains my favorite season. The colors, the food, the weather, football…I just love it and I can’t wait to start decorating my home! 

I love you all and appreciate all of the continued prayers!

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