I have decided to walk for Breast Cancer Research. I will be doing the Avon Walk in Los Angeles. I am very excited, but I have to raise $1,800 in order to be allowed to walk. If you would like to support my cause, please check out my Avon Walk web site, Thanks....I am so excited about doing this. Last year my friends Judy, Kelly and Wendy walked for the cause and this year I am healthy enough to join them!!! YA!!

This is my friend Kristen and Lori in Santa Barbara. We went there for the weekend. We ate, shopped, and drank. It was a lot of fun!!

This is "Tommy". This is the radiation machine that I visit everyday. I lay on the table and I go on in. It takes about 3 minutes to get a little CAT scan (I think) and then I come out. Then I go back in for the radiation treatment. That treatment lasts for about 12 minutes. I call it my meditation time. It is very quiet and almost relaxing...but I am glad it will be done tomorrow!

This is me getting ready to go into "Tommy". So sorry that it has been so long since I have written, but Dion did something to the Blog site (OK, so I guess I am not a very good password creator, as she somehow figured out her way back into this thing!) and I didn't know how to post. Now I do (and posts are messed up again, go figure!). The picture is of me going into my (it sure feels like mine after all the bills!) Radiation Machine. Tomorrow is my last day of radiation and I have very few side effects. I never got tired, which is supposed to be a main side effect. I did get a little burned (I, Dion can attest, it is more than a little burn, but doctors say hers was better than most....sorry if yours is not!) on my upper right chest, but other than that, I feel great. The next step in this journey is to decide what hormones I will be on for the next five years.

I will also have my Ovaries removed (Valerie's choice). I know that Breast Cancer and Ovarian Cancer are closely related (according to my doctor) and I know that Ovarian cancer is really hard to detect. I would rather have them taken out and not have to worry about getting that type of cancer. I am done having kids, so I can't think of any reason to keep them. I am not sure when they will be removed, but I will keep you posted. I will also need to get my real implants put in. The implant surgery won't be for another 3 to 6 months. I will see the Doctor in February and he will let me know how long I have to wait. I am told I have to wait for my radiated skin and muscle to heal and determine how much tissue damage there is before they can determine if the surgery can even be done.

Well, that is about it. I am feeling great. I am not thinking about dying every 2 seconds. I am getting back to living. Yes, I still have lots of Doctor's Appointments, but I know that I am alive. I am feeling really good and I am happy. Love VAL (Dion here, well I guess I can let her access the blog, if I get to read things like that! :-))

This is Joe and Kit, these two people helped me through my whole radiation treatment. They are the ones who set up the machine and made me smile through out the many days of treatment. Joe always made me laugh and always had a smile on his face. Kit always took care of me when I had medical questions. I could not have gotten through this with such a positive attitude if it had not been for them. Thank you!

No more port! Doing great and on our way home.

Off to surgery to get the port-a-cath removed. Should be about a one hour procedure and Dr. Senofsky says she will only be out for about 25 minutes.