Updates from West Texas

I am officially 3 rounds down in my 6 rounds of chemotherapy. This new nausea medication worked surprisingly well and allowed for me to function on Friday and Saturday without being completely confined to bed. I will admit that I still had my nausea episodes, but I felt that they were better controlled this time around and I was able to run errands on Saturday and work on Friday this time. This is very comforting because I wasn't sure what to think about the medication since I only take it on day 1-3 of chemo and my nausea doesn't usually become an issue until day 4.

I am due for a 3 month MRI at the end of next week (First of April). My neurosurgeon hopes this next MRI provides a little more information on the progress of my healing. I am feeling better, so I am hoping that the MRI reflects that healing as well, but I am cautious because I am still undergoing chemotherapy and I have had several oncologists mention that radiation/chemotherapy can cause areas of increased signal intensity on imaging. I almost expect there to be continued signal intensity in the area of my right frontal lobe until Chemotherapy is complete and I have gone several months without any toxins in my body. I also have enough medical knowledge to know that MRI's are not always an accurate tool and it is challenging to rely on them as the sole diagnostic indicator. Clinical correlation is equally relevant and as someone who feels to be improving, I am not sure that my imaging can truly reflect the improvements I have made over the past few months.

I have been spending time on the weekends and afternoons (when it isn't blowing dust) working in the garden and flower beds. We have planted bell peppers, jalapeños, and garlic in pots outside and then have our hydroponic garden indoors. The hydroponic garden is overflowing with dill, basil, mint, chives, cilantro and several other herbs for cooking. We are likely going to plant some tomatoes in our large pots and then maybe we can grow a few more veggies in pots this year. I plan to hang some from the patio and so I am excited to see how it turns out. The peach tree continues to do well. It has begun flowering (which also puts it at risk). It is typical for us to get a late season freeze, so we will have to take preparedness actions to keep the tree alive if it does freeze again. I am hoping not because last year the tree bore peaches and we'd like for that to be the case this year as well. I almost regret living so close to cotton farmers because they make it very challenging to keep any vegetation alive when they spray their pesticides. It is the reason we decided not to put in a bee box and harvest our own honey. Our neighbor mentioned that the cotton farmers are liable if any vegetation is killed off as the result of their sprays, so we have been looking and trying to research into what to look for when the plants die. Out of all the plants we put in last year, 3 of our Indian Hawthorne bushes died, but the rest of our plants seem to be doing well. The dessert willows are late season bloomers so I don't expect to see much from them until closer to summer.

I have been doing Yoga once a week with an instructor, Lindsay Kerr (who is fabulous by the way). I have to admit that at first I was a little skeptical on what to think because I've tried yoga before and never saw any long term success with it (I think I never had much of an open mind to begin with). Turns out, I was wrong :). The most amazing aspect of yoga workouts for me is the fact that I can achieve that same "runner's high" utilizing yoga techniques as I do when I'm running, and that has been something I have been desperately craving for the past 3 months. It is a mentally and physically challenging program that also provides the same stress relief feelings that I get when I run. This has been huge for me. So much so that I had an epiphany with it awhile back. My ultimate goal is to return to running, because that is what I enjoy doing more than anything. I do however, feel a sense of relief because if for some reason I am never able to return to running, I can continue with yoga and get the same benefits. It is like when you have a craving for a food, that can only be satisfied by eating the food; this is how I feel about running and now, thankfully, yoga. This has brought me piece of mind that I have not had for some time. I was almost confident that there was no other way to experience that same "runner's high" in any other sport or exercise; but I have been proven wrong. I will make time in my schedule from here on out to do yoga as regularly as I can.