Merry Christmas late...

I hope everyone had a good holiday. I did but the week didn't start off so great. I went in for treatment on Tuesday and couldn't have it because my white blood cell count had gotten too low. They sent me home and I go back again this Tuesday and hope it's back up. Dr. Copur did say he would like to get me off of the Taxol and just raise my Sutent dosage maybe in another month. We'll have to see what the next CT scan says at the end of January. If it all goes well, then I will just take the higher dose of the oral chemo everyday and wouldn't have to do the infusion chemo on Tuesdays. That would be great if I could do that. I don't want to get my hopes up either because I don't want to be disappointed if it doesn't happen.

I've been bad about posting lately. I've just been so tired. The fatigue is the worst side effect of the chemo so far. Also, I quit drinking diet pepsi almost two weeks ago so I'm sure the lack of caffeine is contributing to it. For anyone who knows me well you know how much I loved my diet pepsi! I've just been doing a lot of reading lately and trying to do as much as I can to improve my health.

I started a "raw food diet", which consists of all raw foods such as fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, dried fruit (without added sugar) and nuts. I have read two books this month about it; Living on Live Food, by Alissa Cohen, and The Raw Food Detox Diet, by Natalia Rose. They both stress eating all fruits and vegetables, (no cans or jars), and a little bit of nuts and sprouts. Alissa feels people should eat 100% raw where as Natalia is more for a transition to raw foods and talks about people being 85-100% raw. I have been doing this for almost two weeks and I have already noticed an improvement in my skin and have even lost a couple of pounds. They both believe in not cooking food because it destroys enzymes. I do steam my zucchini at supper because I just can't eat everything cold. There are many health benefits from eating this way. One of the most important things about it is cutting out all processed foods becuase they contain so many preservatives and sugars. Anyway, it may not be for everyone but I hope it helps me.

My hope angels are amazing! Not only do they surprise me every week at chemo with a present, on Christmas I received a very special gift. I love it, it is beautiful! Thank you so much, I was so surprised to receive it. I really appreciate all you do for me! It all makes me feel so special and loved!

Hope everyone has a safe New Years! Heather.