Hello!  I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to write. 

I do have some things to tell you about!  Last night, Eric and I were playing soccer at a nearby park with Brennan and four friends.  While I was taking a breather, our five-year-old friend came over and took my hat off.  Her reaction was priceless; she took one look at my beyond-thinning hair and said, "Whoe - I wasn't expecting that." HILARIOUS!  I think she has successfully summed up my current hair status.  What I wasn't thinking about at the beginning of this journey was how long my hair would be crappy post-treatments; I suppose there were a few others things to think about.   Luckily, I like hats.

Brennan and I walked to the beach the last two days in a row.  The beaches here in Chicago can be quite stunning.  My point is twofold.

1. The beach we walked to is 2.5 miles round trip and it has been humid.  What are you talking about Kari?  My lungs... my lungs are slowly feeling better.  There have been a few humid days where I had to find airconditioning and sit down to catch my breath, but I hope those days are over.  It's really quite odd not being able to breathe normally.  When I was in my early 20s, I had a few months of panic attacks.  Panic attacks are typically related to a fear of death; mine were specifically triggered by the fear of death via suffocation.  The Universe has a wicked sense of humor altering my ability to breath, or perhaps they just know how to make a woman stronger.  Luckily no panic attacks .... just fun with breathing exercises.  aka. blowing up brennan's pool.  I think it may have helped .. and no don't bring your children's blow-up toys here for me to blow up.  As for what it feels like to have crappy lungs - it just feels like my lungs won't inflate all the way. 

2. Remember I had two points ... yeah ... no clue what the second is.  Perhaps, I do have a little chemo brain.  Supposedly, people in chemo who are a bit cloudy during and after treatment are said to have chemo brain.   I don't know about you, but when I think of chemo brain, I think of poison killing my brain cells ... ah well ... In "Dumb and Dumber" no one knows which of the two stars is dumb and which is dumber (or do they?).

Other things that have happened recently (remember no salad during most of chemo due to low white blood cell count and the risk of infection):
I ate a salad!!!!
I ate celery!!!!
I ate celery in a salad!!!!
I started juicing vegetables.
I ate pears
I ate plums
I ate mangos
I ate raw beans (just because I could).
I ate blueberries.
I ate strawberries.
I ate bok choy in a salad (it's not very good).
I had the runs (too much info .. and not true ... but funny ................................um yeah.)

More again soon.  I have more to tell you...