I talked to my Dad tonight, he was trying to find a way to fly up and surprise me for Christmas, but it's too expensive and the flights he could get were getting in at nearly midnight and leaving really early.

But it was incredibly sweet of him. He's also sending me Xmas presents and asked if Will would be willing to wrap them so I can unwrap presents. Will, of course, is doing this.

askye, that is super sweet.

I spent three hours (!!!!) putting together my mother's 11-year-old fake tree. Had to put in every branch separately and NONE were labeled. it looked great, though, and my brothers were both here. we figured out this was the first time we were all here doing the tree in about 15 years and my mom was very happy. She's doing very well--recovering slowly but surely. She is still housebound and on oxygen, but her surgery was not two weeks ago and the doctors are thrilled with her recuperation so far.

What a delight for your mom, Scrappy. My mom loves when her chicks are all together too.

I likely have shared this tale before, but an old friend of mine financed his early retirement by inventing the machine that made the original fake trees. His invention actually made bottle cleaning brushes or some such and some one else used his design to make the trees, but he had the patent and made a bundle. Totally deserved all good things to happen to him and his family because they were lovely people. He found it delightful that so many enjoyed the fruits of his invention although he didn't celebrate Christmas himself.

Scrappy, I bet your mom is over the moon having all of you there at once.

We haven't put up our tree yet. I think we're about a week away when it comes to cleaning up and making room for it.

My landlords seem to have finally realized that I'm vegan. The past two years, they've given me a big box of School of Agriculture cheese and sausages as a holiday gift. This year, it's a potted African violet.

I thought you'd like an update. I haven't been giving a blow-by-blow account, because it's mostly depressing and boring.

The good news: As of my last blood test, my blood work is normal. I can haz red blood cells. Also, my tumor markers have dropped to normal.

The bad news: I spent the last month or so in side-effect hell, as the chemo did a number on my feet. You know your life is going in the wrong direction when you find yourself googling “Xeloda toenails oozing bleeding.” I felt like a failed fire walker. My feet are already much better.

The mixed feelings: Because of the side effects and the generally good results, the oncologist took me off the Xeloda and put me on tamoxifen, which I took for several years after my first diagnosis. I didn’t have too much trouble with before, and I didn’t have disease progression while I was on it. From my current perspective, hot flashes and insomnia seem positively benign side effects. The problem is that whatever decision I make about treatment, I feel like I should have done something different. I told the oncologist that I would choose any level of discomfort if it meant not dying. Also, it’s hard to celebrate milestones, because the odds are so high that disease will progress.

Annoyances: I’m currently on Wellbutrin, and several recent studies indicate that Wellbutrin, as well as some other anti-depressants and *sob* diphenhydramine, reduce the effectiveness of tamoxifen. This means I’ll be a depressed sneezing cancer patient.

Ginger, I'm just glad you are not a candidate for the study I'm working on right now....it looks promising but requires having brain mets. Eek! Sorry the drugs are doing evil in addition to good, though.

They specifically scanned my brain, so fortunately I'm not a candidate. Let me know if they start something for bone mets.

I'm sorry it's so hard, Ginger, but I'm so happy to hear your markers are down to normal. Can they switch your AD to one that doesn't interact with tamoxifen?