I'm so excited!

I just got off the phone with Nanab (Raquel) a few minutes ago and we are arranging to meet as she and Gail will be driving down to my house this Friday morning! Raquel said it's about a 6 hour drive. Sara (sasjourney, who lives about an hour away) will most likely also be joining us at my house. It's so great the way this board can give new friendships and it's even more fun to discover people from the board that live nearby.
Before talking to Raquel today, I had a 40 minute phone conversation with Sonia32 in Manchester, England. Such fun to be able to communicate to someone on another continent like that! These conversations made my morning!

On another note... today is day 4 of the 8 day long detox/cleanse that I am doing.
I actually feel much better than I thought I would. I had a headache the first two days and on the evening of day 2 I broke out in a bright red rash on my chest and itched everywhere for about an hour or two, then it was gone. Yesterday (day 3), I just felt really weak and tired (it didn't help that I was up until 1:45 the night/morning before!)
Today, day 4, I feel pretty good! I've lost 5 pounds, but that may just be water weight. I would like to drop a total of 15-20 lbs, but that will take time, of course. I have resisted those nasty girl scout cookies and all other things that are tempting. It was really hard yesterday when the family drove through KFC after church for lunch and I just drank water and had to smell their food in the car! It was my idea to drive through, so don't think my family's mean I got their dinner last night without being tempted to eat it myself. This is so huge for me because my willpower has always been very weak & I usually have given into temptation in the past. So, the fact that I have now gone 4 days without anything sweet whatsoever, no meat at all, and literally no carbs- just my protein shake, supplements, enzymes, and veggies with olive oil. I really think I'm going to come through this with a new craving for vegetables and various ways to prepare them and will be able to stay away from the sweets.
Next week Wednesday (the 16th), I go back to the naturopath dr. for a follow up and also a computer screening that somehow will be able to tell me what all of my allergies and sensitivities are to- including foods, additives, airborne allergens, chemicals, and metals. it should also let me know if I have a sensitivity to gluten. I have suffered from allergies/asthma and irritable bowel/digestive upset- whatever you want to call it most of my life, so I am very excited to have this test done so that I'll know what to avoid and what kinds of supplements I'll need to take.
I'll check in again after I have the test done next week and let you all know what I found out.
Oh- my next PET/CT scan was originally scheduled for Feb. 16, but it has now been postponed until mid April. I'm okay with this because, honestly, whether the scan results are good or bad, there's really not anything different my oncologist could be doing for me at this point anyhow. I've had disease advancement from Folfiri, so I wouldn't go back on that and can't take Erbitux or oxaliplatin anymore either. It would be a clinical trial at that point, which seem to be difficult for me to qualify for, at least that's what it seems like from trying to find them recently.
Starting with my last chemo 2 wks ago, my onc has upped my Gemzar dose (it had been lowered about 4 months ago due to platelets dropping too low) & I've been switched from Xeloda back to the 5FU pump. So with the upped Gemzar dose and some of the natural supplements and this cleanse, I'm thinking that waiting until April to scan will allow a little more time to see if it's all working. It will then have been a little over 5 months since my last scan on Nov 4. I've never gone that long in between scans before, but I think it's fine to wait this time due to the circumstances. I'm also glad to put off my getting more radiation exposure a bit longer too.

Hope you all have a lovely week! I'm so fortunate to be enjoying beautiful sunny skies outside with the temp in the mid 70's. To those of you who live where it's cold and gloomy right now, here's wishing a little sunshine your way (at least in spirit!) Winter doesn't last forever

Lisa