LIVING LARGE BEFORE MONDAY'S TREATMENT

Well, today is my last day of living large before going into the hospital for what I hope is the next to the last chemotherapy treatment. Last night I squeezed a real lemon in my iced tea and this morning for breakfast I had a vegetable omelette that included tomatoes. I also drank a big glass of orange juice - the kind with pulp and acid. The term "living large" has taken on a new meaning in my life these days. In my pre-chemo life, living large may have included fine dining in some Cindy Wolf restaurant downtown and a couple of glasses of expensive wine. I would order almost anything on the menu and never think about if it could cause mouth sores or acid indigestion. In my pre-chemo life, living large might have also meant having both an appetizer and dessert at a nice steakhouse and not thinking twice about the amount of grease in a blooming onion or the spicy rub on the steak. In my current "chemo treatment" life, living large means things like drinking orange juice and having lemon in my tea and not needing to only drink caffeine free tea. Oranges and tomatoes and spaghetti sauce and all things spicy will now be totally taboo in my diet. The good part is that I learned my lesson about eating healthy bland food immediately before, during and immediately after chemo treatments. The bad part is that I absolutely love food and all this bland eating is really boring. When these treatments are over, I may never eat a piece of chicken again! I also can't have a glass of wine, I am on so many medications that have warnings in huge print that say "DO NOT TAKE WITH ALCOHOL", that I am certain that a glass of wine would send me to the emergency room. But, to honor a friend and co-worker, and to feel like my old self again, I did sip some champagne at a retirement party last week. That was truly living large. Not only did I wear heels and went to a party, but I also ate all the yummy food and drank some champagne (well, less than half a glass), and mingled and chatted with co-workers and friends and had an absolutely wonderful time. Sad, but wonderful. I will miss the attorney who retired very very much! Wonderful in the sense of being with people that mean a lot to me and really enjoying myself and feeling really really well. I am looking forward to more days like that - no, not more retirements - I don't want to lose any more of my favorite people in the real estate group - I am looking forward to more fun times where I am feeling well and sharing good times with friends. Many times during the treatments I have had to be very careful about being in crowds and restricing my time with people, so just being able to be out and in a large group is living large. What a wonderful feeling. A special thanks to all of you who have helped me to live large during these chemo treatments!