Happy New Year!

Boy, am I excited to begin 2011! With 2010 now officially in the rearview mirror, I am now ready to embark on a new year that I know will be so much better than the last one.

The family and I just got back from a ski vacation that took us to Squaw Valley in Tahoe and Alta Sierra near Lake Isabella. Last year at this time, I was recuperating from my hysterectomy and couldn’t go skiing with the family. This year, I was up there with them, swooshing down the mountains and watching my little girls carve up the slopes. As I dug my pole into each mogul, I thought to myself “take THAT, cancer!” I felt more energized and alive than I’ve felt in a very long time. Although my hands and feet were extremely dry from the Xeloda, it couldn’t impact my spirits.

We arrived back last night, in time to ring in 2011 with our dear friends and neighbors. How wonderful it is to be surrounded by laughter and love as the new year begins. Today, I went to my first yoga class of the new year. Our instructor told us that we were setting the tone for the rest of the year – and we could all consider ourselves to be yogis. How great is that??!!

Before heading off to the slopes, I met with my Chinese herbal medicine advisor and he has set many goals for me – with the most difficult (at least in my mind) being giving up sugar and walking 20 miles per week. (Apparently, the Xeloda chemo will be approximately 10% more effective with all of this walking since my circulatory system will move the drugs throughout my body thus killing more of the cancer.) Since I’ve decided that this is going to be the year that I really get my health under control, I’m going to prioritize these goals. I have offered to walk my neighbors dogs (of course, they have to come with me, since I am not picking up after the dogs) in an effort to force myself to hit my goal.

On Thursday, I head back to San Francisco for my next round of Avastin. Fortunately, that chemo doesn’t seem to produce the most dreaded side effects.

Finally, I can’t express how grateful I am for all of your love and support over this past year. It was a very difficult year for me and my family, however, knowing that we weren’t going through this alone made a tremendous difference for all of us. It really is impossible for me to put into words how fortunate I feel to have all of you in our lives.

May your 2011 be filled with peace, love and unending laughter.