I'm Back....

After another long hiatus, I am back.  It has been a rough 10 months  since breast cancer surgery and I have been fighting drug/ chemotherapy/endocrine  therapy/call it what you will as the term varies/ reaction issues.  You gotta love tamoxifen therapy which puts you through menopause again and again and again (in my case anyway) with all the fun issues of hot flashes, night sweats, raging weepiness, weight gain, depression, etc.  However,it seems that my body is finally beginning to get the message and adapt so that these issues are now sporadic, I recognize them for what they are and deal accordingly. 


The other event which added to life's doldrums was the illness and death of my resident father in law Richard Harang.  Dad had been living with us since July 2010 as was  still  a spry and active  90 year old.  In spite of his blindness, due to macular degeneration,  pacemaker, asthma and COPD and diabetes, he went with me to the gym twice a week and worked for an hour with a trainer.  He took care of his own laundry and bed making and his companion dog Beau got along fine with our Welsh Corgie, Weena.  He contracted a urinary tract infection which didn't really develop into anything major until just before Christmas when he was hospitalized.  After 2 weeks in the hospital he was discharged to a rehabilitation unit with the infection cleared and only needing physical rehabilitation and stabilization of his medications.  Unfortunately, the UTI crept back unnoticed and he died of a sudden stroke, early in January.


Bless him, he had a contract with the Neptune Society so they took care of the cremation and the scattering of the cremains in the same spot his wife Nancy was scattered 8 years ago.  The taxes, estate and nursing his poor old dog through depression and recovery, not to mention our own sadness, have kept us busy most of this year, but things seem to be settling down slowly.


Through all of this, the bike riding, the weaving and the hand spinning have helped to keep sane and somewhat balanced and on track.  I am even reaching the point where I look forward to my workouts, even enjoy spinning on the indoor trainer and have actually taken a couple of spinning classes.  Those of you who know me well know that when I die and go to wherever, they will put me on a spin cycle in an endless spin class as punishment for my sins, so for me to voluntarily submit myself to that particular joy is quite something.  I never got to the point where I thoroughly enjoyed them although I will grudgingly admit that they did improve my strength and endurance which is a good thing as I leave in less than a week to ride from New Orleans, LA to Lake Itasca, MN along the mighty Mississippi River with a group of other women including my next oldest sister Kris.  


I plan to blog the trip, but for those of you who are social media savvy,  I am also on face book as Marni J Harang