today's not a cliche, is it?

As a kid I could run around in the snow in the thinnest dress and would not flinch in the slightest. Then I was either spoiled by California weather or my perception of cold changed. For most of the last seven years in Seattle I've only been comfortable in a range of 71-82. Fragile like I fine wine! Partly because of that (partly because it was more environmentally friendly, and partly because it will save us money in the long run) Todd and I finally took the plunge and added insulation to the attic. It was a messy all-day effort, but well worth it. Now the house is very warm and I sometimes have a hard time determining if I'm having hot flashes or if the house is just doing a better job retaining heat. Yes, that's right - here comes the cliche - I've been running hot and cold. When I went into surgery we were expecting that I would keep my ovaries. Alas cancer decided that one of them was yummy and hunkered down and grew. So, aside from immediately loosing my potential future ability to biologically make more kids, I also woke up having been injected with hormone replacement so I wouldn't go through menopause on top of everything else. I then got a low-dose hormone patch to keep me "stable" during chemotherapy and radiation. Probably a good idea to not have your body and mind going through too many things at once, but staying on the patch increases your risk of cancer - isn't that ironic? So eventually I knew I wanted to stop. About a month ago I took the plunge. Yes, there are more side effects than just running hot and cold physically, such as running hot and cold emotionally. Todd and the kids don't seem any worse for the wear... yet... The adventure continues because it's a completely individual experience as to how long the effects will last. This adventure may last 6 months or could go 10 years. Alas, this blog wouldn't reflect how fun it is if I didn't point out the awesome upside - this opens a whole new world of conversation with the women who are 50+ at parties. I'm part of a new special clique.