Yesterday was my cancerversary

Manifesto from holstee.com.  Thought it was worth sharing.....

Yesterday was my one-year “cancerversary.”  It was one year since my bilateral mastectomy, and Dr. Sprawls told me that would be my cancerversary date – the day the cancer left my body.  So now I can say that I’m one year out!  And I’m happy to report that yesterday slid on by without me even thinking about it; it didn’t even dawn on me until this morning that my cancerversary date came and went with no horrible feelings, no “funk, no depression.  It was totally uneventful.  And I can’t wait for the day when I can say “I’m 10 years out,” and “I’m 20 years out!”  Woo hoo!  THAT is something to look forward to! 

Kenny and I celebrated our birthdays last week, and had a wonderful time.  My birthday (the 18^th) was very relaxing.  We went to some yard sales in the morning, Kenny worked on the boat for a little while, I did some “retail therapy,” and we came back to the RV to enjoy a dinner of snow crab claws at our picnic table overlooking the Banana River.  Very delightful.  On Sunday, we went up to Savannah for a few days – to celebrate Kenny’s birthday with some very dear friends of ours, Sue and Donn, from our Key Largo days.  They are now certified personal trainers in Sag Harbor (NY) but were in Virginia for a conference.  After the conference, they were going to drive to Merritt Island to visit us – a 900-mile drive!  And then drive home to Long Island – a 1200 mile drive!  And they would only have one day here with us.  Now THOSE are some dear friends!  Anybody willing to drive 2100 miles to spend a day with us……well, that’s just amazing…..and makes us feel so loved.  Anyway, we offered to ease their “pain” a little bit by meeting them in Savannah, thereby knocking 600 miles off their 2100 miles.  They were very thankful, and we had a wonderful visit together and a splendid time in Savannah – a very fun place to spend a few day.  AND, we were able to spend TWO days together (and 3 nights) since they didn’t have to drive as far.  We drove out to Isle of Hope and Tybee Island one day, walked around the streets and shops of Tybee Island, and had lunch at the Crab Shack (a bit of a tourist trap but fun).  Then we walked down to

River Street

(the historic district), which was a nice walk from our hotel.  Took the free boat ride across the Savannah River over to the Westin where we had a glass of wine and enjoyed the view of

River Street

from across the river.  Took the boat back across and walked around the streets and shops a bit.  Had dinner at an Irish pub that Kenny and I had been to many times before, when we were in the Merchant Marine and stopped in Savannah on various ships.  We vowed to return to the Irish pub the next night – for Kenny’s birthday – to listen to the live music…..but never quite made it.  On Kenny’s birthday (the 21^st), we started out the day with the complimentary breakfast at the hotel.  And then we had over an hour of (complimentary!) personal training time with Donn.  He showed us all kinds of great exercises and gave us rubber tubing and stretchy bands of varying resistances so we can continue with the exercises at home, which we both need and are very much looking forward to.  Very cool!  Then we took one of the trolley rides around town, learning all kinds of history and enjoying the ride.  Although we had done it before, you learn new stuff every time…..or is it that you forget what you learned last time, so it’s ALL new??!  Nevertheless, it was great fun.  And then Sue and Donn treated us to a delicious (and very memorable) birthday dinner at a really nice restaurant called Boar’s Head Grill on

River Street

.  Sure did hate to see our 2 days with them come to an end the next morning; hated to say goodbye.  We really had a good time.

Our doggies had a great time, too.  We left them with our good friends, Debbie and Bill, and their St. Bernard, Maisey.  They always have a good time at their house.  And they even had a bonus this time – Debbie’s Mom is visiting from New Jersey, and the dogs loved her…..cuddled up with her on the couch and slept in her bed every night!  Sure is nice to be able to go away and know they’re in good hands. 

Getting back to reality on Thursday was a bit of a drag.  Actually, that’s quite an understatement.  It was a REAL drag!  I had 12 hours of typing (transcription) to do on Thursday.  On Friday, Saturday, and today I was buried up to my eyeballs in paperwork; a.k.a, taxes.  I had to calculate the mileage for the 121 medical appointments I had in 2011 – wow! What a job!  I had to remember which park/campground we were living in at the time of each appointment and then figure out the mileage.  3832 miles for the 121 appointments!!  Eeeeh gads!  Ya know?  I think I MIGHT have had 10 medical appointments in the 20 years prior to 2011 (as in, the total 20 years), so it’s really hard for me to fathom I had 121 in one year!  And actually, it’s even more than that because there were days when I would have 2 or 3 appointments at the same place on the same day; i.e., blood work, chemo, followup with doctor, etc.  Mind boggling.  So now that I’ve gotten THAT part of the taxes done, I’m moving on to entering a year’s worth of receipts into Quicken.  Yup, you read that right – a YEAR’s worth.  I did nothing last year…..well, except work and traipse around the county to 121 medical appointments and KICK CANCER IN THE BUTT!!  Now I have the monumental task of trying to sort through this bloody, sky-high pile of receipts.  Okay, I’ll stop complaining about that.  It’ll miraculously get done somehow……  Hopefully before next weekend when Mom and Free and Nancy arrive in Florida!!  I’m SOOOO excited about that!  Mom and Free are renting a condo on the beach for a month – something they’ve never done before – so it’s going to be a lot of fun!  Sister Nancy is coming for 9 days – sure do wish she could stay the whole month, but she has other commitments.  And I’ll be spending as much time as I can at the condo.  Fun times ahead!! 

Let me touch on the only 2 pertinent “medical” issues at the moment.  I’m sad to report that the “eye reaming” only helped for a couple of days.  Now I’m back to tears constantly dripping off my cheeks and annoying the heck out of me.  I go back to the ophthalmologist on Friday, so we’ll see what he says.  I suspect he won’t be too anxious (nor will I) to do any more reaming since it didn’t really help much at all.  Don’t know if he’ll recommend surgery or not.  I’ll keep you posted on that.

The other “issue” is my INR, which I’m happy to report has still been staying WNL (within normal limits).  They kindly let me skip a week last week when we were in Savannah.  I asked them if it would be okay to skip it for a week because it’s a hassle getting it done out of town, and they obliged.  So tomorrow I’ll return to Space Coast Cancer Center for the INR check – keeping my fingers crossed for happy numbers.

I guess I’ve done enough rambling for now.  I’m no longer finishing my blog posts with “You know you’re a cancer patient when…..” because I am NO LONGER a cancer patient!!  YAY!!!  I am DONE with cancer!!!  Double YAY!!!   Oh sure, I still have plenty of follow up visits to go to, etc., but it will all be a piece of cake compared to last year – with the biopsy, the diagnosis, the surgery, the chemo, and the radiation.  That is all part of the past now – it’s history – and I’m moving on.  Life is good and I’m feeling wonderful!  So happy to be alive!  Loving life!  And I love you all!!!!!  Sending millions of hugs to everybody!

My birthday dinner

Campground wildlife -- poor guy looks a little beat up

Dinner in Savannah

Boat ride in Savannah

Sue, Kenny, and Donn at City Market

Kenny, Sue, and Donn with a bronze guy