Prelude to the nuke fest - part one ...

Hello all! Happy Hump Day and Happy First-Day-of-May! I so love this time of year....the cycles repeating themselves .....everything coming back to life, birds chirping and industriously re-building their nests, buds pushing their way through the soil, gorgeous sunny days ... sigh ... is there any more radiant and beautiful time of year than the spring? There's just so much hope and beauty and joy....seems fitting that all of this cancer "drama" is going on now (it's not drama, really - I just wanted to use that word 'cause it makes me giggle!) because it gives me inspiration that my journey will mirror the seasons ... if I have to go through this, no better time than the spring; rebirth and all that good stuff! (hey, my glass is half-full! And at the moment, it is half-full of a verrrrrry tasty Malbec .....yummmmm ....as a sidebar (sorry, I digress often - ask Drew ;-) ) ...I gave up wine last year after I packed on a whopping 25 - yes 25!!!! - pounds and grew 1.5 dress sizes (ugh) after my seven weeks of radiation for my breast cancer. Oy VEY! I ballooned like an Orca on steroids ....not pretty or healthy, for that matter. So, last March, after my one-month follow up with my radiation oncologist - Dr Lo (who I saw today - more below....), and after I lumbered and heaved myself onto a scale and saw the numbers (sproinnnngggg!!!!), I felt like someone punched me in the solar plexus and left me gasping for air. I screeched home in my sexy Chevy Aveo (now collecting dust and pollen in our driveway - would anyone like to buy a gently used car?) and signed up for Weight Watchers on the spot. Didn't even take off my coat! In any event, I had to give up booze (food was much more relevant!) and I did in fact lose those cursed 25 pounds, and have kept them off, thank you very much. Yeah! And to treat myself, I took myself to Marshall's and supported the local retail economy (to my Canadian friends - no tax on clothing here in NJ ...just sayin') :-) ... sooooooooo ... all that to say, now I am thinking ...hmmmm....screw it! I am treating myself to a glass of wine! Seems fair right? :-) ...wow. Another MAJOR digression.....

Where was I? Ah yes ....so I went to see Dr Lo today. She is the radiation oncologist at Hackettstown Regional Hospital - handily located within stumbling distance of our humble (but well-decorated, I must humbly say ;-) ) abode ....Dr Lo was the very able and empathetic doc who handled my seven-week fun-filled boob nuke fest last winter and I am so glad that I can have the six weeks of treatment so close to home. Oh - I should note that the hospital where I had the biopsy (will upload pics of the battle scar soon) is about an hour's drive from here so both Drew and I are so very glad that we won't have to drive to hell's half acre and back (also known as Pennsylvania) for six weeks in a row - yes, that's right - five days in a row for six weeks - to get my head nuked. Thank God for small mercies!! Like I said, my glass is truly half full! :-)

So I go back on Friday for a cat scan (woo hoo! Bring it on - yet another shot of the noggin) so that Dr Lo can plan where the nuking will take place. The other cool thing - and I am bound and determined to get a shot of this, fer shure (and will upload it here)!! - is that they have to make a mask for me that I will have to wear during my daily treatments. (think Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut in that ooooooooh so sexy scene at the costume party, where everyone was radiant in those AWESOME masks. Yup. That will be me, only with clothes on. I will fantasize that the mask has gold and glitter and sparkles - just because!!)  :-) :-) I have to wear the mask to keep my head perfectly still while they nuke me so that God forbid, I don't accidentally move and that they don't (oops, sorry about that) nuke my optic nerve or something equally as important (all kidding aside, THAT would suck). The doc is so cute - she kept reassuring me that there would be holes for my eyes and nose so I could breathe. How thoughtful, right? :-)

More later on the wonderful side effects of radiation to the head ... woo hoo!! :-) And more on the type of tumour/tumor tomorrow. (every time I use that word, I can't help hearing Arnold Schwarzenegger saying "it's not a tuuummaaaa").....and on that note, so many of you were so gracious and helpful in suggesting closings for my daily ramblings - for which I am so very grateful, and I love them all!! They are all so creative and a wonderful reflection of your personalities - thank you again!! - and I am going to use them all on a rotational basis. Fun right?? :-) Thank you again. So.... I am thinking that a fun, code word for tumaaaaaa would be cool too .....whaddya all think? Might as well have some giggles, right? I may have to give away fantastic prizes (with consolation prizes of a year's supply of Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat!) :-)

Seriously - thank you all for reading this, for supporting me and wishing you all a fantabulous evening.

This evening's sign off courtesy of Racherella (thank you Racherella) :-)

Stay Classy, San Diego
xoxo