I'm getting very dilinquent at keeping up with this but I suppose that reflects that I'm busier and don't have as much time as I did to loll around and be creative. January went by in a blur after Christmas and then heading south to Pawleys - a wonderful break from the snow and cold and the chance to visit some new places and get back to some old favourites. My biggest disappointment was that the new spring fashions hadn't arrived yet in my favourite stores so my hope to find a dress for Kathleen's wedding evaporated like one of the Charleston ghosts. Oh well, I'll be back with 'the girls' (Nella, Judy and Kim) in April for a whirlwind trip that will include the fantastic St. George Winyah Plantation Tours as well as some good food, good wine and power shopping. Nella will make sure that we don't sit for long as long as the stores are open! The Plantation Tours are one of my favourite things - for 2 days private and public historic homes are opened for viewing. Some of these private homes have been in the family for several hundred years, lovingly restored and are absolute showpieces. I've always said that if I could go back in time I'd live in the South before the Civil War - and be rich of course! I'm sure I'd just look fabulous in a hoop skirt gliding down one of those magnificent staircases to meet my 'Rhett'. Dave, however, might look pretty goofy in knee breeches and a fluffy necktie!
As for my health, all is progressing better than I'd hoped. I did have my surgery (simple mastectomy) the end of January. They pumped me full of non-narcotic pain pills before I went in which is the anaesthetist's option which, apparently, makes you need less high power pain medication when you come to. I do remember that this time it took me much longer to get out of the 'fog' after the surgery and I literally couldn't keep my eyes open until about 11pm that night. I was out of the OR by 12:30 but don't remember much. Sara was there and Dan, Laurie and the kids (and Steve the dog) dropped by, made and ate dinner and I do remember there was an awful lot of hilarity and good smells wafting up the stairs, but it's all a blur. Despite a scar the size of Texas, I'm a good healer and have had no issues so far other than some expected achiness and 'twingey' pain as it heals - nothing that Tylenol won't fix. I had my surgical followup last Thursday and got my pathology report back which was great - no more malignancy - woohoo! There were however, lots of other things like fibrous tissue etc that could have caused me problems in the years to come so I'm happy with my decision and will now adjust to being lopsided and wearing an 'aftermarket' part to balance myself out.
My hair has grown in to the point that I will actually be seen in public without the wig or a hat and my eyebrows and lashes are slowly following suit. Once I have eyebrows and can wear mascara again, life will be great! Now that I'm feeling good again I've managed to do some long overdue Nana-sitting in both Cayuga and with Emily. Wow, you sure forget how busy 5 month olds and 2 year olds can keep you but it was great fun to spend more than an hour with them. I'll be getting back to work soon and am looking forward to that for sure. I'll be on an every 3 week injection of Herceptin until about October and a daily hormone therapy pill for 5 years but whatever I need to do to minimize my risk of recurrence is fine with me - the statistics on both these drugs are great. My daughter and niece have formed a team for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer in September and we're all looking forward to participating in that. I'd better start some training or I'll be lucky to do 6km let alone 60!
I'll keep posting with any interesting updates but thanks to all who've been following along with me on my journey and if you get the chance to sponsor someone in the Breast Cancer walk, you can be assured that everyone like me is truly appreciative of all the dollars that go into new research, drugs and treatments to beat this insidious disease. Bless you all!
