Doing the Happy Dance!

Are you ready for some good news?  I just got home from the Dr (my general surgeon) and things went very well - she took my drains out!  Yahoo, I am doing the one legged happy dance with the drains out – I now come “with no string attached” :) – I think the Pinocchio theme song is in order here: “I have not strings to hold me down, I have no strings on me, he he!”

AND she says I am healing WAY ahead of schedule.  She estimates that I will be starting Chemo the 2^nd week in July.  I’ll know for sure when I see my oncologist next Wednesday but let me tell you this is GREAT news – the sooner I start, the sooner I am done!  If all goes according to plan I could be done with this whole ordeal by the beginning of November.  What a true Thanksgiving it will be!  We have a family trip planned to Disneyland in October and I figure with my bald head I will be an automatic “fast pass” for us on all of the rides – LOL.

I feel very grateful that this surgery is now behind me.  Most people in my situation have to wait until at least 6 months AFTER Chemo is done to have the SGAP surgery.  So it creates a delayed sense of closure.  But because my little skin wouldn’t heal properly we had to move ahead and take care of it now.  It is very rare that the skin doesn’t heal – my surgeon actually said she had never seen anything like it.  Leave it to me to be anything but typical :).  She also said that the way things went has turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  I know this is true and I acknowledge the faith and prayers of so many on my behalf.

So, this news also means that I am a GO for the festivities for our annual 4^th of July celebration. While I still can’t sit, I am excited to enjoy time with beautiful scenery - standing or laying, depending on what my body wants to do at the moment :).  I have 14 darling nieces and nephews who I can’t wait to entertain – perhaps in a more limited way than normal, but nevertheless I will be there conjuring up some fun games for them and giving them treats :).  I didn’t get the title of favorite aunt without some creative strategizing and I plan on continuing our traditions!

As I’ve said before, I am so grateful that my cancer wheel landed where it did and not on another door that could have been so much worse.  As I think about this upcoming weekend, I am so thankful to live in such a wonderful country where I am free to have so many choices about my future and treatment.  I’m thankful to live at this time instead of 50 or 100 years ago when they didn’t have the amazing advances in medical technology that we do today. 

Stay tuned – that Chemo Kick Off Party may just be around the corner . . .