meh...

Hi friends!
I just haven't felt like writing...sorry.

Our New York/Canadian Cruise is coming up in just a week. I have travel anxiety.We will be gone for 11 days, tooo long for me. We had the sky miles to use, but in order to use them we had to make this convoluted plan because heaven forbid we pay CASH for a ticket!! Sky miles are soo hard to use! We are staying in New Jersey with Don's niece. There is a bus that stops on her corner and goes into the city with a 20 minute trip.  This worries me. Often, outings with Don are kind of like the Bataan Death March. He is able to go and go and I just can't tromp over New York from 9 - 9! Actually, Don and the boys went to Disneyland last week. They got there when the gates opened at 8 and got home at 11:30! I can't do that so... I worry. I just need to say "damnit I'm tired and we need to go back", right? Yeah...
We'll have two days before the cruise in N.J., then 5 day cruise to Nova Scotia, then two days after in N.J. I like a 5 day trip. I will keep you all posted.


I saw another doctor, a surgeon who specializes in breast and she thought radiation would work but wanted me to talk to the  radio-onc. The radio-onc, (whom I liked very much!) explained the Van Nuys scale to me and it's not about how cool and beach-y you are. The scale rates your age, cancer grade, area and margins and gives you a score. I scored 8-9.  10-12 would have called for a mastectomy. So I start radiation on the 27th of June, every morning at 8:15 for 6 weeks. I can hear many of you saying, "8:15!!" I chose the time, I'm an early riser. I was able to get my tattoos the same day and the c.t.scan. Now that I have 5 tats, I'm considering getting my tongue pierced.
The thing to remember is my cancer, dcis, is a very early cancer.

On a more fun note! I am going to at least two concerts this summer! Just got tickets to David Gray!! and K.D. Lang in August at Red Butte! I'd like to go to Death Cab For Cutie but am not wild about the venue. Maybe just buy the new album and listen to them out in the backyard on a pleasant summer night!
I could go on, but I won't. haha, there are times when I shouldn't write.

The Follow-up to "Ouch"

Well, I'm sure all (3) of you have been on the edge of your seat, wondering what happened with the biopsy. As I told my parents, kids and friends: I didn't want to say anything until I knew what "exactly" to say.

When they call to report the results and ask if  "you have a minute",  it ain't good.
Long story short
Ductal Carcinoma in Situ or dcis.
He was very surprised
very early stage, but
found in both sites
may need mastectomy because of site distance
no lymph involvement with dcis

I saw the surgeon today. He feels good about a lumpectomy with five weeks of radiation treatments, to follow. I go in on Thursday morning, yes in 2 days! I'm glad! I need to be proactive and just want it over with.
If a mastectomy is needed because of lumpectomy results, I don't want reconstruction. I don't know how you feel about this, but my old gals have fulfilled their purpose. They were darling and did their job in helping me attract a  mate, they fed my babies and now, if needs be, I am happy to send them off into the sunset.

I shall call my 2011 vacation, Summer of the Gamma Rays.

ouch

Hello!

I actually had an email I had sent today come back twice before I realized it was because of the message, "hello!" I realize now that the innocuous greeting is the tag for many a Viagra, Young Russian Ladies and other unsavory spam email. Who woulda thunk?

Last night I dreamed of tigers. Acting unafraid as I walked calmly by several tigers (they can smell fear, you know) I made my perilous way into the school...at night. Actually, I never really made it, not because I was attacked by a tiger, no, my ploy worked with them, rather it was one of those "lost, trying to get somewhere on time" dreams. You know the ones I'm talking about.

I don't think it takes Freud to figure this out: tigers dreams + lost dreams = anxiety.
Why was I so anxious, even if it was a sub-conscious anxiety? Double biopsy the next morning, this morning, 8:00a.m. sharp. (Oh! Don't use the word sharp!) I didn't think I was worried, but dreams don't lie.

I have "calcifications". Had them in the right, biopsied breast 6 years ago and now in the left. Saw them 6 months ago in the left, just got the new mammo and there they were, nothing changed. Good right? But the Dr. that read this mammo said he wanted to check them out. So, this morning I found my self with my left breast hanging through a hole, like I was ice-fishing with booby-bate. I just hope, with the metal markers now in both of the girls, I don't set off any alarms.

I am home watching a chick flik, with an ice pack and a bruised boob super-glued together in two places, waiting  48-72 hrs for the verdict.

And now I say

ouch!

It's is officially Spr-inter!

 

Dad's 80th Surprise Birthday Party was a big success. Almost 100

friends, neighbors and family were there and he really was surprised!

My mom worked so hard putting this together.

Woke up to no power and 6" of snow April 2nd. It's Spr-inter in Utah!

I need only to look at this and feel all is right with the world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            I could eat her up!

Everyone needs to play hookie now and then!

I took a half-day today, when I realized we had 2 hours of special science presentations and I wouldn't have my usual small groups in the afternoon. Left at lunch to go downtown to Art and Soup, a fund-raiser for a Home Health Care organization. They bring together abt. 20 different artists and restaurants and you wander around perusing fine art and eating samples of soup, bread, pastries AND a free scoop of Ben and Jerry's ice-cream (Late Night Snack: a mixture of salty and sweet, mmm!)
Disappointingly, about half the soups offered were some sort of Tomato based soup, the best being a Tomato/Sherry soup, oh, it was good! My other favorite soup was a cream of plantain/green banana with a little dollop of mascarpone and watercress pesto and a little teaspoon of shredded crab, different and deelish! I don't often get to enjoy fine dining, so to experience the melding of exotic, unique flavors is a real treat for me!

All of the art I really loved was, of course, too expensive although I would dearly love to purchase some real art if I were to ever come into some money... I think I'll have to be satisfied with prints!

I finished Jane Eyre. I realized, shortly after starting it, that the Jane Eyre I had read when I was a pre-teen was the Reader's Digest Condensed version, quite different from the original! My mom bought me a subscription to the R.D.C. series. They were colorfully bound, simplified versions of the classics. I loved those books! They were a good introduction to literature. I still have them!
I appreciated the dictionary feature on the Kindle as I read it, this time! The language is very ornate and the sentences long! It felt good to do a little brain pilates! I liked the book as it made me think. I am not a "black and white" person and I had a hard time relating to many of the choices Jane felt she had to make. Also, I don't believe that Rochester's injuries were divine retribution or tutoring, - - - - happens. And why oh why didn't she bring little Adele home to live with them, especially after her own terrible childhood experiences! I wondered if perhaps Jane enjoyed the sense of power her care- giving, for the disabled Rochester, afforded her. She really had the upper hand in that situation.

I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, although I'll probably be disappointed in the casting choices as I have a pretty clear idea of what I think Jane and Mr. Rochester should look like. That's the trouble with movies based on books. Have you seen the casting for Water for Elephants?
Really!
The creepy vampire from Twilight! That's the best they could do! (Sorry to all you Twilight fans out there)

a few asides

                                    Check out Adele's new song, Rumor Has It!  Love it!

                                           
                                        Check out Mitt's new business casual style! I like it.

 Check out this Anthropologie infant skirt! No, it wasn't some Cold War Era, Romanian gypsy child's hand-me-down, someone actually paid cash money for it! When will the (IMO) Anthro-ugly craze end!

 She seems to me to be a worthy approximation of the highly tenacious Miss Eyre, notwithstanding the fripperies of accoutrement which display a destitution of sensible austerity. (thanks be to thesaurus, forgive me Charlotte)

 Now I will retire to my study and continue to read Jane Eyre, in preparation for the new movie version, while awaiting the required 4 comments from my 4 readers.
                                                                    

Apples to Oranges

I recently saw two of the movies that are up for Best Picture.

After seeing The Fighter and The King's Speech, my son asked me which I would choose for Best Picture. It is like comparing apples to oranges.

King's English (dang! I KEEP calling it that!) is a refined, leisurely walk through drizzly London with handsome, troubled royalty, namely, soulfully brown-eyed Colin Firth. I felt I was really visiting pre-World War II London with the terrific set design and costumes.

The Fighter is a bumpy ride through the bad side of Boston with the best body in Hollywood, darling Mark Wahlberg and his, spot on, early 90's costumed sisters. Oh! the hair and acid washed jeans! Christian Bale is fabulous as the crack-head brother. His personal transformation as Dicky, the ne'r do well boxer, is astounding! The family dynamics make for a good discussion on whether it's possible to escape one's family.

In both you are cheering for the underdog while being wildly entertained by the supporting cast. Kudos to the costume designer in both. The soundtracks are so well chosen, placing you right in the scene musically.

My personal favorite is The Fighter, but they are both deserving of best picture.

I've also seen:
True Grit- really liked it but, in my opinion, this remake of a movie I liked in the seventies just wasn't powerful enough to be Best Pic Oscar worthy.
The Kids are Allright- Again, imo, shouldn't have been nominated. Although Mark Rufello was pretty hot in it.
Toy Story 3- cute, touching, sweet, fun...but it has to make me think to be in the running.
Inception- Huh? Guess I'm too dumb or too old to get it.Great visuals!
.Social Network- Runner up to Fighter and King's... Maybe it just came out too early to be strongly in in my memory.
Haven't seen Black Swan.
Want to see Winter's Bone!
Let me know what you think!