​ I think that was a deviation of a Three Dog Night ditty, but given my memory it could have been Herman Hermits or maybe the 4 Tops. And  yes it was 1 and lonely but that doesn’t work for my story! Today is the wonder day for us Breast Cancer girls....my five years is done. My last radiology treatment was 5 years ago...cancer free. It’s also my brother in law Ed’s 60th birthday. What a lovely sound...cancer free and Ed hitting 60!

So much as happened during this time. Emily graduated from high school and College and began her master’s program. Nicolas graduated from college and is gainfully employed. Matt, after 21 years, retired from the coffee company and until COVID we were always traveling somewhere. We will return to that life again once the world gets going again. Until that time, we have enjoyed the backyard, some great wines and the abundance of our Northwest summer sun. We are sadly beginning to hunker down to our gray days of fall and winter! 

Dr. K has retired to research only and I have tried desperately to remind him that one could consider me as a research animal, but he seems to think not! I have threatened to march over and have my check ups in the backyard, but that might be more than Susan (his wife) will allow! Change is hard! My last check up is coming and alas it will be with a new Doctor.

I did finish Dr. Paige’s part of reconstruction before COVID hit, but had to  lay off Tattoo completion until Governor Inslee gave it the green light. It’s on now but I haven’t gotten my perky pals in their for their makeup! It will come my sweets! Patience!

I do reflect back on that time and with, yes, fondness. I have never felt so loved by so many, so grateful for the goodness in others and thankful I was helped to survive this journey with humor and a positive attitude because of all of you. Lucky, Lucky me. Now, I must admit I was never able to take on Melissa in the pool in a two piece, but I do have hair that isn’t kinky anymore and have done away with the rockets called prostheses that kept me afloat. 

I think the UPS driver retired or got the hell off Mercer Island. I haven’t seen all those people that I had set up for therapy visits from the Beach Club so I hope that means they rebounded ok. 

To all my buddies currently fighting the fight, keep it up. I always thought I would never get to see that 5 years, but here I am better than ever. The time does pass quickly. You got this! 

This is it. I’m hanging up my keyboard, buying some SPF 100 and looking for the sun somewhere! Having this journal kept me grounded and able to express my fears, my tears and my joys. I know tho, there is some sand with my name on it, a perfect martini and my cute husband, waiting to write some new life chapters for many many years to come! 

Stay safe!🥰

As we say Back home, long time no see. I am hoping this finds everyone in good spirits unless you are an Astros fan or a Miami dolphin. I’ll start this out by updating the past couple of years since we last spoke!

Nick has graduated from LMU and is working in Seattle (Bellevue exactly) and not living at home which makes both of us happy. We see him a lot as his kitchen doesn’t work as well as mine. He is dating a nice young lady and learning about being patient until you are made CEO.

Emily is a senior now at Duquesne university scheduled to graduate in May. As of this writing, she has been accepted into graduate school where she hopes to become a special education teacher. Her plan is to move back to the left coast. She too is dating a nice young man here and is learning how to balance all of life’s challenges.

Matt retired in June 2018 after 21 years at Starbucks. He dabbles a bit in this and that but his primary job is Chief Leisure Officer at Jill Swaya travel. He has put together fabulous bucket list adventures for us and we are not slowing down. Smookie went to heaven in December 2018 and is now harassing my sweet Mom who passed in September 2018. 

That brings us to me. Next week will be the end of four and start of 5 years cancer free. Woo hoo. To celebrate, I finally had my last reconstruction to add my little always erect nipples. I’m still bandaged up for one more week, but there is no pain. It will be spring before I can sport tattoos of colors to complete the look. I’m thinking maybe a neon psychedelic color to celebrate my 50 year high school reunion which I missed to reconstruction. Bottom line, I’m done. No more surgeries and that feels good to say. In a short year, check up free. 

What have I learned? In any tragedy there can be humor. We all make choices. I chose to try to keep my self buoyed by the funny little things that can happen. I still see the poor therapy ridden ups driver and smile. The little girl who thought I was a man, Is running around the Beach club now chasing boys! Purple hair is probably not a good color for you mom to see! 
I have learned that my family, friends and even people that barely know you, keep your ship righted with support and love. That’s a feeling that makes this whole experience ok.
So I’m signing off for good now. I encourage anyone who needs a friend to chat with about breast cancer to reach out...send your friends to me too. I’m paying it back big time!  The life you saved was mine. God bless you.

As I put away the nativity set for Christmas, I paused to see my handiwork under the tree. The donkey and ox were in a face off looking like two prize fighters all in front of their audience, the baby Jesus. The wise men were only two in number on one side of the set as the third was being played by Joseph who wanted to get some of the fine gifts! On the other side was the Sheppard who only wanted to watch the sheep in front of him, the missing wise man who was anxiously guarding his gift and poor Mary was relegated to the back like she had nothing to do with whole thing. It was probably good that I broke up the two tough guys at the front of the stage before they tore down the tree and everything around them. I share this story with you as it is indicative of my mobility after my first reconstruction surgery. When I decorated the tree, I was about two weeks post surgery and unable to bend over. The nativity scene was created by my dropping strategically the pieces around the crèche. The ornaments on my tree this year were centered in the middle. Very few balls made it to the top or bottom of the tree.And my Christmas gifts reflected the amount of drugs I was taking when they were ordered. Matt got a pair of gym shorts from me that made him look like Lebron James on the court! But as I like to say, I now have bosoms!

Lets back up a bit from last we talked. Emily graduated from high school and we celebrated with Val, Steven and my mother Barbara from out of town. After getting Emily packed off to Pittsburg to Duquesne University, we traveled to New York where Matt was part of the convocation for Brooklyn Law School. We came home to pack up Nick's car and off he went to LMU for his junior year. A few weeks later we were on a flight_to Rome, Florence, Tuscany and Venice. It was a post cancer treatment, pre reconstruction, Matt's 60th birthday and Jill's Medicare bday. We got to spend time with our good friend Alison Gilligan and her son Penn in Florence and were joined by friends Patrick and Susie for Tuscany. It was a wonderful trip.

We returned home and it was off to Tyler for Jill and Washington DC for Matt. We met up in Pittsburg and got to see Emily for the first time in 2 months. We came home and prepared for my first of three reconstruction surgeries.

I thought I knew everything about the surgery from my discussions with my plastic surgeon and Melissa (who is looking hot!) who had the same procedure done two years earlier. As the song goes tho, there's nothing like the real thing baby! OMG. It was a lot more painful than I had thought and more debilitating. I needed help getting around. Lucky for me, Anne and Allison, my sisters, were on hand to take care of me after my surgery. They also threw out more things that I knew I had. It looked like a 95 year old woman had died and had lived alone only with cats! My house lost 20 pounds! I wish it worked that way on your body!

The surgery is long (about 13 hours for me) and your incision on the abdomen runs hip to hip. I had what is known as the diep where they take your fat from the belly button down and form two new breasts that are attached with blood vessels and even a nerve or two right where the bad girl and her best friend were located. Now if you know me or have seen me recently, I had enough material as Dr. Paige called it to replicate both of the former occupants. It doesn't really work out that way (thank God) and Matt was disappointed with the lack of double Fs on my chest wall. I thought the symmetry was great and they are a good starting size. As painful as the lower area can be, there is nothing on the chest area.  It felt and looked weird to me to have bosoms again, but I am glad that I did it. 

My incision was open until last week. I had my surgery on November 14 so it has been a long haul. It has been complicated by the fact that I got blood clots in my left leg and that slowed down my healing process. As they struggle to get my blood counts normal again (it is not right as of this writing although diagnosed on December 23), I am finally seeing some light at the end of my tunnel. I am hopeful that the pool has my name on it!

I am back at the plastic surgeon on Feb 1 and we will start planning when phase two will occur. It is shorter, about 3 hours, done in the operating room at his office and requires no hospital stay. We will Mattify to an extent these breasts to be a little larger and they will take care of my E>T> ears left over from the mastectomy.  He also has to shape the lower abdomen area, but not the pain associated with the first go round.  I am thinking maybe June or July. 

So, you are now up to date. Matt wondered why after a year, I decided to dust off this piece. I think that it is because I have entered another area of this gift that keeps on giving. It is helpful to me to share that journey and pause to think about it as well. And of course, it is great to chat lit up...we all know that is one of my strong points! 

I will be back when I have a good plan moving forward. Until that time, cheer for the Falcons, still try to fire Darrell Bevel, get Seattle a NHL and NBA team and slow down on the executive orders (censored for content!).
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