Monday, May 24, 2010 - Queen Vicki's Birthday :)

Hello Blogmates,

Have you given up on me yet? :) It was brought to my attention today (thanks, Nelli!) that the last blog entry I had done was May 3rd. HELLOOOO? It's now May 24th, soon to be May 25th. That is 3 weeks between blog entries. I think that's way too long even for me!! But, I look at this as a good thing and I'll tell you why, even though a lot of you may not agree with my logic .

If I haven't done a blog entry, it is possible it means one of two things... 1) something has happened and I'm on my deathbed, or seriously ill, depressed and saying my goodbyes or 2) life is soooo busy and I have never been one to be able to reign that in and say, "Hold on, I need a break... I need a couple of days off just to sit at home and relax."

Chances are, you don't have to worry about #1 because if that were true, I'm SURE the word would get out pretty darn fast... and I would expect my friends who are in close contact with me and who are also on Facebook would spread the word... and we all know how fast the word travels on Facebook . No, the reality is that I'm probably up to my eyeballs in "stuff" and although there are many times I am online, the reality is we all have so many gadgets to get online, to Twitter, to Facebook, etc. that I can do that (and have) from my phone! LOL! I rarely use my phone to actually call anyone and talk... the phone is used as a mini-computer. I LOVE MY iPHONE!!! And yes, I am totally in awe of the world of technology that we live in. Oh sure, I have been an online junkie since the late 80s, when some of us can claim to be pioneers of this online communications... back in the day when so many of my friends thought I was crazy and had no idea what it meant to be on a proprietary (pre-internet) service like GEnie. But even though it has been 20+ years that I've been involved with online communications, I'm still in awe of the technology behind all our computers and cellphones/mini-computers.

Ok, but I digress... life is good! I am not too seriously concerned about my health at the moment... not sure if that is a smart thing or not. But if I go by my gut instinct, I feel that I'm doing just fine and although I am living with cancer (and some of the leftover residuals of the cancer treatments), I am not currently dying from cancer. I am one very lucky gal, I think. But yes, the doctors are all still involved and yes, they are still watching me like a hawk. I seem to be an enigma to them (which is not a bad thing) and because of that, I don't just fit into one of their little boxes where the stats say I should fall. IE: Stage IV is not the staging that one wants to have when they have cancer because that is the "last stage". But, call it luck, call it where the stars line up, or call it one's believe in a higher place... my body is not following the stats of a Stage IV colon cancer... and I'm just fine with that. Yes, the cancer has spread (that's what makes it a Stage IV) and we know there are about 10 nodules on the lungs... but they have either not grown or have been growing so slowly over the last 3 1/2 years, they are classified as "indolent" (lazy). This is one time I like being able to say I'm lazy :) So as far as I'm concerned, they can remain indolent for the next 20-30 years, thank you very much :)

The "growth" (for lack of a better term) in my left kidney is something we are going to have to deal with, but it is not a life and death issue... like that intern oncologist led me to believe. Once again, it just proves that when you are given bad news, don't panic... the bad news is one person's opinion. Do NOT dwell on it.. get a second opinion and if need be a third opinion. This intern oncologist was adamant that since they didn't know what this growth was, and that is was highly suspicious considering my cancer history.. it had to come out. But not just the growth, the whole kidney. Even I thought that was a bit drastic and I don't even play a doctor on TV!! But I went along with the plan to be referred to a kidney surgeon because I wanted another opinion and from a different perspective. Sure enough, this surgeon was more in line with my thoughts. He feels that the growth should come out at some point, preferably before it grows to any kind of size that might give me some discomfort... but no, he was adamant that he would never recommend taking the whole kidney out. If the kidney was full of these growths, or if the growth was deep in the kidney where a surgeon couldn't get at it, then maybe. But where it is on my kidney is very accessible and in a very common place, so he recommends just removing it... and if we are going to do that, then to do it with the least invasive procedure which is the Radio Frequency Ablation. NOW we are talking my kind of language!

Too boot, he doesn't feel there's any rush to remove it because even if it is malignant, the chances of it spreading outside of the kidney is very very low... so he wanted to run it by a committee of surgeons, oncologists and other assorted specialists. They unanimously agreed with our plan of removal by RFA, but also recommended that since my next scheduled regular CT scan is on June 9th, let's wait until after that CT scan and see if there's been any activity... and we'll go from there. It may be worth our while to just watch and wait if nothing is happening with it.

Soooo, that's all there is to my health issues. We are in a wait until the CT scan and then we'll determine after that scan whether anything need be done right away or ?? Meanwhile, I continue on being busy, busy, busy and my complaints just are all about arthritis and nerve damage pain. Some days are obviously much better than others... and other days, I have to wait until the meds kick in before I can get up and at 'em :)

Meanwhile... what is this retiree up to?? Well, we are getting busier and busier at TUTS (Theatre Under the Stars). Both shows are in rehearsal and the office is a hive of activity. I currently spend 3 afternoons/evenings a week down at the office, and 3 days a week on Metro Theatre publicity. Well, currently, I'm spending 4 days/week on Metro because not only is there the publicity of the last two shows of the season (current one is Agatha Christie's AND THEN THERE WAS NONE), there's also getting the website updated with all the information for the new 2010/2011 season, and right now there's the quarterly eNewsletter which the next issue is due to go out June 1st. So this computer work for all the Metro stuff keeps me busy day and night when I'm at home.

I have started to actually schedule "RETIREMENT DAYS OFF", one, and if I'm lucky, two every week. These days off are to do things like laundry, apartment chores, paperwork, bill paying and social visits with friends who have nothing to do with either TUTS or Metro (or they might be involved, but a time for us to go out for lunch or dinner or to see another company's production, etc). Hahaha... if I don't schedule these days off on my calendar, I seriously get caught up in working on one or the other 7 days/week!!

This past Saturday, we had a lovely party at our friend, Naveen's house. It was the first time we all could get together and just socialize... and I loved it. Although, I was really tired and my arthritis was really acting up. But I think it was acting up because I had been on the go for 7 days straight... hence where my weakness shows up. I'm not as young as I was back in the days when I would work the day job 5 days/week and then do my theatre fun in the evenings and on the weekends... yet I still seem to book myself as if I were! LOL! I look at all the kids in the shows.. most of them hold down full time jobs, then come to rehearsals, then party, go out to movies, other shows, dance classes, voice lessons, etc. and just thinking of their schedule exhausts me. So I figure my schedule is nothing compared to theirs... until I actually look at it and realize I forget to schedule down time for myself :)

So, there it is, friends, proof that I'm doing just fine! If I was having any kind of serious health issues, you know there would be no way I could keep up this pace. So as long as I'm busy, busy, busy and having fun... I figure I'm ahead of the game and I'm winning :)

Meanwhile, there are a kajillion other things I also want to be involved in/with. I want to get more involved with my photography that I've sort of dropped the ball on. I want to be able to read a whole bunch more! I have been loving getting out to see my friends who have just recently had their babies, so I get to be an Auntie to all these new babes. I got to see my Grand-nephew for the first time this past weekend. Little Kolt Wilhelm was due this past week (May 17) but he decided to arrive early... 2 MONTHS early and was born by emergency C-Section on March 17th. He was 3 lbs 1 oz when he was born and was in the hospital for over a month... but he is doing fine now and is at home and now weighs 8 lbs. So he is a bit more than a newborn weight, 2 months later... and he is an absolute doll!! And strong too... he's a fighter, alright!! I fell totally in love with him yesterday and hopefully Helen (his mommy) will send me a picture of him and I real soon :)

Ok... it's now 11pm, Monday night. The long weekend is now almost over, so it's back to the TUTS office tomorrow. But first, I must take wee Miss Bridget out for the last pee of the evening, and then I think the two of us may just climb into bed to watch the news :)

Ta ta for now!!

Cheryl