Friday, July 25, 2014

Celebrate the Small Things - A Blog Hop Post

 

Celebrate the Small Things

 

Another week has just about flown by and I find that it is time to Celebrate the Small Things!

 

  • If you read my previous entry, you would know that this past Saturday I celebrated being two years out from a second cancer diagnosis.  Yay!  That is definitely not a small thing.  Carpe diem!
  • Thanks to social media, I recently reconnected with a gal I met while we were workamping in Missouri during the Winter of 2010.  She and her husband were parked next to us during those miserable couple of months.  One does meet some good people in this lifestyle.  That is certainly cause for celebration!

IMG_3186

Parked right on a lake, it was cold and windy – December 2010

  • I celebrate the fact that certain songs can cause my soul to soar.

What are you celebrating today?

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Two-Year Cancerversary

 

Two years ago today I was told a tumor was found on routine pathology of my appendix following an emergent appendectomy on July 11, 2012.  The cancer was goblet cell carcinoid, a rare type, and not related to the breast cancer I experienced in 2001.   About a month following the appendectomy, I underwent more surgery – right hemi-colectomy and bilateral oophorectomy – related to the GCC.  Once again, I was lucky, blessed – being “watched out for” by some Spirit greater than myself – in so many ways.  Finding the tumor at Stage II, being assigned my particular surgeon just because he was on call the date of my ER visit for the appendix (and who says first thing about the tumor, “I’m going for a cure.”), the superb care provided by the staff of the local community hospital.  My husband Dave falls into that category, too.  This was not my first rodeo with the cancer experience, so it was harder on him than me.  You know what?  He stepped right up with no hesitation and once again proved to be a man and husband in the truest senses of those words.

Melissa Etheridge’s The Awakening is filling my ears as I visit with you this evening.  This album of hers particularly speaks to me.  She compiled it following her cancer experience.  It’s serious, insightful, spiritual and rockin’.

Overall 5-year survival rate for GCC of the appendix is approximately 77%.  That’s not too bad, not too great.  That’s not being morbid.  That’s being realistic, although statistics don’t mean squat.   I could trip over a groundhog and break my neck tomorrow or live to be 105.  Not sure I want to live to 105, though. 

What it is, however, is a benchmark by which I can strive to live my life.

Hey, I’ve made it two years, getting a literal thumbs-up from my surgeon and a hug at this year’s check-up following CT scan.  Did I mention my surgeon is awesome?  When was the last time a surgeon (or any physician) gave you their personal cell phone number on hospital discharge in case you had questions or concerns?  He rocks.

Whether I have three years, three minutes or three decades left in this world, the thing is to live every day to its max as much as possible. 

All anyone has is right here, right now.

So how did I spend my cancerversary?  Didn’t even dawn on me it was today until this evening.

Dave and I went up the hill to the local farmers market this morning.  Dave appreciates a good tomato and the ones at this market are totally yummy, so he walked away with a small basket of them.  I scored some homemade bread topped with feta cheese and onions.  Yum!

From there we went to Walmart, where Dave picked up a couple of grocery items and I made a few purchases in the garden department, a new 100-foot hose and a pot for an office plant that has outgrown its current home.  Returning home, Dave mowed his portion outside the front fence and I washed our RV.

July 19 washed the RV

Not perfect, but better than it was and it’s white again!

I actually enjoy washing the RV!  Our home looks after us, so I enjoy giving it some TLC.

Dinner was leftover King Ranch Casserole from yesterday and some of that bread from the market warmed up a bit.  Sure was nice to have leftovers after we were both busy this afternoon.  After dinner, I received a phone call from a girlfriend of my Brenham days and we had a fine catch-up yap session.  She and her husband are now living the full-time life, too.  The three of us – me, Dave and Maggie – had a nice evening walk a while ago.  Dave is now watching a movie over in the rig and I’m here in the office with Melissa and you. 

My life has been – and still is – so very amazing, filled with sparkling gems who are friends, experiences of both spiritual and physical natures which have been breathtaking, adventures on my own which still amaze me when I recall them (I did that??), the souls who have passed through my life briefly for a particular purpose, the adventures Dave and I have shared over the past nine years . . . and just look at that RV up there in the photo.  That’s my dream, folks.  Living this lifestyle. 

To those of you who walked beside me on that path two years ago . . . thank you – thank you ever so much for your support during that time.  Your words certainly bolstered and strengthened me.  I am grateful for your presence in my life.

Carpe diem!

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, July 18, 2014

Celebrate the Small Things - A Blog Hop Post

 

Celebrate the Small Things

 

Guess I’m trying to make up missing last Friday by composing this entry Thursday evening.  Now if I can remember to post it tomorrow . . .

 

  • Tonight I’m celebrating the gift of Eagle making a fly-by directly over me this afternoon.

 

  • This afternoon I visited my hair stylist for a cut.  Ahhh . . . that feels better!  At every appointment with her I celebrate the fact that it is a relaxing experience, she and I have a comfortable relationship ongoing now for over three years, and I can emerge from the shop lookin’ good.  Catherine is a good-hearted and talented young woman, coming here to me to cut my hair during the interval between my cancer surgeries two years ago . . . and not charging me for the visit.  She works from a salon a 30-minute drive from here through the countryside now, having moved there from a salon about five minutes from here earlier this year.  No surprise that I followed her when she transferred.

 

  • Although I marvel at and celebrate the man who is my husband, I’ll mention tonight that I am fortunate to be married to someone who understands,  supports and encourages my idea of a solo retreat weekend on my own.  I’m considering taking a weekend to myself in the near future and am looking at renting a wee cottage or cabin not far from here.  I’m looking at Lancaster or Gettysburg, PA and in the Poconos.  I envision a weekend of writing, meditating and napping.  Throughout my life, I have been an independent gal, taking road trips on my own, tent camping solo and so forth.  We are together essentially 24/7 and it has been several years since I have ventured out on my own.  Perhaps it’s time to do so again, just to stay in practice!  At any rate, I am celebrating having a supportive partner.

What are you celebrating today?

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Friday, July 4, 2014

Celebrate the Small Things - A Blog Hop Post - No. 6

 

Celebrate the Small Things

 

Is it Friday already?  Well, then, it must be time to Celebrate the Small Things!

July 4 Maggie new harness

 

  • Today I am celebrating the finding of a certain type of harness for our dog Maggie.  It’s the only design I have run across that she can’t “Houdini” out of given the opportunity.  I wasn’t even on a mission to find one as I have been in the past; it just happened as an afterthought.  I have found them at Petco and Walmart, but had not seen one in ages.  In Walmart this afternoon picking up some provisions, my little voice said, “Check down the dog aisle.  Maybe there’s a harness.”  Sure enough, there it was.  Just one, just her size and pink, no less.  Score!

 

  • You know, I celebrate our wee Maggie every day.  She is such a treasure, a rescue from an Austin, TX shelter in 2010, a few months prior to our hitting the road as full-timers.  She is smart as can be, always smiling, always in a grand mood, happy to just be with us.  Such a trouper, she has bravely been with us through not only our travels but two hurricanes, blizzards and Superstorm Sandy.  My little bundle of joy, my sleeps-all-night-in-the-same-spot doggie, my funny midlife doggie.

 

Maggie Happy Face

Maggie’s Happy Face

 

IMG_3442

On patrol

 

  • After enduring a few days of absolutely oppressive weather conditions this past week (it was so humid out one could actually see the hazy moisture in the air), I have certainly been celebrating today’s conditions!  Following the front that passed through yesterday evening, we have had highs in the 70s and a light breeze with lows projected in the 50s overnight.  Bliss.  Absolute bliss.

What are you celebrating today?

Celebrate the Small Things - A Blog Hop Post - No. 6

 

Celebrate the Small Things

 

Is it Friday already?  Well, then, it must be time to Celebrate the Small Things!

July 4 Maggie new harness

 

  • Today I am celebrating the finding of a certain type of harness for our dog Maggie.  It’s the only design I have run across that she can’t “Houdini” out of given the opportunity.  I wasn’t even on a mission to find one as I have been in the past; it just happened as an afterthought.  I have found them at Petco and Walmart, but had not seen one in ages.  In Walmart this afternoon picking up some provisions, my little voice said, “Check down the dog aisle.  Maybe there’s a harness.”  Sure enough, there it was.  Just one, just her size and pink, no less.  Score!

 

  • You know, I celebrate our wee Maggie every day.  She is such a treasure, a rescue from an Austin, TX shelter in 2010, a few months prior to our hitting the road as full-timers.  She is smart as can be, always smiling, always in a grand mood, happy to just be with us.  Such a trouper, she has bravely been with us through not only our travels but two hurricanes, blizzards and Superstorm Sandy.  My little bundle of joy, my sleeps-all-night-in-the-same-spot doggie, my funny midlife doggie.

 

Maggie Happy Face

Maggie’s Happy Face

 

IMG_3442

On patrol

 

  • After enduring a few days of absolutely oppressive weather conditions this past week (it was so humid out one could actually see the hazy moisture in the air), I have certainly been celebrating today’s conditions!  Following the front that passed through yesterday evening, we have had highs in the 70s and a light breeze with lows projected in the 50s overnight.  Bliss.  Absolute bliss.

What are you celebrating today?