Today I was reminded by more than one person (yay for people actually reading my rambings!) that some people actually kind of care about me and that I had left the world in limbo after my last blog post. Sorry all! So drum roll please…the mammogram came back clear! Whee hoo! Still no idea what the lump was and I’m not worrying about it for the moment for a few reasons. First, I have my 3rd quarterly follow-up with my new oncologist at UCLA next week. I’m thinking he might order up another CT scan, and if so, that seems like a good way to kill two birds with one stone. (Look at me all saving the government money. You’re welcome, fellow taxpayers.) And second, I figure if he doesn’t want to do another CT quite yet, then I’ll whip out my pre-approval for more tests and get it done. But for now, I’m going to see how this new doctor is and what he wants to do. I am going to miss my fabulous German oncologist, but I’m sure he’s kicking cancer ass and rocking his new job as department chief at Stanford. And of course I’ve done my research on the new guy – he’s just as well-trained and awesome as my last doc according to everything I’ve found on-line, so I’m pretty happy. Thanks to the Air Force and TriCare for actually providing us military folk with some pretty damn good doctors occasionally.
So yeah. For now things are good. My husband and I had a fabulous time celebrating my 40th birthday a few weeks ago. We spent 10 nights in a suite on a southern Caribbean cruise followed by 4 nights in Vegas. And it was incredible. Sun, snorkling, gorgeous water, sharks, sting rays, sea turtles, rum punch, beaches, swimming, great food, cool shows, amazing crew, ginormous balcony, our own butler, really nice fellow guests and a generally un-hurried atmosphere made for a really fun yet relaxing cruise. (And the fact that the ship had a sports bar with freaking awesome wings served until 5:00am was pretty spiffy too. Those really hit the spot at 1:00am…) In fact, we had such a lovely time that I am already booked on another Norwegian cruise later this year with my mom and sis-in-law. Again, in a suite. Because I’m hooked on that whole butler, concierge, make a phone call and have someone bring you a different type of pillow or dinner from a restaurant that you’re too lazy to go to or more grapes for my bowl of fruit or a DVD or…Just kidding – actually, we didn’t use our butler for much at all beyond his daily stuff that he does anyway. (Honest! I only play a demanding bitch on TV. Or when I’ve stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.) I think we had our butler bring us dinner once. (Pizza and a cheeseburger, because we’re classy that way.) Beyond that, we were hella low maintenance. But he did a fine job of making sure all 3 of the different pillow types I had requested pre-cruise were waiting for us when we got there, along with some extras. And he kept the bowl of M&Ms I had requested full at all times. And he made sure we always had all the fixin’s for our coffee maker and espresso maker. It’s the little things, you know?
One thing I did bring home from the cruise was a few extra pounds from all that delicious food. And that was even with using the outdoor track and the gym a few times. So I’m finally back to eating healthy and getting back in to working out. I’ll be down to pre-cruise fighting weight in a week, tops. I’d already be there, but someone *cough* my husband *cough* gave me his horrible awful cold that he got on the cruise – I got sick the night we got back to California. Perfect timing. Worst cold I’ve ever had – I was useless for a week. Felt fine after that, then got my arse kicked with some stomach flu thing last week and spent Friday throwing up. Good times. (It’s moments like this when you’re really appreciative of me sharing the details of my life, right? Admit it.) I have never ever ever been sick as often as I have been since this whole pesky cancer thing happened. I can’t imagine how much worse off I’d be if I weren’t eating healthy, taking vitamins and working out. I actually did a little research on my own and learned a few things though – one of which is the probable reason for all the diseases I keep attracting. (Just call me the Pied Piper of viruses…) While I swear I took biology and physiology and health and all that good stuff back in the day, I don’t ever recall learning much about lymph nodes. But apparently they are an integral part of your immune system and do a snazzy job filtering out all the nasties you pick up on a day-to-day basis. Who knew? So having around 20 of them removed probably didn’t do a whole lot to boost the old immune system. So that’s my I’m-a-Google-expert rationale for why I keep getting sick so much more often.
And that, boys and girls, concludes the Gorgeous Blonde’s ramblings for today. Mainly I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m still alive and doing fine, and give a little reasoning for why I wasn’t around to update my blog. (As an aside, it took me 5 tries to type that sentence as I got a wee bit distracted by my husband singing…and now whistling…Pyromania by Def Leppard. *sigh* Of course that’s in between his cursing at the TV as he plays PS3 and talking to the dog. ADD? Him? Nah…) So there you have it. All is good in our world and we’re getting settled back into the comfortable and quirky life we’ve made here in SoCal. More ramblings coming to a blog near you soon. But not too soon – the Kentucky Derby is this weekend so I will be ignoring everyone Saturday, and Sunday I’m off to buy a bridesmaid’s dress for a wedding later this year. But after that, I’ll be back. Promise. ‘Til next time, enjoy your spring and do one thing today that makes you happy. Now…go!