January 2021

I got cancer, right?

Not the retirement I envisioned. 

It was breast cancer, but in my lymph nodes, not my breasts, which have always been kind of rebellious.

My friend Chuck E laughed and laughed: “You have armpit cancer!” It was true. Then we listened to old Will Bradley records.

February 2021

I was lucky enough to start treatment with Dr. Mardones at Rocky Mountain Cancer Center.

She is not only the smartest person I’ve ever met, but quite possibly the kindest, too.

December 2021

I finished all my chemo, surgery and radiation and I was cancer-free, hurrah!

February 2024

It came back, but this time in my spine.

The new high-tech treatment is “a reprieve, not a cure.” I’m okay with that.

I do wish it didn’t have 300 miserable side effects. But still, I’m okay with that.

January 2026

Big News: after two years, my last pet scan came back clear.

I am cancer-free. Woohoo!!!

But I still have to take the dastardly medicines.

The upshot is I am miserable for about two weeks out of every month (after monthly injections with giant needles). During the other two weeks I recover and try to get normal until the next giant needles.

So call me… Maybe we can find some fun, but only during the good half of the month.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

You gotta take each carrot as it comes.