Just A Fading Memory....

So.....2017 has been really, REALLY weird. Not just for me and in my life, but just in general. In the world. Hasn't it? Is it just me?

First...we've lost way too many of our breast cancer blogging friends and advocates. Like, the tab at the top of this blog, "Blogs I Like"....So many of these beautiful people are gone now. It hurts. It's a punch in the gut & the punches just keep on coming. More really does need to be done in the arena of research and monies for stage iv. And that is all I have to say about that.  

Also, the stupid political climate. Just...OMG....It's true, I don't usually speak of politics here, but c'mon now! What's happening in our politics, with our President in particular, is NOT NORMAL! 

What else....Kneeling, #MeToo, the revolving door of staff in the White House .... "covfefe" .... Ok, seriously .... after everything that's happened .... how do we STILL have this Cheeto-In-Chief who can't keep his tiny hands off his Tweety Button?!!!! GAWD!!!

Normal? Ummmm, no.

2017 was wrought with so much dissension... so much divisiveness, protests and violence at rallies and in the streets broadcast live across all modes of media. 

2017 has been not only weird, but also very difficult. So much loss, change, ups and downs..... 

So, most of my regular readers (Ha ha ha!!! Like I write regularly!!) and Facebook followers know that O and I did the whole Texas to Georgia relocation thing. Again. A little different this time. Ok, well, a LOT different this time. 

First, right off the bat, I learned of the passing of my biological father, from whom I have been estranged....And that story is a whole other can o'worms that I am still not sure how to feel about. 

Then the sudden, unexpected loss of a very close family member in January, was not how any of us expected 2017 to start. O and I had been back in Texas since October 2015, and had pretty much successfully pushed a "Reset" button on our life, and then it happened. 

We flew on airplanes about every six weeks to Georgia and back, starting with attending the funeral...and if you know me, you know how terrifying that is for me and how absolutely dreadful it was for O to have to deal with me in flight.  And then we just moved in June.

We got here just in time to ride out Hurricane Irma. Which was awful. We were going to evacuate to northwest Georgia, and therefore didn't stockpile any supplies, until, at the VERY last minute, Irma decided to turn and go straight up to where we were going to go. So we stayed. O's first hurricane. We didn't have any damage. We were lucky. Three major hurricanes....Harvey, Irma and Maria.... So close together. What is happening to our planet??

October brought a cancer scare for me. A 3D mammogram, my first, showed a suspicious area. Ultrasound and needle biopsy later, it was nothing. And I'm pretty sure I would not have gone through this at my regular mammogram place in Texas....November brought a similar scare to my mother....also nothing. Thankfully.

Life is just different. Different good and different not so good. But that's life, eh?

We have reconnected with family, some damaged relationships have been restored, some estrangements have been reconnected. These are the best things that happened for us in 2017.

Sunset At The Beach - December 2017

Ah, 2017....when I reflect on it, it just seems so....so.....noisy. If that makes sense. Thus my inability to get blogs out. And I'm not so sure I'm at all enamored with how this post reads either.


2017 is over. Gone. I'm glad. 

Goodbye 2017. 

We Are Fam-uh-ly...

Yeah.  Family.  I'm pretty sure my family has more damn drama goin on at any given time than most daytime soap operas.  But whose doesn't, right?

Anyway, before y'all get all excited thinkin I'm about to air some dirty laundry, hold on to your knickers, cause, if you recall, I don't.  And I won't. This is just a bit of a vent in generalities.





And also, before anyone ASSumes I'm referring to them specifically, and starts posting all manner of snarky status updates and stuff...how bout this...you could just ASK ME if I'm talking about you in this blog post. 

Remember...I am part of TWO families.  

With A Little Help From My Friends...

And Family. =)
 
Hey!
Just a quickie to Thank Everyone for all the awesome well wishes & congratz & Likes on Facebook & stuff to help me celebrate my Four Years of cancer Freeness! (Yes I know the c-word isn't capitalized like the words surrounding it.  I try to never capitalize it.  I just don't do it.)
 
Anyway, just as all of your love & support, comments & Likes & stuff absolutely helped pull me through treatment, it still SO lifts my spirits to see all the Likes & comments & support from friends & family. Thanks to technology & social media, it's the next best thing to celebrating together! Right? Y'all are all so awesome & we love ya!  
 
Ok, so it was a pretty fun day.  We went & ate great Thai food at our fave Thai joint & then went to see the scary movie "The Conjuring".  It was just a great, fun, scary movie. Had some good creepiness.  And I ate too much popcorn.  (Either that, or my scale is absolutely malfunctioning, cause HFS it says I've gained weight like crazy this week.) And then we just messed around town here & there, havin fun. YAY!


Oh hi hot flash. Whew!

And O snapped a quick pic of me to commemorate the cancerversary.  And I was right in mid-hot flash.  So, here's what I look like havin a hot flash. I'm all like, "Oh Hi hot flash. Go eff yerself!"

LOL!  

=)

Vacation - Part 1: I Just Ran.......

Finally took a vacation & flew back home to see the family.  First time since right before my diagnosis.  Last time I went home, I went with the lump in the boobie.  Yep. I took my tumor on vacation.  And half of that trip was messed up because the airline lost our bags for 3 days of the 5 day trip.  

Soooooo, this time, we packed light, followed the airline's guidelines for carry on bags, & planned to carry everything on...NO CHECKING bags.  So you can just imagine how much I totally freaked when, as we're approaching the plane at the end of the jetway, the 2 airline agents start checking all bags.  And it was all like hurry hurry....because even as we stood there in the jetway, with about 50 people behind us, all with carry on bags, the flight was about 35 minutes past the scheduled departure time.  So yeah, I started freaking out.  Tried to reason with the female agent that I canNOT be separated from my bag.  Got medical stuff in it, ya know? Plus, last time, y'all lost it! Nope.  MUST check it - all the way through to final destination.  (We had a short layover/plane change.) All out of room in the overhead storage.  So then as O is trying to open our duffel to remove my medication, this crazy airline agent lady is all swattin his hand away & trying to tag the bags, without even having looked at our itinerary or boarding passes to even know where the fuck we're going!!

We were all like, Oh HELL no! This ain't EVEN happening.  And I just ran.  O grabbed the bags & followed, but I pretty much just ran back down the jetway.  "Let me offa here NOW! I am NOT gettin on this plane!!"  Of course, at the end of the jetway, the door is closed.  And I stop & look at it.  And think.  Oh shit.  What if the door is locked?  Or what if an alarm sounds when I open it?  Fuck it!  I pushed on it & it opened (thankfully).  Dunno if an alarm sounded at all, but all I knew was, we were outta there, WITH our bags.  

SO, maybe someone can explain this to me.  If the airline states everyone is allowed ONE carry on bag that fits overhead, & ONE personal item that fits under the seat in front of you, how the FUCK are they already out of room when there was still 50 some odd people yet to board?  I mean, clearly some people carried on more than the airlines allow per person. They were even insisting we check our duffel bag, which is usually our only carry on.  Never EVER been told we needed to check that.  And isn't it these airline people's responsibility to make sure everyone follows the carry on rules?  No way was I lettin them check the bags, especially the way they were going about it.   OMG they would've been lost for sure. 

Anyway, so we lost a day of our trip.  Better than our bags being lost for most of the trip. Next, Vacation - Part 2: Up On The Roof.