It is January 19th.  Another year has ended & a new year has begun.  My birthday has passed and I’m 47 years old.  I know many women who don’t like to give their true ages, but I am thankful to be alive and I will celebrate every birthday.  I made it through Christmas with no visits to the Emergency room.   I did end up with a touch of bronchitis between Christmas and New Year’s  Day.  I’m much better now.   I got 5 pairs of earrings from my husband and kids.  Gillian and I will also be going to see “The Lion King” and “Pippin” on Broadway at the end of February.

I  saw my Plastic Surgeon last week.  (I arrived a bit late as the office moved & I wasn’t informed! I arrived at the old office, the door was locked, and the signs were not on the door.  I called the office number and got a busy signal.  I waited about 10 minutes and tried calling again.  No busy signal this time.  The receptionist informed me of the new office location, which was about 3 minutes away.  They apologized for the oversight.)  He removed about 50 cc’s of fluid from my right breast.  We also discussed reconstruction.  I’m still up in the air about my reconstruction.  Though I know that some doctors/hospitals are moving away from the TRAM flap procedure in favor of the DIEP procedure, I am not in favor of the longer anesthesia and longer hospital stay necessary for DIEP.  My plastic surgeon does not do the DIEP procedure and advised me that if that was the route I wanted to take, he would refer me to a doctor that did.  Not sure if I want a new doctor.

I saw the pulmonologist again.  He said everything looks good.  He wants me to get a follow-up chest X-Ray and see him again in 3 months.  I will probably get the X-ray done right before surgery.  I’m still going to the allergist.  I haven’t had any problems after my allergy shots for the last couple weeks.  I have to get back to the acupuncturist.  It’s been a while.  I feel better when I am going regularly.

As usual, work and home life has been crazy.  I actually started this post on the 11th and am back to working on it on the 19th.  I’ve been working crazy hours.  I have to write now because I won’t have time during the week.  Traffic Stat is on Friday.  I’ll be busy most of this week at work.  Last week, I worked Sunday evening and stayed over at work and worked Monday day.  I worked long on Monday getting work done for my Commanding Officer as she had Compstat on Thursday.  I was going to take off Tuesday and Wednesday but I still had work to get done, so I ended up working a modified late tour Monday into Tuesday (8 pm-5 am).  I drove home around Tuesday morning at 0530 hours after working out for about 40 minutes.  I got home and slept for about 6 1/2 hours.  When I got up I had a few errands to run & then I took Gillian to dance & I decided to go to Tae Kwon Do.  I’m trying to get back into my TKD.  Afterwards, we went home & I eventually fell asleep (not very well though).

I woke up Wednesday morning and Charles, Christian, & I drove into NJ.  We dropped Charles off at a surgical center at around 10:15. Charles needed to be at the surgical center at 11:15 for arthroscopic  knee surgery (#7).   I then drove Christian down to Maritime.  We got there around 11:30.  We brought all of his stuff up to his room & then I left Maritime to head back to the surgical center to pick up Charles post surgery.  I got stuck in a crap ton of traffic at the George Washington Bridge (roving pot hole repair).  I made two stops on the way back to the center.  While at my second stop, I got a text from Charles asking when I would be back to the surgical center to get his wallet and cell phone.  I was surprised.  I figured he’d be getting his surgery by that point (it was around 1 pm).  Apparently he had been lying in a gurney for about 2 hours waiting.  I got to the center about 15 minutes later.  I sat with him for about 20 more minutes before they brought him in for surgery.  I guess there were some delays.  About forty or so  minutes later the doctor came out to tell me how everything went (he removed bone chips and cartilage from Charles’ left knee).  I waited about another 20 minutes before I could see Charles.  A nurse came over, removed his IV and I helped get Charles get dressed and we eventually left.  I had to make a few more stops on the way home (pharmacy and such).  By then, I was exhausted.  I was thinking about going to Tae Kwon Do, but I was pretty spent at that point.  Xavier picked Gillian up from school and drove her to Tae Kwon Do.  Charles was on the couch with frozen peas on his knee.  (He alternated between frozen peas and frozen fruit).

Thursday morning I hoped to get to Tae Kwon Do but I was tired and I had to be at work by 1pm, so I didn’t make it.  I checked on Charles and made sure he had enough ice and frozen peas for his knee.  (Xavier stayed home to take care of him).  I worked until around 2230 hours and stayed over at work to start again at 6 am Friday morning.  I worked on some communications and during my meal break, I worked out on the elliptical machine for about 45 minutes.  I left work about an hour early and drove home.  As I was on the way home, Christian called and asked if I could pick him up at the train station as he was going to come home for the weekend.  I explained that I would be running around, so I couldn’t.  I  believe his girlfriend picked him up.  When I got home, I grabbed a few things and I was back in the car at around 4 pm with Xavier.  We drove down to my sister Monica’s house in NJ.  There was a lot of traffic as we were driving during rush hour & a trip that would normally take an hour and 20 minutes, took two and a half hours.  We relaxed and ate dinner at Monica’s house and then Monica, Xavier, and I headed down to pick up Xavier’s girlfriend Nessa.  This was about another hour and a half or so.  After a quick stop there (Hi Lynne!), and a much needed tea/coffee stop at Dunkin Donuts, we headed down to Temple University.   (While driving down Broad Street in Philly we saw a bunch of cop cars and news vans in various areas including near Einstein Hospital, Nessa informed us that there had been a school shooting that day at a HS in Philly.  Thank God nobody was killed).  We dropped off Xavier and Nessa and Monica and I started back to Monica’s house.  I definitely appreciated the company.  Another hour and a half of driving.    We got back to Monica’s, talked a bit, and then went to bed.  All told, I drove close to 8 hours on Thursday.  Gillian was home taking care of Charles Friday evening and Saturday.

Saturday morning, I had some breakfast, made by Julia, mom stopped over and we spoke a bit, and then I headed home (another hour and a half).  By the time I got home, I was wiped out.  I laid down on the couch and slept for a few hours.  I didn’t do much of anything on Saturday.  I took it easy.

Sunday morning.  Gillian and I went to Church.  She was an altar server.  We went food shopping, stopped at the library, and CVS.  We got home and put the groceries away.  I did some laundry and then I drove Christian down to Suffern to catch the train down to Penn Station.  I drove back home and made something to eat.  Charles is starting to feel better.  His knee is quite as swollen as it was.  He has stitches in his knee  but he has a follow-up on Thursday and they will probably be removed.  My peas and frozen fruit are unfit for human consumption but they work well as ice packs.  (If you ever come for dinner, I’d be concerned if we serve peas!)

I am tired but I am still up.   I will go to sleep soon but I have a lot on my mind.  Still thinking about the upcoming surgery.  I definitely am not looking forward to it but on the other hand, I want to get it over with.  I am tired of having only one breast.  I didn’t bother me before but lately I find I am more self conscious.  I don’t know why.

I am praying that this year will be a much better year for me and my family and to all of my friends.  Please keep your prayers going for me and for my various friends who are still going through cancer treatment.

Goodnight!