Good news , good events, and gains...

Hi on Thursday in sunny Ventura where it is to hit 62 degrees today...

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, in fact, it has been a beautiful week so far.  Can we go back and say the week began last Friday cus that is the day I went to meet daughter Karen and her family for a school function. 

The school function was fun, Karen made me a casserole to take back home with me, and the best part, aside from seeing the grandkids and having time with Karen was that the clock struck 9, I was still out and for the first time in a few years , I didn't feel like I had to get in bed or cry.  In fact, I was still, I think, alert and able to put together a few words to make a sentence!

Monday... Last year, about this same time, my friend Ann invited me to an Assistance League of Ventura author luncheon. Oh, it sounded like fun, and I was eager to go and meet some new people , but when the date rolled around, I was in the midst of daily radiation treatments and had to cancel out.   A few months ago she gave me a "save the date" notice for the event this year and I said okay, but with reservations, that never ending fear that the big C would return and I would be in treatment again and not able to go.  Well, as you know, I was not in treatment, was able to go and it was a lot of fun.

Ventura doesn't have the glamor of events in the desert ( think valet parkers, fabulous decor and menus)  or the historic atmosphere of something in D.C. ( think the Building Museum or the Library of Congress or Mt. Vernon).... but that aside, this event was well organized, had a huge turnout and was an entertaining and fun day.

So, with that event under my belt and still with the good vibes from my Friday in Westlake Village with family, the week was off to a good start.

Tuesday  I woke up to bright sunshine, blue skies and an itch to do something.  That alone is a something new for me cus most days in the last year and a half I woke up wanting to go back to bed.  So, what did I do, you ask?  I got in my car and drove to Santa Barbara.  I went alone, but I don't mind my own company.  The drive was breathtaking with the ocean on one side of the car and snow topped mountains in my view on the other side.   I made it from my door to a parking place in Montecito in a half hour.  Talk about an easy drive, wow.

I didn't do anything very exciting, but it was wonderful.  I got a sandwich to go in a favorite deli ( from my27 years annual summer experience in Montecito for the Santa Barbara Writers Conference)... took my lunch to a little park, sat and enjoyed the fresh air, the flowers, the energy of Montecito ( could it be all that money???).

Then I moved my car to another favorite Montecito neighborhood and did some window shopping, more people watching. By the time I came home in the early afternoon I felt terrific, energized, relaxed, mellow.

Wednesdayy brought an email from son Lee ( leegoldberg.com) that he was coming down for the day, lunch together and then we'd go shopping for a new t.v. for me.  My current set works fine, but it is about 20 years old with a screen that was 20" and the set is cumbersome and ugly and heavy and took up a lot of space in my bedroom.

Lee had gone price shopping and brand comparing before he got here, so when we set out to shop we had already decided to go with a Sharp, slim line, in either a 27" or 32" at Costco.  Gosh, it's hard to figure on which to get, isn't it?  They look so  big in the store. Ended up with the 27", could have gotten the 32" and it would have worked fine, but was afraid it would be too big.

I'm happy with the new set, one of the housekeeping staff here took the old set off my hands and by evening, I was in my bedroom, happy as can be, watching a sharper picture and feeling like I had more space in this little room.  Best of all was the time spent with Lee and the time he spent programming the remote, and the set and showing me how to use everything and not feel like a technical idiot.

Then he also programmed my computer for a new slim digital camera I have, sorted out files on my computer and made it all so much easier for me. I am an idiot when it comes to computers and unless Lee or my son Tod ( todgoldberg.com) is in the room, I'm stuck.

So that was four great days and  I didn't think Thursday would be as great, in fact was dreading the day today cus it was the time for my 6 week checkup with the oncologist and I was afraid she would order a PET scan or say I had lost weight, or she didn't like my blood work or blood pressure.

Well, cheer , my friends.

Blood work was perfect, blood pressure was great, and ... tra la la... I gained five pounds!! First weight gain in almost two years.  I was thrilled.

And... she said, " I see no reason to order tests now..." which means no CAT SCAN or PET SCAN.

She talked to me about how much stress she felt I had been under back when I was in radiation and trying to fly back and forth to Seattle all the time to be with Mom, then while doing recovery under the stress of the daily worry about Mom, the flights back and forth again to be with her, then the stress of her death and the grief process.

Now that stress is behind me and it shows.  I look better, she said, my color is good, I'm gaining weight and the fact that I went to Santa Barbara/Montecito and wasn't worried about sudden fatigue or legs that felt like rubber was a great sign that   I am recovering.

I go back in six weeks but for now can relax knowing that over all I am on the path of recovery.  ... and  I can watch movies on my new t.v., go for walks and not worry so much about not having strength in my legs.

Don't you agree, things are surely looking better.

Oops, forgot I wanted to insert this picture up where I talked about going to the author luncheon. It's me and my friend Ann, taken at the luncheon and that big smile is because I was OUT!!

Here you go. I'm the one with the dark hair... Click to enlarge the photo.

Comments

[david Zarkin]

I agree that you are doing well and anxious to see you in a few weeks when we travel to San Diego, Malibu and Marina Del Ray. You are one up on me with the new digital TV, because I am stubbornly holding on to the old stuff. We just go back from a week in Mexico and I have a hellacious cold so laying low.

I did everything I wanted to do in Puerto Vallarta and it was great to be out of the cold for a week.