Aiming!

It's time! I

Time to AIM at Melanoma 

in Charlotte, North Carolina!

*Yes I realize this isn't the picture

that AIM probably wants associated

with their walk, but what the hell,

it fits my attitude towards melanoma. ;-)

I am so excited to head to Charlotte tomorrow after work. Not only do I get to spend the weekend with part of my family, and other melanoma warriors, but I also get to FINALLY meet my girlfriend Anne. Remember the beautiful prayer that Anne sent me when I went in for my surgery in March? I am just now getting to meet her! Finally! Not only does she have melanoma, she also has a family to raise; however, she has organized this walk in Charlotte and raised lots of $$$ for this great cause. I am so proud of her.

I went to visit the homepage for the walk tonight so that I could get the details about the check in time, etc. While looking, I noticed that the walk is in loving memory of two beautiful ladies: Melissa Sicola, age 33, and Laura Gillespie, age 30. The world lost these beautiful women far too soon. Anne has also dedicated the walk in honor of me. If I had organized the walk, it would have been in honor of Mrs. Anne. The woman is a super sweet rock star!

In other news, I had a dentist appointment yesterday. For some reason, sitting in the chair at the dentist's office really freaks me out. I still fear my oncologist more, but the dentist is pretty high up on my list of irrational fears. This appointment ended up being a teaching moment. Like any doctor, you have to fill out your medical history. When the kind-of-tan assistant asked about my cancer, I sweetly smiled and said, "Melanoma....stage III. Tanning beds are my worst enemy." She kind of laughed and said, "Yeah, I have been trying to quit. My Grand Father has a history of skin cancer so I know it runs in my family." I said, "Well, with the statistics that are available now, you would be silly not to quit. Plus if you really need a reason to quit, I will show you my scars." She said, "Are they really that bad?" Instead of showing her my scars that have actually healed nicely, I gave her a run down of the last 10 months of my life. I also passed her a card with my blog address. I hope she reads it. Minus her tanning addiction, she was a very sweet girl and she distracted me from the scary kid with loud tools coming towards me (AKA the 29 year old dentist...)

I did give the dentist a bit of excitement. I had been complaining about pain on the left side of my teeth. He looked at the X-Rays, looked at my teeth, and said, "Chelsea, have you had a lot of stress in your life?" Since we had already gone through The Cancer History, I gave him a "Are you serious?" look and said, "Uh....Slightly." He, excitedly, said, "I know it! You have been grinding your teeth!" Well, Doc, I am glad you know what you are looking at...

I am joking. He was a nice fella. 

But really. I just got diagnosed with cancer this year. Of course I have stress in my life, silly boy.

You never know when you will have the opportunity to teach. I could have simply kept my personal life personal, but because I took the extra minute to share my experience (I swear I don't go on and on about it. I keep it sweet & probably too short.) maybe she will actually stop tanning. She already said she had been trying to stop, and she did continue to ask a lot of questions, so maybe, just maybe, she will cancel her membership. Fingers crossed!

Well friends, I want to thank you again for all of your generous donations. I bypassed my own goal of $1,000. This money is going towards an excellent organization and I could not be more thankful for your help. I will be sure to tell you all of the details soon! 

From the very bottom of my heart, thank you.

Yes, YOU.