"Rise Up This Morning...."

 "Smiled with the risin' sun

3 little birds

pitch by my doorstep..."

Well, it is that time again. You know, the time when I have to actually become a cancer patient instead of just a cancer warrior. The nurse will call my name, take my blood, and hook me up the the chemo chair. Sometimes this all seems like a really bad dream. Then, my 3 months of freedom are up and I am kicked back into the real world of a cancer patient. I much prefer blogging at home...

As much as I want to say confidently that I believe I will have clear scans on Thursday, there is always that seed of doubt. Melanoma does not allow you to become overly cocky. I know that my life comes in 3 month spans right now. I will drink my nasty juice, lay in the machine that will scan my body, get my results, and then I will face them however they need to be faced. I can do this.

You will have to excuse my major freak out moments until I hear

that one word:

"Clear!"

My next few days go like this: Mr. Spots will take me the the airport where I will fly first class (Yay Mom and her dividend miles!) to head back to the big city. I will then try not to break an ankle ice skating in Central Park or Rockefeller Center. Ice skating in NYC is another silly item listed on my non-existent bucket list. This will be another item Mom has helped me check off. Thanks, Ma!!

Thursday I will head back to Sloan Kettering for two scans. After drinking the yucky juice, making small talk with the radiologist tech's who will know my results way before me--don't think I haven't thought about trying to get them to tell me if they saw anything funky--I will head back to the hotel and get ready for Wicked. I am finally going to see it! To say I am excited is totally an understatement.

Friday morning I will head back to MSK to meet with my own personal Wizard and receive my scan results. Hopefully this appointment will be a "healthy baby" check-up. I do hope he can help me figure out what is going on with my frequent headaches and the pain in my hands. On Sunday my left hand went totally numb as I was typing. That is not a good or normal feeling. Let's hope he has some answers.

Assuming that my blood work (all 17 tubes of it) is normal and my scans are clear, I will head over to the "Chemo Suite" for my 6th dose of either ipi or the placebo. I am still hoping for the hard stuff.

 

If you have a spare minute, I would not turn down a prayer or positive juju. 

And.....if you really want to make me feel special, schedule an appointment with your dermatologist. It's time you get checked out, too!

XO, friends.

"Singin' sweet songs

of melodies pure and true

singin'

this is my message to You-ou-ou...

Don't worry about a thing

'cause every little thing

gonna

be all right."

(Does anyone else find it a bit odd how much I love this song and depend on this song even though Mr. Marley himself died of melanoma? Oh well. I love it.)