Happy Father's Day...

I hope all the Dad's out there had a fantastic Father's Day...Happy Belated B-day to my nephew Eric and my friend Penny!

Wow – summer is flying by…we have been keeping busy but having lots of fun. This past weekend was crazy…Jillian finished up her week of vacation bible school on Thursday so she was pretty tired by the time Friday rolled around. We had made plans on Friday night to attend the Midsummer Arts Festival and even though the heat index was 100 she and I still went and had a great time. Bret was down in Cinci at a Red’s game with some friends. After the art fest I dropped Jillian off at home with Tyler and went to a party for the Mother’s and More group….it was a couples dinner and I was amazed by how many people I had “connections” with. One gal grew up in Amherst which was very close to Vermilion and one of our big high school rivals. One of the husbands grew up in Crawfordsville where I lived for 11 years after leaving Vermilion and then another husband grew up in Stone Mountain, GA which bordered Conyers which was where I worked when we lived down there….who knew Cinci was such a melting pot!! Anyway, it was a great party.



On Saturday we packed up the van and headed over to Bart’s to celebrate Father’s Day with Bret’s family. Bret’s Dad and Nancy met us over there. We had a fun day watching the kids swim and play together and a nice cook out that afternoon. I had come up with a plan that we should all sleep out in tents….I don’t think anyone except Jillian was too excited about my plan but almost everyone had agreed that we would do it. All the kids were very excited as tents started to go up but Bart could not locate their family tent so a great deal of confusion was created trying to figure out a plan of who would sleep where??? I finally suggested that I would sleep with all of the kids in the Galberg Taj Mahal tent that we had borrowed from our wonderful neighbors. The kids all agreed to the plan (all the adults were more than willing to agree) so we started loading in air mattresses, inflatable sleeping bags, stuffed animals, favorite blankets and pillows, books, etc. While we were fixing s’mores, playing with glow sticks and catching lightning bugs Hollyn decided her tummy didn’t feel well and she should probably sleep inside…1 down…..it was finally time for us all to load into the tent. Once we got everyone in the tent and into their agreed upon sleeping position Chance announced that “he really didn’t like new things (sleeping in a tent) and since he didn’t have his night light he should probably sleep inside…2 down….Jillian and Paige and I settled in and decided we would each make up princess tales to share….we did that for a while and when I said it was time to quiet down Paige (the youngest of the group) decided she was afraid of the dark and should probably sleep inside…3 down….that left Jillian and I in the BIG tent with 2 queen size air mattresses, 3 blow up sleeping bags, 1 normal sleeping bag and a variety of blankets, pillows, stuffed animals and books. Jillian decided she wanted to get out of her inflatable bed and sleep with me so the two of us cuddled up in the corner of the tent and went to sleep….until the cat tried to attack me thru the screen…scared the shit out of me and since it was dark I didn’t realize it was Bart and Amy’s cat and it probably would have been much happier in the house just like all their kids! You all know how much I “love” cats but don’t worry…I didn’t kill it or anything like that…just did my best to “strongly encourage” it to go away….it came back…scared the shit out of me again…..by 6:00 the cat was pretty frustrated and it launched a major attack on the screen right by my head…TENT TIME WAS OVER!!! I grabbed my favorite pillows and Jillian and into the house we went. I went downstairs to the comfy guest bed and slept a few hours. Now I know why I don’t camp very often but I am glad that we did it…J



After loading everything back in the van it was time to head home. Once we unpacked we spent the afternoon at the pool and then that evening we had a wonderful Father’s Day Cookout with our neighbors….what a weekend but it really was a great one with many great memories!



Not much new with medical issues. I got new glasses a few weeks ago and I was amazed how nervous I was during the exam…I think it’s that stupid air puffer but you would think that after everything that I have had done to me this would be a breeze! I also went for my yearly skin cancer screening and all was fine with that. Next week I go for my three month check up with Dr. B. Last Wednesday marked 21 months that I have been cancer free….I am really looking forward to hitting that two year mark in September. I don’t have much to talk to Dr. B. about next week. The main topic will be hair loss…yep, I think I am losing hair again or it is thinning quickly. From my research I have found that it is a “not so common” side affect of the aromatase inhibitor (arimidex) that I started taking in May after having my ovaries removed. The plan is that I will take this drug for 4 more years which should reduce my risk of recurrence. Within the last few weeks I have really noticed my hair coming out in the shower and it’s starting to look thin in the front. This obviously does not make me happy….we will just have to wait and see what his opinion is next week…UGH, cancer…the gift that just keeps on giving….



I have finally gotten some motivation to start thinking about a revision surgery on the foobs and finishing them up with tats. I have made an appt with another plastic surgeon to get a second opinion on what my options are to fix some of the denting, rippling, etc. on the current ones. I have also been researching tattoos in place of nips….I don’t think there is anyone in Cinci that does this…I have found two permanent make-up artists that are now offering this service to breast reconstruction patients…they call it 3-D nipples because it basically is a tattoo of the nipple and areola but from what I have seen they just look like the real deal…it will be a while before I am ready for that stage but I know I just need to go ahead and get moving again…I just think it will make me feel better and not like I am still in the middle of all this…maybe some closure…



Well, that’s probably more than enough info on nips, tattoos, etc. Thanks for checking in on us. I hope everyone is having a great summer full of wonderful memories…cherish each and every moment…life is short!