Provence, Maui

One of the many problems with having  breast cancer this year (yes, there are problems with breast cancer. Who knew??) was that Chris and I basically missed out on summer. Summer is our favorite season. By far. But with radiation and what not, I was banned from the sun and well...bald. So we weren't really out playing in the sun much. That's part of the reason we picked Hawaii for our December trip. Our "make-up" summer.  As it has turned out, we got an added bonus.

 We also missed going to France this year (stupid cancer!). But today, on Maui, we got to make up for that too. We went "upcountry" to what really should be known as Provence, Maui. Why? Because stop number 1 was a lavender farm, where we walked the fields and then had lavender lemonade and a lavender scone with lavender honey (and we bought some lavender honey to go with...well, wait and see how the rest of the day went).

 Then we went a little further "upcountry" and went wine tasting! who knew there was such a thing as pineapple wine (and it wasn't bad, but there was some "normal" wine too, made from, you know, grapes and all).

(Note bag in Chris's hand...a little Maui Rose' champagne).

And then we journeyed on over to....

The Surfing Goat Dairy Farm for a little goat cheese tasting!! And as we arrived, many baby goats were being born. Spectacularly cute.

Minutes after they were born they were brought out from the barn to the sunny, grassy area where we could watch them try to stand (sometimes helped by the border collies) and then eventually run and play.

(They're not running...they're trying to stand up). After they are sturdy, they get moved over to a different pen. And surfing lessons begin.

And did you know Santa had goats? And lived in Maui?

After a "flight of goat cheese" tasting and  buying some incredibly fresh, fantastic pure goat cheese (called "udderly delicious")  to go with our lavender honey and rose champagne (read: Christmas day on the lanai), we ended our day back down in Lahaina, with mai tais of course.

But, I feel compelled to mention that I had absolutely nothing to do with this:

The Way to Spend December

Maybe I've been too hard on December. Maybe December isn't always about sickness and death and bad stuff happening.  Maybe December could just be about lazy days reading in a chaise lounge, mai tais, walks on the beach, palm trees, sunsets and kind strangers offering to take our photo.

Today anyway, that's what December was about. I could get to like this.

Okay, wait....Chris just brought me a glass of Chardonnay and a bag of Lay's potato chips (also known as "Teresa's favorite trashy 'meal'"). I could get to love this.

Walking south on the beach.
And then north (notice how few people are here?? Amazing).

P.S. I'm feeling so good about December, I made reservations for us to go on a Christmas brunch whale watching tour!  Details (and photos) will be forthcoming.

One Year Ago (the BC anniversaries begin)

One year ago today I was sitting in my doctor's office because I felt a strange thickening, lump-ish sort of thing in my right breast. And the physician's assistant said, "I don't like this one bit." So began my breast cancer odyssey.

This year, I'm cancer free, relaxing in Hawaii with the one I love--the one who saw me every step of the way through this-- and enjoying the view. This year, I could marvel at mother nature in an entirely different way.

 

(First photo is from our hotel room balcony--Chris is out there right now. Second photo is from the lava boat tour we took last night. Yeah, that's lava pouring in to the sea. Amazing.)

You'll understand if this is a short post, right?

Aloha.

Beach bound

My foot neuropathy seems to be getting better.

My hair is getting longer.

The cough is pretty much gone.

My ribs are starting to feel better.

I've got only 3 more days in the office (yeah, still need to work Sunday).

Things are looking up.

And do you know why?

Because that photo is where I will be in just about 100 hours from now. I'm trying not to jinx it (you'll understand if I'm skeptical about this time of year, right?), but I'm really looking forward to this. I need a vacation from this year.

The laptop is going with me (I'm going to keep writing the memoir), so expect photos and maybe a little bragging. Also news of a tsunami total relaxation.

And just so we all remember how far I've come...remember this little encounter with a Hawaiian Sunset last January? Ha! Obviously it was just a vision of happiness to come.

The Holidays...so far so good

I guess I've been sounding grumpy in my blog postings of late (Chris informs me of this--he says I'm dangerously close to the "hey kids get off my lawn" old person except we have no lawn). Yeah, there's a reason for that (hint: I am grumpy). But I will say, the holidays have officially started and so far...so good. Of course, it helps tremendously that I don't really have to deal with them at all this year. Chris and I are off to Hawaii in 16 days, 11 hours and oh, call it seven or eight minutes. That's a whole heck of a lot better than this time last year.

Around this time a year ago I had felt "the lump." Chris had felt "the lump". Although then we were in the "it's not really a lump--it's more of just a thickening" stage. And I was in the "I don't really have time to get to the doctor and sit around for an hour or so waiting for my appointment" stage (my primary care physician is never, but never, on schedule). Eventually I got to the doctor and we all know what happened next.

My what a difference a year makes. I may have been not-horrified to hear Christmas carols recently. It's possible the commercials that already say "last minute shopping deals" aren't bothering me. I'm not throwing things at the television when sappy holiday movies are advertised.  I'm still not at the "I'm looking forward to Christmas" stage. Heck, I'm not even at the "I acknowledge that it's Christmas" stage. I'm at the "I'm so excited all this stuff is 'not applicable'" stage (also, I'm thinking I would like being Jewish right about now every year). But, I am acknowledging that Jimmy Buffett's birthday is coming up and I'm really, really looking forward to celebrating that on a beach with a mai tai and Chris and not a care in the world (I can barely type that without thinking I'm jinxing myself, such is my fear of this time of year; knocking on all sorts of wood).

Oh and the photo, that's Chris and I with our friends Sheena Meder, Roryann Clements, Barb Abel and Ronaldo Fierro after we closed down the wine bar at Mission Inn post-private party at Bistro O at Omakase for the Festival of Lights Friday night. I'm not going to say it was a holiday celebration, I'm just going to tell you we had a great night.

So far, so good.

PS. My next post will be my 200th post. Wow. Yeah, that's quite a year. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Before, During and After

I've gotten comfortable with my hair. I might even like it. I would never, ever in a million years have voluntarily cut my hair like this or become a brunette. And yet, I sort of like it. I'm not leaving it this short, and I may add a few (incredibly natural) highlights, but I am starting to look at shorter hair styles as the end goal instead of just wanting to get back to the same old same old long blonde hair.

Sunday I went to brunch with friends from junior high (oh, that terrible, mean, difficult junior high time!!). One of them (Hi, Tana!!) has a haircut sort of like mine (only hers is more stylish, because, well, she got to actually cut and style it that way). And that made me feel good; especially since she was the girl in junior high with the really long really gorgeous hair. She still looks gorgeous (and a lot taller!). There will be more on the brunch later, because of course, I have pictures.

Then, last night was the "Breast Cancer: Now What?" professionals panel that the Pink Ribbon Place put on. Over 40 women and men attended to hear our panel of doctors discuss breast cancer treatment and answer their questions (more on this later too; geez, I better start blogging more). I was the moderator so I was up at the podium and could see out over the audience. A roomful of women with hats, wigs, and scarves--all looking fantastic. It was a terrific event and I felt sort of oddly proud to be part of the group and I felt proud of "the battle." I realized again that the hair or lack thereof is the most and maybe only outward sign of this breast cancer battle. It's the only one I have still remaining (okay, two scars, but they're barely visible and only two of us ever see them). So maybe rather than thinking of the new hair as a scar or wound from the battle, I can think of it as a medal. I battled through breast cancer. I won. And the hair is well on it's way back.

Naturally, I have that journey in pictures:

December 26, 2008:

May 9, 2009:

And October 25, 2009:

And did I mention we're going to Hawaii in 35 days???! 2009 is looking better and better.

(P.S. Seamus is actually in all three of these photos--if you look closely at the last one you can see the very top of his head; it's just really hard to get a photo with Seamus actually facing the camera; especially the last two photos which we were taking ourselves. But he was there. He's part of the  kickin'  cancer's butt crew after all).