Y’know … you’ve learned after a couple of years in the GCB (Great Cancer Battle) that any ache or pain without a logical explanation (such as whacking your hip on the desk, or somethin’) is cause for worry. So when I woke up last Wednesday with a very sore right shoulder, naturally, my first thought was ‘I slept wrong’, despite the fact that I generally sleep on my left side or my back. The mind immediately latched onto that conviction. By Friday the pain hadn’t subsided. In fact, it was worse. So of course, my next thought was ‘cancer’.

It just so happened that on Friday, I had an appointment for a nurse’s visit. Just a basic checkup to see how everything was going. My oncologist was due to leave for India the next day, so he wasn’t seeing patients on Friday. However, when I mentioned the pain to his nurse, she vanished for a few minutes and the doctor came flying in. Checking this, checking that, he had his staff squeeze me into an MRI that same afternoon, with results to be reported to him, stat! (I’ve always wanted to use that word. )

The results were in by 4:00 Friday afternoon, and it was nothing cancerous. Whew! It was something called tendonosis. An inflammation of the tendon. I can live with that … literally.

Repeat after me … “YOU ARE A CANCER WINNER

Last week was the top ten women I admire. This week will be men. (The photo is of Walt Disney)

- Walt Disney (The world would be a sadder place without him)
- Stephen Hawkins (Probably the smartest guy in the world)
- Stephen King (This is a scarier world because of him. )
- Winston Churchill
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- William Shakespear
- Steven Spielberg
- Bill Gates (Where would we be without computers?)
- John Lennon (Love his music)
- Benjamin Franklin

Yep. I’m actually working tonight. I’ve been trying to get into this WIP for awhile and just couldn’t make any headway. Tonight (and this weekend) is the time that I’m going move this turkey along. It isn’t like I’m sick of writing this story. It’s still new and exciting to me … even though I’m nearly 300 pages into it.

I’m just finding myself easily distracted. Is that my subconscious telling me not to waste my time by writing garbage and just wait until the mood is right? I know that Edie can write tons of stuff and have no problem with deleting the whole thing if it doesn’t feel right. I can’t do that. I sweat blood and tears over what I write. I can’t just delete it and start over. That’s probably part of my process. I mull over a scene for quite awhile in my head until I can see it in my mind. Then I try to get it down in print.

Everyone has their own method of writing. This one seems to work for me … even though I don’t produce the pages that I want.

Listening to Bon Jovi on a CD and just got done reading Amanda Quick’s “Slightly Shady”.

This will be a fairly short blog, since I’m running late (screw the photo for today) and this is being written on the fly. My patented fifteen minutes time window before getting the little darlin’ up and running for the day. I work well under pressure.

I’m going to touch on taste today. Not something you really think of and not something the doctors tend to address when they’re handing out that lovely list of side affects. The loss of taste isn’t a huge issue given what a patient is going through with taking chemo, but it does have a lot to do with your appetite and keeping up your strength. During chemo, I pretty much lost my sense of taste. A bit disconcerting because I like the taste of food. Couldn’t tell you to what degree I lost it because it was a gradual thing during the course of my treatment. Chocolate didn’t taste good, for God’s sake. We’re talking sacrilege here.

I did find, however, that sticking with the stronger tastes helped. Dark chocolate saved me. Sweet foods and sour foods, peanut butter (great with protein, and necessary). Gatorade was good because of the electrolites (however you spell it). Pasta, red meats helped. Anything that was textured helped. I ate in smaller portions, but that was okay, too.

The thing is, you have to force yourself to eat. You cannot afford to lose strength when fighting cancer. You’ll feel sick to your stomach and the last thing you want to think about is eating … but you gotta. Best way to get well and kick cancer’s ass.

Repeat after me … “YOU ARE A CANCER WINNER”

In this age of girls who admire and view women like Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan as role models, I thought I’d list some true women of strength and honor. (The photo is of Sandra Day O’Connor)

- Sandra Day O’Connor - First Female Supreme Court Justice
- Amelia Earhart
- Susan B. Anthony: Women’s Vote. Called the “Napolean of the Women’s Rights Movement)
- Ophra Winfrey - Need I say more?
- Ellen deGeneres - Comedian
- Joan of Arc - Warrior and Saint
- Margaret Thatcher - First female Prime Minister of Britain
- Margaret Brent: America’s First Feminist
- Sally Ride - Astronaut
- Jane Austen - Author

There are beyond a doubt hundreds, if not thousands of women, that I’m missing, but there isn’t room to list all the women I’ve admired throughout history. What are some of your’s