We celebrated the little darlin’s birthday last Sunday. This was after having to postpone it due to rain. We broke down and held it in a pizza place rather than risk crappy weather again. It went over well. We had lots of peoples … both family and friends … and the food was terrific.

However, if you want to have a successful birthday party for an 8 year old … I have two words. Silly String. For the past 5 years I’ve always provided a goodie bag for Erin’s friends and it always went over great. There’s nothing like racing all over the place with a can of Silly String. This year I was afraid we’d have to forego the Silly String fight because the party was held in a restaurant. But we got lucky. It was a gorgeous day and there was an empty field across the street.

The battle ensued!!!

I was thinking of what Edie said last week about meditation while going through treatment. That’s an excellent way to learn to relax. Thinking about it, I seem to recall my MIL giving me a tape with the sound of running water … tinkling brooks, rushing rivers … or something like that. The only thing that did for me was make me want to go to the bathroom.

Something else Edie said during one of the times that I was going through treatment. That I should visualize shirtless Hugh Jackman’s stomping on those cancer cells until they were all gone. Now that I could do … and did. I added of few other shirtless hunks to that repertoire and had a whole parade of men stomping on cancer cells.

Now that’s my idea of meditating.

Repeat after me … “YOU ARE A CANCER WINNER”

- Roses (when I get them from hubby)
- Carnations (ditto)
- Hibiscus
- Marigolds (I actually like the smell of ‘em)
- Daisies
- Clematis
- Irises
- Asiatic Lillies
- Day Lillies
- Pentas

I’ve nattered on for the past couple of months about my experiences with cancer, but now I’d love to hear how you’re dealing with it. I like to think that I’ve handled it with humor and determination. As I always say … attitude, attitude, attitude. I see this so often during treatment and recovery.

What methods do you use to get through the day when you’re feeling crappy? Personally, I ignore it. Not the “my head is stuck in the sand and if I close my eyes long enough it’ll go away sort of ignoring”. No, that’s stupid. I mean when I’m not being directly affected by treatment or maintenance, I’m able to ignore the fact that I have cancer.

Works for me.

Incidently, my tumor markers are down to 26! That’s down from an original 120 when this Fifth Round began. I asked my oncologist nurse what the norm was and she said around 35. Yippee! I’ve never been so glad to be on the low end of the grading curve in my life.

Repeat after me … “YOU ARE A CANCER WINNER”

- My Daughter’s Wedding
- My Daughter’s First Child (and any subsequent children, of course)
- The Pyramids of Egypt
- The Taj Mahal
- Venice, Italy
- A Whale Breaching
- A Wolf in the Wild
- One of My Books on the Best Seller List (okay, reaching high now)
- Stonehenge
- Commercial Space Travel (had to throw that in for fun)