Milestone

According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for Stage IA Melanoma is 97%.

Well... guess who got the all-clear from her dermatologist on Monday to join the 97%?? Me!! He reiterated that it's a great plan to keep up with the sun protection, but that my cancer was NOT sun-related. He suggested that Stephan takes pictures of the danger zones on my body like my back, arms and legs, and compare them to my actual body every 6 months or so.

I was also cleared to have a checkup every 12 months, instead of 6. This was huge. I walked out of the office witha huge smile on my face, and then broke down crying in the car. Cancer is finally past tense for me.

And... exhale.

Can't let this go...

An amazing (truly amazing) teenager ran with us and made this video of our Ragnar experience. The music, the editing... seriously it all really captures exactly our experience during the race. It's well worth the 10 minutes to watch the whole thing. Enjoy!!

Clarity

High dive into frozen waves where the past comes back to life...


Not running is teaching me a lot of valuable lessons. Here are a few:
1. Showers aren't a daily need.
2. I have to pay attention to what I eat because I won't run it off later.
3. Most laundry can be dried in a drier.
4. Taking kids to the park is a lot more fun if your IT bands don't ache.
5. It's easier to ogle the neighbor's garden when you're walking.

Overheard: New Appliance

Him: "Honey, did my eyebrow ever grow back?"
Me: Huh??
Him: "We're trained NEVER to shave an eyebrow because sometimes they don't grow back. Can you live with a man with only 1.5 eyebrows?"

Overheard: For Posterity

Kid: Hey, Dad. Thanks for letting me clean up the cat puke.



For the record- he's only three and a half. We usually scream for him to avoid the cat puke. Actually, thinking about it now, cat puke seems to be one of the constants in that kid's life. The cat is always puking, and we're always yelling for him to NOT STEP IN THE CAT PUKE! And to STAY AWAY FROM THE CAT PUKE!

So this morning it was fun for him to actually help us out and (with supervision) clean up the cat puke. When he thanked Stephan for this indulgence, he wanted me to blog about it so we remember forever the time our kid thanked us for cleaning up cat puke.

Stop Running

What?!

Yeah, I know. That's insane. Crazy. Who on Earth would ever Stop Running?

Uh, me, I guess.

What's the deal? A doctor (man, these doctors) looked at me and explained that the circulation/blood/heat issues I'm having aren't going away and we've changed everything else except the running. So now it's time to change the running. She says that I need to walk every day for 30 minutes. I'm supposed to resist the urge to break into a run, and not take any days off. Less of a 'streak' and more of a 'smear'.

This means that the 1/2 marathon I've signed up for (and raised $800+ for the American Cancer Society for) is off the books this year. I'm still going to the event, still suiting up and possibly wearing the bib around, but I'm not running it.
Have you seen the shirt that says:

FDL (finished dead last)
is better than
DNF (did not finish)
is better than
DNS (did not start)

I'm not starting this one. And it sucks. It sucks just typing these words and making it official. Plus, this is stressful. And how do we handle stress? Apparently, with a 2 mile, 30 minute walk.

Zzzzzzzzzzz

Why is it (and my parent-readers may be able to answer this) that the child you are laying next to will NOT fall asleep, until you, yourself, fall asleep first? Is sleeping like yawning, in that, when you see someone yawn, you join in the yawn too?

And then, how do they stay so silently asleep while you (the assumed parent) wake up with a start, drool plastering your hair to your face, to dizzily pick yourself off the floor and stumble into your own bed?

(Wait... I think I'm referring to myself in the second person again. Dang.)