Things I've Learned that I Never Knew I Needed to Know

 This journey has been fast and furious but I really have learned a lot along the way ...  

• Daytime TV really sucks!   (Please let me get better soon so I don't ever have to be subjected to this drivel again!). Pretty please.  :(
• Ice cream is good - if it's the only food that you can digest.  And I could well be the ONLY person in the history of cacner treatment to not lose a %$#@$ ounce of weight during treatment.  Dammit!  I gained 5 lbs to go into this thing and NOW, on top of everything else, I have to lose these 5 lbs.  LOL  Isn't it ironic??  ;)
• A person can survive without vegetables (and wine!) - but certainly NOT happily. :(
• I can, in fact, choke down a bowl of oatmeal everyday - but only if it's heaped with brown sugar.  
• Just because popcorn (at the movie theater) smells good doesn't make it a good idea to actually eat it. 
• Dogs are incredible therapy ... even if they hog the bed! :)
• That I can blog from the bathtub - but you probably didn't want to know that!
• That it is possible to spend 3 hrs per day in the bathtub and not get wrinkly. (how can that be??).  And the Kindle is great for reading in the tub ... no pages to get wet. 
• That Shaelen (my beloved, borrowed daughter and university student extraordinaire!) CAN, in fact, cook! (but only with Gordon Ramsey (me!) to gently(?) guide her.  ;)
• I learned that I have enough self-restraint and good sense (huh?? me??! no way!) to NOT jump on the trampoline with a bunch of kids at a birthday party ...  that's just for now!  Next time I'll be in the thick of it all.  :) 
• I can survive the lethal combination of being both blonde and having chemo brain (at least I think I've survived!)  But it does give me 2 great excuses for being ditsy now.  :)
• One of the most important things I have learned is that it's ok to be selfish every once in a while ("now" turned out to be a good time to practice!) -- and it's not my responsibility to solve other people's issues - especially when I am sick.  
• That the "Big C" is horribly scary and very lonely - but it doesn't have to be the death sentence we all fear. Hope, tenacity and shear will power can get you through it ... with a healthy dose of wacky humour thrown in for good measure.   :)
• That healthcare workers are some of the MOST special people in the world.  Truly unsung heros.  So, now I shall sing for them ... close your ears! 
• That so much of stress and worry are manufactured by us - and are such incredibly unhealthy states for us to live in.   I vow to continue to shed stress from my life and to live a little more in the beauty of "now" and a little less in the stress of now - for the hopes of tomorrow.  
• That it is possible to get through the worst things in your life ... when you have such incredible friends in your life to help you see that life is truly worth living!  Thank you - to all of my friends who have believed in, and supported me, through this horrible ordeal.   I owe so much of the success of this to YOU!  

I never intended to share my illness with so many but I'm glad that I did.  I KNOW I derived a lot of positive energy from my friends and I hope you gained some insights and optimism into the path to beating cancer.   Sadly, nearly 50% of us will be struck by this disease in our lifetimes ...  together we can get through it.  I KNOW we can!   Post-cancer Lori "knows" it.  :)