Now you see him .. NOW YOU DON'T!

I'm a fish whisperer ...
These are my friends on the fifth floor.

The date of Herschel's eviction is set: Tuesday, June 28, 2011.

He's a tiny little thing now, having been reduced to the size of pinto bean by the months of chemical bombardment and the sheer power of prayer. At diagnosis, he was somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a ping pong ball .. but not nearly so neat or compact. So the news that he's now shrunken to only 23% of his original size is fabulous, miraculous, wonderful news. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face yesterday and nearly hugged the tall, beautiful, wonderful radiologist who happily shared the news with me. Dave, bless his heart, missed the moment, having been relegated to keeping a chair warm in the waiting room. I couldn't wait to show him the report!

And with that report we then traveled to the appointment with the surgical oncologist, Dr. B. She is the elegant, attractive, eloquent lady who is going to extract the screaming Herschel from the inner sanctum of my left boobie and send him to the fiery depths of hell and cremation in some biological dump station in the bowels of MDA. I can't think of a more deserving fate. In some respects I have to express some gratitude to the little bastard. He, at least, had the decency to position himself where I would eventually find him last October 16th. And he graciously responded to the many, many bags of chemo that have been flushed through my body since January 5th. If I had to have a tumor in my breast, at least I got one that was well behaved.

The last FAC chemo session was not remotely pleasant. At the end I was dreading each one knowing what misery I had ahead of me for the next two weeks. If it hadn't been for Dave's cheerleading, love and tough love, I might have quit after two. It was that bad. But I am grateful for the medicine and the wisdom, education and years of study it took to create it and dispense it in a manner that has given me such a positive outcome. Even more, I am grateful to all of you who have walked with me on this road to health and prayed me through the hard times.

Darlene - unplugged.
At the tail end of the last of the bad chemo.

There was a time in my life when I wouldn't have gone to the mailbox without a full face of makeup and freshly washed hair. Ironically, it was a time in my life when I least needed makeup but youthful beauty seems to be completely wasted on the young and dumb!

Now, I can post pictures of myself with no hair, no eyelashes and just the most juvenile of eyebrow hairs. Now I know that it doesn't matter. What matters is on the inside, the hardy core of your middle, the foundation of faith, the appreciation of love, family and friends. What matters is the sparkle in your eye, the laughter in your soul and the ability to ride out the tough times knowing better times are just around the corner.

It's true what they say .. that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I'm still on the mend and will be for months to come but the worst of this part of my life is over and I am a better person for having experienced it. I can't thank you enough for holding my hand.