Having Cancer is a lot like Getting Married . . .

Yes, I know it's a weird analogy, but it's true. You tell the same people. You worry about leaving someone out. The people who love you, LOVE YOU, not just at the cool occassions like a wedding but at the ones that really suck like Cancer where there isn't even free food and open bar. It's the same group and there is something awesome about that. My sorrority sisters have all checked in (Jill, I love that picture!) and so too my high school friends, an ex-boyfriend or two, and of course all my amazing family and those friends who really are your family (you know the people you talk to every day/week who share your life whether they are related to you or not). It's remarkable really and an amazing gift to realize just how many people hold you close to their hearts. I hope none of you ever find it out this way, but I hope you get to know it. It rocks!

Of course, with cancer, the list expands, near strangers send you well wishes and put you on prayer lists and drop off food at your house! Amazing . . .and so very much appreciated but also a little bit overwhelming . . .to the point of being a little bit funny too. . . .fair warning, I am going to offend someone with this next comment but what the heck, I have cancer I can get away with stuff I couldn't before! Here is my basic premise about visiting people who are sick. DON'T. I mean it. Unless . . . .you visited them when they were well. If I have never been invited to your home and you have never been invited to mine when we were both showered, well-dressed and well-rested then why would I want to entertain you in a hospital gown with 3 days of stubble on my legs and no sleep? I don't. Really. There are a few exceptions of course, people you work with daily, your minister . . . .but not many. For the record, I've been practicing this rule for years and I think it's solid.

A few other comments about the blog, email, flowers, and the phone. It is fine to call me. If I don't feel like talking, I won't answer. If you leave a message that says call me when you get the chance, then just know that you are in the cue and I will return calls based on availability and who I like best. Make your own assumptions. Please don't call after 8. I love emails, but I get a lot and I can't answer them all (or even read them all) right now in a timely manner. Same return rules as the phone apply. My phone can receive texts but it can't send them. (Phil?) The flowers are lovely and my room runneth over. That brings me to the blog. When I get home I will figure out how to add pictures to it and make it more interesting. It is more interesting for me, if you comment on it, but I understand that that has been a problem for some people. I think you have to register for a google account to be able to comment. I think it's free and easy but I could be wrong about that. Also regarding the blog, it is likely that at some point you will run across something here that completely offends you. Sorry. What you won't run across much here are personal bits about how Jason, Charlie and I are handling this disease . . .too much sharing, even for me, (and yes, I know that that is saying a lot.)

That about wraps it up for today. I will meet tomorrow with the medical and radiation oncologists to formulate a plan for the worst summer of my life. It appears that June will be surgical recovery, July will be the first month of radiation/chemo and August, Sept and October will suck. After that I will be back to my old charming self assuming this little liver thing turns out to be nothing. . . .