Blah Blah Blog

Again, nothing much interesting to report. I painted my toenails bright teal in honor of my official cancer color. Teal. Ick. But oh well.

Pre-op phone interviews and lab tests have been figured out. The mondo Costco trip is done. Birthday goodies for a small girl have been purchased at Hot Topic, and just need wrapping. I got a teeny ceramic black cat in the Halloween section at Target and feel fulfilled. (I almost-sort-of collect vintage and vintage-looking Halloween decorations)

Lloyd and I even took the luxury of wandering around Chico's little excuse for a mall just for the sake of doing it. I figure I'd better enjoy my excursions to the max before my enforced confinement!

I also used my newfound status as a wise, old, world-weary, outspoken cancer patient to climb briefly on a soapbox with the adorable girls in Hot Topic. They were sweet, and talkative, and didn't give me the usual "you are too damned old to walk through our door" look I usually get in there. They were probably in their latest teens or early 20s, since they were working on a school day, and they helped me out with a little plastic "placeholder" piece of jewelry for my belly piercing that I can keep in during surgery.

That led to one asking politely what kind of surgery I was having, and I used the opportunity to ask if they'd had the Gardasil vaccine. Neither one had, so I took the liberty of telling them how strongly I felt that they really, really should, so that they didn't have to go have a bunch of their insides ripped out later, like I do. Amazingly, I actually left there feeling like they might just go do it.

Good.

I have a feeling that my future gift needs for the little one will involve many shopping trips back to that Hot Topic, so maybe I'll check up on them later. Now, I will rest. A lot.

And, yes, today is that day that I will never forget. An awful lot of indelible awful memories are etched in my brain from that horrible day 7 years ago, and I've had a chance to share some of that with the kids, as they grow older and understand.

My most sincere condolences go out to anyone and everyone who lost someone that day.

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