No more cancer!!! We don’t mess around!!!

I was thinking of writing a post on the wedding & the surgery each, & perhaps the reason why I haven’t written in a while is precisely that. I’ve just been procrastinating to write them, so much that anything happening after that has gotten pushed back as well. And because most of you already have been updated on these important events in the last couple months with other mediums of communication, I’ll briefly touch them before diving into the current events.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful! The largest one I’ve ever attended, and although I’m not the one to attend many weddings, this one, I thoroughly enjoyed! Don’t know where the energy came from, but it was plenty enough to enjoy. A special thanks to Shahniza Juma for choreographing at a last minute request the day we flew out for the wedding, & more importantly, for performing a dance with me, when it wasn’t even sure that the dance was possible until 10 minutes prior it to happening! Muchas gracias. I would say the baldini was a highlight with family & friends who saw me for the first time since the diagnosis!

NYC…a great vacation for a city girl in touring the city, FOOD, subway, & seeing the newest, youngest family member, Ariana. What can be said about his lively, culturally diverse & fashionably vibrant city! Many people or “beings” make this city lively, one of which are rats! Yes, we too had an uninvited guest, Jerry, in our apt who loved Twix. Had I known this, I would’ve just stayed longer at the hospital, which brings me to the real purpose of going to NY – surgery. September 16, 7:30am…11ish I awoke in the post-recovery unit under the influence, happy to know the time & the location of pain which indicated that it was the smaller of the 2 possible surgeries. For those of you who received an email from me around that timeframe, do you really think it was me giving you my own updates? Did I really sound that sound?

Hospital course (5 days) was actually surprisingly fun. A semi-private room on the 15th floor is not always a bad option, especially since most of the time, I didn’t have a roommate! Plus, it bought me a beautiful view. The Queensboro bridge was at a reachable distance with attractive lights brightening up the scenery even at night. A river, occupied by leisurely boating, separated my room from the brilliantly designed Cornell’s medical school. I felt extremely special with all the medical attention I received from the clinical care team averaging 5-6 visits per day & 5-member team’s presence when the surgeon made his entrance, forgetting this is expected in an academic environment. Other than the surgeon, my favorite clinician was the fellow, who thought I should walk a mile the day after surgery (yea rite), but eventually I did walk about 2 miles the day prior to discharge, which I forgot to rub in his face. He was also the one who kept me on my toes, but yet understood when I started to manage my own meds! The cutest member on the team by far was the little medical student. Felt bad for him because with so many people on the case, he really didn’t get to do much…poor thing, not even a single stitch…good for me, bad for him. At the end of the day, I was quite proud of myself. For something I was thoroughly scared about, I was surprisingly calm about it throughout the process, well except when I pulled a Carlton (from Fresh Prince of Belair) with a silly dance step before going into the OR; yes, I walked into the OR, self-sufficient transportation. After all, it is NYC!

As you already read above, cancer is tata, goodbye, hasta lavista baby! They didn’t find anything during surgery & the path report was negative too! I’M CURED…woohooo!!! C’mon join me in a lil virtual celebration here. I returned to the grind 2 weeks ago, and although, initially, this cycle seemed like torture, it too was short-lived & the rebound was quick. A few more cycles left; we’re on the homestretch now. So now, I’m purely a chemo-patient, and let there be no mistake – I AM CANCER FREE, COMPLETE REMISSION, TOTALLY CURED!