Let me tell you, once you have cancer it affects every other aspect of your life. And I mean everything. For example, I went to the dentist last week because I hadn't been in about two years. Of course, I had to spend about 3 hours filling out paper work that included all kinds of questions ranging from "Have you ever had cancer?" to "Do you like your smile?" Because I have had radiation to my jaw area, the dentist was very stern when she explained to me that I need to take very good care of my teeth. I am young and these teeth have to last me a long time. You see, basically the radiation zapped my saliva glands and since saliva cleans out your mouth, my mouth can't protect itself against cavities like most mouths. After the lecture on dental hygiene, she used several high tech instruments that made weird, space-age noises to determine who knows what about my teeth. Between spouting off numbers and other meaningless words, she commented to me, "You have deep grooves in your teeth." I felt like we were playing out a scene from Little Red Riding Hood and I was inclined to reply, "The better to chew you with!" Sadly, her hands stuffed in my mouth left me only to shrug my shoulders. After her examination she broke the bad news. I have three stinking stupid dumb cavities that are going to cost me an arm and a leg to get filled. I go back this week to begin this costly dental work.
Over the weekend I sure didn't help my cavity situation any with all of the chocolate I ate. You see, it was my birthday. And this year, of all years, I was quite happy to be celebrating. Birthdays take on a whole new meaning when you've had cancer and feel like you have been granted, blessed, with another year. Shane and I celebrated by staying at the largest JW Marriott hotel in the world which just happens to be in downtown Indy. It was a wonderful stay-cation in a beautiful hotel. They even knew it was my birthday and delivered a chocolate piano filled with berries and truffles. It was so cute and miniature (I love miniature things!) and oh-so-delicious.
After a wonderful weekend, I started this week off with a radiation check up. Because of my old daily routine where I would just walk back to the radiation room, I figured I knew what to do and bypassed the registration ladies. But when I arrived at the receptionist's desk and told her I was there for my appointment, she looked at me quizzically and asked if I had registered out front. I guess three weeks of daily radiation gets ya nothin around these parts. So I went back out to the front like a normal patient and registered. They must have quickly passed along the information that I was just waltzing around like I owned the place because they slapped an ID bracelet on my wrist and told me to have a seat in the waiting room. After waiting for about 20 minutes in the exam room, the doctor finally came in and asked me the usual questions. Even though he didn't seem to notice that my voice still has a Sharon Stone quality to it, all in all he said everything is a-okay. So I am starting of this week celebrating 24 years and being cancer free!
