And so another chapter in my life begins. Life has tossed me a few lemons and my support group and family have helped me make lemonade. Since I graduated from Le Cordon Bleu I went on to become a cook on a fishing boat in Alaska. All that was great fun until in 2015 I had to retire due to bad arthritis in my knees. The pain was excruciating and I could not remain standing past 10 minutes. I was on a 12 hour shift.
Fast forward in 2016 we found out from an emergency room CT scan that I was carrying a 20 pound tumor. They thought it originated in my ovaries so I went into surgery for a total hysterectomy. While sifting around my insides they found that it was not ovarian cancer but a rare two in a million disease called pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP) in other words Appendix Cancer. I was told it would return and to keep an eye on it so they did CT scans every 6 months. Lucky me had it return in 2018. This surgery almost killed me. After surgery I contracted MRSA (staph infection). I was in a nursing home for weeks getting IV antibiotics then the nursing home pretty much kicked me out because I kept having allergic reactions to the various antibiotics, so I went home and had to go into the hospital to continue IV treatments. etc. etc. etc. I then felt better and soon after contracted CDIFF, yet another infection. My infectious disease doctor, Dr. Chua, went from calling me special to calling me complicated.
Fast forward, I am now on chemo treatments for the rest of my life, my immune system is compromised and I have some pretty painful neuropathy in my feet and a little bit in my fingers. My balance sucks and I have a tendency to drop things. If I walk without my can I look like a drunkard. I worry that while walking to my car without my cane someone will call 911 and report a drunk woman getting into her car and driving off so I always have my cane with me now and besides that I now have pain in my left knee which is pretty much due for a replacement.
All in all I am grateful for my life and the people who keep me going, love of my life, Darcy, for all that she does for me to keep me on the path worth taking, for shouldering the burden that I have become. I am grateful for the 3 girls who came to live with us, Ashely, Brittany and Ku'ulei all of whom have enriched our lives and have brought new life, Kainoa and Londyn, into our small Tri Cities family circle.
With COVID-19 hot on our heals I have made the decision to start up this new decade with continuing my blog and documenting the rest of what I have left of my life to give. I have purchased new material in order to make our office into a small recording studio for myself. I have decided to make short videos of myself singing so that when my body decides to give up the ghost there will be a little something of myself for what I have considered to be my posterity.
So stay tuned for more blogs and links to songs I have recorded using Youtube karaoke videos because for as much as I am able to play several instruments, I really don't have the time and energy to make all those tracks lol. Give me some time to figure all this recording stuff out before I actually post anything on Youtube.
Cheers to the return of A Pinch of Sol.
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