cancer survivor – Life of kk

I love that the last day of November blogging coincides with my cancerversary – it’s a great reminder of how thankful I am for the doctors and nurses – thank god for nurses! – at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

I woke up feeling grateful today, and I sent an email to my oncologist, whom I have not had to see for 15 years. I included a photo of the two of us (below) and a thank you message. I know she likely doesn’t remember me – she helps thousands of women – but she replied (!) and was so happy to hear that I was healthy and well.

All smiles on my last oncology check-in, five years after my surgery.
Sidenote: I LOVED that little peplum wool jacket I was wearing. And, I STILL WEAR THAT SCARF!

We often retell the story of the day of my surgery 20 years ago; in true fashion to our family, we had some laughs for sure. Mr. KK and I arrived early, I don’t even think the sun was up, to check in. An hour or so later, my friend and my parents and my future mother-in-law arrived, and we all hunkered down in the surgical waiting room. My mother whipped out a ziploc bag of brownies and we watched the morning talk shows. It was the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. I wouldn’t leave the hospital after my surgery for 6 days.

My surgery was long – about 5 hours; this was 20 years ago and it was incredibly invasive. (Now, the surgery is done laparoscopically with a much shorter in-hospital recovery time.) While the surgeon was performing surgery, she noticed that my appendix was not looking 100% so she took it out. Bonus appendectomy!

Me and Dr. Feltmate, an amazing human, doctor and surgeon.

When I came out of surgery, I was in recovery, and only 2 people were allowed to come in at a time. Mr. KK came in first. I was mostly out of it, complaining that my lips were chapped, going in and out of sleep. Next, my parents came in. Then Mr. KK came back. “Where’s your mom?” I asked him.

“She’s in the waiting room, she’ll be here soon. She’s just watching the end of Jeopardy!, it looks like Ken Jennings is going to win and be the winningest contestant on the show!”

WHAT?? Ken Jennings?? She was watching Ken Jennings? Immediately he became my nemesis! And this became the family joke, how my mother-in-law didn’t come see me right away because she had to watch Ken Jennings win Jeopardy! (Imagine the ridicule when he came back to host! The jokes never end.)

Thanks for reading along this month, and happy cancerversary to me!

Well, I made it. 30 posts in 30 days. AND, I didn’t even drive Mr. KK crazy this year.

A few people have asked if I would continue to post every day through December, too. I’m flattered that there are people who want to continue reading for another month! And I love the idea of continuing to write for another month (and lord knows with all of the craziness of December there will be stories!).

However, I feel I should give you a sneak peek into what blogging every day for a month really looks like, in this ridiculously unflattering photo of me, lovingly taken by Mr. KK:

This photo was likely taken around 10:30pm, me in my well-worn decades-old fleece, literally asleep at the computer while trying to write one of my blog posts. (I do think I should get bonus points for keeping my fingers on the right keys even while sleeping.)

Writing every day for a month is stressful. And exhausting, apparently.

But November 30 not only marks the last day of NaBloPoMo, it’s also my cancer-versary! Today it’s 15 years since I said buh-bye to cancer! I remember that cold November morning, driving to the hospital for my surgery like it was yesterday. In my week-long recovery in the hospital I alternated between napping, reading actual physical books, and binge watching HGTV and the Food Network (we didn’t have smartphones 15 years ago, or any devices for that matter…in fact, there isn’t one photo of me at the hospital or recovering from my surgery).

Fast forward 15 years, and here I am: Mom to the Little Mister and our four-legged fur baby, Rocco. This sweet photo was taken just this morning of Rocco watching the sun come up, apparently one hour before he threw up all over our living room sofa. Ah, kids.

Being the official start of the holiday season, I spent the day Christmas shopping today. And tonight, I gave Mr. KK an early Christmas present: I drank brown liquor.

I know.

Technically, it was a mixed drink (as requested by me, one that would slightly mask the flavor of the bourbon enough so I could get it down). After converting me to an IPA drinker, I know it’s Mr. KK’s life mission to get me to drink bourbon. I cannot drink it straight (the smell alone turns me off), and I’m not yet cool enough to drink a manhattan, though how I dream of the day I could order one!

Instead, we went the Grapefruit and Thyme Bourbon Smash Recipe, courtesy of The Tipsy Giraffe.

And I have to say, it tasted pretty good – and it was so pretty it looked even better!

And heaven knows I needed a cocktail because look who made his re-appearance tonight for the month of December:

He’s baaaaaack! Little Mister was so excited to see him! Let the ~~threatening~~ holiday spirit commence!

In fact, my nightly alarm to move the elf just went off!

Thanks for reading along this month!

Tag: cancer survivor

Today is my 20 year cancerversary!

Blog month wrap up, a cancerversary and the return of an old friend.