Art on The Square

Yes, I’m still getting out. Just a bit behind in writing about my times out. I will try over the next couple of weeks to get more caught up. 

The week of May 15 was fairly significant for me. On Monday, I decided a Dee trip to Costco was in order. I wore a crop top, hidden under a sweater (still not quite bold enough to wear only the crop top, but working on it).

Tuesday, I was up early, or the butt crack of dawn, per Ms. Dee-ism. With my wife still down under, I had to be at the hospital at 6:30 AM to have a couple of pesky melanomas surgically removed from my left shoulder, and Ms. Dee-ism thankfully agreed to drive me to the hospital. A few hours and 24 stitches later, I had two fewer melanomas.

Plus a story to tell. I was wheeled to radiation by my surgeon (doing cosplay as an orderly) where I stared at four needles on four tubes sitting on a table. The explainer was I would be injected with radioactive material, and then horizontally splayed on the examination table, and shoved under the radiation detector, to best locate my sentinel lymph node (the one closest to where the melanomas were located on my shoulder). During the surgery, not only would the surgeon remove the melanomas, but also the sentinel node, in order to determine whether there had been spread of the cancer.

While listening to the young radiation tech explaining the process– simultaneously trying to avoid looking at the needles–I realized the voice was familiar. A quick glance at her name tag confirmed my suspicion; my radiation tech was a young lady whom I had coached a couple years in the sport I coach. She was a favorite, and I had even previously written a letter of recommendation for her when she was pursuing a scholarship to study radiation technology. I considered having her as part of my healthcare team as good karma. Fortunately, I did have good karma; the lab report I received a couple of days later showed no spread of the cancer, and I began to breathe a little easier. I have a follow-up in six months, and as I spend two-plus months in the melanoma capital of the world (Australia), you can bet I will be vigilant to make all the follow-up appointments. 

I will also always be thankful to Ms. Dee-ism for being there when I needed her (and I think and hope she knows that).

On Wednesday, to cheer myself up while waiting to receive the lab report, and being out of commission from doing my normal athletic activities (two weeks of down time), I donned my Minnie Mouse t-shirt and did some retail therapy. 

Besides a trip to the local mall, I was a woman on a mission. A dress I fell in love with in March at a White House Black Market in Phoenix (but not the price), had finally dropped to my buy zone. Instead of ordering on line, I decided to visit the local store–and thankfully I did. The store didn’t have my size, but Chloe, the friendly SA, offered to call a store that did. A store in Southern California had my size (14), and would ship it for free. When on the phone with the SA at the California store, I found it was subject to an additional discount, so the final price was about 25% of the original $180 price. I was extremely happy to get a beautiful dress at a great price–and in a shocking development, it arrived in the mail a quick two days later.

On Friday, a number of high school friends arrived in town to celebrate the retirement of Ms. Dee-ism’s husband (whom I’ve known since my junior year of high school, or almost fifty years). There was a Friday get-together at Ms. Dee-ism’s house, and a Saturday party at a local establishment. It was at the Friday get-together I received electronic notification of the favorable lab report, and my mood for the weekend got an instant boost. It was a fun weekend, and Ms. Dee-ism did a wonderful job of organizing it all.

Finally, on Sun-Dee morning my GG friend Michelle and I got together to visit Art on the Square, an annual event on the downtown streets of my hometown. On Saturday, my friends and I had visited the event, and boy me ran across several people I knew. But I decided to roll the dice and go with Michelle, and just try to avoid anyone I knew.

I wore my new WHBM dress to Michelle’s house to pick her up, just so she could see it. The bare shoulders, combined with my twenty-four stitches, meant I wasn’t ready to wear it in public. I changed into a red and black checked top, my black skater skirt, and favorite Red Keds. Michelle wore one of her normal dazzling outfits, and we drove to Art on the Square.

Michelle and I did a brief walk through of the exhibit booths but decided nourishment might be in order, so we walked to a downtown restaurant with outdoor seating. Of course, Michelle knew our server. We shared a burger and fries, and then had to leave as Michelle had a mini-emergency to meet someone at her salon who was trying to buy something Michelle was selling (she didn’t know until the last minute they were coming). After meeting the potential buyers at the salon (unfortunately, what Michelle had wasn’t what the buyers were looking for), we drove to Michelle’s house to retrieve her black retriever Harley, and went for a walk and talk in a local park.

A busy week, with several days out dressed, a new dress, a new scar, two fewer melanomas, friends, fun, and a good medical outcome–certainly not a dull week.

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Congratulations to our Sun-Dee for hitting the Big Time!

Check her out here!

Also, I wish to publicly state I am Dee-lighted that our great friend had a healthy outcome!!

Makes me happy…..