Gratitudes

I have been extra grumpy possibly because of:

1. delayed reaction to cancer experience
2. sudden-death menopause
3. exotic post-op infection
4. hurricane-force antibiotic
5. decision to go off pain pills because dang! they're getting to be a little too nice

so I decided to count my blessings, which always helps:

1. cancer contained and removed and now miles away in some pathology lab
2. NO MORE BLEEDING! I haven't celebrated this enough yet. I am grateful, grateful, grateful for no more tampons, no more pads, no more accidents, no more "I've got to stay next to a restroom," no more soaking underwear in cold water, no more flooding when I stand up, no more black trousers only, no more jumping out of bed for the bathroom in the middle of the night (well, the hurricane-force antibiotic keeps that going, but only for 9 more days)
3. John, my support , friend, and lover
4. my beautiful garden which I spend hours in every day, thanks to Amy, Jamison, and John
5. water retention over with (I weighed 18 lbs more when I came home from the hospital than I did when I went in four days earlier--now it's gone)
6. light at the end of the tunnel--swimming at the BYU pool! walking around the block or up to the cemetery! hiking! camping--even backpacking!
7. Chris, who is just--it's like living with a young Jim Morrison, an aesthetic experience in and of itself.
8. my psychotherapy practice and patients I'm starting to miss.

I have a great life. Maybe that's the main point--I have a life. Three times now I've made it into more years via surgery, brutal, hacksaw treatment that it is. I'm grateful for that.