[Carol.hope]

Wow, Karen, you sound like you really are on the road to complete recovery. In some ways, cancer gives us the opportunity to redo things in our lives we probably need to. You started that even before your diagnosis! It looks like your test results are good, too. Congratulations!

Recently it has occurred to me that I live in the wrong country for my situation. All my medical problems are results of medical treatments that were paid for by insurance. But it seems that everything I need to recover now is "experimental" (because chemo brain hasn't been officially recognized?) and not covered. Therefore I pay for the unpredicted side effects of my treatment with my life (inability to do much), my time (hassling with insurance companies) and my money (they don't pay). What kind of a system is this?! If I lived in any other civilized country, at least I wouldn't be dealing with all the phone calls and hassles, and I wouldn't have to come up with money I can't earn because my brain is fried. Sorry, every once in a while it gets to me!

If I could travel, I'd come visit you and help you in your garden! Just kidding. (And I can't travel - can't do airports, freeways, loud noises, crowds, etc. But I can sit at home and write, and watch birds and take photos, and read!)

I haven't managed to take on that big scary thing called Facebook yet, but when I do, I will look for photos of your beautiful life! Thanks for writing.

- Carol