Celebration of Life!
 

Those of you who have seen my e-mails have followed how difficult this year has been for me so far. A new 4 mm lesion that needed treatment via Gamma Knife on March 5, and the previously SRS treated lesion in my Cerebellum needing surgery on March 7.

Then my newest development, my 1mm lesion in my brain stem. I will be beginning fractionated treatments next week, for 5 treatments.

Well, given all these facts, I could be feeling quite fearful about the length of my future. But....not anymore! As a sign that I will be here for a long time to come, ha! I just bought a new car. A red Mercedes sports car. Ticket magnet if I've ever seen one, but hey, it's cute and fun to drive.

So I'm banking on the fact that i will be here for a significant period of time and Chris will not be left with two fairly new cars on his hands. While at the dealer, I was talking about how I like to keep cars for a long time, and that I planned to keep the new car for 6-7 years. I couldn't believe those words were coming out of my mouth! 6-7 more years....

Actually, I'm deluding myself into thinking I have even more years than that in me yet....here's hoping I'm not in for a rude awaking in the future!

Esther,

You go girl! That is great! I hope that your new car brings you much joys and many years of speeding tickets.

Love, Peace, and Hope,

Carolyns

Hey, girl you go for it. Love your amazing atitude. I find myself living every day to the max! The first year I was diagnosed I would not buy a thing. Clean my closet out to where I hardly had anything to wear. After a year I decided that was crazy and than I went crazy now I have so many clothes don't have room in my closet. I have not bought anything like a car or big items but clothes and jewelry oh yes. I love socks and have them for every occasion and some pretty wild ones. Even the oncologist and nurses tease me about my socks. When they see me they have to check my socks and I tell them that is the wild side of me. They think it is so funny! Wait till they see my green shoes getting a little more wilder. In oncology they call me the clown, I keep them right in stitches. Oh well, we have to make our fun here and enjoy what we have left. Our bodies cost a lot to maintain, so much money invested in them and yet they are worthless but we are still here. I do things now I would never think of doing. Some days I feel like I am going over the deep end for doing some crazy things but I don't care, have decided life is too short gotta enjoy it. Have fun with your new toy but do stay safe!!! hugs, Sandy

My wish for you
 

is that you wear out your tires and you put 300,000 miles on that mercedes.

Good Luck with your treatments and drive safely in your new car.
I bet you look hot in it too!

Hugs,
Jean

OK Esther...good for you...I have a white one, wanna race?

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/12/12_7_5.gif Zoom...zoom...zoom

I think little sports cars talk to our genes when in them and tell them to shape up,live loud & live long! Drive or ride lots and have fun! ma

you go girl
 

Esther -

I laughed when I read your post as that is exactly what I am planning for this year also. My lease is coming up in November on my Jaguar which I leased 4 years ago (a present to myself). Esther 4 years ago I did not know if I would be around to drive the Jag for all of that time and here I am getting ready to again re-knew a lease.

This time I was also thinking in terms of "convertible". I don't even like to drive with my windows down most of the time so I thought convertible, why?
But I thought it would be lots of fun for a "granny" to drive around in one.
I seem to be seeing lot's of people my age with their tops down and their hair blowing in the wind. I could not do this in my younger years, and now maybe I can, and will.

I have 5 years left for retirement and am already figuring out how I can have a car paid off by that time.

SO........let's continue planning out our future as if we are going to still be here years down the road, AND WE WILL....

Esther, you drive down that road as if you were a teenager again and have
a BLAST my friend and with a HUGE smile on your face.

I am so excited for you it brought a BIG smile to my face.

Good luck Esther.

Mine's a white Audi S4 convertible courtesy of my beloved "old whats his name". Lets get together for a rally.
Go for it Esther!!
Love, Marlys

Enjoy your new car until it is what wears out!

Best wishes,

Kathy

Esther - you go girl!

Along those lines, I was bemoaning my upcoming "extreme haircut" to a lady at church today, especially that my drivers license renews in July and I will have to get a new picture...she suggested that that might be a good thing because when (oops I mean if) I get pulled over for speeding, I can tell the CHP "oh, that picture was from my chemo days" and they'll give me a sympathy pass!

You may want to consider that now that you have a ticket magnet!

Enjoy Esther, you certainly deserve it. Sandy, when I was first diagnosed, I cleaned out my closet first thing. It must be genetic. I've been slowly and carefully refilling it with better things because I deserve it. Esther, I hope you can continue to kick this thing. BB

Is it just me or has anyone else wrestled when buying a new piece of clothing (especially something pretty expensive) with "Is this just an extravagant waste of money? Will I survive long enough to get good use out of it?"

I did hold off on buying clothes for a while, first because I lost alot of weight during chemo and thought it would be temporary. Then I gained alot of weight and am hoping it is temporary! I'm going to start round 2 of chemo (soon I hope), and have read that the steroids I take will cause me to gain even more weight <!--StartFragment --> :-(

I did the clean out the closet routine on my first go thru with chemo. Haven't been motivated yet to do that for my 2nd round, but my closet (and house) sorely needs it!

Congratulations to all the women who are living out their dreams in their cute cars! I still have my vw passat stationwagon (good for storage), but it's a standard so sometimes I can pretend it's a sports car.

take care,

Anna

Esther -- when my boss bought a PT cruiser convertible during A/C treatment, she said it was because she wanted to "cruise" through treatment. May you cruise through treatment in your little red car.

Sandy -- I am better dressed now than in years because after treatment I became very interested in clothes. Not shoes. Just clothes.

Do what you want. Life is precious.

This is so funny. I was diagnosed in February and I have been wanting to clean out my closet ever since. I have been getting rid of all sorts of things. At first my daughters were worried. They thought that I was going to die right now and that this was my way of dealing with it. In my mind I felt that I was simplifying my life, getting rid of things that were weighing me down. I felt lighter.

Leslie

I told my husband about all the women who were buying cars, and I said maybe I should buy a sports car. He looked puzzled and said but you don't need a car. I said "need" and "want" are 2 different things!

Then later that evening I said I was thinking of buying a PDA, because I've just been using a kitchen wall calendar, and I can't bring it with me when I'm scheduling all my doctor's appts!

He said, sure, you should buy one. So Ladies, just tell your SO that you're thinking of buying a car...then later you can bring up what you really want to buy, and they'll be so relieved at the lesser item they'll agree to it! I guess this only works if what you want costs less than a car :-)

- Anna

p.s. I think I'm just going to go with the old-fashioned appointment book

Anna - good idea
 

Hi Anna

That is a good idea about starting high and then asking for less and getting what you want..

We have been talking about getting new cars, but WHATEVER you want is what will make you happy and THAT is what you should strive for. The cost does not matter, just your happiness. Look how happy Sandy H's new green shoes made her. That is what its all about. That brought a smile to my face.

And I am with you on the PDA thing, I tried one and ended up going back to the old fashion little appt. book. I guess I am just old fashion that way....

Take care and have a great day.