{Flashback} Surgery: The first of many Silver lings – San Fran bound!

For a while my mom, sister and I wanted to do a girl’s trip, but the time was never ‘just’ right. Life kept happening…all good things but just never the ‘perfect’ time to run off and play.

Well, cancer didn’t care to wait for ‘my’ right time so we decided the right time was now. (If you are waiting for that ‘right’ time for something…please trust me and do it now – book the trip, have the adventure, don’t wait!)

So the beginning of April 2017 – Off to San Francisco – I was scheduled for a Friday appointment to review and confirm the plan with my OM surgeon and then surgery the following Monday. But…what can 3 ladies do over the weekend – I guess we better have some fun. I am not one to miss out on anything fun, so we capitalized on being in the moment, truly living in the moment. We walked and walked and walked some more – I think we logged over 30K steps in one day seeing the whole city. We laughed, we ate the most amazing meals, saw the most amazing sites, breathed in the warm ocean air and truly drank our way through the weekend. I swear someone was looking down on us each step of the way because as we walked into a crowded restaurant the most perfect table would open, the perfect foam on the morning latte, the perfect pour of wine, the best weather. We seriously had the perfect everything the whole time. It felt so good to laugh and truly be ‘in the moment’.

I put the ‘why’ out of my head until Sunday night came. I remember the night before surgery was hard, but I knew I could do it as I had my mom and sister right by my side. At that time, I truly thought the worse was almost over. 

Monday came and surgery went super smooth. Surgery consistent of sewing in tantalum (metal) markers around my tumor – this would then allow for the proton beam to know the precise location of my tumor keeping the other areas around my eye safe and clear of radiation. Successful surgery and then the rest of the week was successful too. Successful post-surgery follow up and successful appointment meeting with my radiation team to ensure the precision of the proton beam to my eye. During the time with my radiation team, a custom mask was made to wear during the actual treatment – it was all just moving along perfect. I was in physically pain from the surgery, looked like I was in the biggest fight with Tyson but doing ok. The silver ling weekend of life long laughs made with my mom and my sister made every tear, every sense of pain be just OK.

Now back to Denver for a week until I headed back out to CA – UC Davis for the actual proton beam radiation.

Something to know if you must have general anesthesia in San Francisco. General anesthesia + crazy uber driver + roller roaster hills + bumpy roads + motion sickness +patch over your eye = Bring your puk bag because it will get real.