It’s Friday! I’m so thankful for another day with friends and a work day that wasn’t terrible. I also had my 3 month visit with my oncologist which went well, despite the hour delay getting in to see him. My blood counts are fine. Nothing looked strange in my exam. The nurse who gave me my hormone injection made it fairly painless, so I may not end up with a big bruise this time.

My doctor did tell me that I should lose weight. Five pounds minimum and ten as a goal, which is about how much I’ve gained since my diagnosis. I blamed the hormone therapy, but that didn’t work. I had to admit that I haven’t really gotten back to exercising regularly. He said to think about it as another preventative measure for keeping cancer from returning. He reminded me that fat cells make estrogen and my breast cancer was estrogen fed. I don’t need to up estrogen and increase my cancer risk. Boo. Goodbye chocolate Bundt cake.

Today is also my mother-in-law’s birthday and I’m grateful for her. She’s so supportive and generous and welcoming and easy to hang out with. I wish we lived closer.

Today I’m thankful for friends. And children with abundant energy and no inhibitions. And lots of hugs.

I am so tired. Three days back to work and my vacation seems like a month ago. Sigh. Yet I hate to even complain about such stuff when there are larger problems in the world.

Yesterday I finally heard back from my plastic surgeon’s office about his surgery schedule. I knew it wouldn’t be soon but he’s booked out to August. That will be a year after my mastectomy. I keep remembering how I thought I’d have my final surgery by my birthday last November. Crazy. But here’s the even crazier bit. When I talked to the scheduling office, they had a cancellation THAT morning for a date in June. So my surgery is set for June 17. And today they called to set my pre-op appointment. Yay!

I’m thankful for the cancellation. I’m thankful that I have my surgery scheduled. I’m hopeful that the delay will mean that this will be my final, final surgery because all the skin stretching will be done. Fingers crossed!

Today I’m thankful for good conversations, homemade soup, and enough sunshine to melt the snow.

One of my coworkers told me today that I looked different. Apparently, my vacation has made a physical impact on my appearance and not because I’m tan. It’s that I was relaxed. I’m afraid it won’t last long.

I purposely avoided checking on work while I was gone. I didn’t do much on social media. I especially ignored the news while away. It was willful ignorance because I needed the break. But it’s back to reality and that looks a bit grim right now. My heart breaks for everyone amid the violence going on. I pray for peace.

I met with my plastic surgeon this afternoon. we did a refill of the saline he removed before my vacation. I’ll go again in a few weeks for another fill, but he says I’m ready for surgery after that. And I am ready to be done. I need to get beyond this reconstruction.

Even though I’m back to my normal stress, I’m so very grateful for the week of relaxation I had that allowed me to start my week off well. I know how lucky I am.

While my vacation had some pretty amazing views, today I’m thankful for this one.

Music is the theme of our cruise, and there are some great musicians and dancers for entertainment. There is also some cool music-themed artwork on board. I especially like these portraits done with old cassette tapes and vinyl records. I’m always impressed and inspired by the creativity of others, and I’m grateful to see it every where.

I’m losing all track of time. Is it March? Is it May? I know it’s an “M” month. It feels like I’ve been away from home a long time. Patrick sent me some pictures of the pups today. I miss those cute faces.

Today we were in St. Thomas. Most of our group went on water excursions, but a few of us just wandered the shops. It actually rained off and on all day, but it was still warm and beautiful. Tonight we all had dinner together and my mom and I won a drawing at the onboard jewelry store. Nothing big—just some costume jewelry, but it came with champagne. Woohoo!

I’m thankful that we are still having fun after 7 days together.

We docked in San Juan today and toured the fortresses. I have a million photos because I love old historic places.

It’s was warm and breezy and we did A LOT of walking, which reaffirmed how out of shape I am. That’s ok. I’m still grateful to be seeing these beautiful places. Although I do miss Patrick and the pups, so I’m also thankful I had enough cell service to talk to him on the phone today.