Dancing In September

When I originally pitched throwing a party to celebrate my birthday, I fully intended to have it at our home.   We own 2 tents and have hosted several large gatherings in the past with over 100 guests in attendance - sometimes doing all the cooking ourselves.  As the guest list climbed to record breaking heights, my husband suggested we might want to hold the party elsewhere.  I finally caved in when port-a-potty rentals became part of the mix.   It was the right decision to let someone else be responsible for everything.

This allowed me to focus solely on being a dancing machine. 

Many thanks to all who generously gave donations to St. Augustine / St. Monica (in lieu of gifts as I requested). I am thrilled to report over $2,400 was given  It is my hope to eventually raise enough funds to repair the gym floor to allow youth basketball to be reinstated this fall.

A Birthday Present I Will Gladly Accept

Tomorrow is my birthday.  Last year at this time, I was 5 weeks post craniotomy after my first brain tumor.  My niece was getting married on 9/10 (my actual birthday). My goal was to be able to attend her wedding  and possibly have a glass of wine.  If all caution was going to be thrown into the wind, I going to attempt to hit the dance floor too.  I figured getting out there and 'shaking it' was a sure way to demonstrate how well recovered I was - head included.

This year, as my birthday approached, my family began inquiring how I would like to celebrate the big day.  I honestly could not think of a single thing I wanted or needed - at least in the sense of actual birthday gifts.  However, I was  very much interested in having a party.  It did not matter to me that 54 is not a significant milestone number like 50 or 60.  My continued presence is plenty enough reason for me to whoop it up.

The planning began and the big bash was scheduled for this coming Saturday, September 15th.  I was anticipating a great time as I was enjoying several high functioning days.  Then approximately a week to 10 days ago, I began experiencing the return of several old symptoms.  They were concerning enough for my brain surgeon to attempt to schedule an emergency MRI of my head.  This of course had to occur just before the Labor Day weekend when any appointments would be scarce.  Typical of the fantastic team at Karmanos, I was squeezed in for an MRI last Friday.

I am thrilled to report that I received the good news that a tenth brain tumor (as suspected) was not discovered.  Now that's a birthday present.

Two changes were noted:

• an increase in the edema surrounding my previous tumors.  
• an increase in the size of one of the older tumors.

Fortunately, pumping up my anti-swelling medication should resolve the edema issue and the tumor is not enlarged enough to require immediate attention - just observation.  So the party is on!