30 AprHeartbroken

It has been over a month since I had to say good bye to Korkie. About a week after we moved we noticed her breathing was shallow and rapid. We took her into the vet and xrays confirmed the cancer had spread to her lungs. It was fast moving and aggressive. A few days after that – she was gone.

There is no way I could ever explain to someone who doesn’t understand that special bond you have with an animal and for those that do understand I don’t need to say anything.

She will forever be part of my life and I will miss her until my last breath.

01 MarSurgiversary

There was something wrong with my brain. Even though I was over 330# I never saw myself that way. Sure I knew I was fat – but just how fat never really entered my mind. Forget that I could no long see my toes – much less touch them. Forget that I would just about collapse after climbing a flight of stairs. I blamed everything on Fibromyalgia. I was using an electric mobility scooter for just about every outing that required more than 20 steps. I was wearing a size 30 pants and a 48E bra.

It was a year ago today that I had Roux en Y gastric bypass done by Dr. Michael Tyner at REX Hospital in Raleigh, NC. I was terrified. I wanted to back out of it – I thought I was ready until my surgery date in February came and went thanks to a suspicious scratch on my stomach. My doctor (thankfully) didn’t want to take any risks of it being MRSA and put me on antibiotics and rescheduled for 1 March. That gave me 2 weeks to question everything. I was scared. But I was not prepared to go one more birthday over 300lbs. If I even made it to another birthday.

My doctor told me that I would lose 100# the first year. I’ve lost 143. I now take the stairs most of the time. Fibromyalgia still kicks my ass some days but I no longer use the scooter. I am in a size 12 pants and 40D bra. I can now touch my toes and I Zumba. I take my vitamins faithfully. My blood work is smack dab in the middle of NORMAL.

Any one who says that surgery is the easy path to weight loss clearly has no idea what they are talking about. Emotionally, physically and mentally this is the hardest thing I have ever done. But I am grateful for ever new adventure I can go on thanks to my better health.

20 Jan39

It is true. Youth is wasted on the young.

I wouldn’t trade all I know now for being 19 again. Though I would tell my 19 y/o self to MOISTURIZE more.

07 NovSchool Daze

I am going back to school to learn a trade. Something with earning potential. Something I can take on the road and work from home with. I am tired of being in one spot. I am tired of looking out my window and seeing neighbors.
It has been quite some time since I have been in any kind of classroom situation so I am a little nervous. Classes start 9 January – I have some time to get ready.

I just hope I am making the right choice. I’ve always dreamed of getting paid for doing what I love but that hasn’t worked out yet so I’m on to the next one. I can still do what I love, I just wanna get paid.

08 OctThese Dreams

Last night I had a disturbing dream.

I met Sidney Crosby and we hit it off – and he starts calling me on the phone and he tells me “I can’t stop thinking about you. You are all I see when I close my eyes.”

Disturbing part – I reject him.

WHAT THE HELL!?

I tell him that I adore him as a person but I love my husband and I just don’t think of him in that way (which btw is mostly true – I see Sid more as a little brother/son type figure than sex symbol) but it was a DREAM I could have lived a little.

Also in the dream I met Brent Johnson and he was an asshole. Something is clearly wrong with me.

20 SepThe Wall

In 2009 (before they went on to win the Stanley Cup) Cheryl kindly introduced me to Penguins Hockey and Sidney Crosby. For that gift I can never thank her enough. During the 2009-10 season I discovered Brent Johnson as back up goaltender for the PENS.

For those of you unfamiliar with Johnny’s work – check this out. Brent Johnson Save (Yes I was at that game – Center Ice behind the PENS bench.

Kris Letang

See I told you .. any who back to Johnny.

Later that season Brent Johnson made headlines from his one punch KO on goaltender Rick DiPietro of the NY Islanders. Then 9 days later got into another fight with NY Islander Michael Haley in the epic 90 minute long brawl that was the PENS @ Islanders 11 February 2011 match up. Johnny is officially a BAMF.

But before his NHL12 video game nod for the achievement “Goalie Fight” I knew Beej to be a BAMF in the crease. If you don’t believe me … watch this. Brent Johnson Tribute

This season I have my own Brent Johnson Tribute —

Brent Johnson

So this season show Johnny some love cause he deserves it … Ramble On Johnny … Ramble On.

05 AugJust a Dog

Just a Dog : Author Unknown

“From time to time, people tell me, “lighten up, it’s just a dog”, or, “that’s a lot of money for just a dog”. They don’t understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for “just a dog”. Some of my proudest moments have come about with “just a dog”. Many hours have passed and my only company was “just a dog”, but I did not once feel slighted. Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by “just a dog” and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of “just a dog” gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day. If you, too, think it’s “just a dog”, then you will probably understand phases like “just a friend”, “just a sunrise”, or “just a promise”. “Just a dog” brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. “Just a dog” brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person. Because of “just a dog” I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it’s not “just a dog” but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. “Just a dog” brings out what’s good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day. I hope that someday they can understand that it’s not “just a dog” but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being “just a man/woman.” So the next time you hear the phrase “just a dog”, just smile, because they “just don’t understand”.”

02 AugKorkie Update

We saw the surgeon today for the last recheck and it all went well. Korkie is healing up nicely and the stitches can come out on Friday. They did another laser treatment on her incision site and another one on Friday.

The other day she started to perk up and play with her toys and get super excited about food again. So I am hopeful.

As for the cancer – we go back in 3 months for xrays to see if it has spread and a rectal exam to make sure another mass hasn’t formed. So for now it is life as usual. With lots of extra hugs and cuddles. I don’t know how much longer I have my girl for. Could be months, could be years. But I know that as long as she is comfortable and happy I will do what it takes to keep her that way.

30 JulCancer

Korkie has had the worst luck since her surgery to remove the mass. Infection set in, antibiotics weren’t doing much good. She has been poked and prodded so much this last week it has left me in tatters. Yesterday during a recheck with the surgeon we got the results back from the Histopathology report. It’s cancer. Adenocarinoma of the Anal Glands.

We were told before the surgery that the best guess was cancer and by looks of the second set of xrays it looked like it had spread to her lymph nodes already.

All along the vets have said this is a slow moving cancer and it could be that old age takes her away from us before the cancer gets a chance.

The thing is before all of this I could pretend she wasn’t 13 and the time I’ve had with her was not greater than the time to come. It was easy. I am queen of denial after all. But this … this shit. It has me torn apart.

What you may not know about my relationship with Korkie is that she has been the ONE constant in my life. When my husband was on deployments and gone for 100s of days at a time – she was there. When my only pregnancy ended horribly and I was sent home after hours of labor with nothing I held Korkie and cried and she just let me hold her. When my mom had the stroke and my husband was in Kentucky for his grandfather’s funeral – she was there. When my mom died, when my Daddy was told he had cancer and to go home to die — when he died a few weeks later. Korkie was there. She was there for good stuff too.

Once when I was seriously depressed and had thoughts of suicide to the point of planning out the letter and getting things ready to go through with it. I realized that my parents were hours away and it could be days before my body was discovered and at that point I stopped because I didn’t have anyone near me that I trusted to take care of Korkie. She saved my life that night.

So you see she has been my rock, and the thought of her absence tears me up inside. I feel alone right now because no one seems to get how much this girl means to me and my well being. It is killing me.
But for now the best I can do is be strong for her and cuddle lots.

FUCK CANCER.

23 JulSpotify

I am digging this … grab music online, listen to your music – I have the premium account so I can listen on my puter or my phone – it is pretty nifty.

If you are on Spotify – hit me up.

Follow me on Spotify

*EDIT*
I cancelled my Spotify account as soon as I found out they partnered with Facebook and were making it so you HAD to have a FB account to use Spotify. I left FB end of Sept 2011 and went with Google+ full time (and the twitter) – Facebook is evil.