Daddy's Girl

Tuesday, January 31, 2012: Last Saturday was my dad's 73rd birthday. I miss him...a lot. I still think about him every day. I still cry sometimes, thinking of the "might have beens". On Friday, Janessa and I bought vanilla ice cream cones and an order of fries from Atlantis Burger and dipped our fries in the ice cream all the way home. Dad loved going to Wendy's and buying a Frosty and some French fries to "dip". I thought of him with every bite. It tasted fantastic! Saturday, I took a little "I Love You" balloon to the cemetery and Janessa carved "Happy B-Day, Pop!" in the crusty snow on the east side of his grave. Someone had left a penny on the bench. It's a family thing - if you see a penny heads up on the ground, Pop is thinking of you. If you see a feather on the ground, Pop is with you. I love finding feathers in the most unique places - the hospital parking lot, outside the church, on the sidewalk by our house. He is with me, I know it.

Still no word from Huntsman on the date and time of my next PET scan. It will probably happen next Monday, but it's frustrating to wait. I'm feeling good, though. As much as I hate the exercise in the morning, it is giving me energy throughout the day. My next goal is to give up all (or at least, MOST) of the junk that I eat every day. It's a battle.

I've also noticed that my skin has changed in the past year. I used to have combination skin, prone to breakouts, and had to be very careful about the moisturizer I would use on my face. I even swtched to a "sensitive skin" formula a few years ago, which seemed to help. It seems that now, since my diagnosis and all the things happening through radiation and meds and heavy-duty supplements, that my skin has changed again and is now very dry, especially this winter, being in the house all day with the furnace blowing on me. I can literally slather thick moisturizer on my face and five minutes later, it is completely absorbed. Ah, the aging process continues! I've also noticed that if I don't "slather" (I love that word!) my neck scars with lotion morning and night, it is extremely tight and uncomfortable. And every time I do it, I think of those early days after my surgeries, when all I longed to do was fill my hands with lotions and rub, rub, rub. I admit I'm a "lotion freak" (thanks, in part, to my mom!) and I love all kinds of moisturizers - baby lotion, thick hand & body lotions, scented lotions, even the Vaseline-type ointment I put on my scars every night. Just thinking about it makes me want to go give myself a second dose/massage this morning...

(Pictures, l to r:) Lisa at the Bountiful cemetery, January 28, 2012, in full sun!; Mom & Dad in February, 2003, just five months before Dad "went home"... Don't they both look wonderful?!