The new normal

My mother bought me a subscription to Zoomer magazine, which I'm not overly impressed with (but thanks, Mom). I do read Libby Znaimer from time to time, though, now that we have a cancer connection. Her October column was one I could relate to: she dealt with how different the first experience of cancer is from subsequent occurrences. Going from being told "You're cured" to being happy with "No evidence of metastatic disease" is a leap only those who've experienced it can understand, I suppose. She describes opting not to ring the bell at Princess Margaret Hospital that's used to celebrate finishing a course of chemotherapy. Living with cancer, rather than beating cancer, becomes the new normal. "In my new life," she writes, "as a survivor [a word she admits makes her uncomfortable], there will be no bells, banners or noisy declarations of victory. Every ordinary day is a milestone." Gotta agree with that.

I am experiencing a lot of pain that spreads from my ribs into my abdomen, which I could live with more easily if I understood what causes it. Fingers crossed: I'm hoping to sit down with my oncologist AND a radiologist to review my scans. If my oncologist's secretary, whom I adore, figures out how to set it up.

Pollyanna moments:

• I had my eyebrows threaded last Friday -- what a thrill to again possess eyebrows bushy enough to warrant threading! God, it hurts, though it's over quickly. I wish I could watch somebody else getting it done, because I've yet to figure out how it works. The women who do this work simply grab a length of thread, do something weird with it on your sensitive eye area, you scream a little and then it's done.
• I'm actually kind of liking my Judy Dench–style ’do. But even at half an inch long, it's got a powerful wave in it -- although I'm tempted to keep it short-short, it would be interesting to grow it out and see if it's even curlier than it was before. A lot of people say their hair grew back different after chemotherapy.
  
• I'm cranky because the weather has turned humid and cloudy, but, boy did I love the first three weeks of September -- cool, sunny, just my style.
• I have lost enough weight to wear my rings again.