This one is for my ladies
Posted by Gypsy on Aug 20, 2008
In the last year, I’ve had to deal with cervical cancer twice. The first time was when a friend of mine, only 6 months younger than me, found out she had it. Thanks to modern medicine and catching it early, she’s still here to raise her little girl. The second time was today when I accompanied my mom to the calling hours for a friend of hers, only 6 months older than my mom, who died from cervical cancer over the weekend. Unfortunately, hers wasn’t caught so early and by the end it had spread to other parts of her body.
The American Cancer Society’s list of risk factors for cervical cancer include infections of the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, HIV and chlamydia as well as smoking, hormonal contraception, multiple pregnancies, exposure to the hormonal drug drug diethylstilbestrol (DES) and a family history of cervical cancer. Luckily, the 5-year survival rate for women with stage IA cervical cancer is around 96% while for stage IB it’s around 85%. Unfortunately, by the time it gets to Stage II, that number drops to around 55% and it keeps dropping as the stages increase.
There is hope, though. Cervical cancer is one the most preventable types of cancer thanks to regular pap smears, which can suggest the presence of premalignant changes in the cervix before cancer has even developed.
So ladies, let’s do our part to make sure we are alive to see our children, nieces, nephews and grandchild grow up. We all know how much it sucks to plop our feet in those stirrups but that 10 minutes of torture each year could save your life.
I can see!!! - One month later
Posted by Gypsy on Jun 1, 2008
It’s been about a month now since I got my vision corrected with laser surgery. If you want to read about the actual surgery, click here. I had my one month follow up the other day and things are looking awesome. The doc said at this point my eyes are healing really well. The first few weeks there was a lot of fluctuations in my eyesight, one eye would be better than the other and then they’d swap, but that has stopped. The haloes in my night vision are nearly gone. And I don’t need the eyedrops as much anymore, though I still use them every few hours. I can wear make-up again, though the first few times I did after the surgery I was worried I’d still hurt my eye. The day I dragged my eyeliner brush over my eyeball by accident proved to me that normal things would not hurt my eye and I got over it.
One month in, I still find myself clearing a spot on my nightstand for my glasses before I go to bed, but that’s starting to stop. I also still go to push my glasses up on my face and to take them off at night, but after 17 years with glasses, it’s understandable there would be a period of adjustment now that I don’t need them. I also have absolutely no clue where my glasses are at the moment. I have every intention of donating them, and I put them in the case so they would be ready to go, but then I promptly lost them. And for the first time in nearly two decades, that doesn’t send me into a panic.
Overall, LASIK was the best money I ever spent. It’s amazing to open my eyes in the morning and see everything clearly. There’s no dust or scratches to get in the way, just the crisp clarity of the world around me. When I’m walking in the rain, there’s no glasses to collect the drops on. No fogging when I come in from the cold. Anyone who is thinking of getting this surgery should definitely go for it. It might seem like a lot of money, but what you get in return is priceless. It may seem trite or cliche, but having my vision perfect for the first time in my memory has opened a new world for me. I haven’t accidentally shampooed when I meant to condition. I haven’t had to crawl under my bed flailing my arms around searching for the glasses I dropped and now can’t see to find. I haven’t had to shove my phone right by my face to see who’s calling in the middle of the night. I can just open my eyes and see. And it’s wonderful.
I’m a loser
Posted by Gypsy on Jan 25, 2008
Ugh, so remember in my last post when I said I thought I may have sprained my wrist? Well turns out I did. Somehow while trying to put lotion on my tattoo I pulled or strained a tendon and now I”m in a very lovely wrist brace. All I have to say is this fucker better heal before the wedding in three weeks. And it hurts like hell.
On the plus side, though, at least I didn’t break it.
Freedom!
Posted by Gypsy on Jan 26, 2007
January always tends to be a liberating month as people use the new year to free themselves of bad habits and other things in their lives. But for me, January is coming with some added freedoms.
First off, yesterday I found out that I can start out-processing from the Army on Tuesday. I’m not sure how many days they give me to outprocess, either 5 or 10, but within the next couple weeks I’ll officially be out of the Army. Of course, that means I’ll be jobless, but the Army is giving me a small severance and I can collect unemployment until March when I move to San Diego and can get a real job.
Also, today my divorce is final. This afternoon I’m going to Social Security to change my name and then on Monday I have to go to the DMV to get my new driver’s license. I actually spoke to Jeremy the other day and it sounds like things are going really good for him back in Ohio. And things are going great for me. So while getting divorced sucks, it really has turned out for the best for both of us.
So you would think with all this freedom upon me, I’d be able to breathe a little easier. Unfortunately, my lungs have also caught the freedom bug and are trying to escape from my chest in the form of Bronchitis. I’ve been coughing since last Friday with no end in sight. I’m on so many drugs to kill the virus and supress the cold that I’m not completely sure exactly what I’m typing right now or where I’m typing it from. Hopefully after another few days of rest I’ll be better. But if not, does anyone have an extra lung I can borrow?
