Merry Christmas

Last year on Christmas day my partner and I were in Marco island, enjoying the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore, hearing the seagulls singing, and watching pelicans dive for fish. My mornings began with a nice long run on the beach. This year we are staying home in St. Paul. This year I guess I won't catch the exuberant joy of little boys racing towards a flock of seagulls wearing a Santa hat. This year we will be homebound as we wait for the second round of snow to arrive ... 15 - 20 inches is what forecasters are saying. A white Christmas in St. Paul. Missy and Mister were out in the backyard loving the snow and tearing around playing chase. Ahnung stood on the sidelines, not so sure about all this snow. She had to live in it a little over a year ago and I think she's decided that she would much rather hang out in the warm house and on the couch -- well, can you blame her?? I have always said, she is the wise one :)

This year we stayed home for a couple reasons ... one being so I could take care of some health issues. I am recovering well from surgery. The nurse called on Wednesday to let me know the preliminary results of the pathology report. The great news is that there is no cancer. The not so good news is that, like the report back in May after my first surgery, there is evidence of atypical (pre-cancer) cells again. The nurse did not go into any details and told me that my surgeon would review the entire report in detail with me during my post-op visit (which will be this coming Wednesday). I am extremely grateful for that report. Like last time, I've been very fortunate that we have removed these lumps and pre-cancer cells at a very early stage. My acupuncturist always tells me that my squeaky clean, healthy living and listening to my body is enabling me to notice things so many others wouldn't notice. So next week I meet with my surgeon about my pathology report. I also hope to get results of the blood work done to check for pancreatic enzyme levels of lipase and amylase. Next week I will hopefully know if more procedures will need to be done to address my digestive issues.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful holiday season.