Cancerversary

In the past 12 months, I have...

• Leaned where to buy the most beautiful bouquets of flowers in New York
• Lived through two "Breast Cancer Awareness" Octobers without letting the color pink nauseate me
  
• Gone from shoulder length hair to a short crop without the use of scissors
• Had my skin pierced with dozens of small needles to stave off hot flashes
• Rediscovered what my ribcage looks like
  
• Undergone the first and second surgeries of my life
• Gone through menopause and come back out the other side
• Discovered I carry a gene that will influence most of my future health decisions
  
• Managed to average just over one blog entry per week
• Gained back all 7 pounds I lost during the chemo-induced period during which I lost interest in sugar and alcohol, plus a few more (I blame all the celebrating since April's successful surgery)
• Lost and then regrown my eyebrows and eyelashes, as well as almost all their other hair on my body
• Grown accustomed to seeing myself without nipples
  
• Bought several fabulous hats and scarves that look even better with a little real hair underneath them
• Confirmed that I have the most caring, loving and generous friends and family that anyone could wish for
• Successfully obliterated a 2.5 cm tumor growing in my breast
• Become comfortable using the word "survivor" to describe myself at last