Gratitude and Friends

I continue to be grateful for how kind and considerate people are. Last week I received a hand written note from my gynecologist, Lauren Prewitt. She did my hysterectomy and discovered the cancer. I was a new patient and she had not been practicing long; I think it likely that I was her first cancer patient. I owe her a lot. Instead of attempting to deal with the cancer herself, she called Dr. O'Hanlan in Redwood City during the surgery. It is crucial with my kind of cancer that a gynecological oncologist perform the debulking surgery. Although it meant two surgeries within a month of each other, it probably saved my life. She cried with Casey when she told him it was cancer. Anyway, when was the last time you got a personal note from a doctor? Pretty cool, I think.

Yesterday I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my dentist, Ron Barbieri, and his staff. He has been my dentist since 1979. I canceled my appointment for next Tuesday because during chemo you aren't supposed to get your teeth cleaned. Risk of infection, I guess. Plus I'm a wimp and I have nitrous for cleanings and it would make me sick right now, I'm sure. Anyway, it's nice to have doctors who care about you and see you as a person. I first went to Lauren because my previous doctor looked at me during our last visit and said: "Have I ever seen you before?" He had been my doctor for ten years. He would never have sent a personal note, and I doubt he would have called Kate O'Hanlan.

My friend Danny McRenyolds came to visit this weekend. He and I were roommates in San Luis Obispo in the early 80's. The two of us and my cat Duder, that is. Danny grew up in SLO but moved to the Bay Area in the late 80's. When he's here he likes to drive around and reminisce, so that's what we'll do today. We'll go out to Avila and Port San Luis, SLO town, maybe Morro Bay. I told him I'm fine to drive around, but if the rain stops and we end up walking around a lot I'll be too tired to do anything tonight. Tonight we're planning to have dinner with Rick and Mary, who live in Atascadero and grew up with Danny, and then the boys will play pool. we have a pool table that came with the house. Casey loves pool and he loves to play with Rick, who is a worthy opponent.

When I started writing this, it was pouring. Then the sun came out. Now it's sprinkling. I would be rooting for rain all day if it weren't for our leaking roof and flooding basement.


Danny, Casey and Troy the day after our wedding. Danny is on the left:

Namaste, Jill