Meet 'the sleeve.'

Tonight’s picture is of the ‘sleeve.’ It’s not so bad. It feels like part of me like wearing a bra used to feel. I always hated those. Now, I’m mostly numb, so I don’t mind a bra so much, but this sleeve isn’t much fun. It’s so much better than the wrapping was, that it’s almost my friend, though.

I think it would be bad to keep swelling and have all kinds of problems and pain with my arm, so I’m happy to comply with the sleeve wearing. I wear it from the time I get up until I go to bed. I don’t have to sleep in it. Of course I take it off for my bath and I’ll take it off when I swim. I can hardly wait to get to Vegas and swim every day! Swimming feels really good on my arm; actually, it feels good to my whole body.

I’m surprised at how much I enjoy walking and swimming. I have walked since I was a baby, and learned to swim when I was 12, but I’ve never enjoyed either as much as I do, now. It’s amazing to me how God fits us for life. I know people who don’t know how to swim and I’m sad for them. I know many people who can’t walk and I’m sad for them. I’m so grateful to be able to do both. We don’t own a pool and I’m thinking we don’t want to own a pool because of the trouble and liability involved. However, I’m so grateful to have timeshares we can use often that do have pools available for me to use a lot. We usually travel in non-peak season, so the pools are pretty much empty and good for me to swim laps. I’m not a great swimmer, but I can swim laps and I don’t drown. My mom loved to swim the sidestroke and I find that very relaxing, too. I really enjoy seeing so much of her in me these days. I’m glad she lived until I was 38; another blessing in my life! I know people whose mother died when they were still kids. I was so blessed to have Mom in my life for 38 years. I miss her.

Thank you for caring about me. Thank you for reading to learn. I sure hope that none of you ever have to face cancer, but I pray that if you do or if you face it with someone you know that you will be better prepared for having shared the experience with me. I thank God for a good experience through this and for providing your support as well as the background I had for it.