Elena 
1. I have a lipoma on my arm. I first noticed it about 7 years ago and thought it was a bruise. Later I thought it was a varicose vein in my arm and just chalked it up to getting older. In fact I remember when the technician was trying to draw blood during one of my prenatal exams, I suggested that she might want to try this vein that was just popping out, but she declined. It wasn’t until maybe a year or so after that incident that it dawned on me that this wasn’t a vein, but a little tumor. I did some research and figured it was probably a lipoma. It hs been growing very slowly since then. One day I was typing away and thinking about it and all of the sudden it started to hurt. After that I noticed that it started to go up and down in size and thought it probably had a cystic componant to it. It definitely hurt more during my time of the month when I was retaining water, and now during peri-menopause when it hurts it REALLY hurts. I had a doctor look at it after mom died and she confirmed my suspicion that it was a lipoma, but she said I had to find a general surgeon to remove it. And then SLO got sick. What’s a little lipoma compared to breast cancer! So I didn’t find a surgeon and I still have my little buddy, and during Christmas I was ready to get a knife and take it off myself! Then it stopped hurting. So I finally found a surgeon, made an appointment and now have a surgical date. I can’t wait!
2. Interestingly, the surgeon told me he was going to give me a little anesthetic to take the edge off. He said it would be like three martinis! While that sounded good at the time, in retrospect it occurred to me that I don’t want to be loopy and awake! I want to be asleep or I want to be awake! I would also like to watch this thing come out out of curiosity and having watched tons of them being removed on Youtube! That’s when the doctor told me he thought it was too big to come out under just a local, but he would compromise with a 1-martini anesthetic and if I needed it, he would up the dose! So I guess we’ll see.
3. Interestingly, none of my family wants to come and watch it. Even Mr. Pete, who had a conversation about my anatomy with my OB during Rosie’s surgical delivery, doesn’t want to watch a little walnut sized lipoma come out! He said if we get to name it and bring it home, he’d watch. Other than that he’d rather not.
4. I played my flute at a huge funeral yesterday. The church was packed, the police were there, the streets were clogged. I had debated about whether or not to go since it meant missing a school day with the kids and they had already had a lot of down time this week because I went with SLO when she had some reconstruction done on Monday and then I saw my own surgeon on Tuesday. But I got them some educational movies and went anyway.
5. The kids watched A Lion in Winter
6. The lady who died was very young at 56. She had fought triple negative breast cancer for five years. Her priest said that she had asked NOT to die at home because she didn’t want to leave any bad memories for her children. She also told him to tell the people at her funeral that she didn’t want anyone to feel bad about things they ahd did or didn’t do because she knew they loved her and she loved them too! They also talked about how wonderful she was at doing the laundry and how everything she washed, dried and put away seemed so fresh weeks afterwards. When she was on her death bed in deep sleep, they were talking about that, and she started to speak in a soft voice, “It’s not secret; I use Tide.” They told other wonderful stories too but it touched my heart that a simple ordinary task like laundry was something her family will lovingly remember about her. I found that very encouraging.
7. I had a wedding rehearsal last night and a wedding today. After being with the elderly in a hospice on Wednesday and playing for the funeral yesterday it was a nice change to see young people starting out. Last week was quite a ride!
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