D-Day

So my surgery is set. Sept 17 is d-day. Or maybe s-day is a better way to put it. On Sept 16 my Dad is coming out to DC, and on Sept 17 I head to Maryland for surgery on my left thigh. The plastic surgeon will take an extra centimeter around and down from initial incision, plus a bit more on 2 sides to close it up, leaving me with about a 2 inch scar. Dad says I should just tell people I was in a knife fight. Its a much cooler things to say than "I have/had cancer," so I might just go for it. Mom was already planning on coming to DC Sept 20, so I guess it will be hand-off just like when I was a kid. The surgeon wants me off my leg for a week, and I'm not allowed to run for a month after the surgery, which means I have to put off the MCM 10k now. Sigh. And Mom and I were planning on finishing up my spare room. Fingers crossed I can manage that while she's here. When it comes to the surgery, I'm slightly scared, since hey, its surgery. But to be honest, I'm more worried that one of my other crazy looking moles is also a melanoma, and I just don't know it. The good news is that as part of my pre-op tests, I have a blood test ordered that should tell if the cancer has spread, so that will go far in allaying my fears. Plus, I have an appointment with my dermatologist set for November, so I'll get another full body check and see what he has to say. For now, I'm just trying not to stress. Everything is set in motion and I'm doing all I can to catch and fix this, so I'm going to follow the motto Jason Mraz sang last night:"I won't worry my life away."Instead, I'm just gonna live it.

Volt

Today I got to drive a Chevy Volt. I had to go to a meeting so I got a car from the Dept motor pool, and it just happened to be the Volt. I actually really liked it. The middle consul was kind of ugly, and by kind of I mean really, and a bit difficult to figure out where everything was and what everything did, but the car drove really well. I went the whole way out and back on the charge, and couldn't even tell I was driving an electric vehicle. I definitely liked it better than the Prius, which I had the opportunity to drive through ZipCar. One thing I did notice which was annoying, is the back window. It was mostly ok, but just like the Prius there was something funky about it. Why do the good for the environment cars always have something annoying? Oh well. Now I need to drive the Civic Hybrid, and see how that one drives :-)

Don't Worry, Be Happy

I think everyone these days either knows of someone with cancer or has it themselves. It seems I am now lucky enough to fall into both categories. I got a call from my dermatologist today at work, and it turns out that the mole he removed last week was cancerous. In fact, it was melanoma, the super scary word. The good news is that the dermatologist used the phrase "borderline melanoma," and it is only .24 mm deep, when 1mm deep is the scary line from when it goes to bad to worse. I also now have a consultation with a plastic surgeon set for Thursday to talk about enlarging the incision made by my dermatologist in order to make sure they really get it all. Part of me is numb, and the other part is freaked out about all of the other atypical moles I have all over by body. I asked the dermatologist about them, and he said no other mole really stuck out to him, but that since I now have to see him once every 3 months for the foreseeable future, he will do a full body check on my next visit, scheduled for November. There is not much I can do at the moment, so I keep telling my self "don't worry, be happy," as its a good thing they caught it so early, and I am on the right path. Hopefully the more I repeat it, the better I'll feel...

Quote

One of the websites I follow is PostSecret. They post secrets that have been mailed in every Sunday, usually at midnight. Since I'm up at midnight tonight, I decided to look through it, and the very last postcard really struck me:

"There will never be a 'good' or 'right' time to do anything worth doing. Do it anyway. As soon as you can."

New motto perhaps?

Skin

So Wednesday I came home with a bit less skin than I left with. By that I mean I went to the dermatologist and lost a(nother) mole to a biopsy. I'm not that concerned because my last biopsy came back normal, but there is always a little worry with anything that has the potential to lead to the scary word "cancer." And according to my dermatologist, I am a prime candidate for getting skin cancer. He says that because my mom has skin cancer, I grew up in Southern California, and I have loads of atypical moles. What are atypical moles one might ask? They are moles that are not perfectly round and instead are asymmetrical, have multiple colors, and/or are super dark, among other things. As long as they don't evolve, i.e. change, I don't think I have to worry. It's just that atypical moles are typical for me. I have a very conscientious dermatologist though, who if he had his way, would remove every atypical mole I have. We have come to an agreement that he can have 2 moles of different varieties, hence the removal last year and the one Wednesday, and I have to continue to come in once a year for a full body check. Part of reason for the full body check is that according to the derm, people with more moles, even if they aren't currently cancerous, are at a much higher risk to get skin cancer. So I'm checking in every year so if something does pop up, we can catch it in time. I'm also staying out of the sun, which is painful, but necessary. Sometimes being a grown up sucks. For now though, I'm focused on healing the hole in my thigh, which means keeping it covered for a week. Fingers crossed it heals clean!

Can you make a bus disappear?

WMATA sure can. Today I checked my phone and the nifty WMATA website said that the H1 bus would be coming in 8 minutes. I watched the timing go down all the way to 4 minutes as I walked to the bus stop, and then suddenly then next next bus wasn't expected for another 27 minutes. Say what? How does a bus that you are tracking with GPS suddenly fall off the grid? So I waited another few minutes in the hope that it would reappear, which of course it didn't. Then, to add a cherry on top of the incompetence that is metro, I saw an H1 bus going south on 23rd street. Um, the H1 only goes south on 23rd during morning rush, and it goes north in the evening rush, so WTF. Just when I think metro can't fail anymore, they manage to top themselves.

Action and Reaction

As any person who went to school knows, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I would say this is especially true for me. The more I am pushed to do something,  the more I want to do the opposite. For example, this weekend I went to NY for my bday, which is a post in and of itself, and I got there by train with one of my friends. We spent most of the ride chatting, but there were 2 things she would not stop pushing me on: my job and boys. For my job, I have always said that I will take the foreign service exam once I get closer to 30, because I figure by that point I will know whether or not I want to travel or stay in DC, and hopefully I will have changed jobs within the Dept or gov, and know if I am happy or not. I think this makes sense. She does not. She just kept pushing and pushing me about taking the test now and wouldn't let up. I wanted to tell her to stop talking, but I didn't want to be mean. Finally I managed to change the subject, but I swear, she made me want to put the test off another 5 years just to spite her. The other issue is that apparently she has been talking with her bf and they seem to think that I should sign up for jdate. I have already considered it and think I am going to do it. But when I do, it will be my decision. She kept talking about setting up my profile and and saying I needed to get on now, making me want to put it off another year. Once again, that push me and I'll push back was making me want to be super bitchy and respond in a not so nice way, but since it was my birthday, I decided to let it go. But seriously, how do you know me and not know to stop pushing me? Ugh. Happy freaking birthday to me.

Things That Do Not Go Together

Beat boxing and Friday night services.

One might wonder what a beat boxer was doing at services to begin with, and I'll get there. Tonight was the 6th in the City August services. "6th in the City" is the name for events at 6th and I Synagogue that are geared towards Jews in their 20s and 30s. Every month they put on one of the Friday night services. Usually it is led by the rabbi with a guitarist leading some of the prayers. Tonight it was led by an a capella group. I thought it would be good, but it was actually one of my least favorite services I've been at. I felt like we didn't get a lot of guidance on where we were in the text, and the songs weren't sung to the normal tune. There was also no Torah portion, just the singing. And the beat boxing. For some reason, on a few of the songs one of the guys started beat boxing. He wasn't bad. I just felt like Temple was not the place to do it. It stuck out, and not in a good way. So moral of the story is no bet boxing at Friday night services, and I might be skipping the next a capella night.

Twenty Seven

My 27th birthday is coming up this Saturday. Eek.

When I was younger, I had a couple of years in my mind that I thought would be awesome, and one of those years was 27. I don't know what I expected, except maybe that I'd be married with kids. That certainly won't be happening, haha. I am going to try and live this year to its fullest though, and I have a couple of things planned that weren't intentional, but should help with that:

-NYC for my birthday
-Color Run 5k Sept 9
-Marine Corps 10k Oct 28
-Cherry Blossom 10-miler April 7
-Welcome to Judaism class for a long delayed Hebrew School summary
-Mom's visit in Sept
-Jason Mraz Aug 24
-Marinsky Ballet Oct 17 (Cinderella)
-Travels in Dec (maybe)

I've also decided that I want to do more. And by "do more" I mean do things I've always wanted to do but didn't want to do alone or was afraid to do, i.e. hiking, rock climbing, online dating (maybe), etc. We shall see. In the past I have been all talk and no action, so maybe my goal should be to put up or shut up :-)

Anyway, happy birthday to me!