So yesterday my friend Erina Hart at Into the InkPot tagged me for My Seven P’s so here they are:

My Passion: I have several PASSIONS in life, first being my grandchildren. I love being with them, teaching them, and seeing them mature. The second PASSION is my mental well being. I believe in a PMA – a Positive Mental Attitude. My third PASSION is my physical well being which I do daily with some sort of exercise i.e. Running, Swimming, Biking, Tennis and Golf. My goal is to Run - 20 miles, Bike 125 miles, Swim 2 miles each weak.

My Purpose: To Survive to the end and have fun doing it. Today for my staff I had a lunchtime staff meeting complete with burgers, fries and cold BEER! It helps to get the work done on a Friday before the holiday. What’s wrong with having FUN?

My Pursuit: Awareness of melanoma and other cancers. Sunscreen and cover-ups everyone plus use tequila and or beer liberally.

My Position: Single, just me. I live alone in a beautiful area of the country with 300 days of summer. I'm Mom to 2 grown out of the house boys, Grandma to 4 superior boys and I'm the house guest of one cat! I have HK to cook and clean for me and HK’s husband to fix things and to keep me inline. I also have AA and N at the office to keep in out of trouble.

My Pummeling: My health involving having cancer, one kidney and an inoperable brain tumor. I seem to go from one doc to another i.e. Oncologist, Dermatologist, Urologist, Surgeon, Neurologist, Gastroenterologist, and General Practitioner. Now if we could all get on the same F’n page. Hey I know what managed healthcare is all about. I have to manage my own healthcare!

My Progress: Crawl three steps forward and run four steps back!

My Personality: Quite, easy going except DON”T F$%^ WITH ME! O did I say that?

This weakend activites include

• Friday drinks at the Country Club with J, Mr. Iceland and Ms. Chile
• Saturday 30 mile ride/race with Trek Boys
• Meeting about saving the Estero Bay from the Corps of Army Engineers
• Afternoon open water swim (1hr) followed by BEERS at Doc’s Beach House
• Saturday nite work on presentation for work
• Sunday 60 mile with the Trek Boys
• Afternoon 12 mile run
• Sunday nite party (burgers and beer, what no tequila?) at T's with the Trek Boys
• Monday 25 mile recover ride and 45 min swim in pool
• Monday nite finish presentation for work

Have a good weakend and remember:

MAY THE GOD OF YOUR CHOOSING BLESS YOU!

Buddhism meditation:

Past and Future are a duality of which Present is the reality. The now-moment alone is eternal and real.

The Results are in......and the winner...

Perhaps as you may not know, I had a minor procedure TWO WEEKS AGO. It required me to spend an enormous time preparinmg my colon for invasion. Yes, not the old time enemas until clear! Oh no, this was big time chemical ingestion mixed with Gatorade! Now, no red Gatorade, no solid food, nothing wholesome and nourishing for ONE WHOLE DAY. Then nothing...no water, no coffee, no tequila NO NOTHING the day of.....not mentioning that the procedure was in the FRIG"N afternoon!

I might mention boys and girls that I am a melanoma patient. Melanoma, boys and girls, is the fastest growing cancer that starts as a small mole usually caused by sun exposure (TANNING AS A YOUNG GIRL) and spreads from that point. Did I mention, boys and girls, that it SPREADS FAST? Usually not a good out come or treatment plan. But I digress.

After I awaken from my little procedure (nap) having a TELEPHONE SIZE INSTRUMENT SHOVED UP MY ASS the doctor says "Well Suzanne we found something up there...." HEY what did you find in up there...an Easter egg that was missed on the hunt? a tooth the fairy left behind? some bread crumbs from Hansel & Gretel? A VW? Surely not a piece of shit remained....so I wasn't full of it. "Well don't worry Suzanne, I'll call you when we get the lab results."

OK... I've had THOSE phone calls.... "AHHHH MS. MYLASTNAME." "Yes." "Dr. SOANDSO asked me to call you to tell you your biopsy reveals that you have cancer"... As I'm talking on my cell phone on the way to work doing 75 mph. Class? "AH, we need you to come in immediately for surgery...is tomorrow or the next day OK with you?" HUH?

Another time my oncologist (she's a fancy cocktail mixer but don't drink it mainline it!) calls after I had dizzy spells, headaches, blurry vision, etc.... "Ms. Mylastname, Dr. MS. Oncolocgist asked me to call you. AHHH your CAT scan of the brain reveals something. " "SOMETHING?" I ask. "Yes, SOMETHING. We can't tell what it is but given that fact that you're a melanoma patient we've schedule BRAIN SURGERY for you on Tuesday (this was Thursday) at NEVER COME HOME HOSPITAL and you're to meet with Dr. BRAIN SURGEON on Saturday morning at 9 am for your pre-op exam."

SO, boys and girls, this time having SOMETHING in my colon I decided to take the bull by the horns. Since I haven't heard from the Dr. in 14 days, I decided to call. Needless to say I have been a little worried given my history and melanoma likes the colon, the eyes and the brain.... so.....

"Dr. SOANDSO's Office". This is Suzanne and I'd like to know my lab results. AH MS. MYLASTNAME AH>>>> puts me on hold and I wait and wait and wait...my mind races O, no no one want to tell me the bad news. They are arguing in the office as to who has to tell me because the Dr. doesn't want to>>>> finally a new person comes on the line... your results? O the things the Dr. removed are benign.

So there you have it boys and girls...when it's good news you gotta do it yourself! BENIGN! Crack open that bottle of blue agave tequila... PARTY PARTY PARTY drinks are on me! TEQUILA FOR EVERYONE!

Now it's on to the brain surgeon this week to see why I blacked out!

MAY THE GOD OF YOUR CHOOSING BE PRAISED!

Immigration Sign

A local red neck bar, the North Naples Country Club, has a large sign on which they post funny sayings or advertisements for up coming events. This week the sign read:

"If you don't think immigration control is a problem, ask the American Indians."

Of course we live in an area with a lot of illegals who don't like the sign.

"They have the right to express themselves, but this is no good for nobody. I don't agree with this," said Victor Valdes, who is a member of the Legion of United Latin American Citizens or LULAC.

But the owner said:

"We've never been real politically correct here, so we did it. I would say that's more my twisted humor than anything, I mean, look at the Indians, they were here first and didn't control immigration - look where they ended up," said Mike Combs, owner of the North Naples Country Club.

So what do you think?

Heaven - Philly Cheese Steak in Naples

A good cheese steak sandwich is hard to find in Philly except at Pat's or Geno's. But try to find a cheese steak in Naples, Fl now that's hard, hard until the South Street Bar and Grill opened! The South Street Bar and Grill, named for the famous South Street in Philly that hosts the Gay Pride Parade and is home of the great Philly restaurant Nola. The South Street Bar and Grill is located on the corner of Goodlette Frank Road and Pine Ridge Road. It's an upscale bar ringed with tables in the middle of a large room.

The cheese steak though! ummmm good. Prepared on a Philly original Amorosa rolls flown in daily, with just the right amount of fried onions and Cheez Whiz. Yes, Cheez Wiz that is the secret to a great cheese steak! It comes with a side order of fries. I think it is going to be one of my weakly regulars...

Crying Alone on the Inside

Today is a very sad day and I'm crying on the inside. It one of those days when someone is happy you want to say "Why are you happy? Don't you know what's going on with me?" Well after all it is all about me! Why so sad? My Italian grandsons and their parents left today to return to their home in Italy. I probably will not see them again for 2 years. It will take me that long to clean my house, fortunately HK is not on vacation! The parents purchased so many clothes for the boys that they bought 2 extra suitcases and had to pack half of their luggage in my car for the trip to the airport.

So wipe that smile off your face!

Just a Quickie, please!

Just a quickie.... no, not that! A quick update on the weakeknd!

Went to Buca di Peppo - just awful meal, awful service and over cooked food with a big price tag - that the waiter shouted out to everyone in the room the total on the bill ($176.00) because we complained that the food and the service was AWFUL!!!

Did the Saturday morning ride and didn't get dropped until the very, very last...hurray for me!

On the way home blacked out for just a brief moment causing me to fall and hurt my wrist BIG time! I've got road rash on my left leg. Couldn't lift my bike to put it back in the rack.

J gave me tickets to take the kids to the baseball game....it rained and rained and rained. The game was canceled after we sat 2 hours in the rain under umbrellas. But they had fireworks!

My wrist throbbed all night.

Did the 'round the island ride on Sunday morning 52 miles of agony plus 3 mile to and from the house (58 miles people!138 miles in 4 days).... one of the Columbians wanted to know how old I was (50 something....OK, almost 60), he said I was a good rider (how about great for my age?). He came in 2nd place in the Publix Fitness Challenge Triathlon at Ft. DeSoto and has great looking eyes! he was also in his 20's well almost 30.

Didn't get dropped until way past the bridge.... actually at about 30 miles.

Didn't fall on the way home this time!

Took the kids to the beach so I could swim a mile. The water was hot..90's! Got my OWS done for the week!

Watched the Eagles play poorly.

Did a 25 mile recovery ride this morning and didn't fall!

Tomorrow the kids leave, I swim laps in the pool and run the regular 5 miles. Hopefully I get my test results. Now I have to call the neurologist about my "blackout" and my blurry vision...na...I'll wait to see if it happens again. I can see out of the other eye. What do ya think?

Sunday Bike Ride

The boys from the Trek Sunday Ride called this morning. They want me to come out and play on Sunday. Seems they are planing to go "round the island" which is basically a 65 mile ride from Estero Coconut Point Mall to Bonita Beach then along the Gulf to Ft. Myers Beach passing Lover's Key then on to Six Mile Cypress then back to the Mall.

The only problem this should only take 3.5 hours, but my kids are here and I don't want to leave them on a Sunday... plus at the down side of the Ft. Myers Beach bridge the race starts (40 mile mark) the 3 Columbian's, Mr. Trek Store and the English guy put the hammer down. The speeds increase to 26 to 28 mph. I get dropped at about 26 or so mph. Then it's a lonely ride with just a few people taking their turn at the front pulling. I can do fine if they keep the speed at 24-26 especially since I'm recovering and I missed riding last weakend because of my procedure and the Disney trip. Hey now family is getting in the way of my training just like my job gets in the way.

I had a good ride this morning 25 miles while the kids slept. Hopefully I'll get to swim at lunch time. So I think I'll just do the Saturday Mall Ride which consists of 3 or 4 times around a 10 mile course with the last loop being the real race. Since I'm an old grandmother I don't really feel like racing so maybe just the short Sat ride will work for this tired old girl! Then I can do a long run on Sunday and then maybe to the beach for some open water swimming while the grans play on the beach!

Tonight we are going to Buca di Peppo!

Visitors from Another World

I have visitors from another planet living with me for a few days. They eat strange and exotic foods, sleep when I'm awake and are awake when I'm asleep. My son, his wife and my grandsons (5 year old and 6 months old) are visiting from Italy. Here are a few of the things we have done:

... hold my hand after my procedure
...go to dinner in Old Naples, Tommy Bahama's
...fixed Suzie's pasta sausage and cauliflower with a bechamel sauce
...go to Disney World Magic Kingdom
...go to Disney World Animal Kingdom
...go to Disney World Epcot
...swim at the beach
...swim in the pool by pool light
...go shopping to buy Christmas presents to take home
...fix daughter-in-laws shrimp in pasta nests with zucchini in a curry cream sauce
...drink copious amounts of beer and wine and some espresso
...spent huge amounts of money

With all of that we have 10 more days to go!

Waking Up

I had my "procedure" yesterday which involved general anesthesia, wow what a good rest. I didn't want to wake up! Yup I was so deeply under they could have done anything and I wouldn't have cared. I haven't slept that well in ....let's see years!

When I got the recovery room the nice looking gay (male) nurse offered to sell me the nude photo package. Would some one explain to me why the good looking guys are gay? How did I know he was gay ...well I asked! life is to short when you're me to wait around for an invite. Hey I still have a brain tumor that I might just crap out at anytime.

The doc came to see me to tell me those things that were removed doesn't look good so they are of to a lab and we will know in 14 days. They even gave me pictures to give to my oncologist. Can't you hurry it up? Who wants to wait 14 days for bad news? I'm I'll wait for good news but I kinda already know it's bad so just get it over and tell me now! Can you say chemo? again? OK well it stalls the interferon.

So they told me not to eat much, drive for 48 hrs and absolutely no alcohol for 24 hours.

When I left the surgie center I went immediately to the Ale house had a triple burger, cheese fries and 3 draft beers (Yuengling of course). I got home to a nice bottle of Chardonnay and a box of Cheese Its. And yes I drove to work this morning....hey if you're going to make me wait 14 days, I'm going to do what I f'n want! O yea and I rode my bike to the pool and swam for 45 minutes.