DAY 585 - Day 484 in Recovery Paradise

About one year ago, on this day, I was preparing to go back to work after being off for 6 months. I went back to work part time the third of January, 2008 part time. I was still very tired and took a lot of naps. I still had severe issues with my mouth and had a sore throat with sores on my tongue most of the time.

As I talk for a living, my fear was that I wouldn't get my voice back. It was hard in the beginning and I just worked half days. I would be exhausted by noon and go home to take a nap. By April I was back to working full days. Here we are at the beginning of 2010 and as they say - "I am happy to be here." There were moments when I wasn't so sure.

The Tonsil Cancer Forum I connect with [ tonsil-cancer-support@googlegroups.com ] is full of others looking for support and sharing their stories of recovery ( and defeat). We all posted a photo from New Year's Eve with each of us toasting the others with champagne or milk. One of the group is going to photoshop all of us together for a group picture. Should be great.

Part of my Legacy Project is to not leave behind misc. "stuff" for my family to deal with. "Chasing Zen" is my goal - divesting myself of all the extra things I have spent over a half-century collecting. Some things are valuable and interesting and some are not. The "not" are easier to divest and I am starting there. Goodwill wins and eBay profits. For example, I have somehow acquired about 40 years worth of things like "shoe polish." I figure I will be around for only another 20 years, so I am building shoe shine kits for each of my kids and unloading now. Over the holidays I "gifted" my sons with all the extra spices from my cabinet. They like it and I am getting closer to my 'ZEN'.

I am looking forward to an unbelievable 2010 (I like the word 'unbelievable' as it works both ways). Happy New Year to all!