An Engagement Story

The story: Friday, December 18th was Dashing's 25 birthday. We always do 3 birthday events - dinner with immediate family, a friends' day/night, and a couple's dinner. As you can imagine, we more or less do birthday weekends. Dashing had a Med School exam during the day on Friday, and when he finished he gave me a call to say he had made dinner reservations at the Compass Room at our downtown Phoenix Hyatt, a rooftop rotating restaurant. I wasn't surprised by the restaurant choice as we had my couple's dinner there this year too. I was surprised by one thing though....he actually made reservations and evening plans? I was impressed as he usually has me call to make reservations. We drove downtown and stopped at the Sheraton's District Bar for a quick pre-dinner birthday drink. Then on to dinner....we talked, ate, celebrated his birthday. We seamlessly got into a conversation about how our past experiences, good and bad, make us who we are today and how that has made us stronger together. He then said, these past 3 1/2 years have been the best of my life. Just then the rotating restaurant viewed our loft, his school, my work, our car (he planned this too!).....he got down on his knee and asked "Will you marry me?" and opened up the ring box.

I have no doubt that I looked like a deer in headlights. From recent conversations, I was sort of expecting something in early spring....but definitely not on his birthday. He later said he wanted to do it on his birthday for that exact reason - to make it a genuine surprise. He said it's the best birthday gift he could have.

So after all of this, the waitress came back with champagne and congratulated us. We left the restaurant hand in hand and called his and my parents. Unbeknownst to me, he had asked my dad for my hand in marriage 2 weeks ago when my dad was in town visiting AZ, and his parents have known for the last month. AND Apparently, the ring was delivered to his parent's house on Thursday while I was standing in the entry way. Dashing's dad signed for a package and mentioned it was medical records. I was clueless! We then met up with his parents for a champagne toast at the OBar at the Ocean Club.

I am loving being engaged to the man of my dreams, and I have to admit I catch myself just frequently admiring my ring. We do not have a date set, and don't plan to until Dashing gets his medical school schedule for the upcoming year. He is so excited for all of this AND he (yes, I said HE) is pumped to be involved in the decisions on everything from location to color palate - amazing! He definitely got his mom's (Glenda's) interior designer genes!

Lots of new and exciting adventures to come!

The future Mrs. Dashing

Yes, you read it right! Dashing and I are engaged! Here are some photos to feed your appetite....story to come soon!

Who brought the Grinch to Christmas?

In my last post, I shared with you all great news about my PET scan results. I am still over the moon about how my chemotherapy treatments have gone thus far - but not really looking forward to 2 more rounds. So, in preparation for chemo wrap-up, I had to visit with a radiation oncologist to discuss my second part of treatment. After chemotherapy, I will have approximately 20 sessions of radiation to put the last nail in my cancer coffin. The radiation oncologist was wonderful, understanding, and explained everything in detail. Feeling pretty good about what was to come, I nodded in agreement with the process as my entourage (Dashing, Glenda, Dashing's dad, my dad) closely listened in.

I then asked "What will be the daily routine when I come in?" The doctor says, you'll be in and out in 30 minutes most days (I'm thinking fantastic!). For the first few times, there will be some additional planning needed." The doctor continues..."On the first visit, we'll give you some markings to properly line you up on the radiation table for each visit." Dashing's dad (who is an ER doc) is known for his sarcasm and one liners; he pipes up and says,"Now Sara, you know these will be permanent tattoos." I chuckle and say, "Oh sure Mark," and waive my hand as to nonchalantly wave it off. Then I see the look on his face and my grin quickly disappears - "Oh, you're serious."

So readers, the Grinch officially arrived with the notification of my upcoming nuptials with some nice blue tattoo dots on my neck/chest area. Just tally them up to some more battle scars. Ugh.

Here is a picture posted online as to what these tattoos look like. I can have them removed later on with a supposed simple plastic surgery visit. I'm just not a tattoo girl, never wanted one. In the holiday spirit, can't I just get a Santa Claus temporary tattoo instead???

Christmas came early

Do not fret! Santa did not come down my chimney before any of yours. However, I did get a few of great presents early.

Last weekend, two of my dearest out-of-state friends, Miss. Emily B and Miss. Josie, flew out to AZ for a fantastic weekend. Throughout this whole experience, both of them have been so overwhelmingly supportive. They are wonderful friends, and I am so thankful to have them in my life.

This weekend, my dad came into town from Indiana to experience my chemotherapy treatment visit, and of course see me. I'm sure he didn't mind the warmer AZ weather either.

And finally, the most important health present was a report. Last week, I had to get a PET scan to determine how my tumors were responding to cancer. I got a very rare report that after only 5 chemotherapy treatments, my tumors have stopped growing, started reducing in size, and my previously active cancer cells are ALL stunned/killed! This is called a "negative PET" which is the best present that my friends, family, and I could receive this Christmas. Almost as great was my oncologist's facial expression when he heard about the negative report...priceless!

So Merry Christmas to all, and I hope for each one of you a happy holiday season and a new year filled with health and happiness.