Judy Richter

Yesterday I had a “double whammy squared” kind of day at the Mayo.  Seven hours of tests, labs, consults, radiation and then the coup de grace icing on the cake…chemo.  I dragged my sorry self out of there with only just enough juice left to drive myself home in rush hour traffic.  So, this morning…

We are officially in triple digit weather here in Phoenix.  Now is the time that all good snow birds pack up and head for cooler climes up north. H headed north today to CO, much to his dismay, where snow is forecast for Wednesday.  My golden retriever and I wish we were there.  She would…

Reboot is not something you want to hear when you are in the middle of your radiation treatment.  Just when everything was going so smoothly, too. I parked right in front of the building today.  No problem.  Everyone in the radiology department knows me by name already, as promised.  I was checked in before I…

    When I think of radiating, I prefer to visualize a glowing, healthy, loving aura surrounding my physical being.  My first radiation treatment yesterday took the concept of radiating to a whole new level.  For those of you unfamiliar with this breast cancer treatment, after surgery and chemo comes radiation.  At least for some of us. …

In the “never say never” department, I swore I would never permanently deface my body with indelible ink, no matter how lovely the artwork might be.  On Monday, I got 4 tattoos, all courtesy of my radiology doc.  I was admonished not to run out and try to elaborate and/or expand on the new tatts…

…and five hops back.  I loved hopscotch as a child, and whiled away many an hour tossing a pebble and hopping, jump-turning, and hopping some more.  I feel like I am in a Felini-esque hopscotch game, where the pebble flies out of bounds and the numbers are all out of order.  I have discovered the…

Today I am going to celebrate a lovely woman and survivor whom I met a few years ago at Warner Brothers while visiting my long time friend BJ…BJ’s dear friend and Creative Director at Warner Bros. is Linda Salvati, a lung cancer survivor. Almost five years ago, Linda was diagnosed with a rare form of…

When I awoke this morning, my body felt like a mangled pretzel. My shoulders hurt from the tension, and are actually starting to round inward. Yikes!  I realized that my lack of exercise over the last few months has taken a serious toll, both physically and mentally.  Soooo…who better to turn to than Joseph Pilates…

This is how I feel today…at long last.  Definitely far from perfect, but I got up this morning, put on hair and make up, and planned my day to DO things, other than just survive!  As the symptoms and after effects slowly subside, and the operative word is slowly, I take great encouragement in the…