Justin

My dearest friend since junior high, Susan (then Zahner, now Armenio) and her wonderful husband, Anthony (always Armenio) became parents for the first time on August 2, 2001 to their gorgeous son, Justin. The video camera and was always out to record all the firsts in Justin's life. He was such a happy baby. He had Susan's infectious smile and Anthony's sparkling eyes.

When Justin was a little more than a year old, Susan called to tell me that her baby had cancer. My blood ran cold. I must have heard her wrong. Susan did everything she was supposed to do while she was pregnant. She and Anthony did everything -- and more -- that parents are supposed to to for their baby. This was not supposed to happen.

The type of cancer Justin was diagnosed with was Neuroblastoma. Susan explained to me that Neuroblastoma primarily affects children under 5, especially babies, and is cancer of the sympathetic nervous system. I had no idea that we even had a sympathetic nervous system until then, let alone that one can get cancer there. It is unfathomable that there is a cancer that targets babies.

During the course of the year that followed Justin's diagnosis, he went through a variety of treatments. I kept asking Susan if we could come up to visit when she told me Justin was home between stays at the hospital. But we couldn't. My daughter was 4 years old and going to Pre-K; in other words, she was a germ factory. The chemotherapy that Justin endured left him weak and highly susceptible to infection. The risk was too high that he could get him sicker. I relied on the reports that Susan gave me regarding Justin's progress. At times, it was very hard to hear. Susan was always the exuberant bubbly one. She has a smile so powerful not only does it light up a room but you could hear it on the phone. That light was gone. As a human being, I could not comprehend how sweet, innocent Baby Justin could be experiencing the horrors of cancer. As a mother, I cannot imagine what my friend was going through. As a friend, I wished that I could do something to make it better for Susan. Cancer is a thief, ruthlessly robbing people of so much that is beautiful in their lives.

Justin was strong. He battled his cancer. He made it through the horrors of chemotherapy. It looked like he had the Neuroblastoma beat. But on October 17, 2003, Justin succumbed to cancer, with his Mommy and Daddy by his side.

Susan and Anthony carried on. I still don't know how they did it. They are two of the strongest, most courageous people I know. They now have two beautiful daughters and I am sure that their Big Brother Justin is looking out for them (and their Mommy and Daddy) from Heaven. They are a happy family but there is still a huge hole in their lives.

Susan and Anthony are very private about their tragic loss but once a year they honor Justin by participating in the annual Children's Cancer Fund walk. This year it is on October 2nd at FDR Park. It is their hope to raise awareness about pediatric cancer and to raise funds to help combat it. Pediatric cancer, as we learned through Justin, can happen to any child, at any time, without warning.

To date, Susan and Anthony's team, "Jogging for Justin" has raised $75,000 since they began participating in this annual event. If you'd like to contribute to Jogging for Justin -- any amount is appreciated -- click here.

Neuroblastoma is the most common cancer occuring in babies. The overwhelming majority of people who get this cancer are under the age of 5. In fact, it is extremely rare that older children or adults are diagnosed with it. Each year about 650 families are given the same news Susan and Anthony received about Justin; their baby has cancer. That is too many. September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. Please, this month, do something to help.

Namaste.

A Welcome Visitor

I had a dream last night about my Uncle Milton. He was sitting in a booth at the Palace Diner in Flushing. He was having a cup of piping hot coffee and wearing his navy peacoat. My Uncle Milton was a Navy Man, just like his big brother, Sydney. Uncle Sydney served in WWII. Uncle Milton was too young but he served in the Korean War. Like all the Weiss men, he was proud to serve his country.

In my dream, he looked exactly as I remembered him, complete with a wooden toothpick in the left side of his mouth. I sat down across from him in the booth. I was surprised to see him. Even while I was dreaming, I remembered that he's been dead since 1999. I got the feeling he was expecting me, though. My lip began to quiver and a lump came to my throat. "Oh Uncle Milton," I said. "I've missed you so much. Especially lately. The summer before last, something terrible happened..." Uncle Milton reached out and held my hand. His nearly black eyes looked through his glasses straight into mine, which were welling up with tears. "I heard, Judy." I was scared of what he was going to say next. I was afraid he would be enraged with me like his sister, Pearl, was when she heard. Then he said, "I will make sure to get justice." I felt warm and safe in my dream then burst into tears, my hand still in his. Then I woke up.

It seemed so real. In typical Weiss-fashion, Uncle Milton was never overtly affectionate. The picture above of the two of us on the sofa (yes, that's me with a Dorothy Hammil haircut) is about as close to a hug as Uncle Milton and I exchanged and on the occasion that he gave me a kiss on the cheek, it was a very wet one that my little hands were quick to wipe off as soon as he turned his back. But I always felt warm and safe whenever I went to Uncle Milton and Aunt Carol's house. I loved going there. My grandmother used to take me there quite a lot when I very young. My cousin Melissa (she was Missy to me back then) is about two years older than I am so we would play together. Jeannie is about three years older than Melissa so she didn't have much use for us kiddies but she was never a mean to us. Lauren was the oldest girl and helped keep an eye on all of us. Then there was Richie. I remember he was always up to something mischievous with Kenny. They always had pets running around and the house looked like people actually lived there, unlike where I lived because my grandmother was an obsessive cleaner. Our furniture was covered in plastic slipcovers so it was never comfortable to sit down. At Uncle Milton's and Aunt Carol's, their sofa practically cried out for human contact. Aunt Carol drove a station wagon (Uncle Milton never drove; I'm not sure if he ever even got a driver's license - oddly, my grandmother didn't drive either). It was totally '70s - wood paneling and all. Melissa and I used to play in it sometimes. She'd pretend to drive. I just loved hanging out in the back. It was my dream car.

Don't get me wrong. I am not so delusionally nostalgic that I remember their house being like "The Brady Bunch." There was yelling and fighting. About as much as you would expect in a home with four kids. Neither Uncle Milton nor Aunt Carol were perfect. They did a good deal of the yelling and the fighting. But it wasn't the same as it was where I lived. When my cousins got yelled at, they didn't seem afraid that their parents didn't love them anymore or that they'd be angry at them forever or that they were sorry that they had been born. People got angry there, expressed it then got over it. They seemed happy. I was always jealous of my cousins for that. I always hoped that one day Uncle Milton and Aunt Carol would see how sad I was and ask me to come live with them. I thought that they already had four kids running around in there. One more at that point couldn't have made that much of a difference, right? But that day never came. As I got older, I went to Uncle Milton and Aunt Carol's house less and less frequently. I really missed them.

I saw Uncle Milton more than I saw the rest of the family. He and my grandmother were siblings. We had some really interesting talks about history, human nature, justice and other topics I never thought to be synonymous with Uncle Milton. He had a good and loving way about him. Family was so important to him, probably because of the way he grew up. He and Uncle Sydney were sent to a boys home because their mother (my Great-grandma Lily) couldn't care for them. Well, that was the official story. The real story was that the man, Max, Great-grandma Lily lived with (she was estranged from her husband, my Great-grandpa Sam), didn't want the boys around so she got rid of them. Pearl went to live with another family member who raised her and my grandmother was the one she kept. These circumstances were not ideal to create harmony and a sense of family. The siblings that were cast-off were resentful of my grandmother for being the one that their mother kept while at the same time, my grandmother suffered terrible abuse at the hand of Max while her mother turned a blind-eye. On occasions that Uncle Milton and Uncle Sydney visited, Max was abusive to them as well. I can only speculate because even during our deep talks, Uncle Milton and I never spoke about his upbringing, but I think that this experience galvanized his resolve to have a happy, loving family. He succeeded. I always got the feeling from him that he would kill or die for any member of his family and had a deep desire to try and undo the damage that was done to him and all his siblings.

It was a great wish of his for me to have a close relationship with his children. The birth of my daughter seemed to do that. Melissa became caretaker to my Catalina for her first three years. Catalina still calls her "Aunt Missy" even though they are really third-cousins or something distant like that. I'm so happy that Uncle Milton got to see us celebrate holidays and special occasions together. I would have loved for him to come to my wedding. He would have loved to see Melissa stand up for me as my Matron-of-Honor. But I got married in 2004, five years after Uncle Milton passed away (I don't do things in conventional order). He would be happy to know that thanks to Facebook, all of us have gotten to know eachother even better and keep tabs on eachother on a daily basis in a way that we likely wouldn't otherwise.

It will be two years come August 17th that life changed for me and my family. As horrific as it was, one of the shining lights to come of it came from Aunt Carol and Melissa. They share the horror in their ways. But unlike Pearl who met me with anger, Aunt Carol and Melissa gave me compassion, unconditional love and support, the depths of which I had never known from family. It brought me back to how I felt when I was amid the chaos of their home in the '70s except this time, it was my home, too. When I spoke to Melissa about it (I still haven't spoken to Jeannie and although I know she knows what happened, I don't think it will ever be anything we talk about to eachother), she brought up Uncle Milton. It was the first time either one of us was close to being thankful that he wasn't around because if he was...we would have found out for certain that he was willing to kill or die for family.

Maybe all this is where my dream last night came from. I am haunted as I am coping with what happened. Every new day is a new adventure in my mind, that's for sure. Maybe somewhere in my subconscious Uncle Milton is there to serve the justice that he and I spoke about, that each of us so desperately needed and wanted but didn't believe was out there for everyone in this imperfect world.

I love you, Uncle Milton. Whether last night's dream was a visit from the Great Beyond or an internal manifestation, it was good to talk to you again. It was good to feel your love. I know you are looking out for me and it is very comforting. Don't worry, I won't let my little family and yours drift apart again.

Namaste.

Because of You

I don't listen to pop music. At least not by choice. I'm not making judgments. It's just not my thing. But every once in a while I am in a place where it's being played. More often than not, it's in my car while I'm driving Catalina somewhere and she puts on "her station." Anyway, today I heard a song by Kelly Clarkson that struck an incredibly deep chord with me. It's probably been out for ages but to me it is brand new. It's called "Because of You" and it is the story of my relationship with my grandmother, the woman who raised me. I am pretty sure that Ms. Clarkson had no idea about this when she wrote it. I guess that's another reason why her lyrics penetrated me so deeply. When you are the center of your own universe, passing time in your own life, feeling your own emotions, it is nearly impossible to fathom that someone else might be having a similar experience to yours in their universe, especially when our experience is that of extreme pain (or love). When you hear someone express that emotion eloquently and with the same intensity you feel, you are overcome by this connection. At least that is the way it is with me. That's how I felt when I heard this song.

I wept. No...I bawled. That's kind of unusual for me. Five years ago when my grandmother died, this woman who by every definition but biology was my mother died, I did not shed a tear. Not when I was telling the rabbi who was to deliver her eulogy about her, the hardship she endured and all the sacrifices she made not only for me but for everyone...but especially for me. Not as the rest of my family cried at her grave. Not once when I've reflected on this loss over the last five years. That was her legacy to me. Be the rock.

I am thankful for that trait she taught me, for the most part. But I always felt like I was missing out on a lot. There were not a lot of hugs and kisses exchanged between my grandmother and me. Add that to the abandonment issues I felt with my mother (she lived with us, but she was very rarely around both in the literal and emotional sense) and you're not left with an emotionally open person. I guess that's another reason why I write. It's the one place where I can really wear it on my sleeve yet still be detached.

My grandmother was overprotective to a great extent but was so blind to so many harmful things that were going on with me. I never learned to ride a bicycle because it was instilled in me to be deathly afraid of falling down. Fear, more than love, is what I remember most about my childhood. That is another legacy she left me.

This trait I am not thankful for. While some fear is healthy, it's what keeps us from running out into traffic, when it keeps you from experiencing life's gifts or effects your decision-making process it is crippling. So many decisions throughout my life were motivated by fear of falling. Fear of failing. My grandmother in her strange brand of logic thought it would be motivating to me if she only pointed out where my shortcomings were, compare me to others when I fell short. She didn't want me to get a swell head or become complacent. What she achieved with that approach was instilling the idea deep inside me that I am not good enough. That I never will be good enough. That I will be judged by my failures instead of remembered for my successes. Please don't get me wrong. I am not saying I deserve absolution for all the mistakes I've made because I have "Mommy and Grand-Mommy Issues." They're my decisions. I own their consequences. There was nothing I could do as a child to stop these seeds from being planted in me. But as an adult, it has become my life's work to pull the weeds that have grown from them. I've become quite the gardener of my mind, trying to plant flowering seeds...I am good enough...I have already achieved successes in my life...I am not defined by my mistakes. A lot of them take. But if I am not diligent with my weeding every single day, those weeds grow like wildfire and strangle the roots of those flowers. This is the life I was dealt. For many years I was angry about it. That didn't give me anything but more misery. The more I let go of the anger and just accept what I was dealt and enjoy my life anyway, the better able I am to see these wonderful gifts I have been given and enjoy the successes I earn.

Hearing that song today helped me to understand a little why I never cried for my grandmother's passing. I am forever grateful to her for giving me everything she could. If I say that is not enough, it would make me the perpetrator of these poisonous thoughts that have inflicted so much harm on me. That's not who I am. Despite the horrors of her childhood, she was a better mother to me than her mother was to her. I will chose to carry on that legacy and be a better mother to Catalina than the mothering I received.

The last time I saw her alive, my grandmother had a tube in her throat to aid her breathing (she killed herself slowly with cigarettes). She couldn't speak. She wrote me a note that I still carry with me "I'm going to say good-bye because I don't know if I'll be here tomorrow." Her eyes were watery and I saw a softness and vulnerability in them that I had never seen before. My eyes were dry and crystal clear as I took her note, put it in my purse and told her that we should finish watching "Everybody Loves Raymond." I am, after all, the Rock. She grabbed my hand and held it as tightly as she used to when we crossed the street together when I was a child. She always had such a firm touch and a heavy hand. She pulled me closer to her face and mouthed the words "I'm sorry" over and over again. Her soft, vulnerable eyes were now crying and I could see a desperation in them, something else I'd never seen before in her. I told her she was a good Mama and that it was okay. When I came home that night to Salvatore, I told him that I knew that this would be the last time I'd see her alive (with the COPD we had a lot of false alarms) and told him what she said. He asked me what she was sorry for. I told him that I didn't ask. "Isn't that going to drive you crazy not knowing?" he asked me. I told him that it didn't matter. She was sorry and I forgave her. In the end that's all that mattered.

Thank you, Kelly Clarkson, for making me feel a little less weird and alone today. Childhood wounds run deep. Knowing that there was someone else out there whose universe was just like mine and who made it out on top is both comforting and inspiring. Now it's about time that I get back to tending to that garden of mine.

Namaste.

PS: If you are unfamiliar with this song like I was, here is a link to the lyrics that moved me and video of Kelly Clarkson giving life to them:

http://lyrics.com/because-of-you-lyrics-kelly-clarkson.html

On Our Way to Costco

Catalina called me today from the nurse's office to tell me that one of the brackets fell off her braces again. My daughter must have the slickest teeth in the world because this happens fairly often no matter how strong the cement is that they use. The orthodontist managed to squeeze her in at 3:15. This bummed me out a little bit because I planned on going to Costco between leaving the office and picking up Catalina after basketball practice. While I love having Catalina as my sidekick when shopping, I was really hoping to just get in and out, grabbing the essentials and using my fresh batch of coupons. Oh well.

I got Catalina from practice and she was excited to go shopping, mostly for the tasty samples they give out at Costco. Catalina told me how happy her coach was that she was able to make it to practice despite her orthodontal emergency. The rain started coming down harder as we drove past 7-11. I drove slowly through the giant puddle in front of the parking lot. Up ahead I saw three girls who looked like they could have been Catalina and her friends. They were splashing along down the street, laughing and one of them was spinning a fuschia umbrella. Catalina and I were trying to decide what to have for dinner. The light turned green. We started to inch forward. The three girls started to cross Union Boulevard, which is a pretty big street in our little town. The girl with the spinning fuschia umbrella darted ahead of the other two girls. She didn't see the red car turning. The drive didn't see her and her spinning umbrella darting. Even though I was looking right at them when it happened, I can't tell you what happened when they collided. The next thing I saw was the girl laying montionless on the pavement, her fuschia umbrella upside down in the gutter, and the two other girls standing over her in hysterics.

At first I thought they were goofing around. That the girl slid on the wet pavement and her friends were playfully teasing her. As we pulled up beside them, it was clear that this was not a joke. Catalina recognized the girls as students from her school. They're eighth graders so Catalina only knew them by sight but it's a small school in a small town so they were easy to recognize. I got out of the car and went to the girl on the ground. I told the two friends no to tr and mover her. By then another woman had already stopped and parked her car in such a way that it blocked oncoming traffic. A man also stopped and was already on the phone to 911. We both looked down at the girl and asked her if she was okay. She did not respond. Her brown eyes were half open and rolling around in their sockets. Her jaw was slack. "What's your name, honey?" I asked her. No response. "What's your name?" One of her friends answered, "Giselle," as she trembled and cried. The other girl was on the phone to Giselle's mother. "Giselle, can you hear me?" Her lips quivered but no sound came out. Her eyes were rolling further back in her head. An oil delivery man ran out with a moving blanket and covered Giselle with it. An older gentleman came and held his umbrella over her head. And the driver of the red car was standing beside it, watching us from a distance.

Catalina stood near Giselle's friends. She kept looking back and forth between the driver and Gisellle. "I'm gonna make sure he doesn't try to get away before the cops get here," she said to me, pointing at the driver. I know she meant it. I know that if she saw that man attempt to get into his car and flee the scene, Catalina would run after him and stop him in any way she could. You have no idea how much I was hoping he would stay put.

The police arrived first. Giselle was still unresponsive. The police had some sort of small kit to use on her so we all stepped away so they could do what they needed to do...but none of us left. I joined Catalina near Giselle's friends. They were still distraught but seemed comforted by the police's arrival. I asked if they got in touch with Giselle's mother. They said they had and that she was on her way. She lives right nearby. The girls cried and hugged each other and blamed themselves for what happened to their friend.

When the ambulance arrived, Catalina and I got back into our car to get out of the rain. I was trying to hold back tears and decided to take out my Blackberry and ask for prayers for Giselle from my Facebook community. Catalina told me how scared she was by the whole thing and told her Facebook community about it as well. She thought the same thing I had at first; that the girls were goofing around. "It happened so fast." Yes it did.

It was a little while until the paramedics loaded Giselle into the ambulance. Just as they shut the doors, a woman who must have been Giselle's mother arrived. She was running as fast as she could on the wet pavement. She had a look of restrained panic in her demeanor. I could see her face contorted and tears streaming from her eyes. She slipped slightly as she reached the rear of the ambulance and she beat on the door with a clenched fist until it slung slowly open. She jumped inside and the door shut quickly behind her.

The police had moved on to talk to the driver. They were speaking casually. The officer held the sideview mirror that came off in the accident in his hand as he spoke. And that's what it appears it was. An accident.

Catalina and I went to Costco as planned. We shopped and ate the free samples. We laughed together as we normally do. But from time to time, we mentioned Giselle and everything that happened. Catalina said that everytime she shut her eyes, she saw Giselle laying there in the street. She had never seen an accident and its consequences unfold before her eyes. It was truly frightening.

As I sit here writing the account of what happened today, it all seems so surreal. If I did not feel this lump in my throat, I would think that this was all just a bad dream. But it isn't. It's real. Giselle and her friends could so easily have been Catalina and her friends. That mother at her baby's beside could have so easily been me. It could be any of us or our children. Next time I get a call from the nurse's office, I will try not to get bummed that my plans have to change. I will take it as a gift that I get to spend some time that I didn't expect to with my baby. I will hug her a little tighter now and be even more nervous when she is out with friends.

And I will pray for Giselle, that she pulls through without any permanent injury. And I will pray for Giselle's family, that they see their little return to her normal self quickly. And I will pray for her friends, that they don't feel guilty for something that was beyond their control.

Namaste.

Life and Love

Exactly 10 days ago my daughter, Catalina, turned 13. It has taken me this long to come to grips with this reality well enough to state that fact. It will take even longer for me to adjust to the reality that I have a "teenager." It's not an age thing for me like for a few of my friends, the dawn of a mid-life crisis --"Oh my goodness! Am I really THAT old that I am a teenager's mother?!?!?!?!?" Don't get me wrong, I am really starting to feel my age but that's inevitable. Obviously I've always known that Catalina becoming a teenager was inevitable as well but I am just not ready for it.

I was not in a good place when I found out I was pregnant. I didn't feel right so I went to my GYN. He performed the regular array of tests for someone expressing my vague symptoms. When he got the results, he sat me down and told them to me. My pregnancy test came back positive and my pap smear came back abnormal. He'd have to take a punch biopsy to be sure but he believed that I had cervical cancer (which the biopsy confirmed two days later). The good thing about cervical cancer is that it is extremely treatable and has a very low likelihood of recurrence. The treatments aren't like that of typical cancers. The options are cryosurgery, laser vaporization or conventional surgery. If you catch it early and it doesn't metastasize elsewhere, you don't have to endure chemotherapy or radiation treatments -- ladies, for this reason, please get your pap smears done every six months religiously. Truly, if you are a woman and you must get cancer, this in the one you'd want. That's how my GYN explained it to me.

He also explained that I could not be treated while I was pregnant so if I wanted to move forward with the treatment immediately, I'd have to terminate my pregnancy. Each of the treatments would weaken the cervix to some degree. How much would depend on how far the cancer went into my cervix and they wouldn't know that until the treatment was underway. You can have a baby with a diminished cervix however it would be more complicated. Precautions would have to be taken including the possibility of going under general anesthesia at 20 weeks and having the canal sewn up (like trussing a turkey) and then having a Cesarean birth rather than a vaginal delivery.

Or I could go to term with this pregnancy, with my cervix in tact albeit with cancer. My doctor explained that Mother Nature is a very clever lady who is singularly focused on carrying forward new life. During pregnancy, the spread of the cervical cancer is generally stunted. During the birth, part of the cervical wall sheds with the afterbirth. Depending on how deep into the cervix the cancer is, often the baby cures the mother.

I was 26 when I had this conversation with my doctor. I was hardly the clear-minded, level-headed woman you see before you today. I was completely blindsided. But the choice was clear.

Just as my doctor told me it would, the cervical cancer was stunted. In fact, except for that, it was rather uneventful...until my 35th week. I had one Lamas class during which we were instructed how to navigate the hospital paperwork so as not to get stuck with any bills our insurance company won't cover (EXTREMELY useful). I was examined by my doctor on a Saturday and he told me, "If you go to term, and there is no reason why you shouldn't, you will have a ten pound baby. Easy." I told him that I didn't think delivering a ten pound baby would be so easy. He laughed. I didn't.

The following Monday, on the first day of training the woman who would be covering my maternity leave, my water broke. I worked in Manhattan at the time. My doctor was affiliated with Winthrop in Mineola. My boss threw me in a Town Car with a dear friend and coworker and sent us to Long Island. It was 4:30 in the afternoon. Our driver decided he wanted to save the tunnel toll and go by way of Brooklyn. At rush hour. My friend gave her opinion of this decision, loudly, to the driver.

We arrived at Winthrop at 7 p.m. When we left the office, I wasn't feeling any pain. During the course of that even-longer-than-it-had-to-be ride, the contractions had begun and I was feeling them, full-force, as I was admitted. My doctor confirmed that my water broke and suspected the reason why was a bacteria had ruptured the membrane. It would need to be confirmed but he was putting me on intravenous antibiotics immediately so the baby and I would not get infected. He didn't tell me what bacteria it was until the day after Catalina was born when he came to check on us. When I got home I looked it up and saw that there was a 60% death rate for babies infected by it. Even though by then I knew Catalina was safe from it, I just held her and cried. In any case, because she was five weeks early and my doctor was concerned about her lung development, my doctor decided that I would be kept pregnant for a couple more days to strengthen Catalina's lungs. There were good air pockets. He gave me a narcotic to stop the contractions. The pain stopped and I fell asleep, attached to monitors. I had completely forgotten about the cervical cancer. It was no longer important.

When I woke up, another member of my doctor's practice (during the course of my pregnancy, I was seen by all but one of the doctors in the practice -- they do this so that in case your regular doctor is unavailable, the doctor who delivers the baby will be a familiar face. It would be a heck of an introduction if you first met in the Delivery Room, huh?) and a man I'd never seen before came to visit me. The stranger told me that I would be giving birth in a few hours. I told him he was wrong. I told him that Dr. Goldstein told me that I would stay pregnant for a few days. The stranger said that he was a high-risk delivery doctor and because of the bacteria's presence, he thought it best to deliver sooner rather than later. I told him I was on antibiotics which should take care of the infection and my baby's lungs had to be fully developed before she is born. He said in his opinion, it would be safer to deliver now (remember, at this point I still had no idea what the bacteria was or its potency). I told him that with all due respect, Dr. Goldstein has been with me and my baby for the last 35 weeks. I know him for less than five minutes. I trust Dr. Goldstein. If he says giving birth now is right, I'll do it. Otherwise, no. The stranger and Dr. Goldstein argued in the hall outside my room for a few minutes then Dr. Goldstein came in and told me that I'd be giving birth by the end of the day. They gave me more drugs to counter act the ones they gave me to stop my contractions.

Those drugs worked. I was feeling the pain of the contractions. Much worse than in the car on the way to the hospital. Much more frequently, too. However, my damn cervix was not cooperating! It would not dilate (ironically, quite the opposite problem of a cervix that had been treated for cancer). Unbelievable. They gave me more drugs -- an epidural -- to deaden the pain while they maxed out the dosage of the petocin to get me ready to deliver. I fell asleep again.

When I woke up, I felt incredibly sharp pains. Regularly. Very regularly. I was confused. I asked the maternity nurse why I was feeling pain because I had the epidural. She left to get the doctor. Lo and behold, the one doctor in the practice I hadn't seen previously came in. Dr. Goldstein had been at the hospital 36 hours straight and delivered twins. He went home to get some sleep which was good; he looked like Hell the last time I saw him. The new doctor came in and introduced herself to me, Dr. Valderaama. She said I was just about ready to start pushing. I was in blinding pain that this point and full of quite an array of drugs. I told her I was done. She would have to give me a C-section because I was in too much pain as it is and I didn't want to subject myself to more. She told me that she doesn't cut open healthy women carrying healthy babies and that I just have to push. I told her no and that she couldn't make me. She agreed that she couldn't make me push but at the same time told me that I couldn't force her to give me a C-section. That the baby was going to come out the only available opening, soon. She turned and walked out saying that she'd be back when I was ready to push.

I was a lot more spiteful then than I am now. My maternity nurse begged me to push and promised me that it would make me feel better..."If you'll only try it..." The pain started to get really bad so I gave in and said I'd try pushing. The nurse ran and got Dr. Valderaama, who, by the way, bore a striking resemblance to Ronnie James Dio. I pushed. I felt better! Now I wanted to keep pushing. Dr. Valderaama told me to stop pushing. What?!?!?! I told her I didn't want to. She said I better stop. The cord was wrapped around the baby's throat and pushing would tighten the noose. It was difficult to restrain myself because the pushing brought such profound relief, but I did. They had a bit of a hard time loosening the cord from Catalina's neck because rather than crowning, she decided it would be better to come out face first. Even from the moment of her birth, she was wide-eyed and curious, ever-anxious to see everything that is before her.

I don't know if I can accurately explain how I felt in those moments where I gave that one last, great push but I'll try...you know how people say as death approaches you see your entire life flash before your eyes? It was something like that but it wasn't my life, my past that I was seeing. I felt the overwhelming feeling of hope and saw an incredible brightness. Like all the answers about life and what it means were answered when I held my baby for the very first time, both of us crying and exhausted from birth. I had never felt love so strong before, a different kind of love. It made me strong and humble at the same time.

After 24 1/2 hours of labour, on Tuesday, February 4th at 5:07 p.m., Catalina Leah entered the world...and my cervical cancer exited (it came back later but that's a story for another time). On the day she was born, Catalina literally saved my life. And she has been spiritually and emotionally saving me every day since.

All this seems like yesterday but it was 13 years and 10 days ago. She's a smart, kind, beautiful person with her own life and interests. It went by too fast. I wish that I could have some of it back again but I can't. And that's okay. I will always be her Mama and, God willing, will always be part of her life. Wide-eyed and curious, ever-anxious to see everything that is before her. Take it all in, my baby. Take it all in and make it your own. The world has never been the same since you entered it. Mine especially.

Today Catalina and I spent the day with my sister-in-law who is pregnant with her first baby. Our men were back working on the house, getting it ready for the baby's arrival in late September. After going to the movies, the three of us went to Barnes & Noble. I bought my sister-in-law the all-new "What to Expect When You're Expecting." It was the best book I read to guide me through the pregnancy and I was thrilled to share that with her. It is a special connection mothers have with their babies. Through all the weirdness, discomfort and pain, there is an incredible bond that mothers and babies form that only they can share while they share a body. It's mind-blowing. I am excited for my sister-in-law as she begins her adventure, her incredibly special and absolutely individual relationship with her baby.

After that we went to the diner, picked up dinner and all of us -- men and ladies -- ate together while watching the Ranger game (they won, Hallelujah!). It was the perfect Valentine's Day. It was what love is all about.

Namaste.

I Hate Valentine's Day

It's true. I hate Valentine's Day. I consider it an insincere day of atonement. It's a day that people who are not particularly good to their significant others for the previous 364 days can compensate for it by giving an overpriced bouquet of roses or going out to an overrated restaurant for dinner. Then after the roses have wilted and the dinner has been digested, it's back to the old behavior...until next Valentine's Day. I don't subscribe to this.



Don't get me wrong, I am far from perfect. I am not conventionally romantic. I can be down-right despicable to live with at times. I'm opinionated, demanding and, as my husband and daughter have pointed out, occasionally hypocritical. I am not what anyone would call "warm." I generally dislike being touched. Over the last couple of years, the latter two aspects of my personality are starting to make more sense. But you always know where you stand with me and I think that is refreshing in a world where people so often make pretend to people's faces. My ears are always open to anyone who needs to be heard and I have been known to give some unselfish (even good) advice from time to time as well. And when someone I care deeply for tells me that I've said or done (or sometimes not done) something that upsets him or her, I work towards changing so that I don't cause that person any more pain...at least not in that particular way. To me, that is romantic. To me, that is love. To me, that beats a bouquet of roses any day of the year.



So go ahead and celebrate Valentine's Day any way you want...and remember that celebration doesn't have to be confined to February 14th.



Namaste.