After I received the news of needing to have my bladder removed and the fact that I will be wearing a bag attached to my belly for the rest of my life I decided on the last day that you could sign up about a month ago to compete in Fred Astaire's IDC in Orlando with my dance instructor, David. Didn't know if I'd be able to wear the right clothing for this in the future, or do the flips in the dance routines. I had a a little less than a month to practice, but we were just doing 2 dances - the ones I did for Fred Astaire's Showcase event back on 5/31/19 (check out my blog entry for that date with pictures from the event). Nicole and Tim came to cheer me on, and I just had a blast - so glad I did it! I even got to meet Tony Dovolani who used to be on Dancing With The Stars (wish I had had the guts to ask him to get a picture with me!). I didn't get any pictures of my first dance in my red dress, but we did take some pictures after my 2nd dance, so here they are!
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I had the special treat of a last minute visit from my dear friend and former college roommate, Sheryl (aka Weasel because she always affectionately called everyone weasels when we were in college!). She lives in Orlando but had to come to Tampa for a work thing and was able to swing by and spend a short time hanging out together at my house. We used to kind of be twinning it but not so much since I've been growing out my gray hair! Loved the time with her and grateful we snapped this 1 shot together just as she was leaving.  Well, today was the last day of the existence of The Egg and I at Winthrop Plaza and the last day of work there for Nicole and Nicholas. The Egg and I was bought by First Watch, and Nicole and Nicholas didn't want to work for First Watch so they gave their notice and today was it. Nathan and Noah came into town so we could visit The Egg and I one last time and support Nicole and Nicholas on their last day. We were able to steal them away from work to snap this picture of them (don't mind Nicholas' hairnet head - lol!).  After we got home I was able to capture this adorable picture of the kittens that I just have to share:  And the birthday celebrations continue! Today was my dad's birthday, so we met him and his girlfriend at the Cracker Barrel about half way between our homes to celebrate him! Meatloaf is one of his favorite dishes, and nobody makes it like Cracker Barrel. Happy Birthday, Dad!  So - I stopped coloring my hair completely when I lost so much of my hair and wore a wig for the first quarter of 2018, and then I've been putting temporary color on my hair since the hair grew back enough that I could ditch the wig. But after the news of me having to lose my bladder I just lost all desire to try to cover my natural color anymore (don't really understand the correlation, but it is what it is). So, while I really like my hair to be all one color, preferable dark brown and not gray, I'm embracing au naturale and doing away with the coloring. It's pretty cool to be doing at this particular time since many younger women are actually dying their hair gray and many women are doing the ombre thing, which this is actually turning out to look like. So while I'm still not used to it and don't really like it that much, I'm feeling very grateful to be off the hair coloring wagon!!
 My sweet friend, Hollyhead (since she calls me Jodiehead), had a birthday yesterday, and I was able to take her to lunch today to celebrate as has been our tradition of celebrating each other's birthdays over the years. Here's a picture I snapped of her with her little birthday treat at Bahama Breeze. Happy Birthday, Hollyhead! The kittens are now a month old and getting cuter every day! Here are some of the latest pictures we've taken: We received the results of my biopsy on Monday and 2 of the 4 biopsies taken were cancerous so the recommendation is bladder removal. Not at all what we were hoping for, as you can imagine. At least my kidneys and ureters looked good. I contacted the doctor in Gainesville on Thursday for a 2nd opinion and he concurred that is the best route to go in. The surgery will be scheduled sometime mid November, and I'll be in the hospital for 3-5 days with a 4-6 week recovery after that. I'm pretty sad about it but peaceful and pretty ready to have this season of constant checkups and scopes and biopsies of my bladder over with. Still wish the outcome was different but it is what it is. Will keep you posted.
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July 2020
Tim & Jodie
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