National Cheese Lovers Day - Day 60

It is only appropriate that as I write from America's Dairyland, as a VERY proud cheesehead, I take a moment to honor this very special holiday of National Cheese Lovers Day.

As the website honoring this important celebration notes:

"On National Cheese Lover’s Day, don’t feel bleu, throw a feta or act capriciously. January 20th is a gouda day to kummin over and have some cheddar or asiago or fontina! "

I'm going to head to the local store for some curbside pickup of fresh from the dairy cheesecurds as mozzarella whips to mark this day. Also worth noting, that I'm earning my cred in my soon-to-be Jewish-Indian union, I MADE HOMEMADE PANNER THIS WEEK!

A bit of bone marrow transplant history, with some cheese on top:

I actually spent many years, deathly/anaphylactically allergic to all dairy products, including all cheese made from cow's milk. A horrible affliction for dairy-loving vegetarian from Wisconsin. From the age of 14 until my 1st Bone Marrow Transplant in the summer of 2008, even touching dairy products caused a big mess! In retrospect, the medical professionals believe the onset of the dairy allergy in 1995 was one of the early indications of my underlying immune disorder. However, one of the unexpected, AMAZING silver linings of my first bone marrow transplant, was that when my immune system got its reset, the dairy allergy went away, and I've been binging on grilled cheese, ice cream, and cheese curds ever since :)

Health Update:

• Haven't been to the doctor all week, so no updated states until tomorrow. They are giving me the full work up of labs, scans, examinations - so hoping for some positive progress updates midday on Friday

• I'm in a battle of the ages with my insurance company over paying for a drug the docs say I need to attend to a brand new blood glucose issue that seems to have arisen with this new bone marrow. Watch out United Healthcare - you don't know who you're messing with, and I shall not stop until I win!!!

• Fingers crossed that we really are on the downward slope of Omicron. With any luck, I'm about 6-8 weeks away from being able to return to the world, and it would be pretty wonderful if Covid decided to cooperate in its fast decline along that timeline.

What's Entertaining Us:

• A 100% solidly frozen Friess Lake is the centerpiece of much enjoyment right now - its beautiful, it provides for amazing new walking routes, there are ice-fisherman to shout to from a far distance, snowmobilers zooming across the ice, and amazing hockey and ice-skating rinks cleared in front of people's homes where their docks normally are during the summer. The windchill might be -7 degrees but it really is a Winter Wonderland of a very particular kind of fun here.

• On Television:

  • Every night at 6:00 Central, I continue to tune in to watch Amy Schneider DOMINATE at Jeopardy. She is AMAZING.

• Ricky Jervais's show AFTER-LIFE on Netflix... I avoided it for a while, given the topic (Ricky Jervais is figuring out how to live life after his wife dies of cancer). Glad I jumped in, I'm really loving the humor, the sadness, the honest portrayal of grief.

• Movies:

  • Finally watched Tick Tick Boom - brought me back to my days of OBSESSING over RENT, and loved Andrew Garfield's performance.

What I'm Grateful for:

• Every Monday since my brother passed away, at 12:00 EST, I join a zoom call to say Kaddish (the Jewish Mourning Prayer) with members of this amazing community I'm a part of called, Reboot. I'm so thankful for the support, the tradition, and the space to remember Ben every single week, and also to share helpful healing thoughts for those who are battling all kinds of things!

• All the learning that's coming from planning a Jewish-Hindu wedding celebration!

• 60+ days of inching closer to being RIGHT BACK

• This hilarious obsession I have with planning ever single detail of my return to sitting at the bar at the Copper Dock (the local supper club on the lake) This has taken on a life of its own in my head...Nice to see this special spot FROM the lake on my walk yesterday.