Hello Everyone!
Once again, I find myself in the position of saying goodbye. All About African Violets will not be returning to production in 2022.
I want to assure you that I’m healthy and strong. I am very lucky that my cancer was caught so early (Grade 1). Endometrial cancer is very treatable and has a 99% cure rate. From the beginning, I focused on being in that 99% and I am 🙂 The treatment for me was a complete hysterectomy along with a couple of lymph nodes. I had this surgery on October 29, 2021. My surgery was minimally invasive and done on an outpatient basis (!) I am still amazed that I had major abdominal surgery and came home the same day! My surgeon did the Sentinel Lymph Node procedure on me – giving me a 90% LESS chance of ever developing lymphedema in my legs. The pathology came back about a week later with the result: No Residual Cancer. Anyone who has ever received that result knows that it means that I am cancer-free (Yahoo!!!!!). It also means that the cancer had not spread from the polyp where it was initially found. Because it had not spread, I did not even need to have chemo or radiation. My final results were Grade 1, Stage 1A. This was the best possible news for me! Again – I know how lucky I was and continue to be. My 6-week recovery period went smoothly, and I have recovered well. My cancer journey is chronicled on my personal blog. Feel free to share that link with anyone who might benefit from it.
You can see that I have MUCH to be grateful for. And I am. Grateful. But receiving a cancer diagnosis changes everything, you guys. It really does. So much happened to me last year – I actually underwent four surgeries: two oral surgeries, one of which happened before I was vaccinated; and two gynecological surgeries. Four surgeries in one year in the time of COVID . . . it was a lot to process. It’s still a lot to process.
But learning I had cancer and then learning I was cancer-free – those two things had the biggest impact on me. These are life-altering events, and everything is different because of them. I feel like I have been given a second chance in my life and I’m making decisions on how I want my life to look as I keep moving forward. And so, while it’s not an easy decision, it’s time for me to say goodbye. I want to thank Douglas the Digital Dude for all of his behind the scenes help over the years. He’s seriously amazing, you guys! I would be remiss if I did not thank my resident experts, Joyce Stork and Dr. Jeff Smith. Big thanks, too, to everyone who helped defray the costs of production – and, of course, to all of you for watching. All About African Violets has always been a labor of love for me and I’m glad you have all enjoyed it. If you learned something from it, so much the better 🙂 I plan to keep posting the occasional photo of my plants on Instagram. Here is a link if you want to take a look at what’s on the stands from time to time.
And finally, I encourage you to find your joy. I did and it brought me this podcast.
Again, thank you all for watching. I wish you all the best – keep growing! And remember: Limit. Your. Collection!!!
Annie 🙂
Endometrial Cancer Survivor since 29 Oct 21
I’m going to leave you with a song from a wonderful movie. It’s called If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out, by Yusuf/Cat Stevens, from the wonderful Hal Ashby film, Harold and Maude. Thank you all – so very much. 🙂
All About African Violets 