A Year In Review

2011 has been, without question, the best year of my life. And I'm not just saying that to be called inspirational or a positive thinker or some other sweet moniker. I'm saying it because it's ACTUALLY true. Let's review.

January: New Year's Eve in New York City. Front row seats to Laura Linney's Broadway play Time Stands Still. Oh yeah, and I went on a cross-country trip. Arizona (the Grand Canyon is beautiful), New Mexico (Santa Fe is magical), Texas (Amarillo has delicious vegan bean burritos), Oklahoma (including OKC, home of my favorite raw/vegan restaurant), Arkansas (where we had a lovely meal with my high school buddy and her bro), Tennessee (Nashville was snowy), and Durham, NC (I don't even need to say what's in Durham, North Carolina). The experiences of our cross-country trip, including sitting behind the bench for the Duke/Boston College game, were the kind of once-in-a-lifetime moments that you just can't help but smile when thinking back on them. After spending a couple of days at Duke, we went up to NYC and DC. Yes, January was a great month.

February: When I beat the odds and triumphed over cancer. 11 hours of surgery, 17 different procedures, waking up with 13 tubes coming out of my body, and 14 days in the hospital. No guts, no glory. Plenty of guts and even more glory. I loved my time at Washington Hospital Center. The night I got out of the hospital, I went to a movie with my family and friends -- a whole crew. Then I played arcade games. This is not your typical first night out of the hospital after cytoreductive sugery plus HIPEC, but my recovery was marked with plenty of "not typicals." A couple of days later, I threw myself a victory party and dozens of my East Coast buddies came. A day after that, my three nurses and I drove to Duke to catch another basketball game and spend some quality time with the Krzyzewskis. At the end of the month, I came home to my loving family, friends, and colleagues. I'm pretty sure that February was a better month than January.

March: I continued to heal, blog, paint, and reflect. I went to Vegas for March Madness, which makes the tourney even more exciting for a self-professed college basketball fanatic. I restarted FOLFOX, and on that same day, I drove to Anaheim to watch my Blue Devils play in the Sweet Sixteen. The only sad moment in my year was on that day when Duke lost, but I quickly rebounded. That night, Will and I drove from Anaheim to the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay, which took about 6 hours. We rolled in at about 5am (while I was infusing with my bag o' chemo) and I was honored with the O'Melveny & Myers Warren Christopher Values Award at around 7pm. The Values Award is pretty much the highest honor anyone can receive at the firm, and I'd been secretly hoping to make enough of a difference at O'Melveny to get the award since I heard about it as a summer associate. How do you top getting an honor like that? You don't, but I did follow it with a massage and a walk along the cliffside overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean. 

April: I kicked off the month as the keynote speaker for the Ms. JD conference, and spoke about how much I love my career and the community that is my firm. Of course, I had a cheering section at this first "WunderGlo" speaking engagement: my three nurses, Tim, and Sabrina. Never the one to miss an opportunity to wreak havoc on April Fools Day, I emailed Dr. Lenz and told him that I couldn't make a bowel movement and was vomiting -- he believed me, naturally. It was awesome. Followed the April Fools hijinks by having fun all month. A trip to Palm Springs, Dodger games with Tim, concerts at the Hollywood Bowl and Santa Barbara Bowl, a trip to San Francisco that included hiking among the Redwoods at the Armstrong National Forest. I also started DJ lessons (you can call me DJ Wunder) and rejoined my O'Melveny basketball team. My first post-op swish felt particularly good.

May: I continued to barrel through chemo and was finally cleared to back to the gym. I did it in grand fashion, lifting weights, shooting hoops, and swimming in the pool at the L.A. Athletic Club. Fighting cancer is a full-time job, but I managed to mix in plenty of fun, too: concerts at the Walt Disney Concert Hall; a trip to Boulder, CO for acupuncture and a trip to the hotel that inspired the one in The Shining; a fun day Disneyland; and another trip to Vegas.

June: I finished chemo treatment, ending my relationship with FOLFOX at 13 rounds. I gave the commencement speech at my high school's (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy) graduation which was both surreal (I got to wear a robe and sat with my former teachers) and a huge honor. I met with my lawyers at O'Melveny (doesn't that sound cool?), who agreed to take on The WunderGlo Foundation as a pro bono client. I sealed the deal with a literary agent (her name is Gillian MacKenzie), had good times in New York City, and strutted my stuff (including my incision wound) in a bikini on Waikiki Beach.

July: Let's keep it simple. London and York, England. Edinburgh, Scotland. Nice and Cannes, France. Paris, France -- for Bastille Day. When I got to the States, I threw myself a serious cancer-killing victory party at the coolest art gallery in Downtown L.A. Friends and family abounded. We declared triumph over a disease that was supposed to have killed me but never really had a chance. July rocked. 

August: On August 1st, I came back to O'Melveny. Most people wouldn't miss their job during a multi-month vacation, but I certainly did. Being back in the mix felt great, and I was put to work immediately. And although I wasn't back on treatment, I was spending a considerable amount of time at Norris since a scan identified a pleural effusion, a collection of fluid by my left lung. The radiologist was SURE I had metastatic cancer in my pleural cavity, and he was dead wrong. The good times kept rolling at concerts at the Hollywood Bowl and the Ford Amphitheater, along with a weekend celebration of our 4 year wedding anniversary at the Coronado Hotel in San Diego. 

September: My battle against cancer kicked into high gear in September, as I went back on chemo -- this time, with FOLFIRI. My work for The WunderGlo Foundation also kicked into high gear, as I made connections in New York City during the UN Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases. I met Lance Armstrong and Doug Ulman of LIVESTRONG, attended an American Cancer Society event, and spoke at a UN Youth Rally on NCDs. I was interviewed by the founding members of the Levo League (here's their article on me), got addicted to Breaking Bad (best show on TV without a doubt), and -- oh yeah -- managed to pull off a massive success in The WunderGlo Foundation's first ever event. The Foundation's BEAT COLON CANCER 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament and Silent Auction raised over $10,000 for the USC GI Oncology Program and Fight Colorectal Cancer. And my team won the women's championship. Ooh, and I celebrated another anniversary: the 1 year anniversary of my diagnosis. 

October: I kept working hard at the firm, on the Foundation, and in my quest to kill cancer once and for all. I stepped up my sneaker game, honed my DJ skills, and celebrated Halloween by throwing a party at O'Melveny and wearing a hot dog costume with a sign that read: "Warning: May Cause Colon Cancer. Trust me, I should know!" to Norris. We also went to Vegas again (when you're on a lucky streak, you've gotta keep riding it). 

November: Continued balancing of my work and Foundation responsibilities, more FOLFIRI, solid workouts, and good times with friends. Especially splashy highlights include hanging out with Russell Brand at a L.A. Library Foundation event and hanging out with Coach K at the Maui Invitational. Three Duke games in three days from either the first or second row of a tiny gym = basketball heaven. Combine that with golf and tennis and a Maui beach and you'll get a sense of what my Thanksgiving week looked like. It was NICE.

December: Jam-packed with events, December started out with The WunderGlo Foundation's second event -- a poker tournament and live auction that yielded over $5,000 for the Foundation -- and before I knew it, I was 30 years old. I threw a huge party, made my DJing debut with a 40 minute set, and had a blast. I met my future surgeon, Dr. Yuri Genyk, and started to train for my upcoming January surgery. I celebrated the holidays with friends and family at parties and dinners, spending Christmas at our loft in Downtown L.A. And I'm now rounding out the last days of December in one of my favorite places: Santa Fe, New Mexico.  

Notable concerts included: Mumford and Sons (twice), kd lang (twice), Stevie Nicks, WATCH THE THRONE (Jay-Z and Kanye West), Florence & the Machine

Notable new careers included: President of a non-profit, writer, DJ, t-shirt designer (more on this coming soon)

Wow. It was a great year. It was the best year. 

But its greatness (and bestness) wasn't just about places I went and people I met and good times I had. It wasn't just about beating cancer. It was a shift in mindset, a shift that came the moment I was diagnosed and continued to strengthen with each passing day. The new mindset was encapsulated in my paintings: LOVE LIFE. It was described in my blog entries: LIVE LIFE IN SUPER-HD. It is about rejoicing in the present, learning from the past, and looking forward to the future. It's about gratitude and laughter, compassion and love. It's about happiness.  

2011 was the best year because it was infused with true, deep, abiding happiness. And I wish that kind of happiness to you and all the people you love in the coming year.