Diary of a Saasy Girl

The title of this blog alone gives you a clue that this year did not go to plan. It's usually around this time of the year that I reflect on what I have achieved. I'm going to do the same for this year as, believe it or not, there were some silver linings. Let's dive in. I made a strong start to the year by scooping the User Experience Designer certification in early January and later, attained the Business Analyst one in July. I put on my best Radio 4 voice (and accompanying face?) with a few Podcasts; Admin to Architect and MVPerian Talks, discussing what makes a successful project delivery and user adoption.  In February I embraced the continued virtual Salesforce Community meetings by joining the Newcastle Women in Tech to deliver a presentation on my career journey and then over to the Cotswolds group to present how to create a Centre of Excellence - a new talk I had curated and had plans to extend further.  My content writing also took a spin out in the early months w...

Hey folks, I'm back and thought I would share what's been happening with me since my last fabulous update.  First up, having been told of my cancer free status, the next day I took myself off to a conference and came away with some socks swag and a dose of Covid. It was my first time with Covid, I've been so lucky to avoid it until now. After a weekend of 40 degrees temperature I managed to shake it off quickly and get back on form again.  If you've been reading along then you will have remembered that at the end of November I had a drain removed that was collecting lymphatic fluid following from my second surgery. Well, my body hadn't quite figured out what to do with this fluid, that would normally reside in my lymph nodes, now removed. My body kept generating the fluid and then parking it in it's usual spot under my armpit, but it had nowhere to go, so instead just pooled in situ. I ended up with a lump on my side which was uncomfortable and I felt like I had...

Last time I wrote I was not in the happiest of moods. I was feeling very drained from my drain from my second surgery, or as a friend called it, 'my yellow bag of hate'.  Fast forward a few days and my mood is very different. In fact, I am delighted to share that I am officially cancer free and in remission.  Let me fill in the gaps on what's been happening over the past few days. Last Friday my original drain bottle was replaced as it was quickly filling with my bodily fluid. It was good to have a lighter version to carry about which made walking more manageable. I also found that putting my drain into a drawstring backpack, and onto my back helped to lug the thing about while on a walk about.  Also on Friday I had a quick catch up with my surgeon. He checked on how my new wound was healing but couldn't share any update as results from the biopsies weren't yet available. We would have to wait for the following week.  Tuesday arrived and I had a full collective of m...