January 23rd — Well, losing chest muscle strength due to mastectomy sure affects skiing. The motion to snap the ski boots on is lost for me, but as Greg pointed out, I never really fastened my own ski boots anyway once I started skiing with Greg! Poling to the ski lift on flat surface is never a fun part of skiing but it was extremely apparent on the first day that I would be much slower due to my pec muscle weakness. By the next day, I just learned how to glide into the narrow lift entrances as far as possible before stopping and having to pole. I only ran into one person using that advanced skier technique, and since it was Greg, who said, “well, hello there!” and neither one of us fell down, it worked for me. I consider the ski trip a complete success. Greg and I skied greens and blues and made it down one blue-black run without injury. (Tomahawk, Vagabond, High Noon, Tower, Sunnyside, Heavenly Daze, Lightning, Norther) In fact, we probably skied more than one blue-black or black run because several times we took the shortest route to the lift we wanted, not looking at the guide and just making it down the steep hill. The runs under the lifts always look easier from the lift than when skiing it, and they are almost always blues or blacks. I never fell getting off a lift nor did I take out any fellow skiers or boarders getting off a lift, which is probably a first for me. Greg skis much more aggressively and faster than I do, but he patiently skied behind me on all runs or waited for me halfway down since I took more rest stops than he did. Neither one of us broke anything or took any hard falls, although we both did fall a few times. No true yard sales, where poles, gloves, skis go flying and have to be gathered up, put back on, all while standing on a steep incline. All my ski lesson training came back to me — I automatically snapped on my downhill ski first and dug it into the snow before putting on my second ski. I stopped downhill of Greg when he was already stopped, in case I fell and took him out as I fell. I took off ski poles and properly looked over my shoulder when getting on the lifts. And I learned an important skiing lesson I had never known before: skiing is great post-mastectomy exercise. Do you think I can get my health insurance to pay for the ski trip?