Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Back to Pole Dancing

Friend Anna helps hold down Puss while I prepare the needle.
A bag of fluids on a makeshift IV pole brings me back to my pole dancing days.


There's nothing quite like a feeling of accomplishment. I felt that when I first mastered the art of dancing with my two-left-wheeled IV pole partner when I was a patient at the City of Hope.

And I felt it more recently when I found myself in the reverse role of caretaker. My aging and cantankerous cat Puss needed fluids administered through the skin on her back. Each time I prepared to pierce her flesh, I repeated my new mantra, "It's only skin. It's only skin." When I managed to jab the needle and then hold her still for five minutes (with the help of my friend Anna), I felt a sense of relief. The second time, when I did the deed solo, I felt a genuine sense of accomplishment.

Now I'm about to do another fear-inducing act with a pole. A new friend who's organizing a fund raiser for Be the Match has asked me to do the pole dancing skit that I created three years ago for The Big C. And, just like I knew that poking the cat with a needle was for a good cause, I'm going to shed my fear because 100% of the evening's proceeds will assist with adding new potential bone marrow donors to the Be the Match registry.

I hope you'll join me on Friday, August 26, for a fun evening of wine tasting, appetizers, a silent auction, music, a beautiful and historic Pasadena venue and, of course, some pole dancing.




You may purchase tickets online at www.bethematchfoundation.org/winetasting

4 comments:

Petrea Burchard said...

Will we see you pole dancing? That ought to sell some tickets!

Susan C said...

I just hope the thought of my pole dancing doesn't scare people away. :)

Bellis said...

Susan,
You didn't dance, unless I left beforehand, but there were lots of other things going on. It was a lovely evening, thanks.

Nelle said...

Wish I could have attended that event. I had to give IVS to my Sheltie, Sandie Lass for the last year of her life for kidney failure. She took it a lot better than I did!