I have been having hot and cold flashes! At first I did not know what they were, I thought it might be a bug I had picked up, or heatiness and non-heatiness from the radiation, or excessive consumption of that traditional Chinese 'cooling' tea, Ho Yan Hor. But no, according to the gynaecologist, they are hot and cold flashes.

Now that I have a name and reason for them, I find them quite alot of fun. For one thing, I now have a reason to throw a shawl around my shoulders. Pre-cancer, I was always too hot. Now, I have the opportunity to make an shawl-punctuated fashion statement even while out of doors, and this justifies those pashminas I bought years ago, and the ones I recently bought to get me through radiation. I love it when I find a reason for past extravagances, makes me feel quite virtuous, a feeling I do not often have!

Also, it means that sometimes, the cabs here are too cold. I can actually tolerate the tropical heat now, even when I have the airconditioning in cabs switched off and the windows down. This makes cab rides so much healthier, with fresh air circulating through the cab. No more damp, petrie-dish cab rides for me. Not so much fun, of course, for the sweating cab driver, but hey, I'm the customer, right?

With hot flashes, I turn a little red - great, I look so much healthier, like I have a vigorous exercise routine which has given me such efficient blood vessels, what with the blood pumping through my system and all, that I look well-exercised all the time.

With this discovery, and the fact that it has not been too horrid, I have resolved NOT to have a menopause. Mood swings? As one of my friends told me:"Don't worry, we won't notice those. You've always had them." Depression? Forget it, I refuse to be down for any reason and with the help of MaxMara and Ferragamo sales, I won't be. Weight gain? I intend to buck the trend and kick up the exercise and brown rice routine. I understand that there are also non-invasive procedures which can shift the fat. My plastic surgeon is going to be one happy camper. For my part, I simply cannot wait to get over the hysterectomy and get 'de-lined', 'lifted', and Lasiked!

I can almost see my mother shaking her head in despair over the amount I am spending on superficialities, hear the sermons and the tsk-tsk's. My justification: I have no more room for 'some days' in my life. As long as I keep things fairly sensible (by my standards, at least), I am going to do everything I have always put down as a 'some day' item, including Lasik.

So - look out, world!