Life is short; seize the day

Never have these words meant more to me than in the past two weeks.

Sadly three people to whom I was connected in different ways have passed away during that time. I wrote about one of them, a former colleague who passed away at 91, here.

The other two, neither of whom I met in person, were in their 70s. My heart goes out to a friend who lost her mom and another friend who lost her soul mate.


May all three rest in peace.


~

I haven't posted lately; nothing like breaking a New Year's resolution.

But I think the reason I haven't been able to come up with anything to write is because the almost-daily medical appointments have stopped. My online cancer journal came to a halt.


But today that changed..I went for a bone density scan. That's gotta be the easiest medical test ever. And none of that pesky fasting beforehand!

It was a new machine and it was really fast. The woman administering the test said it used to take a half hour. This lasted five minutes.

I'll get the results in a few days from my primary care physician and then schedule an overdue physical with him. Last year with all that chemo and radiation (now just a memory) just didn't seem like the right time to have a physical.

So...I wanted to see if I could still write a blog post. It looks like I can.

New family activity...

Touching my soft, new hair that is growing back. It's fun, it's easy and it only takes a few seconds.

And it's bringing us together as a family. What's better than that? 

Comeback time

As quickly as they disappeared from my face, they are now coming back. My eyebrows, that is.

And yesterday I suddenly noticed my eyelashes are starting to reappear.

Woo hoo times two!

I graduated yesterday ;-)

Viral, I went

Posting this for any of my friends who didn't see that I went "viral" on Facebook last night. ;-)

Yes, I'm tooting my own horn here. (toot, toot)

I was surprised the story link that one of my editors posted got several shares and many comments.

Yesterday I wrote a story about my experience at a "Look Good...Feel Better" session Thursday night and sent it to my editor. He put it in today's paper.

"Look Good...Feel Better" is an American Cancer Society program for women undergoing cancer treatment. I had written about it five years ago, as an observer. This week I was a participant.

Here's the link

Thanks for reading! My online cancer journal continues.

A Christmas miracle ~ for moi anyway

I found out today I only need to have 25 radiation treatments instead of 35. Woo hoo!

And today's was number 24, which means on Monday I'm all done. 

Not that it adversely affected me; and not that I won't miss the four awesome radiation therapists I've gotten to know. 

They're all wonderful women who made me feel great about myself.

My radiation oncologist said the blood work and the skin in the affected area both look good. So again I say woo hoo!

In a few weeks I have an appointment to learn more about the next step: pills. 

~

This is yet another in my continuing cancer journey saga..thanks for reading! 

Ah ...

I just had my second (complimentary) Monday morning massage after radiation.

It felt so good! Relaxing for sure.

Looking forward to having this week off. 

What to do? What to do?

Oh, that's right I remember now: Christmas shopping, sending out (a few) cards and taking care of related Yuletide activities. ;-)

Happy Monday to all.

We finally sang 'Happy Birthday' to our guy

Work and Thanksgiving preparations got in the way Wednesday of having a birthday cake for Cameron. But we had the cake for dessert yesterday, instead of the pumpkin pie. 
I hope he had a good birthday! We're happy to have him home for a few days.


I go to radiation this morning after a day off yesterday. Then I'm heading out to do a story on the beautiful Osborne Homestead Museum in Derby, Ct.
Each year local garden clubs decorate the house for the holiday season. This year's theme is cinema, and a friend who is in a garden club told me that her group used The Grinch theme to decorate the childhood bedroom and bathroom, with a sleigh set up in the bathtub. 

Looking forward to the creativity!

Radiation: Days 6 & 7

I don't want to jinx myself here but the treatments continue to go along fine...no side effects yet.

That's something for which I am thankful, especially in this season of Thanksgiving.

Today our Cameron comes home for a long holiday weekend ~ yay! 

And tomorrow is his birthday ~ double yay! 
I wonder what kind of cake he would like?

Radiation: Day 5

And so I finished week one. That went by quickly. Yay!

Seems like I was just there last Friday to do a run-through  before starting treatment. Now it's a week later. Time is flying by.

And a week from today is the day after Thanksgiving. Yikes!

Guess it's about time I get organized...

{thanks for reading my online cancer journey journal!}

Day 4 and counting

This morning I had my fourth radiation treatment. 

I also saw the doctor, and she said my blood work from yesterday looked  fine. Yay!

She noticed my hair is growing back and told me I'll have a new 'do every week. Double yay! 
It's exciting to see my hair return.


{And so my online cancer journey journal continues..thanks for stopping by.}

Radiation: Day 3

Everyone is so friendly there I didn't want to leave! 

I needed a blood test so I saw my "old friends" in the other part of the building (chemo side) and it was like old home week. The doctor asked me if I missed him last week. I said I did, but I don't think he believed me! 

And a volunteer gave me a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie. It was still warm.

Woo hoo!

Now on to Wednesday stuff..

{My online cancer journey journal continues..thanks for reading!}

Radiation: Day 2

It went fine; thanks for asking.   ;-)

Soon I'll be leaving for treatment #3.

Radiation: Day 1

That was easy.

Bonus points: So what is that white thing above the Easy Button next to the mouse?

Answer: Linus' paw. That was easy.

Bizzy days

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to radiation we go ...

It starts today and will continue for the next seven weeks. 

Life has been a bit busy lately...we got home at 10 p.m. yesterday from Ralph's co-worker's wedding and this morning I'm fixin' to head to my first radiation treatment.

Here's Ralph enjoying himself at the wedding. I had a tough time getting a good photo ~ I blame it on the soft lighting. This was the best one I captured.

Before we went to the wedding we visited our docent daughter working at an open house at the David Humphreys House. 

The annual open house features samples of Thanksgiving fare - turkey, cranberry sauce, cornbread, squash pie and more - prepared over an open hearth in the historic house. 

Here's a link to a post I wrote about the event three years ago! I would have guessed I had written it last year. Time sure does fly.  

Allegra surprised us yesterday when she told us she had made the tasty pumpkin soup.

My favorite is the squash pie. Our friend Christine who always makes the squash pies says she follows a pumpkin pie recipe and simply substitutes butternut squash, because it's sweeter than the pumpkin.

Yum!

That's about it from here. Off to get ready to be radiated.  

If I glow, it won't be from the radiation

I went to see the radiation oncologist yesterday for a consultation. She explained everything that will be happening with the upcoming radiation treatments and it didn't sound bad at all.

She said it's easier to take than chemo. I feel fortunate to have gotten through five months of that with nothing more than tiredness.  

I also had an unexpected CT scan. That wasn't on my agenda!

It turned out fine, but when I first saw the scanner (don't know correct name of it) I flashed back to my MRI experience in February when I freaked out. 

At that time Ralph had to bring me back another day with a medication inside me to get through the claustrophic feelings I was experiencing.

So now I wait to find out when I start the five-days a week radiation treatment. The nurse assured me I wouldn't be radioactive. So apparently I won't be glowing.

I don't mean to sound flip about any of these important procedures. I simply want to keep my sense of humor about all of this.  :D

{And so my online cancer journey journal doth continue ~ thanks for reading!}