Radiation: Day 2

It went fine; thanks for asking.   ;-)

Soon I'll be leaving for treatment #3.

25 years and counting ...

Well here we are ~ the old married folks, renewing our wedding vows Sunday. A totally unexpected event, and one Ralph and I will never forget.

I hinted about this here on Monday, but I was waiting for a photo to illustrate!

The occasion ended up being kind of a blur, but I'll share what I remember.

We were invited to the Baptism of seven-month old Noah, the first child of Ralph's boss and friend, Marc. We arrived early and found a spot on the aisle in the last pew.

The Rev. Thomas F. Lynch (above) came over and smiled and welcomed us to the church. He struck up a conversation and asked Ralph what his illness was; Ralph told him he has Muscular Dystrophy and then mentioned I have cancer.

Father Lynch, an incredibly friendly man, seemed taken aback.
He asked, "Are you two friends?"
We said something like, no, we're married (hahaha) and told him we had just marked our 25th wedding anniversary.

He asked us if we had celebrated or renewed our wedding vows. We said no we hadn't. He told us to see him after the Baptism and he would renew our vows. It was our turn to be taken aback!

After the Mass, Father Lynch announced to a crowd of about 200 people (there was also a First Communion that day in addition to the Baptism and the sanctuary was filled with proud parents) that there were two visitors from Ansonia who had just had their 25th wedding anniversary.

Ralph and I just looked at each other.
We thought he was going to renew our vows privately, after everyone had left. Nope. That was not to be.

He called us up to the altar, asked us to take each others' hands, and we recited our vows.

My voice got a bit shaky, as I saw Marc and his lovely wife in the first pew beaming at us.

After the brief exchange of vows, everyone applauded! I was overwhelmed, and I do believe Ralph was too.

We walked (and rolled) back down the aisle to lots of smiles, and one elderly man got up and shook my hand and said congratulations. Ralph's co-workers were beaming, and surprised, as were we.

Afterward more of the parishioners came up and congratulated us.

I told Marc (who fortunately has a great sense of humor) that we didn't mean to steal his thunder! It was his special day!

He told me, "I feel like I should get you a gift." I said jokingly, "Don't worry about it, we didn't get you one."

At the luncheon afterward we got more congrats and best wishes, from Ralph's co-workers as well as from people we didn't know.

I'm grateful to Ralph's colleague, Chris, who was quick with the camera and got a few photos of the moment for us.

Words escape me ~ I can just say it was wonderful. We went to the church Sunday not knowing we were going to get married again.

But we did.
And sealed it with a kiss.

Being lazy today ~ something from the e-mail bag

There was a whole bunch of church signs in the e-mail, but this was my favorite.

asdfghjkl;

Did that get your attention?

If not, maybe this will: QWERTYUIOP.

Being silly.

I can't seem to get into writing my online health journal these days. What I do know is that last chemo treatment 10 days ago knocked me for a loop.
Just so exhausting.

But I'm really grateful that I feel fine. And that I have an appetite.

So to sum it up, the side effects I've experienced are exhaustion and food cravings. And I know it could be worse.

{The online journal about my cancer journey doth continue...}

Kickin' kemo in the butt

That's what I'm doing.
I had the second of four treatments yesterday. So far I've taken two of the three extremely expensive anti-nausea pills. Thankfully I have no nausea, so I'm able to function.
I actually have a big appetite.

That's about it from here.


And so my online journal about my health journey continueth...

Malpractice?

I went in for surgery March 28 but I didn't know it was going to be Botox surgery.

Zoinks!

Wanna see my scar?

Just kidding!

Trying to keep my sense of humor here and I believe I'm doing a pretty good job of it.

Instead of some old scar, I'll show you a dramatic floral arrangement I got while still in the hospital.

The nurses and other assorted health professionals all ooohed and aaahed over it and one of them took a photo of it with her phone. She said she was going to use it as her phone background pic/wallpaper or whatever you call it.

They all went crazy for the exotic-looking Bird of Paradise flowers. It certainly is a unique arrangement, from a really unique friend.

I was trying to be artsy yesterday morning and I snapped photos without the flash. I just used the sun coming through the window.

Below find close-up of one of the Bird of Paradise blooms.

Oh! and I didn't even have to go on a cruise to get a towel animal. This little guy greeted me when I arrived in my room after surgery.