Today marks the half way point in my chemotherapy treatment. (Seven down, seven to go!) I think I misled some people when I said the tumor and any live cancer cells could not be found during my last surgery. While this was awesome news, I still need to finish out my chemo./radiation protocol. Just in case. You never know if there was a rogue cell that decided to flee the scene and go elsewhere in the body. Radiation starts this Thursday and is every week day through July 2nd.
Dustin recently had to travel to Miami to take care of some business for his role with Orphan Network. I tagged along and we stuck around the area for a few extra days to do some exploring. My friend Jen flew down to meet us for the weekend. Bummed by the rainy weather we drove north to sunny Orlando and found ourselves at Universal Islands of Adventure.
I got over my fear of roller coasters back in high school but if I haven’t been on one in a while there is that little bit of anxiety that tends to form. Our first stop was to the new Harry Potter section of the park and on the roller coaster called Dueling Dragons. As we dropped into our first cork screw, I was deafened by my own screams as well as Jen’s. Somewhere between a cork screw and a loop, I thought to myself, “This is insane!” But I wasn’t thinking about the roller coaster. I was thinking about the fact that I was ON the roller coaster while in the midst of chemotherapy treatments. Suddenly the sounds of the coaster and screams were drowned out by the thoughts of happiness, thankfulness, and flashbacks to a time when I had undergone chemotherapy treatments and could barely keep myself out of a hospital no less ride a roller coaster in sunny Florida.
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| Jen and Dustin |
Since then I have been thinking back to that time in 2005/2006 when I was fighting the same cancer I had this time and comparing everything from treatments to side effects to what I was capable of doing. I wanted to share a few of them because while this whole experience is not something I wanted to repeat, I can see the good that is coming from it at a much smaller cost as last time (if that even makes sense - it does in my brain).
Hospital visits, infections, and pain OH MY!
2005-2006:
5-6 emergency room visits (twice via ambulance)
two intrusive surgeries with long recoveries,
3 additional hospital stays
Multiple infections, including one that was almost fatal,
Constant bone pain in pretty much every joint at one point or another,
a lot of crying,
And, more encounters with a catheter than I’d like to admit or remember.
2012:
So far:
2 minor out-patient surgeries
Minor nausea during first three treatments
Only cried once, ok, maybe twice :)
Oh the places you will go!
2005/2006:
The only places I went were:
My couch,
the hospital and emergency room,
doctor’s office for appointments and chemo infusion,
Fairfax hospital for radiation,
the occasional visit to Forest Grove to visit my friends,
Lake Anna,
family’s homes, and
Church
2012:
Visits with family, friends, church, and the usual doctor/chemo visits,
South Bend, Indiana & Chicago for my friend’s bachelorette party,
Seattle, Washington,
Managua, Nicaragua to run a literacy training conference,
Miami, Florida,
South Bend, Indiana for my friend’s wedding that I was in,
Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina,
wake surfing at Lake Anna,
With near future travel plans to Nicaragua and Israel (and other far off places yet to be revealed).
One of the reasons things are going so well is the fact that I am getting less chemo drugs then last time. So I’m thankful for the advances in the research for rhabdomyosarcoma in the last five years.
So what else am I thankful for?
I’m thankful for a calendar that’s almost always full.
I’m thankful for a wonderful family.
I’m thankful for old and new friends.
I’m thankful for a husband who stands by my side every step of the way.
I’m thankful for extra time to pick up old hobbies.
I’m thankful for energy to exercise and take the dog for long walks.
I’m thankful for the energy and ability to travel.
I’m thankful for social media for allowing me to communicate to friends and family that are far and near.
I’m thankful for coffee (even though it tastes funny on chemo weeks).
I’m thankful for great doctors and nurses.
I’m thankful to have been a bridesmaid in two weddings - one of which I danced half the night.
Most of all, I am thankful to know a God that can take what was meant to be a bad situation and continuously bring good out of it. I am thankful for his mercy, grace, and above all, love. He continues to show just how much he loves me and how his ways are not my ways.
Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
