One Day Down, Five To Go

 

Today was actually sort of amazing.  Never having experienced chemotherapy before leads to plenty of anxiety of the unknown.  Nurses, doctors, and friends who’ve undergone chemotherapy are quite frank about the side affects and I understand I will battle some of those in the coming days.  But, for me, today was a great day.

I feel very fortunate that I went into today not experiencing any symptoms or pain from the actual cancer itself.   Of course, that may also change in the coming weeks.  Basically, I had a 5 hour down time in a comfy recliner with my iPad, my headphones, and no one bothering me.  It’s like I’ve been practicing for this my whole life!  I truly feel blessed because the whole time we were actually killing cancer too!

I quick story that I can relate this to is when I had colon cancer 16 years ago.  I also feared the thought of chemotherapy back then.  In fact, when my sister Melissa and my Mom Willie had our “family reunion” in Phoenix after I got out of the hospital, Melissa was ready to help me shave the head pending my upcoming Oncology meeting.  I didn’t let her and I was again fortunate to be Stage 1 cancer and no treatment was necessary.

From there I became an advocate for guys my age, I was 51 at the time, to go get their colonoscopy.  Back then most men around the campfire made jokes and said they would never have a colonoscopy.  My teaser was, “we’ve spent our entire lives keeping foreign objects from that area, but its the most important test you can have a  midlife to catch a killer early.  And, you go to sleep and wake up and it’s over.  No big deal!

Sometimes, things sound worse than they really are.

Mom is on the right along with her sister Patsi and brother Bobby

Here’s another cool thing that happened today.  The majority of you know my Mom, Willie.  She is the strongest member of our family.  At 91 she is a rock.  She lives alone in the same home for over 40 years, has a Hollywood dog, and still drives a Mustang (only in the daytime these days!)  Our house is only 10 minutes away which makes this Snowbirding worth the effort. 

Diane’s sister Barb sent Mom an idea this weekend about sewing up a little seatbelt pillow to land right on my chemo port in the shoulder.  She made it the next day!  It works like a charm because I had been running the lap belt under my arm so it wouldn’t rub there.  You’ll notice I ride in the passenger side most of the time because I have my other “Rockstar” Diane driving almost everywhere we go together. (I have a lot of texting and calling to tend to, the car is like my office)

To wrap this good day up I need to remind all of you who text me, call me, and follow this blog how important relationships are in our life.  I think it was Robin Williams who said, “everyone you meet has a battle going on.”  This is my current battle and I am so blessed to have you in my life supporting me and my family.

But, isn’t everyday the day to reach out to someone who you’ve neglected or let some issue cloud your relationship?  Sometimes, it’s been so long neither of you can remember what happened. I know firsthand how scary stuff like cancer can frighten us and if it’s hard to talk about we tend to put it off until the guilt of neglect is too embarrassing.  I’ve done it.  And, now that its me I feel that guilt multiplied because in some cases it’s too late to repair. 

People ask me all the time, “what can I do to help you guys?”  Here’s something: Think of who in your life you really need to talk to and reach out to them soon.  Don’t wait for them to make the first attempt, it might never happen.