I’m going to try to write every day of radiation.
Today was Day 1.
I will go in for radiation treatments 22 more days – Monday – Friday, 7:30 am. March 1 – March 31. February: get rid of present cancer. March: get rid of potential cancer.
It feels like a completeness schedule. One full month, exactly. The month our world turns the calendar on spring. Spring Break, even. (Of course, I can go nowhere because of daily radiation – if you have any local suggestions for a day out with my kids, I’m all ears.) Finishing exactly before Maundy Thursday and Easter weekend.
Last year, I wrote every day (almost) of February. So I figured I could do it again.
Writing is good discipline for me. It makes me sit still with my thoughts. It reminds me of what this season is.
Today, Monday, is gray and wet and chilly in Houston. I walked into radiation in a t-shirt and open-toed shoes, and walked out to nearly a 15 degree temperature drop. In 45 minutes!
I made green chicken enchiladas yesterday. It’s one of my specialties. I made extra pans for two special families. It’s been such a season of us being on the receiving end, I really needed to do something for someone else.
This is me today. On Day 1. I only managed to slap on a little powder and blush before driving to MD Anderson West and then returning home to work from our kitchen corner today. This is my chest. They cover me in sharpie marks to align the radiation machine. I lay on this hard board while a mammoth white machine moves over me. This is my bathroom counter; all the moisturizers friends have recommended to keep my skin in better shape. Everyone says moisturize, all the time. That will be work for me. I never remember to moisturize.
I’m going back into work now. It was good to be there last week.
I’m not quite yet able to make the commute every day, but I’m going in two to three days a week and am so happy to have the structure of the office.
I received my first dose of the COVID vaccine on Friday and am so thankful. MDA gave out the Pfizer vaccine on Friday, which is silently what I was rooting for, and I only had a sore arm for a day. My second dose is March 20th and then hopefully I’ll get to see my dad and stepmom. It’s been over a year and a half now – way too long. They are fully vaccinated so I just need to wrap up mine.
The boys and Bray went to the farm to work there over the weekend so little bit had her best pal over for a sleep over. It was such fun. I was telling my girlfriends that there will be a season, probably soon, when they don’t want me around, but right now we all had a blast. We played games and ordered in and watched movies and I cracked up as they performed plays in the den and mapped out their spirit outfits for school this week. It’s such a privilege to watch them grow and laugh with them.
I’m tired but thankful. Not tired from radiation (yet), but tired because I haven’t slept well the past few nights. But I’m ready to tackle this month.
❤️
💕