January 2, 2012

• Ketchup Time……er, Catch Up Time, I mean

  Posted by Stephanie  10:10pm  from the house

  I HAVE RETURNED!!

  I was beyond mortified to log on today and see the date of my last post.  October 19??!!  What on earth?!  My apologiesx100 for being gone so long—things have been B.U.S.Y ‘round here.  I know that none of you would ever fault me for being busy living life; after all, isn’t that what I’m always aiming for?  But, I’ve also been questioned a number of times on the lack of posts for the last two and a half months, so let’s remedy that.

  Obviously you don’t want the play-by-play of every moment between mid-October and now…….unless you have nothing to do but sit at the computer and read this for the next three days straight.  Instead, I’ll just summarize and try not to leave any major events out.

  1) Finishing Proton Therapy: Yippee!!  It’s over!  Technically, it’s been over since November 4^th, but I’m still celebrating it’s completion.  Overall, the six weeks of radiation treatment were enjoyable.  Wait, did I just say enjoyable?  Yes, actually, I did, because in comparison to chemo, proton therapy was a breeze for me.  I did experience some fatigue, and the very mildest of “sunburns” on my back in the two locations where the proton ray entered my body, but aside from that, there were no issues.  The staff was amazing, I got to listen to some great music during treatment, and the days flew by. 

  2) Adios, Texas: Ang and I packed up the apartment (man, you can really accumulate a lot of crap in 10 months!), gave it a good cleaning, and said goodbye to Houston just a couple of days after I finished proton therapy.  I was thrilled to get back to the house (and stay there for longer than a week), but honestly, it was a little tough to make the adjustment back to living there.  I feel odd even saying that (because, hello, this is my house), but in the last six years, Texas and Ohio have often swapped places in the role of “home”.  I spent MUCH more of 2011 in Houston than I did in Springboro, and I got used to cooking, sleeping, just being there.  So much so that for the first few mornings I was back home in Ohio, I woke up confused as to where I was!!  Thankfully, having Sammy, the cat, and the familiar creaks and groans of the house to surround me helped speed up the re-acclimation process.

  3) The Nanny-meister: Sadly, one of the recent events to report on was the passing of Sammy’s grandmother, Colleen (a.k.a., Nanny).  She passed away the week before Christmas, after a valiant fight with pancreatic cancer.  She was feisty and tough in life, and attacked her disease the same way.  I hope I can do the same in her honor.

  4) Happy Holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years have come and gone since my last post.  Sammy (who reverts to a wide-eyed 5-year-old during the Christmas season) and I were just discussing earlier tonight how quickly the holiday season seemed to fly this year—it felt like barely a week between turkey day and Christmas!  All the aforementioned celebrations were wonderful (though Nanny was truly missed on Christmas).  Each and every holiday since becoming sick years ago takes on new meaning, and I love having more memories to cherish. 

  5) Synergy: The first time I ever heard of Synergy Education early last year, I couldn’t help but flash back to my childhood, where on every episode of the cartoon Jem and the Holograms, Jem would touch her sparkly star-shaped earring and whisper, “Showtime, Synergy!”, speaking to the holographic computer that would help her transform her appearance into the pink-haired rock star she was.  Really, it was quality cartoonage.  You’re missing out if you haven’t seen it.  Anyway, Synergy Education and the workshop of theirs that I attended in NYC in early December obviously has nothing to do with a cartoon from the 1980’s.  Instead, it focuses on who we (as individuals) are ‘being’ in our lives everyday, what’s working (or not working) for us, and gives us the tools to make improvements in every area of life.  TRULY UNBELIEVABLE.  There are really not enough pages or words that I could write to convey how transformational this workshop was for me, and could be for anyone.  When I’ve got more time, I want to talk some more about the things I learned about me (cause it relates bigtime to life and cancer treatment), but as I write this, I’m actually packing for a return trip to NYC for the next step in the workshop series.  So excited!  Well, except for the weather—it’s not supposed to get above freezing for the next several days.  Walking to and from the subway and around the city will be tons of fun in that!!

  I hate when I’ve been away from posting so long—I’m forced to condense everything into paragraph snippets that barely convey all the information, let alone give me the chance to ramble and delve deep into any given subject (or how I feel about it).  Soon I’ll have the opportunity to get back to near daily posts, because after my six day trip to NYC, I’m flying straight to Houston.  Recovery time from proton therapy is over, and it’s finally time for that second surgery.

  I’ll post more on details once I’m down in Houston on 1/9, but surgery is scheduled for Thursday, January 12^th.  They’ll be doing scans (which hopefully show no growth), and then removing the small nodule in my right lung that’s been there since January of last year.  As far as I know, that will be it for treatment—no additional chemo or radiation.  Dr. Benjamin wants to save those things in case they’re really necessary at a future date……which of course, they won’t be, because five bouts with cancer is enough, am I right?!

  Hope everyone is having a truly blessed start to the new year.  I promise, promise, promise I’ll be back on next week in Houston once I have access to a computer again!

  -Steph

  • 10:13 pm
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