5 rads down, 25 to go......or 1 week down, 5 to go.......

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should dance.  ~Author Unknown

Happy Veteran’s Day on 11-11-11!  And a huge thank you to all of our veterans and troops past and present who have served and continue to serve our country!  We appreciate the sacrifices you and your families made/make for our freedom.

This past week wasn’t any too smooth, and the “daily thing” is getting old already.  I can’t believe I have 5 more weeks.  Actually, I should clarify this – my sessions with “Hal” were fine, but it’s the traveling and waiting that are getting to me.  I was initially told (many months ago) that the radiation appointments only take about 10 minutes.  I was very happy to hear that; I figured I could work that into my schedule without much problem.  However, that’s the actual “on-the-table” time – which, by the way, is 20 minutes, not 10 minutes.  Now let me tell you about the waiting time!  I put each visit on my stop watch this week – don’t ask me why – and on every day this week, it was an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and 25 minutes from the time I walked in the front door until the time I walked out.  Add another 40 minutes (round trip) in driving time, and we’re talking over 2 hours of time.  Why does it take so long??  My appointments are all at 0900, which is the first appointment of the day.  On Monday, they had to double check all the measurements and setup stuff since it was my first day.  On Tuesday, I finally got on the table at 0950 (my appointment was at 0900 and was the first one of the day).  Well, guess what I found out?!  There has to be a doctor on site before they can administer treatment.  And you’ll never guess who the staff doctor is on Tuesday (and Thursday and Friday)!  Dr. A. L. Sprawls (where A. L. = Always Late)!  Yes, he was 50 minutes late on Tuesday.  Only 40 minutes late on Thursday.  On Friday (today), they asked me to switch my appointment to 1430 instead of 0900 – I wasn’t terribly happy about it, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.  And they were running 35 minutes behind – something to do with an Alzheimer’s patient they had problems with (totally understandable and acceptable).  Before Thursday’s appointment, I decided to take an Ativan (anti-anxiety), which helped tremendously.  I forgot to do that today.  (On Wednesday, I had to wait half an hour after my radiation to see the radiation oncologist; I’ll have to see her every Wednesday to discuss how things are going, etc.  So far, so good)  The technicians were also a little frustrated by having to wait for Dr. Sprawls, and they’ve talked to management about it.  Hopefully something will be done about it.  What, I don’t know.  Don’t get me wrong – he’s a great doctor, and I like him a lot.  In fact, he called me personally last night because I asked one of the nurses to ask him a question about something for me.  I expected the nurse to call me back with the answer, but Dr. Sprawls called me, which is above and beyond. 

Anyway, enough on the aggravating delays and the 2-hour chunk of time out of my day – every day for 6 weeks.  It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have to WORK in addition to doing the rads.  Oh yeah, I said enough on that, didn’t I?! 

I’ve had a long talk with myself and have decided that I’m not going to sweat the small stuff, there are a lot of people with a lot bigger problems than mine, it’s only a little time, and I’M ALIVE!  So that’s the attitude I’m maintaining, and it will help me get through the next 5 weeks....and beyond.  Six weeks of time is really just a small chunk of time in the great big scheme of things.  I CAN DO IT!  IT’S NO BIG DEAL!

While walking around the park on my daily walk yesterday afternoon, I concluded that I really love our lifestyle – you just have to be willing to live in 40 feet of space.  We’ve been living in 40 feet of space for 30+ years now, so it’s not a problem for us.  (Every once in awhile I wish I had a bigger closet!)  It’s really fun to “change scenery” every couple of months and see what the new parks and towns have to offer.  Here at Wickham Park (Melbourne), we have the King Center for Performing Arts right next door to the park.  Last night we went to a great show there – Spencer’s Theater of Illusion.  It was a really good magic/illusions show.  And we’re hoping to catch some more shows while we’re here.  Right here in the park this weekend is the Native Rhythms Festival – with live Native American music all weekend, arts & crafts, food, displays, demonstrations, etc.  We just got back from listening to some great music – sitting outside on lawn chairs.  We would have stayed longer except it was quite chilly – 59 degrees!  I know that’s not chilly for a lot of you, but it’s really cold for us!  So we only lasted an hour, even though I had 4 layers of clothes on, along with a fuzzy hat and gloves!  Tomorrow is another day and will hopefully be warmer.  The cool thing is that we can walk to the amphitheater/festival from our campsite.  On November 22^nd, they start the Festival of Lights here in the park; the entire park will be all lit up with Christmas lights from 11/22 until after the 1^st of the year.

Well, that’s enough rambling for today.  Once again, I want to thank you all so much for your love and support on this crazy journey of mine.  And thank you so much for all the wonderful blog comments, emails, cards, letters, and gifts.  Please know that it really means the world to me.  I read and take to heart everything that you write, and it really keeps me going!  Thank you so much!  Hugs to all of you!

You know you’re a cancer patient when….. you can shower faster than a man (because you have no hair to wash.....).