My New World #9: The Season of Friends & Family
It’s been a long interval between my posts as the trifecta of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are upon us all. My favorite time of the year, I suppose. I love Jitterbug’s joy at Halloween as she anticipates and greets the children most enthusiastically at the words, “Trick or Treat!” She, of course, understands that phrase to mean she gets a treat if she does a trick. And she does. And Thanksgiving and Christmas are those great family and friend days which are so important to me now. And, I have the blessings of Suzan and Saira helping me with my favorite events.
An update on my battle with metastatic pancreatic cancer. I am holding my own. No shrinkage and no growth in the tumors, and I am taking two drugs instead of the original three. My doc says we are saving the third, big, bad drug for a “rainy day”. My doc and I acknowledge that this detente will not last forever. Either my body will rebel against the toxic drugs or the tumors will develop a little immunity to the drugs, so my battle strategy is to stretch out this time in my new world as long as possible. So every other Wednesday, since April, I go to MD Anderson for my treatment.
About MD Anderson, it’s truly a great place, a place of hope and inspiration. A volunteer is playing Christmas Carols on the grand piano, I am doing my impulse shopping at a pop-up shop in one of the lobbies, having a fantastic blueberry scone from one of the Starbucks or a meal in one of the restaurants. Suzan goes with me often, and she can find a work spot in one of the libraries or in the indoor Park, or one of the balconies overlooking the city.
And the chemo rooms are private and comfortable. I watch movies, TV, spread out my picnic lunch of my favorite things or walk the hall rolling my IV beside me and listening to my chemo playlist. And, I have stopped wearing my wig as it finally dawned on me that those women with the beautiful hair are probably wigged. And, I feel quite at home with my pinky scalp and my Albert Einstein Hair (very thin, wispy and white) and one of my ISD caps.
MDA is a totally fine place to be!
On my schedule: I have a very important evaluation, a CT scan, on January 3, and then I will truly know if I have held my monster in check over the last eight weeks. Also on January 3, I begin my next cycle of chemo treatments, every other Wednesday, for eight weeks. My reaction reminds the same: Wednesday – Sunday, I’m down. Beginning then Monday for the next nine days, I am my old self and resume my regular schedule. That’s enough for me, I’m good!
As I write this blog again, I am so thankful for the many friends who visit me, keep me in their prayers, and note my schedule on their calendars and send me encouraging words. The support of friends has been so very important to me.
I have a wonderful friend, Betty, who gave me two pendants to wear and she wears the same two every day in support of me.
“Nevertheless she persisted” and “She thought she could, so she did”
Now I have a circle of friends who are wearing the pendants, not only in support of me, but in support of others in the circle who are facing life’s challenges. The pendants are made by a young woman in Whitefish, Wyoming, and if you would like to join our group, email me or PM me on Facebook and I will send you the info to order a pendant. And then I will add your first name to the circle and send that to all. Each day, it’s amazing to me as I put on my pendants, I feel an uplift and an acute awareness of the circle of friends supporting each other through life’s challenges, hopefully with grace and courage.
“It seems they had always been, and would always be Friends.
Time could change much, but not that.”
Winnie the Pooh
Wishing all of you a very wonderful and worshipful Christmas with your family and friends. Thank you for being my friend and supporting me through this life process.
I was JUST thinking about you and your blog today, hoping for an update…and here you are! Wishing you the best from Minnesota…
Just now reading this….Love reading your FB posts…thanks for the good wishes!
Think of you often.. Most joyful holiday wishes for you and yours!
Keep the faith..
Just now seeing this….thanks for reading and responding….still thinking about a day in our country place for you, Chris, Randy & Paula, Rick and Barb, and others who may be interested in a day trip…
Carol, you are an inspiration ……and how blessed are we all to have wonderful MD Anderson as our hope and refuge when we get that diagnosis. You are so right that it is a whole new world! I think you are the bravest and the greatest!!! Love you…
Carol – I remember the day the wig came off for me – I was in the workroom and the athletic director at the time – Coach Newman – came in with his bald head. Everyone in sight came and patted us both for luck!
Merry Christmas to all of you