Doing Battle, Week 73

Sorry I'm days late posting, I didn't want to talk about cancer. :)

I am here, alive and breathing and so much of what I start to say sounds whiny and ungrateful to my ears because...I'm here.

This week was spent actively killing cancer, with five total radiation treatments. Seven years ago I did 30 and honestly didn't even know five existed as an option. But here we are, five treatments later and we're done.  

On January 15th I got "the call". On February 15th, we were driving home from New York after the last of five radiation treatments. Whirlwind I guess is a word for it. In the middle it felt like a lot of waiting...waiting for tests, waiting for results, waiting for relief, waiting for calls. A large part of me has stayed numb, I think, kind of waiting to deal with it until I knew exactly what we were up against. And now that we are here, what I most want to do is move on. 

What's next? The radiologist says I have a couple more weeks of healing. In about two months we'll do another comprehensive spinal MRI and we'll be able to compare it to the one I had two weeks ago. The doctor seems optimistic that they were able to target the area and get what they were after. 

Breakfast out with my boy in New York before #3. How are the kids? has been a natural and frequent question. They have an interesting perspective because cancer has been a part of our family's story for most of their lives. But the experience of living through it is vastly different when you are 12, for instance than when you are five. Even though death is a sure reality for all of it, its tough to have to face it head on that you could lose your mom. 

So we look for ways to make the best of things, like breakfast out together when we should be at school and work.

I know so many of you have been thinking of us and praying. It's been a difficult month, for sure. But also there have been profound blessings and in so many moments I have felt carried by your love and prayers and support.