Brewing resilience...

Two weeks goes by so very fast, especially when there is a blog involved and you notice it's been that long since the last post. 

We've celebrated Thanksgiving, Vic and I went to the Cape for a long weekend for our 19th anniversary,  

and now... we are in full Christmas mode, thanks to Dad for spending all day helping me to undo and redo all the lights and assemble my "pre-lit" tree.

Along with all the festive fun we've been having, I'm still a cancer patient, but the good news...I have (very) brief moments when I forget. I'm hoping the moments continue to come and last even longer.

I have lost count I think, but I believe I'm currently halfway through my sixth cycle of oral chemotherapy pills. Because of some side effects, my dose has been decreased by one pill. 

Someone asked me the other day, "Are you done with the medicine?" I will never be done. This diagnosis comes with a lifetime supply of prescriptions to rid my body of the monsters and then keep them at bay. 

I still have ups and downs, but overall, I am currently having more good days than bad. My energy level is better, I'm not as consistently nauseous and some days, I even have moments when I feel "normal" for brief periods of time. Everyday, good or bad, I'm taking deep breaths and living the moment I'm given. 

Sometimes the moments are so very hard. We were watching a light hearted Christmas Movie on demand this past Saturday with our Little Miss. For some reason, we could not fast forward through the commercials...no big deal right? Well, the problem was that the same, intense, commercial stating how many people die each year from the big C, was aired during every break.

At the beginning of the second time it played, Little Miss said, "Momma, this commercial freaks me out, it's so scary, I don't like the music."

GULP 

From that moment on, each time it played we put the blanket over our heads and sang Christmas Carols at the top of our lungs. 

I'm all about educating others and making an impact to lower the number of deaths from Cancer, let's just refrain from disturbing commercials during a Family movie...UGH! Stupid cancer invading our movie night...I was not pleased!

Our life is hard, but we're doing it.

I continue to feel gratitude for the every day moments, even when they are intertwined with the yucky hard stuff. After all, the hard stuff brews resilience. 

I feel like we do a lot of that in this house lately, even more than we brew coffee.