It's Friday...

It's been about a month since I've done an Insta-Friday, so here's a boatload of pictures from my phone.  Happy Friday everyone.

 1. Fall in New England 2. Snake while we walk 3. E's Self-Portrait

4. Picture Day 5. Tyler doing his thing 6. Legos

7. A trim..ha! 8. Photos by Blue Lily 9. Me and E

10. Sleeping Beauty 11. One of my faves 12. Me monitoring the hair growth

 1. Little Miss the photographer 2. Climbing 3. Friends posing

4. Path 5. Climbing E 6. Standing

7. Fall Leaves 8. Swinging siblings 9. In the backyard

10. In the rearview 11. The cutest witch around 12. Party prep

1. Three kids and a dog 2. Three of my favorite kiddos 3. Breakfast 

4. Hair growth monitoring...again 5. Backstage 6. Dance alumni

7. Deer in the road 8. Cloud reflection 9. Handsome boy

10. Dancer's Bun 11. Talented relatives 12. Grateful Heart

I'm linking up with Jeannette at Life Rearranged

Life is a song - sing it. Life is a game - play it. Life is a challenge - meet it. Life is a dream - realize it. Life is a sacrifice - offer it. Life is love - enjoy it. 

Sai Baba 

Shouting from the summit...

Chris hugged me and I lost it.  Chris is one of the radiation therapists, and Tuesday, after my last treatment, she hugged me.  I wasn't really expecting it, she caught me off guard, and I cried.   So many emotions, mixed ones...the kinds you have to sift through to make any sense.  It's been a long 10 months with fighting the Big C as my full-time job.  It's now time to emerge from that routine and start a new one.  I'm not sure yet what this new routine looks like, but I'm going to do my best to let go of the old one and embrace my new found "freedom" with all that I have.  There is definitely some adjustment in going from being a full-time patient back to a "normal" person again (I use the term "normal" very loosely ;)

In my last post, I mentioned making a new To Do List, but for now my new list is very short and not too specific.

It's merely to take one day at a time and embrace it for what it is....

 Because with each new day and with each experience we have, whether it be good, bad or downright ugly....

 And right now, I'm so very grateful to have made it to the summit of the mountain and I'm looking forward to enjoying the view from the top.  The view is different as compared to before I became a mountain climber.  My body is different and I am different, but climbing the mountain has enabled me to learn things about myself and about others that I would have otherwise never known.  I am stronger for trekking through the bumps and curves and now I can shout to the world, "I did it!".  

 When I have reached a summit, I leave it with great reluctance, unless it is to reach for another, higher one. 

Gustav Mahler

Now What..

So, this list is complete...

Now what?

I think it's time to make a new list.

I kind of have a lot of thoughts on this, and I'll get to it in my next post.    

“No, this is not the beginning of a new chapter in my life; this is the beginning of a new book! That first book is already closed, ended, and tossed into the seas; this new book is newly opened, has just begun! Look, it is the first page! And it is a beautiful one!” 
― C. JoyBell C.

32 second boost

Websters.com defines boost as 

"to increase; raise"

In terms of radiation therapy, it means this:

"A Little Extra At The End of Radiation

A radiation boost is one or more extra treatments, given at a higher dose than routine treatments, and targeted at the tumor bed. This extra dose covers a small area and affects the tissue where cancer is most likely to return. Radiation boost treatments are given after the regular sessions of radiation are complete. Women who are 40 years old or younger at time of treatment get the most benefit from a radiation boost, but patients of all ages will have a lower risk of recurrence if they receive a booster treatment."

SOURCE

I completed my 6 weeks of routine treatments on Friday, and today I started my boost.  It lasted for 32 seconds. I feel a bit like an artist's canvas during these boost treatments because the therapists have to mark up the area and trace a template with marker.  It's lovely...anyone for connect the dots?  I guess it actually is lovely, because without the artwork, they wouldn't have the accuracy in treating me...

I have 6 days left, and I will be finished with my radiation treatments.  Surprisingly, this part of my journey has gone by very quickly.  My skin is red and sore, but things have been  manageable and the redness didn't really start until several weeks into my treatments.  So, my checklist for treatment is almost complete....

"Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment."

-Thomas Carlyle

Movie Night...

We had our 2nd annual Outdoor Movie Night at the end of August.  Yes, I'm just getting around to posting some pictures now...sorry.  This year we watched the Lorax.  Of course I never remember to take pictures of all the kids prior to it getting dark, so here are some pictures from the preparation.  

 The bags had a Lorax notebook, mustache, pencils and stickers.  I found the free downloadable quote online.  The notebooks and pencils were from Target, the stickers from Michael's and the mustache from etsy, found here.

 I glued the mustaches to paper straws, also found on etsy.

We made truffula trees using "feather" boas and styrofoam balls.  I found the idea here.

We serve hot dogs, popcorn and lemonade and then, when it gets dark, we start the movie on a screen that Vic put together.  

It's a fun night to celebrate the end of summer.  I'm looking forward to next year's movie night already.  

“It's not about what it is, it's about what it can become.” ― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

Walking through with battle wounds...

As of today, I have 9 radiation treatments left.  As soon as I started bragging about how great my skin was doing, I started getting red...you'd think I would have learned by this point just to keep my mouth shut.  My skin is mostly irritated under my arm and the doctor has encouraged me to walk with my fist/hand on my hip to lessen the irritation from friction.  So, if you see me standing there looking like I have an attitude, it's merely an attempt to ease the redness under my arm.  

Onto other things.   Today I had a follow up with my caring, compassionate, competent, intelligent, adorable surgeon.  However, I only spoke with him for a couple of minutes because he sent someone else in.  She examined me and said everything was fine...yay, we like fine!  When she couldn't answer some of my questions, in he came.  Both doctors commented on how I was almost finished with treatment and I responded jokingly (kind of) how I would like to continue to visit and have someone examine me on a weekly basis ;)  "It's going to be a challenge to move on", said me.  To which my caring, compassionate, competent, intelligent, adorable surgeon responded with "Well, moving on indicates that you will just go on and forget about it, but really, you need to walk through it, and you need to figure out how you are going to do that."  

Yes, I do, and I will.  Really, I've trudged through the serious muck already, so this should be a piece of cake, right?  The thing is my life is different now and it really will never be as it was before the itch.  I have scars, both physically and emotionally.  Those scars will most certainly always be there, but they are a symbol, not that I had cancer, but that I survived it.  The scars are survival wounds from a battle, a battle fought and won.  

Initially I would not have imagined getting through this muck, but I did, just as I will walk through the next phase of my life, whatever that may be.  Life somehow has become sweeter after scraping the mud off my boots for the past 10 months.  I'm ready to take it on and take it all in for what it is.  Sometimes I may need someone to hold me up,  but I'm coming and I'm going to choose to walk through it.  

I think scars are like battle wounds - beautiful, in a way. They show what you've been through and how strong you are for coming out of it. 
Demi Lovato 

Cranky...

Sunday morning was not pleasant in our house.  Cranky, overtired kids made for a yucky start to the day and resulted in a cranky Momma.  I definitely didn't want the day to end on a cranky note, so we took a ride to the park and played.  

 Photo by E

 Photo by Little Miss

 It worked...happy, content kids =happy Momma.  

I'm not really wise. But I can be cranky. 

Andy Griffith