Radiation is DONE!!

I finished radiation Friday at 1pm. This is the third time I have received my “certificate of completion” for radiation therapy, so I am hoping that the third time truly is the charm. I got to bring home my mask, and I plan on doing something really cool to it and then to mount it on the wall as my personal version of modern art. The mask reminds me of the scene in The Abyss where the wall of water follow them and creates a face that communicates with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. My mask face is coming out at you, only it’s a wall of white mesh, reaching out, communicating, saving my life. Okay, weird, I know, but that’s what it reminds me of!!

I walked the survivor lap at Relay for Life at Southridge last night. Dr. Rado was one of the speakers opening the ceremonies and his words warmed my heart and gave me so much hope for the future. He believes in his specialty, in his calling to heal. I remember doing the Relay before I ever even thought that I would someday be the patient, be the one starting the Relay, walking that survivor lap. But this is my fifth year walking as a survivor, and I’m still here, still making it around that track, albeit a little slower this year. Kadlec served dinner, as always, and it is such a comfort to sit there and have my friends around me, sharing a meal, feeling the love and generosity that is provided along with the food. It fills me with hope to be with all the survivors, all those who have walked ahead of me and those who are walking with me. Someone has to be in the survivor group, someone has to be that 2%, why not me? I feel in my heart, in the very core of my soul that we reached this cancer. Did we get it all? Probably not. I think there are still those little cockroaches lurking there, just waiting to burst from their cocoons and threaten my life. Did we get most of it? Yes, I believe we did. And I believe at the core of my being that I have many years left. Do I have 20? Don’t know. Do I have at least a few? Definitely, I have at least a few birthdays left in me. Of that, I believe it’s true; I have more than a few birthdays left and I can’t wait to celebrate each and every one of them!

I stopped by to see mom and she is still in significant pain, but I think the hardest part is the sitting. Anyone who knows my mother (and I certainly take after her) knows that sitting and doing nothing is akin to being sentenced to prison cell. She is a doer, a helper, a mover. To sit and just let her leg heal is going to be supremely difficult. I think we may have to sedate her…

I was so excited as the backyard stuff started showing up in my driveway yesterday. I am so humbled, so grateful, so excited to see the transformation. I find it remarkable that not only is my Kadlec family doing this, there are people outside of Kadlec, people who don’t even know me, who are participating and helping. The wife of a Garrett Electric employee came and picked up all my empty pots on Thursday; you know the ones that I plant with tons of annuals every year, the pots that have remained dark and empty this year…anyway, she took them to fill them with a cacophony of color, complete them with overflowing flowers to return them to my deck for me to enjoy. A lovely gentleman from Garrett Electric mowed and trimmed my lawn Friday in prep for the weekend. Jason and Carla were over Friday before the Relay, doing the spray paint where the beds will be, checking the supplies, going over the final details. I am beyond words, beyond humbled, beyond grateful. Words fail me, and words are my thing. It’s just amazing. I can’t wait to see the final product. I plan on enjoying a lot of time on my patio. Weather, don’t fail me now!

Off to take a nap, the radiation has left me tired and lazy. I’ll get pictures of the backyard posted this weekend as soon as I can!!