Friday, June 11, 2010

#180: Mileposts Passed

Today was "R5" on Mum's calender. That's day 5 of 33 radiation treatments. She is the keeper of the official date book. Actually, I think we all have one. It's funny how one measures out the time. My day usually starts around dawn with some quiet staring into space, then an alarm at 7:00. Wash, rinse my mouth, pills, flush the PEG, change the dressing. It's a team effort. After a quick trip across town courtesy of Mom or Mrs P I'm on the radiation table by 8:30 and out the door by 9:00. Then I sit down to chat with you for a while.

Of course meals are mileposts, too. Slowly sipping some herbal tea or a protein shake. A nice crumbly muffin. A smoothie made of fresh bananas and frozen berries. Yesterday, I dreamed about cutting a slice of Ray's Original Pizza into tiny little pieces and savoring each sliver.That may have to wait for the store-bought choppers, though.

And friends, my touchstones. I spent hours on the phone yesterday. You can't imagine how I treasure each second. We talk about plays they are working on. Books they are reading. Sick relatives. Gossip and jokes. My friends give me a reason to laugh every day. They are my treasures.

Late in the afternoon, my energy wanes. The tum becomes a little unstable. The thinking clouds. There isn't much evening activity for me these days, though I desperately want to be well enough to see some of the wonderful theatre being prepared for the summer. Maybe if I time the steroids out just right...

Tomorrow, I get to sleep in. No radiation on the weekends. It seems funny to get such intense treatment on a work-week schedule. The techs told me today that each shot from the linear accelerator (that's the machine's real name) represents about 6 million volts of X-ray radiation. My morning treatment is comparable to getting 100 chest X-rays every day. I'm not sure which is more miraculous, the fact that they can do it, or the fact that I can stand it.

Summer is only 10 days away, but feels like it will be here any minute. This morning the air was just plain sultry. There aren't many days that I happily surrender to the Air Conditioner gods, but today, my heart belongs to them. At least until the afternoon rain gives us some relief.

I hope your time is passing peacefully today. May we all have many miles to travel.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Label Cloud

mrs p Cancer running lifting weights LIVESTRONG at the YMCA treadmill weight nutrition depression God Living Strong at the Y injury YMCA dogs mom walking radiation Weight Lifting cardio friends program theatre body fat long slow run love One for the Five aches elliptical race resistance bands stretching 5K Acting Jeff Galloway chemo doctor family mental health Church Pittsburgh Marathon bluegrass fundraising inspiration patience personal trainer recovery Flying Pig Marathon Jesus Johns Striders Race Report Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon bipolar frustration kentucky knees measurements morning promatx yoga Christmas Marathon Pennsy's Greatest Hits cats clothes heart rate hope lance armstrong life molly poetry rest side effects steelers swimming 10K Actors' Guild of Lexington Blog CT Scan Coach Carrie PET Scan cross training exercise fear feeling good groin healing ice cream livestrong nausea powerlifting run/walk/run stair climber surgery Cancer Fighter Cold Gear Hills Iron Horse Half-marathon Job LSR Mum Nike+ Shamrock Shuffle 3K achilles advent arboretum bmi bodyweight exercises changes charity circuit training cycling dad deadlift diabetes encouragement experts give up goals horses interval training jake kettlebells lean body mass new rules of lifting pacing personal best plateau prayer recumbent bike research shoes sleep strength teeth therapist toe video Blood Easter Endurance Funeral Garmin 405 Homecoming House Insurance Juicing Keeneland Legacy Night PR Pennsyltucky Pittsburgh Relapse Run This Town TRX Training Values aflac arnold ben-gay bench press chafing christian compression shorts dentist dreams faith fat fatigue foreclosure good day half marathon hospitality javarunner john's run/walk shop lou schuler new year nurse pains peg tube powercage progressive resistance. racing rain rapture reboot runners world squat sun block supplements team pennsy tired weather will rogers work #3rightThings 9-11 ACSM AIDS Aquaphor Blessings Bluegrass 10K CSN Cancer Boy Cedar Hill Charles Dickens Class of 82 Classes Colby Road College Compassion Courage Crowdrise Cystoscopy Dee Diet EFM Epiphany Fall Fartlek Fat Man Fat Sick and Nearly Dead Frankfort Gadgets Gramma Grampa Gratitude Grete Waitz Guest HITT HIV Hell Holding Hands Holy Saturday Homer Horse Capital Marathon IVP Ice bath Jacuzzi James Taylor Jesus wept Joe Cross John Izzo Joy KY LaDonna Leg Day Lent Lessons Lexington Little Pennsy Mental hospital Midsummer Night's Run Mindfulness MobileFit Negative Splits Old Frankfort Pike Pilates Podrunner Pre-race Priorities RICE Railrunner 10 Miler Random thoughts Resurrection Reunion Run Bob Run Run Report Run Review Run for the Gold 3K Running Form Running for Sabrina STUPID Shakespeare Skip Brown Speed Spinning Summer Of Speed Sunrise Supersets Tao Te Ching Thank You The Wall Three Right Things Toxic Passenger UK UK basketball Urine Urologist Victory Walk of Shame Warrior Westminster Whole Foods Wind Words Zumba ace bandages addicted agony alwyn cosgrove america anger antibiotic anxiety awake back baseball blood clots blood pressure body glide bonhoeffer books brad calories chinup colonoscopy consistency crazy cycles dentures dip dr. google dumbbells elevation facebook failure farts feet fight for life fitness forgiveness frankenpennsy fun getting started glucosamine glutes goal gremlin grenz grumpy hair hamstrings hiccups high school hot ice incarnation indian food jogging john lennon joint legacy trail liniment lunges machines maker's mark mapmyrun.com medicine ball meds mercy motivation motley fool music nature neighborhood new balance nike noah numbers pennsyltuckian periodization persistence phlebitis postmodern prison professional boundaries progress psychiatrist pullups pushups quads ramble rememberance renewal road running ronnie coleman rowing safety sauna scan-ziety sexy shopping shorts shower sick sleepless snow socks spandex star trek statistics steam room steroids stiff strained muscle strap strength training supination support surgeon survive swackett swiss balls table technology tempo terry bradshaw testicular torsion text thai food that's fit the five thighs walk breaks warm up water fitness water jogging weak wedding ring wellness wife winter workout writing yardwork