Dates and choices

On June 10 I will be going to Kadlec for another PET scan to determine if the insidious cancerous t-cells have been successfully eradicated or if I need to go through another round of chemotherapy.  I'll find out the results on June 12.

The good news is that Dr. Patel feels confident that we'll have the cancer on the run and be able to go up to Seattle.  In fact, we have scheduled with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance to begin treatment on Wednesday, June 26.

Last week was my last cycle of my six-cycle chemo regimen.  The nurses all came and sang, "hit the road, Jack" to me.  It was very sweet of them- they have all been so great!  It really hit me that I could be done with this stage of the cancer battle.  I've been so focused on the stem-cell procedure that the end of the chemotherapy has snuck by me.

I've been very blessed during these treatments.  I know that they can be very hard on people and I feel like I've gotten by relatively lightly.

I'm leaving work this week.  It's hard- I like my job a lot and really love the people I work with.  I know that my coworkers are facing some busy months ahead.  But it's getting harder and harder to get forty hours in each week.  I also feel like I should spend a few weeks with my kids before leaving them for several months.

I've been thinking about choices lately.  From an early age I was taught that what we get out of life is a result of the choices that we make.  I knew that who I would marry would depend on who I dated and what kind of man I became.  I knew that my future job would depend on how I did in school or applied myself at my work.

Now I'm going through an illness where many choices have been taken away from me.  And yet I'm grateful for the choices that I still have open to me.  It's a narrower set of choices, but I know that they still matter.