|
a day in
the life
The
purpose of this blog is to highlight the everyday life of a
family going through cancer. We're aware that every diagnosis
carries a different challenge and that we can only share our
perspective on what it's like to live with a slow-growing cancer
that has metastasized. Our
hope is that
you'll come back to visit often!
|
Tuesday, Jan
26, 2010
End of the tunnel
There’s a light at the end of my tunnel – and her name is Nicky!
Over four months ago, the Survivorship Coordinator position was
vacated. I don’t remember raising my hand to do my old job and a
new one, but somehow that’s exactly what happened. ;)
After a long, arduous process of back-filling part of my
previous position, Nicky—the world’s best Cancer Services
administrative assistant—is onboard.
|
When you work in a large hospital, there are only so
many offices with windows to go around. I can’t
begin to imagine how many food services people,
schedulers, IT guys, nurses, docs, gift store
people, etc, work in a windowless environment.
Which is why I’m so excited about a window to
day-dream out … er, I mean to glance out of
occasionally as I work. |
|
|
|
Yes, the beautiful white stuff outside
the windows is snow! |
|
So, a new job, new hours, a new office with real windows,
perfectly wonderful co-workers … it just doesn’t get much better
than this!
Comment
Saturday, Jan
23, 2010
Disturbing the snow
Gary and I woke up to a blue-sky day with fresh snow and 21
degrees at Mt Bachelor. We threw on layers, tossed our
snowshoes in the back of the SUV … and headed up the
mountain to disturb some snow!
| |
 |
(Hiking in the wilderness, you’re expected to stay
on the trail so you don’t upset the natural flora
and fauna. When it comes to snow-shoeing—other than
staying out of cross-country ski tracks—going off
the beaten path doesn’t disturb anything but the
snow.)
There’s not a lot of skill to snow-shoeing – it’s just walking
in big shoes.
But there is a huge difference between following the outlined
groove where dozens of snow-shoers have gone before you … and
breaking trail in soft, powdery stuff.
The one is like taking a hike (taking a hike is a good thing),
and the other is quite a work-out. |
|
Off the beaten track at Edison Sno-Park |
I was thinking this morning what a good life Gary and I have –
even with our series of setbacks – and how fun it was to be off
the beaten track, disturbing some snow together!
Comment
Wednesday, Jan
20, 2010
All good things must come to an end
We’re
coming to the end of a season when we start talking about taking
our Christmas wreath off our front door. Actually, I’m a bit
early this year. There was the year Shihoko, our Japanese
exchange student, lived with us and we kept the Christmas tree
and all decorations up until the end of January. (Because of us,
she thinks Americans have some strange traditions.)
|
My friend and co-worker, Julie, makes these
beautiful live wreaths before Thanksgiving every
year, and sells quite a few in the Cancer Treatment
Center. This wreath has been hanging on our front
door for close to eight weeks. When you divide the
cost per week, it’s an awfully inexpensive way to
add color and holiday cheer to one’s front porch!
Alas, Gary says all good things must come to an end.
So the wreath is coming down.
But
there’s good news – only 310 days until we hang a
new wreath!
Comment
|
|
|
|
All good things must come to an end |
|
Friday, Jan 15,
2010
American mobile family
Last evening—in between checking e-mail and Facebook and playing
Free Cell on his and hers laptops (you see how exciting our
lives are)—Gary and I had a discussion about how mobile we are
these days.
A few years back, we had kids and pets. We had a mortgage
payment with a large yard. My job at a school was a 9-month
commitment, and Gary had too much seniority and security to ever
leave his job on purpose.
But today we’re renting the cutest little place, we gave away a
good deal of our “married life accumulation” when we moved here,
and
the yard work is done for us.
Gary is a house husband, and a good one, I might add. (My
co-worker is jealous—“I want a man servant,” she whined the
other day.)
| |
|
We have no land lines; we’re connected wirelessly to
the World Wide Web; we bank online. If and when a
unique opportunity comes up, we could have our few
belongings packed and in storage, I could give two
weeks’ notice at work, and we could be off to a new
adventure anywhere in the world.
We are an American mobile family! |
| |
Have electronics, will travel |
Comment
Sunday, Jan 10,
2010
|
Get moving
Earlier today, Gary and
I improved our moods—not that they were bad to begin
with—and boosted our energy levels. We took a hike
at
Smith Rock.
I
recently read an online article that lists
seven benefits of exercise. In addition to the mood
improving and energy boosting claims, did you know
that regular exercise combats chronic diseases and
promotes better sleep? (Gary and I plan to sleep
well tonight.) |
|
|
|
Smith Rock State Park |
|
| |
A foggy but beautiful day at Smith today |
If
you’re into climbing real rock walls, Smith Rock
State Park in Central Oregon is the place to come.
It’s
considered the birthplace of modern American sport
climbing.
Even in today’s chilly temps and gray fog, climbers
were out in pairs, attempting the sheer cliffs that
rise 500 to 600 feet. |
|
It's
also a beautiful and interesting place to hike. One
of my favorite trails is up over Misery Ridge. Here
you can sit and watch the hard core rock climbers
maneuver their way to the top of Monkey Face.
We
had our eyes open for river otter and eagles today,
since we’ve seen both in previous winters. No
eagles, but we spied one slick-headed otter posing
on a rock in the middle of Crooked River.
I
can think of at least one more benefit to exercising
regularly that wasn’t listed in the article. Did you
know that hiking with one’s sweetheart can enhance
an already great relationship? |
Monkey Face on a summer day,
taken from the top of Misery Ridge |
|
| |
There’s not much I’d rather do in my spare time than hike or
snowshoe with Gary to new places, which is why we’re really
looking forward to our Swiss Alps trek this summer.
The key to regularly exercising, I think, is to find something
you enjoy doing, find someone you enjoy doing it with … and get
moving!
Comment
Wednesday, Jan
6, 2010
Any excuse for a date
If you’re in Portland and like fresh seafood in a fun
atmosphere, try McCormick & Schmick’s – even the name is fun to
say.
|
Gary and
I spoke to a really terrific group of prostate
cancer survivors and caregivers at Oregon Health &
Science University yesterday evening.
Afterward, we asked at our hotel if there was a good
restaurant within walking distance. They sent us to
McCormick and Schmick’s along the waterfront. |
|
|
|
McCormick & Schmick’s for great seafood |
|
We returned home today in time for an afternoon at the office
and an evening work-related meeting. I’m tired at the moment,
but it was so worth the quick trip over the mountains.
Any excuse to bring hope to people living with cancer—to get
them to laugh, to highlight Central Oregon beauty—and any excuse
for a date with Gary!
Comment
Saturday, Jan
2, 2010
| |
|
Much more than a sports flick
A few weeks back,
Gary and I caught a late afternoon showing of The Blind Side,
starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw as a
well-to-do couple that blended a homeless
teenager from the Memphis projects, Michael Oher, into their
family and helped him reach his full potential academically and
athletically.
We had read the book earlier, by the same title. The NFL history
was interesting, beginning with Lawrence Taylor who
delighted in creaming quarterbacks from their blind
side, which changed the game of professional
football and opened the door for someone with Oher’s
size and athletic agility to be a first-round draft
pick. |
Yesterday we went to see
the movie, Invictus (Latin for “unconquered”)
starring Morgan Freeman as South African President Nelson
Mandela and Matt Damon as captain of the national rugby
team. If Blind Side is about the power of love and family
to help someone reach their full potential, Invictus is
about the power of forgiveness and choosing to remain
unconquered in the darkest of circumstances.
|
The last stanza of a
poem that spoke to Mandela while he was in prison reads:
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
I’ve had my moments of cynicism about similar statements, like
Thoreau’s “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live
the life you’ve imagined.” Or “This is your time, this is your
dance; live every moment; leave nothing to chance,” by Michael
W. Smith.
A few years ago, I wrote
in my journal with bitterness: “There is no going confidently in
the direction of my dreams when I am chained to a small cubicle
for the best 40
|
|
|
hours of every week. Is
this my time, my dance – shuffling papers in a cubicle? What is
there to leave to chance? There are no choices here.”
As I worked through the discouragement of those dark days—of
Gary’s unemployment, our financial reversals, his cancer
diagnosis—it finally dawned on me that our dance and our
opportunity to live life to the fullest is always the place
where we are (I’m a slow learner).
I may not be the master
of my fate in terms of real-time circumstances, but I am
certainly in charge of what I fill my life with – forgiveness,
gratitude, joy, finding purpose.
Comment
