Perspective:
Here is a little story….once upon a time (two weeks
ago) I had to go to my bimonthly oncology appointment. During these appointments I get blood drawn
to make sure all my levels are ok. Let’s
just say Shua was not happy watching this event. I didn’t want to turn him around so he couldn’t see
me because then he would freak out.
Well, letting him watch was a mistake.
He went nuts. Eventually we
calmed him down with a bandaid to put on his “booboo.” I had to take my bandaid off as soon as I
got home, so he would know that I was ok.
I got my flu shot during this appointment as well. I learned from my mistake and made sure Shua
was not watching this event. I parked his stroller in front of the fish
tank. I had to get my flu shot in one of
the chairs where I used to get Chemo infusions.
I parked the stroller and then sat in a chair. Shua is a smart boy and new something was up. He kept trying to turn around to see what I
was doing. I made sure he faced forward by being rather silly and trying to
distract him with the fish. The place
was pretty dead (which is good to see that there were not a lot of people being
treated with chemo that day) so I felt ok being somewhat loud and ridiculous in
order to keep Shua content. There was a
man in his 50’s getting chemo. His wife was with him but was on the phone for
most of my fish tank craziness. I could
see the man watching me and laughing a little.
I got the flu shot and Shua had no clue!
Success! As I started to leave
the room, the nurse grabbed the back of my hair and said “wow, it is coming in
so nice, I love it!” At this point I was standing right next to the man getting
chemo (who was sitting in my favorite spot).
Shua started to say “hi” to him, so we stopped for a quick chat. The woman asked me how long it took to get my
hair back. I said “this time last year I was bald as a baby.” The man then said “I am kind of liking it.” I said “I loved being bald, showers were
quick, no need to shave. The only
downside was that it was got rather cold and I always had my head covered because
I was freezing.” The woman then said
something about hair not being important and bald men were “in” now. The man said it must have been hard because it
is different for women to lose their hair.
I then said “hair is overrated.”
The man said “wow, what a great attitude.” I had to tell him that a 12 year old boy set
things straight for me and helped me deal with losing my hair. (Thanks Lenn! I still have that text where
you put things in perspective for me!)
Shua started to say “bye-bye” to the man. That was my cue to get moving before he
freaks out again. As I walk down the
hallway I hear the man start talking to the nurse. “Wow she did all this with a baby?” The nurse said “yes, and she has more
children too.” The man then said “wow,
if she could do it how can I complain.”
Sometimes seeing someone else’s life experiences helps puts things in
perspective. As I continued out of the
office, I had that superwoman feeling for a moment. It was a great feeling!
My friend who started her journey weeks before I was
diagnosed is having surgery soon. Her
tissue expander surgery didn’t go as smoothly as mine. I was super lucky to heal after radiation and
to have my next surgery on time. I
recently spent some time with my fellow warrior. She was calm and not freaking out about the
next upcoming surgery. I know if it was me, I would be mad at the world, angry
that I had to go through another surgery.
I would probably have said “it’s not fair” a dozen of times or so. I am truly amazed with her grace with this
bump in the road. I am amazed that she is so calm with knowing that it will be
a tough next six weeks. I am amazed with
her knowing that she will be back to drains and limited arm movement and loose,
easy to put on clothing. I am amazed
that she is back to having others do so much for her. It is so hard to let others help once you have
become independent again. She just
amazes me and is the real superwoman.
This one is for you… just change the "I" to "you"
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