Thursday, April 26, 2012

It's Begun

Yesterday we got the first round of chemo treatments.  Let me first say that the staff at Ellis Fischel have been amazing.  There are no words to describe how we felt from the beautiful ladies at the front desk to the nurses to administered the chemo.  The wonderful women in the gift shop and the volunteers to came and spoke with our family.  Even the nutritionist who tended to us posed for a picture with Mom and was great. 

I say we a lot.  I know that it's Mom who is going through the physical treatments but I also feel like it's a journey we are all taking together.  When we walked into the room, a lady was receiving treatment and was snuggled in her bed with her daughter.  Mom looked over and said, "If it were any you girls, that's exactly where I'd be."  You see, I was a part of my mother before my first breath.  She is the only person I can say was with me at my first heartbeat.  We are going through this in tandem and I know that she's right, if it were me, she'd be snuggled in bed with me watching "stories" together.  So, that being said, I'm going to chronicle my journey with Mom.  It's what I'm going through being her cheerleader.  Being Dad's co-pilot.  Being my sibling's informant. 

So, Day 1

This is how Mom's Chemo is delivered.  There were 5 different bags of fluid that went in through her port.  Our nurse was so sweet and toward the end she said, we're not cutting this short, you pay for every last drop.  They are in it to win it, too.



Real men wear pink...ribbons. 





The sweet volunteers gave mom a little card saying they voted her the "cutest patient of the day"  I agree, she's pretty darn cute. 


The thing about this picture is, they aren't holding hands because of cancer.  This is them.  It just took on a new meaning to me today.  They are partners on good days and on rotten ones.  I could probably count on one hand the times I've seen my parents kiss in front of me.  (Thanks for that!)  I couldn't count in a million years, though, the ways they have demonstrated their love for one another.  Whether it's holding hands down a hallway or sneaking a look out of the corner of my eye to see how one of them looks at the other in a way that says "I'm their biggest fan." 



Day 1, Treatment 1, done!