Today is Labor Day and my university is closed. The clinic is closed too. So, I got the day off from work and radiation. 🙂 It was a wonderful, relaxing, fun, long weekend. Tim was traveling to south Texas for consultations and church visits, so Elizabeth and I prepared for her upcoming birthday party. Her 16th birthday, I might add. I can’t believe my baby is growing up so fast!! We’re planning a murder mystery party themed Happily Never After. I’ve never hosted one of these before, but it looks like a great time. The characters are selected. I’ll post pictures after the event.
So tomorrow starts another week of radiation. At least it will be a shorter week! This is how we start every day. Early rise to walk Elizabeth to the bus stop, a bike ride to the clinic, a morning dose of radiation, then another ride home. Sometimes we stay in town to work if I have an afternoon appointment. Wednesday was the last visit with my current radiation oncologist; she is leaving to go teach at Baylor and work with the indigent population in downtown Houston. When I told her we were riding the bike, she gave a disapproving look and said she would prefer not. Something about broken bones. Apparently one of her patients broke both of his femurs, and could not finish the radiation. He was riding and he crashed. Radiation makes you very tired, so it’s hard to ride a bike. She was slightly relieved to hear I am the passenger. She’s young, single, and has probably never ridden.
The next day we rode up to the clinic at the same time she arrived. I showed her the bike, and let her know how safe it is, and of course I wear a helmet! I explained to her we decided to ride in the mornings to give me something to look forward to, rather than dreading the drive. Also, it saves about half the money on gas. OK. Now I think she approves.
Aside, we are watching Wild Hogs while I blog. Woody (John Travolta) just yelled, “Holy Crap it’s the Golden Knight!” so Doug (Tim Allen) can save the day with pizzazz. They edited the language for the television version and we’ve been laughing out loud the whole evening.
My new radiation oncologist opened the radiation clinic at MD Anderson in The Woodlands, so I’m looking forward to meeting her. My skin is tight, but so far it isn’t too sore. I wonder if I’ll have to explain the bike rationale to her as well. Either way, we’re riding whenever we can. The morning is cool and beautiful, and watching the sunrise has been something to which we anticipate. Seven down, 26 to go!
À la prochaine (Until next time) …