Week 11: Nov. 30-Dec. 4
This week ends a huge chapter in our lives. Friday is my last treatment and we will be on the road Saturday heading for home. As things wrap up for us here at LLUMC it also ushers in the next phase. After all, this will be a continuing story. With treatment for prostate cancer I will be monitored for the rest of my life for the slim chance of recurrence. It is one of those “things” that marks you for life.
This final chapter began Sunday in Seal Beach as we wrapped up a long Thanksgiving weekend with family. This whole story has been one full of thanksgiving so it was a fitting way to set the tone for our last week. Monday afternoon found us back at our little cottage in Loma Linda for the last 5 days of treatment.
While I have been here there has been plenty of time to ponder life and life purposes. There have been two significant revelations of sorts that have come to me in my pondering. One has to do with the cure and one about life.
The cure became a numbers game for me.
Follow along with this one.
This has been the procedure for the 45 treatments. Drink my 18 oz. water (almost 26 qts overall), walk 675 steps from our cottage to the proton center elevator, show up at the Level B waiting room, get changed into my oh so chic hospital gown, walk down the hall to Gantry 3, climb into my pod, receive my balloon with a smile on my face (4 more ounces of water-almost 6 quarts total), get 2 x-rays, count off 30 beeps from the Geiger counter indicating protons are being delivered, and then climb out and walk another 675 steps back to our temporary home away from home. The final total for steps towards the cure can be broken down like this:
1,350 steps for consultation & planning;
60,750 steps for treatments;
12,150 steps for weekly doctor appointments;
10,800 men only support group meetings;
This comes to a grand total of 85,050 steps which equates to about 50 miles which translates to a little over 3 ½ hours of walking towards the cure for cancer and the healing process.
As I have stated before, each delivery of protons lasts about 1 minute and 45 seconds which for the 45 treatments adds up to 78 ¾ minutes. For round numbers, let’s say, 1 hour and 19 minutes is all the time it took towards this cure for cancer.
The second “ponderable” has to do with the present. I posted this thought on my other blog the day it came to me: “Each day we are given is a gift. Unfortunately too many people fail to open the present.” Obviously the “present” has an intended two-fold meaning.
It reminds me of an old Peanuts comic strip where an uninterested Charlie Brown is sitting beside an unwrapped present. Lucy of course in her own special way wants to change the situation with a series of questions aimed at getting Charlie Brown to open his gift. To the best of my memory the gist of the dialog is something like this:
“Why don’t you open your present?” Lucy asks.
“It’s probably just a shirt,” Charlie replies
“Don’t you want to find out what color it is?” Lucy responds
To that Charlie Brown states, “It’s probably not my size.”
Lucy, getting a little exasperated follows, “You can at least open it an find out what size it is.”
And finally Charlie Brown comes back with the clincher, “It probably has pins in it.”
In disgust Lucy picks up the present and smashes the box over his head.
What excuses do we come up with for not opening up the gift of each day?
For me, being here at LLUMC has been a gift. It was a package we had no idea what impact it would have on us. We could have said: “It’s not comfortable being here out of my element,” or “I don’t even know anyone,” or “I have cancer and just want to get this over as soon as possible.” With proton treatment there is no such thing as “soon.” For most of us here 45 treatments and 11 weeks away from home can seem like an unwelcome present. As you have been following along over these past 10 weeks you have seen a glimpse into what we have found inside this unlikely present.
I would hope each of you opens the gift of each day with the same excitement as a child looking for the treasures in the present set before him or her. New friends, new experiences, and new opportunities for growth are waiting to be unwrapped each day.
This week ends a huge chapter in our lives. Friday is my last treatment and we will be on the road Saturday heading for home. As things wrap up for us here at LLUMC it also ushers in the next phase. After all, this will be a continuing story. With treatment for prostate cancer I will be monitored for the rest of my life for the slim chance of recurrence. It is one of those “things” that marks you for life.
This final chapter began Sunday in Seal Beach as we wrapped up a long Thanksgiving weekend with family. This whole story has been one full of thanksgiving so it was a fitting way to set the tone for our last week. Monday afternoon found us back at our little cottage in Loma Linda for the last 5 days of treatment.
While I have been here there has been plenty of time to ponder life and life purposes. There have been two significant revelations of sorts that have come to me in my pondering. One has to do with the cure and one about life.
The cure became a numbers game for me.
Follow along with this one.
This has been the procedure for the 45 treatments. Drink my 18 oz. water (almost 26 qts overall), walk 675 steps from our cottage to the proton center elevator, show up at the Level B waiting room, get changed into my oh so chic hospital gown, walk down the hall to Gantry 3, climb into my pod, receive my balloon with a smile on my face (4 more ounces of water-almost 6 quarts total), get 2 x-rays, count off 30 beeps from the Geiger counter indicating protons are being delivered, and then climb out and walk another 675 steps back to our temporary home away from home. The final total for steps towards the cure can be broken down like this:
1,350 steps for consultation & planning;
60,750 steps for treatments;
12,150 steps for weekly doctor appointments;
10,800 men only support group meetings;
This comes to a grand total of 85,050 steps which equates to about 50 miles which translates to a little over 3 ½ hours of walking towards the cure for cancer and the healing process.
As I have stated before, each delivery of protons lasts about 1 minute and 45 seconds which for the 45 treatments adds up to 78 ¾ minutes. For round numbers, let’s say, 1 hour and 19 minutes is all the time it took towards this cure for cancer.
The second “ponderable” has to do with the present. I posted this thought on my other blog the day it came to me: “Each day we are given is a gift. Unfortunately too many people fail to open the present.” Obviously the “present” has an intended two-fold meaning.
It reminds me of an old Peanuts comic strip where an uninterested Charlie Brown is sitting beside an unwrapped present. Lucy of course in her own special way wants to change the situation with a series of questions aimed at getting Charlie Brown to open his gift. To the best of my memory the gist of the dialog is something like this:
“Why don’t you open your present?” Lucy asks.
“It’s probably just a shirt,” Charlie replies
“Don’t you want to find out what color it is?” Lucy responds
To that Charlie Brown states, “It’s probably not my size.”
Lucy, getting a little exasperated follows, “You can at least open it an find out what size it is.”
And finally Charlie Brown comes back with the clincher, “It probably has pins in it.”
In disgust Lucy picks up the present and smashes the box over his head.
What excuses do we come up with for not opening up the gift of each day?
For me, being here at LLUMC has been a gift. It was a package we had no idea what impact it would have on us. We could have said: “It’s not comfortable being here out of my element,” or “I don’t even know anyone,” or “I have cancer and just want to get this over as soon as possible.” With proton treatment there is no such thing as “soon.” For most of us here 45 treatments and 11 weeks away from home can seem like an unwelcome present. As you have been following along over these past 10 weeks you have seen a glimpse into what we have found inside this unlikely present.I would hope each of you opens the gift of each day with the same excitement as a child looking for the treasures in the present set before him or her. New friends, new experiences, and new opportunities for growth are waiting to be unwrapped each day.
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