Day One

Well, the fun has begun. My first chemo infusion began this morning. I will be hauling around a baby-bottle-sized bottle of 5-FU until Friday. I'd been given to understand that I would go in every week for chemo. Nope. It's just this week for four days and again starting on September 8 for four days. Radiation is every day, beginning in about an hour.

As we drove off to Kaiser and my date with the infusion center this morning, my mother gave me a card that sums this situation up really well:

We must be willing to let go
of the life we had planned,
so as to have the life
that is waiting for us.
                -E.M. Forster

I'd had no plans for August after retirement. Maybe that's not a bad thing. It allows me to create a new future with few regrets. I can focus on now, on meditating, on staying healthy, and on the circle of love that friends and family have created. I received three "positivity" bracelets today from a good friend that will go with me to radiation, today and every day. Thank you, Diana.

To all of you—xoxoxoxoxo