Over a Year

Though I never officially made a list of the things for which I am most Thankful, it did cross my mind last week. There are the usual items: family, friends, a safe home… but there was one thing that kept flickering in my thoughts. It has been a year since I completed my cancer treatments. I was supposed to complete the radiation course Thanksgiving week but it was delayed for some reason. I am certain that I was completely irritated by that. Short of nuclear meltdown, there were few reasonable excuses in my estimation, for the delay or extension of my last scheduled treatments. That said, I maintained my composure when my last one was postponed and I had to finish on the Monday after Thanksgiving. A year ago today.

I'm thankful for that. For not having to go to the health center and get situated on that huge machine. It was a pretty intimidating thing to have a team of techs and nurses set me up and then scurry away behind a thick metal slab of a door. I am thankful for having had doctors that I was confident in. I am more thankful to not see them on a weekly basis any longer.

Now I suppose I can concentrate on things that are a little more relaxed, a little more fun, and I can put all the rest in and tuck it away for a while. I think maybe it gets a little easier to handle as time passes and with each good test result. Maybe that's how I'll rebuild confidence in my health and all of our health.

**"concentrate"? What was I thinking?