Missing Cancer | Naps

While I was on chemo, and for quite a while after, I took a nap just about every single day.  I’d skip a day here or there, but for the most part, I napped for two or three hours every afternoon.  Sometimes that put a bit of a damper on my fun, I once turned down a lunch invitation to District Taco just to be sure I had time for my nap!  I usually had company when I was at the hospital, but occasionally I’d sneak in a nap there, too.  My best hospital nap was probably just after this picture was taken, I was in this super teensy room while I waited to get appropriately radioactive for my PET scan.  The recliner I was in touched one wall when it was reclined, and my feet were touching the other wall.  I can see some people finding it claustrophobic, but it was huge compared to the tube they stuck me in moments later!

I’m missing my naps now, though.  There’s something so luxurious about using a nap as a perfectly acceptable excuse to do nothing.  Now I’m back to weekends-only naps, and last weekend was too busy, so it’s been a LONG time since I’ve had a nap.  Those were the good old days!

This post is part of a series of what I’ll miss from my time as a cancer patient.  I know cancer is a serious thing, not everyone tolerates treatment well, and not everyone recovers.  I don’t mean to offend by making light of a serious subject.  These posts are just a glimpse of my efforts to make the best of my situation—to find the silver linings wherever I can.

Missing Cancer | Cupcakes

I arrived home from my first trip to chemo back in November to a super yummy surprise—cupcakes from a local favorite, Bakeshop.  During my cancer treatment, my friends overwhelmed me with “little happies” as my friend, Lucy, would say.  Lots of cupcakes, cookies, favorite candy, my new favorite salted caramel gelato…  Sometimes they’d come as a dessert with dinner, but lots of times, they just showed up on my front porch!  I know we all have images of that woman going through chemo treatment who is waif-like thin from being so sick.  It turns out now, most breast cancer patients actually gain weight.  The anti-nausea meds make it easier to eat, and the steroids even increase appetite.  I have to say, with all the cupcakes and other yummy treats that appeared at my house, it’s lucky that I weighed the same when I finished chemo as when I started!  But they were so yummy, I would have been ok to have a few extra pounds to lose before summer!  Many thanks to all the friends who brightened my day with a sweet “happy!”

This post is part of a series of what I’ll miss from my time as a cancer patient.  I know cancer is a serious thing, not everyone tolerates treatment well, and not everyone recovers.  I don’t mean to offend by making light of a serious subject.  These posts are just a glimpse of my efforts to make the best of my situation—to find the silver linings wherever I can.

Missing Cancer | The Bald Head

Glamorous, I know.  The week before surgery I ended up with pink eye, so on top of the bald head, I had to wear my glasses.  A post-run shopping outing with a toddler on my back?  I couldn’t have felt less fabulous.  But how could you not smile at this scene?  And I love all those smiles!  Babies and really little kiddos were a little afraid of me at first, and elementary kids tended to stare for a while, and I can’t blame them for that.  But as soon as I’d smile and act normal, they got over it.  Thankfully, I never felt like I got too many pity-filled glances from adults.  But what I loved—the young adults who told me I could really rock a bald head, and the old ladies—they were the best.  I’m betting many of them saw themselves or their friends in the first glimpse of my bald head and smiled to encourage me.  Little old ladies love a bald girl, but it turns out they’re a little less enthusiastic when they’re trying to figure out if I’m growing out my post-chemo hair or if I'm sporting a lesbian-chic look!  I don’t get nearly as much old lady love now that I’ve got enough hair to put product in!  (And speaking of hair, Sally and I went on a photo session/adventure yesterday, I’ll be sure to post some pics of my sleek new ‘do when she passes them along!)

This is the first in a series of what I’ll miss from my time as a cancer patient.  I know cancer is a serious thing, not everyone tolerates treatment well, and not everyone recovers.  I don’t mean to offend by making light of a serious subject.  These posts are just a glimpse of my efforts to make the best of my situation—to find the silver linings wherever I can.