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Post by Susan Peabody on Dec 7, 2022 17:15:01 GMT -8
This thread is not for everyone. It will be a chronicle of my journey through cancer treatment. It will be part scientific, part psychological, and part spiritual.
Let me say, at this point, that I have been praying to God for a new purpose. Today, I found it. I am going to give hope to other cancer patients and validation to all the doctors, nurses, and technicians who brought me hope today and work tirelessly to treat us cancer patients.
I began this new ministry by getting a tattoo of a cross on my wrist. It was a big hit with the nurses at the surgery center. It became a conversation piece and many of the people who took care of me showed me their crosses. Others just smiled and asked me questions.
All the test results came in today. I have a cancer lesion about five centimeters long. It is too big to treat with a hysterectomy, so they are going to treat me with radiation and chemotherapy.
Tomorrow, they will map my body and give me four tattoos to mark the radiation laser for each time I come in. I will come in every day for twenty-five days and get a treatment. Then I will go to San Francisco for a high-density radiation treatment as an extra precaution. Then chemotherapy. I do not know yet what that entails.
Today, I met all my new caregivers. First, I met Anthony who parks the cars, even though I took the bus. Then the receptionist who directed me to the cancer center in the hospital where I was born. At the cancer center was a physician's assistant, then the social worker who gave me a bus pass, and finally the doctor who was really handsome, married, with three children whom he adored.
Everyone was so friendly and promised to take good care of me. Tomorrow, I will make appointments for the 25 treatments and get my tattoos. When I was finished, my grandson picked me up and took me to Starbucks. Now, I am home writing this and about to go into my prayer and meditation rituals.
More later . . .
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RoseNadler
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Post by RoseNadler on Dec 8, 2022 9:57:18 GMT -8
I’m so glad you have a team of committed professionals helping you.
If you remember—I lost my mother to cancer five years ago. So I pay extra attention when it happens to somebody else.
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Post by Susan Peabody on Dec 9, 2022 9:11:39 GMT -8
Yesterday, I went to the Cancer Center and the technician did what they call mapping. She wanted me to get on a stool, put my knee on the table and lower myself down in front of the radiation machine. I did try, but I felt like I was in gym class. I pointed this out to the technician, Sana, and she agreed they would have to change my position to my back. So, she did the mapping, put three tattoos on my stomach to mark the spot for the radiation, and I was done. Then I scheduled 25 visits starting on December 19.
Monday, I go to meet the oncologist who will do the chemotherapy and find out what they have in store for me. Meanwhile, I am a bit overwhelmed as I have to take the bus in to the Cancer Center at 5:30 a.m. every morning for awhile. I am trying to stay optimistic, but I am a little bit frightened.
Namaste.
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Post by Susan Peabody on Dec 9, 2022 13:18:17 GMT -8
The Glad Game . . . The Glad Game was introduced in a novel by the name of Pollyanna. Pollyanna was a young orphan adopted by her Aunt Polly. Pollyanna started telling everyone in the village about her game. To play the game, every time something bad happens you find something to be glad for. Her first example was about when she opened up a missionary barrel, looking for a doll, and found a pair of crutches. After her initial disappointment, she was glad she did not have to wear them. This is another version of my own theme, "Every new day is a brighter tomorrow." Since seeing this movie as a child, I have thought it was a nice game, but impossible to play. Then, in 1982, I found Alcoholics Anonymous, recovery, and then God . . . in that order. At this point, I became successful at this game, and it made me happy sometimes, and other times, it took the edge off my depression. Let's play this game together. I am glad that I have friends on earth and that I am blessed by my Higher Power, who at the moment is the Trinity . . . The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Spirit for short). Attachments:
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Post by Susan Peabody on Dec 13, 2022 11:28:52 GMT -8
I am all organized and ready to start treatment. I am not looking forward to the side effects of chemo, but there are thousands of people going through this with me.
Thursday, I go to the hospital and get a port, or portable IV put under my skin.
Friday . . . prayer and meditation.
Saturday . . . a trip with my spiritual advisor Giuseppe to Best Buy to purchase a portable CD player to listen to music and audiobooks. I just ordered the Catholic New Testament on audio because I am taking lessons on how to become a Catholic with my new friend John.
Sunday . . . Church, Mass, Catechism, movie with John and, most of all, Starbucks.
Monday . . . blood tests at the Cancer Center in Berkeley. I will take the bus in, and thanks to some donations, I am treating myself to Uber to go home.
Tuesday . . . bus to treatment. Radiation at 5:30 am and chemotherapy at 7:30 a.m. Uber home, nausea pills, and rest.
Wednesday . . . radiation. Also . . . Thursday and Friday and every weekday for 25 treatments altogether.
Christmas Eve with my beloved son Karl and my sister Nancy. Nancy and I are the only survivors of the Peabodys in Pinole, 1958 - 1968. I loved growing up in Pinole and still have a good friend from the fifth grade there.
In closing, I will say that my Spirit is willing, but my flesh in week. But I am not alone. The Holy Spirit is always with me. She appeared to me in 1982 and was there to protect me before that. She is with me now.
Nakupenda
Susan
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RoseNadler
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Post by RoseNadler on Dec 13, 2022 12:01:23 GMT -8
Sending good energy your way!
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Post by Susan Peabody on Dec 16, 2022 10:18:54 GMT -8
I am experiencing mood swings. I vacillate from depression to self-pity, to frustration and back to optimism. Yesterday, they put a port in my chest under my skin for my chemo treatments and surprised me how negatively I have responded to something that is supposed to help me. I want to just get rid of it. Until I return to my usual optimistic self, I am not going to write for a while. I want to be a role model right now, but I am only human. Like it or not, cancer often makes us very focused on ourselves. This is not to say I am giving up my calling. God asked me to lift the spirits of those in the Cancer Center who take care of me, and I am doing that. There are really a lot of wonderful people out there tending to others. They have a tough job which they are performing successfully. If you are a caregiver, give yourself a pat on the back. Everyone take care of yourselves and have a Merry Christmas. Susan Peabody Attachments:
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RoseNadler
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Post by RoseNadler on Dec 17, 2022 5:00:45 GMT -8
Susan, yes, you are a human being just like anybody else. You don’t always have to be a role model of some kind of behavior.
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Post by Susan Peabody on Dec 29, 2022 11:11:57 GMT -8
After a short time of feeling sorry for myself, I am back in recovery/spiritual mode. I met a woman who has stage 3 cancer, and I am only at 1AB. She is dying. I am not. I also met a woman who took my blood and she said she had cancer and lost her hair. I am told I will probably not lose my hair. There is a bright side wherever you go. Just open your eyes and ask God to transform you . . . one day at a time.
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Post by Susan Peabody on Feb 20, 2023 17:58:17 GMT -8
I just wanted to update everyone and put closure to this thread. I had an adverse reaction to the chemo and radiation and had to go into a hospital. They sent me to a nursing home for 30 days. Today, I am in full remission and have come home. I met a lot of wonderful people and gained a new perspective on everything. There are many, many wonderful caregivers out there. There are many people who are worse off than me. I have been blessed. Now, I am waiting instructions from God for my next great adventure. My thanks to everyone who reached out. Susan Attachments:
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