Nurse On Top of the World

I only have a minute or two, but here I am…trying to find the words to describe my state of “beyond happy”. So many things have happened the past two weeks, it is difficult to recount everything, but I will try…

Friday, September 10th, marked my very last chemo! It was a HUGE milestone and I am so grateful to be finished! Big Daddy and I sat there and just talked about the past year and everything we have been through as the silvery solution dripped by drop, drop, drop and entered my veins. I will keep my port for awhile simply because I am not interested in going under the knife again, even if it IS some awesome sleep. It can wait. Not to mention, the reconstruction surgery looming…the surgeon for that surgery said he would take it out while he was in there. No need to put me under more times than necessary.

So, Big Daddy and I sat and reminisced about the past year. What it has meant, how we have changed, and how thankful we are for where we are. I will say it one hundred more times…cancer has been a blessing to our family.

After chemo, we headed home and lo and behold if I wasn’t eating some Bluebell Pralines and Cream before he had the Suburban in park! Hahaha! That must be the best ice cream known to man. I ate my “congratulatory reward” and then headed upstairs for a nap. I am sure you recall the “cumulative effect” that I have mentioned before, so, let’s just say I slept for a while. One hour? Two? Three hours? Yep. Pretty much three hours. It was wonderful. The kids were in school and Big Daddy had gone to work. Sleep. Precious, lovely sleep.

I woke up in time to get ready to go to the very first football game of the season. Of course, the most I know about football is…

1. How to spell “football”.
2. Yell happily when I hear the announcer say “First down, Generals!”
3. Yell happily AND jump up and down when the announcer says “Touchdown, Generals!”

That’s it. However, the best part of the football game for me is, of course, the halftime show. Precious Son, Beautiful Daughter, and all our other 200-plus kids take the field and do their thing. The show this year is called “Chime” and it incorporates the fantastic, “Carol of the Bells”. Need I say more?

The halftime show was great and Big Daddy didn’t care that I had my back to the game except for the show. He watched the game with his buddies and I chatted with mine. It was a great evening to top off a celebratory day. The kids performed the first movement of their show and everything went very, very well. There is nothing like a marching band show. We love it!

Saturday had the kids up bright and early annnnnnnnnnd at school for a mini-band camp rehearsal. It lasted from 9am through 4pm. I was fine with the kids being gone because I had photoshoot with some of my absolute favorite people. We had a great time and I got some really good shots. The best part was visiting with this little family whom I had not seen in such a long time. We email and stay connected, but it just makes me so happy to spend time with them. The mom, Ms. Anne, has three little boys and a husband to take care of. I have always said that those boys (all four of them) were about the most fortunate guys on the planet because they have Ms. Anne. I stand by that statement even today. Ms. Anne is the type of person that makes you smile when you would rather cry just because she is so lovely inside and out. Ms. Anne continues to inspire me as a mother and a friend.

Ms. Anne’s boys are 7, 5, and 4 months old. I love all these boys dearly, however, her middle son, will have a hold on me for the rest of my life. You see, he was very sick when he was born and has had several operations on his heart. The friendship of Ms. Anne and I grew to new depths as her little one was in the hospital month after month after month. They weren’t even able to come home because he was in Cincinnati for the duration. Ms. Anne and I spoke on the phone daily and I prayed for her and her son like I had never prayed for anyone before. I was going through a tumultuous time in my life and was basically miserable, but Ms. Anne showed me that “just life” takes courage sometimes and she gave me the strength and determination to move forward and fix things instead of getting bogged down by them. I made her laugh. She made me think. We grew to need each other as much as you can need another person. And that little boy is now five and has started kindergarten. Five years ago I was in a horrible place…but not today, and spending the day with them on Saturday only reinforced how far we have all come and how beautiful “just life” can be.

I could write an entire novel about how much I love and adore this family, but like I said, I only have a minute. Just know…there is goodness in this world and sometimes it goes by the name of “Anne”.

Saturday night had us at the house with a whole bunch of teenagers and of course, this thrilled me. I love having a house full of kids. I used to be afraid of teenagers, but I must admit, the kids that come and go through our home are amazing. All of them. And I would claim any of them, any day. It was a special day because college football had begun and that means something to everyone but me. Precious Son had asked if I could make a couple of things for his friends, so I did. I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to have someone in my family request something of mine. It makes me feel special or like I am the only person who can do this for them. I made all his favorites including sweet and spicy meatballs, veggie dip, and had all the usual “game day” fare… cheese, crackers, summer sausage, chips, salsa, sandwiches, and assorted cookies and treats. Precious Son subscribes to the old adage about “the best way to reach a guy’s heart, is through his stomach”. He was happy and you know, that meant I was happy.

Sunday was another great day as I had an early morning photoshoot and despite missing church, I did get to spend the entire afternoon on the back of Big Daddy’s Harley as we toured through a couple of counties, sometimes not having a clue where we were. You know you may have some trouble if the GPS says “Wow. No clue where we are.” LOL. Big Daddy stopped everywhere I asked so I could take pictures. I had heard about an old, stone church and we found it. We stumbled upon a lovely stream and Big Daddy let me take pictures of him skipping rocks. (He hates having his picture taken, so this was a coup!) I told him I needed to work on my “action” shots and settings. We were like a little kids again, skipping rocks, climbing around the cliffs and such, and exploring. It was a fantastic day.

One thing I should mention, this was the first time in quite a while we had ridden on the bike. Big Daddy wouldn’t go without me, so the Harley he loves, has sat in our garage for well over a year. And here we were, riding through some of the most gorgeous countryside Kentucky has to offer with Sugarland playing and me singing as if I have anything on Jennifer Nettles, which I don’t. When I looked at the pictures from that day, I saw something spectacular. It wasn’t the 200 year old maple or the gentle curve of the riverbed carved out over a thousand years…No, it was the smile on Big Daddy’s face. He exuded joy and love, all at once…which was exactly what I was feeling, too. There was no cancer on that ride. No surgery. No chemo. No worries. It was just us. Me and my hero…and we smiled smiles that only those in love could ever recognize as pure adoration, commitment, and devotion.

Sunday night had Big Daddy and I having dinner with Elay and Uncle Bill. You know these two make me so happy! We had a fabulous time and just enjoyed each other's company. We went to a new place called "Sutton's" and the food was incredibly good. Add that to the service and conversation...it was easily a 10 out of 10. Being with our friends means so much to Big Daddy and I... It was simply a great night!

Monday came and by golly if my friends at work didn’t have a surprise party for me when I arrived! Everyone had hunkered down in the kitchen and yelled “CONGRATULATIONS!!!” when I walked in. They sprayed me with confetti and streamers and it was just so wonderful! My office was decorated with 1,000 balloons and a card signed by everyone. They loved me enough to eat my favorite things for breakfast… My pralines and cream ice cream and devils food cake with a 2-1 ratio of cream cheese icing to cake. Bon appétit! The cake had a zero candle on it in honor of my having THAT many more chemo appointments left. Yup. Zero.

And all this brings us to Tuesday, yesterday, as in my first exam in nursing school. While I would love to say that I aced it, I don’t think I can. I do think, however, that I did pass…maybe even with a “B”. I will know soon enough as our instructor promised to email us as soon as she had the results. As weird as this may sound, I liked taking the test. I liked learning all that I have learned so far. I don’t understand all that I have been given, but I am trying. Nothing drives me more crazy than when people complain about things but do absolutely nothing to change them. Not me. I want to make a difference. I want to work with people. I want to hold the hand of someone who has no one and reassure them and make them feel better. I want to tell the cancer patient they can do it and I do understand. I want to be the person that gives hope and joy and a reason to fight when you can’t think of one on your own…In other words, I want to be a nurse.

A nurse on top of the world…