Today in the local paper we saw the headlines that the Phoenix area “the hottest summer and third driest monsoon on record.”
This was no surprise to us. We have been living in Mesa, and due to the pandemic and Dan’s daily radiation treatments, we have been unable to leave the area, even to go to our beloved deserts to go camping and hiking in higher elevations where it would be considerably cooler.
It sounds sort of miserable to live in this heat, but we love it. This is our home and it is perfect for us.
This summer during Dan’s radiation treatments we have almost completed our virtual Ride Across USA (we're "in" Pennsylvania,2300 miles from San Francisco), we virtually rode the STP with our family including our grandsons, and we have started the virtual Destination Trail Bigfoot Elusive 206.5 ultra-run (ultra-walk for us).
Today was the last day of Dan’s 45 radiation treatments. We have cycled and walked 1200 miles during the nine weeks he has been undergoing treatment. During this nine weeks at 2:30 a.m. when we get up to start our outside fun activities (some people call this exercise) the temperatures have been between 81 and 95 degrees.
I am so proud of Dan. He has been so very courageous and faced this cancer with such a positive attitude and determination to get well. He is my superman.
The radiation clinic “awards” their patients with a certificate of completion of treatment. Here is Dan after his last treatment with his (actually quite cool) certificate:
We have to wait for six weeks and get more testing to find out if the radiation has killed the cancer cells or if more treatment is needed.
But as of today 45 days, nine weeks of radiation is completed, and this week we are celebrating!
The first thing Dan did was thank me for being there for him and to let me know that he was thinking of me during each of his treatments. He did this by giving me a charming vintage card, which he left in the seat of the car for me as he walked in for his final treatment.
Dan gets to eat the food he likes now, and so his next celebration was to throw away the Maalox!
For part of our celebration this week Emily surprised us by sending cookies that Dan had jokingly said he expected in the mail this week. Dan is so touched he was crying when I took this picture.
Soren and Sebastian wrote such touching loving notes to their Grandpa that we were both in tears.
We are extremely happy to get to go back to our normal high fiber diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, especially our yummy HOT Mexican food. We have missed my sautéed asparagus so tonight we will have a double serving of asparagus with bacon cheeseburgers. As a special surprise I baked Dan chocolate chip cookies!
I get to pick out a special bottle of wine for Dan. I think a Sangiovese tonight.....
For the past 76 days straight we have gotten up in the middle of the night while it is still relatively cool to ride our tandem bike, “Daisy,” and to walk over four miles. This was a goal that we have had since we were given Dan’s diagnosis. We believed that the best thing we could do to insure the best recovery was to keep our life a “normal” as possible, for Dan to eat well, sleep well each night, and to continue to exercise as much as possible. So every morning for 76 days, without fail, we spent our first three hours of the day exercising.
Tomorrow morning for the first time in 76 days we will not ride “Daisy” and take our 4+ mile walk. Tomorrow we are going on a hike in our lovely desert! We will be at our starting point at daybreak and hike until the sun gets too far above the mountains, and the day heats up. We will wear our headlamps and rattlesnake gaiters, and we will have a wonderful time!
This is a time to celebrate life and each other and our family, a time to cherish and remember. And on this Sunday afternoon, like for every Sunday afternoon, we will take each other in our arms and dance.
August 19, 2020: Here is our week of celebration in pictures.
Our early morning hike in Peralta Canyon:
Our fondue dinner and the first time we were able to eat asparagus in ten weeks:
In our Activity Room dancing the cha-cha to Roy Orbison’s “Blue Bayou”:
.......and our celebration has just begun!
No comments:
Post a Comment