Pretty funny the things we remember and how we remember them. I have had to ask my daughter several times how long she was here. It was four weeks, or was it five?
Before she relocated to Mandan for my treatment, she was looking at Pinterest haircuts for me. Not ever being shy of being first in line for something new, she found a half shaved head with some comb over long hair on the opposite hair cut that she thought would be fun to do until I lost my hair.
I chickened out.
Mostly, I did not want to do it for fear of being cold. Losing weight and old age makes me cold. The nurses at the infusion center told me most people lose their hair after week three of that platinum stuff my body was absorbing. Luckily, I did not. I’m glad I waited. My curly locks have thinned considerably over the years. I wish I had appreciated my tangled hair more when I was young.
I could be wrong, but 2023 might have been the very first year I did not go to church at Easter time. There are services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I missed them all. It was too much to think about talking to people who really cared about how I felt. This whole ordeal made me want to hide which is why this blog was postponed until I could face my cancer.
What I did do for Easter 2023, after much coaxing from Claire, was agree to go to her brother-in-laws house for Easter dinner.
The weather was warming by then and I only had two more weeks of radiation to finish. Of course, I did not want to go, but I’m glad I did.
It was the first thing I did outside of driving to the cancer center every week day since I started March 20. Eating in public was something I was NOT looking forward to. It was difficult to swallow and my appetite was waning. But we did it.
It was more than a hot meal on a sunny April day. It was the end of my daughter’s time with me as the effects of the treatment were not nearly as bad as we imagined. Bad enough, but tolerable.
Easter Sunday was about more than good food and family. Jason’s family didn’t know me. They had no reason to invite me to be a part of their celebration short of the fact they are German and would have an abundance of food. Oh, that and we share two granddaughters.
That family did something that I do not think my own family would have done. Elle designed the fighting Sue logo in preparation for a fundraiser. Claire ordered tee shirts in preparation for a fundraiser.
I’m so grateful I went to the dinner because everyone of those folks wore a fighting Sue tee shirt. It was amazing and touching. And, they all obediently lined up for the photo at the top of this blog.
I still get tears when I think about it. Only two more weeks of radiation to go.
INDYchildrendotme 
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