On The Flip Side

I missed it!

I wanted to post something meaningful and moving on my one-year cancer-versary.*

If not a major post, then at least a THANK YOU to all my "coffee and chemo" dates!

But.... I forgot!

The day came and went!

Then it was time to get ready for school... then dealing with school... then preparing for the holidays...

Then, without meaning to, I sort of wrote about the cancer-versary as an aside.... (I was writing about Rosh HaShanah, and it just came up.... )

So, though it's a bit late, here is the flip side to my cancer-versary:

I want to thank all my friends who came to hang out with me at chemo this past year!

You guys took what could be a real drag and turned it into fun!

I really looked forward to my coffee-and-chemo-dates!

It was so great to spend time with each and every one of you!!

A few of you came on really crazy, stressful days. We barely had a chance to sit and talk. I truly apologize for that. (most days were not like that, really) Thanks so much for being understanding!!

Some days, I had so much fun, it was..., well..., it was rather strange.

I mean, how could I have such a good time at chemo?

But I had to be there for the chemo!

Why not make it fun?

So, thanks for the company! Thanks for the support! Thanks for the snacks/lunches! Thanks for playing games with me! Thanks for the amazing conversations!

Most of all, thanks for hanging out in the chemo ward, when you could have been anywhere else!

You made this year a good one!



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.


With love and optimism,
RivkA

*cancer-versary -- great expression coined by Noa!

How A Technophobe Became a Blogger....

What was I supposed to do?

I was supposed to be done with cancer!

Instead, the cancer was back and had mysteriously spread from my no-longer-existing breast to my bones, liver and lungs.

Suddenly everyone wanted to know how I am doing.

I could barely cope with the news. Every time I talked about it, I started crying.

I could not make a million phone calls. I did not have time to send either personal or group emails.

I had three young children and I did not know how I was going to get through the next twenty four hours. (That panic persisted for weeks!)

Still, I did not want to blow off my family and friends.

A friend suggested I use a blogging site for people dealing with health issues. It made sense, but I did not want my identity to be defined by illness. So.... I found a user friendly, "normal" blogging site, and, despite my latent technophobia, decided to jump right in and start blogging.... I just needed to choose a blog name...

Wow, that was almost as hard as choosing names for my kids!
(Did I mention that my first child had no name for over two weeks?!!)

Late one Saturday night, my husband and I were hanging out with a serious blogger friend (Jameel) and his wife (Jameela). For over an hour, we brainstormed about a name for my blog. We came up with.... nothing. (worse than nothing -- we had a list of really lame names). At midnight, we called it quits.

As we were leaving, I mentioned to Jameela that I was making "coffee and chemo" dates with friends.

"That's it!!" shouted Jameel, "that's the name of your blog!!"

And so it is....



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA



(Cross posted here)