Wonder Woman

  

People wonder why I'm a fan.  Why I watch the old series every Saturday night at 8:00pm.  Why I took her on our most recent family vacation (she was our version of Flat Stanley).  The short answer is that she reminds me to be strong.

She reminds me to be strong, even when I want to throw in the towel.

Every time I have to make multiple phone calls to try to schedule multiple appointments for the same day, which entails going to multiple departments within the hospital.   The other day I realized I could find my way from the Lombardi cancer center to the Bles Infusion center to Cardiology without looking at the directional signs on the wall or asking for help. Glad and sad about that at the same time.

Every three weeks when I go for my IV infusion.  Every six weeks when that infusion is coupled with an appointment with my oncologist.

Every evening at 7:00pm when my alarm goes off reminding me to take my daily medication.

Each and every time my port is accessed (if you don't know, I'm deathly afraid of needles; my port is accessed for every infusion, CT scan, and bone scan).

Every three months when I lay down on the bed of the CT scanner and an then have an echocardiogram.

Every six months when I have a full body bone scan (you know when it's scanning your head, it's just inches above; I keep my eyes closed and imagine that I'm laying on a beach somewhere).

 Every time I have one of those tests and wait for the results.  #scanxiety

Every day when I don't want to, but get on the recumbent bike anyway.  I have to keep my heart healthy because one of the medications I'm taking is known to cause heart problems.  Losing weight and building stamina are also goals.

Every time my alarm goes off in the morning and I get up to go to work even though I'm not up to it; I take so much time off for medical appointments, I need to go in on days I really don't feel up to it to conserve my sick leave.  Thank God for summers off and coworkers wonderful enough and able to donate sick leave.

Every time I see an event I want to go to and my "before cancer" self would have said, "Maybe one day...." but now is that "one day".  The most recent event we went to was at the Kennedy Center to see Lynda Carter in concert.  We had the most wonderful night out, and this arrived in the mail a few days later (read more about that here).  This, along with all of the wonderful cards I've received that I look at periodically, remind me to be strong. 

I'm sure there are other instances, but my chemo brain is keeping them hidden for the moment.

If I need more reminding, I go to my facebook videos and listen to Rick Springfield's version of "Roar."  ;)
Here's a better version of it, from the same concert: Roar; Rick Springfield at Calvert Marine Museum July 2016