Graduation

Today, I will watch my third and youngest child graduate from high school. His big sister will drive home from Baltimore; his big brother will attend - all 3 graduated from the same high school. It will be a proud day, an emotional ending to the raucous years of high school and graduation will remind me of my trek through breast cancer.

When I was diagnosed, my daughter was a college senior. The "baby" was a high school freshman and my other son a college sophomore. When you first hear the news, you worry about death. Then you are obsessed with facts, factoids, rumors and well meaning advice. Finally, you turn inward. In my case, I did what I have done for my entire life - I offered deals to God. "Please just let me make it through my daughter's college graduation".

Once I had made it through several surgeries and met the oncologist, who has become my mentor, my friend and my port in the storm, I began to feel hopeful. I was to partake (pretty grand word for going through chemo, isn't it?) in 8 rounds of chemo, CMF to be specific, for those of you who share a history of breast cancer. On the 4th visit, I baked a cake and stuck toothpicks with flags on the cake. Each flag was comprised of a drawing/saying from one of my favorite comedic cancer books "Not Now, I'm Having A Bad Hair Day". I found that laughter and poking fun at yourself is a great way to relieve the stress of your illness. On the day of my final chemo, I was prepared. I had ordered a sheet cake from the bakery - white icing with a huge pink circle with a diagonal line in the center through the word "CHEMO" - the universal sign for NO or NOT ALLOWED. The nurses loved it; I felt good to give something back to these fabulous women and it brought a smile to the faces of those just beginning their chemo adventures.

I should mention that my daughter graduated from college on June 5, 1999 and I had my final chemo on June 6th. (My oncologist did some fancy re-shuffling so that I could attend graduation out of state without being in a post-chemo fatigue mode. Granted, I was not the peppiest mom at graduation; I was one of the heavier ones (thanks to some of the chemo combatant drugs and I avoided the sun, but we had a blast.

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