When you finish chemo and are finally deemed cancer-free you are thrilled to have met your goal.  You count yourself lucky to have survived the beast, to have battled, and WON!  You spend some time floating in the clouds and regaining your strength.  As time goes on that horrible time in your life gets further in the rearview mirror, but you know the beast is always out there circling.

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Sometimes we have to shave away the crap to get to the point.  Our minds get so filled with statistics, remedies and preventatives that we’re lost in the fragments.  Instead of looking at all the things we “wish” were, we need to be thankful for what we still have and rebuild from the debris.

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I just had a tough time choosing between three photos so thought I’d share the other two I was torn between.

Looks and tastes so refreshing on a hot summer day! We all know oranges are good for us and full of vitamin C, but oranges also have a compound called liminoid which help fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon.  Maybe I should plant an orange tree or two.

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When I saw this little pile of rust I thought of the tiny little cancer cells. If you see one flake of rust it doesn’t seem like any big deal, but if they multiply, suddenly it jumps out at you. One little cancer cell can’t be seen, but soon they multiply. If left unchecked they put on their little traveling shoes and head for a vacation in another organ.  I suppose chemo is a form of rust preventative.

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I apologize that I am a wee bit behind in getting these posts up.  The chaos of my life, hopefully I catch up tonight.

Freedom: exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.

Independence: freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others.

Although I am cancer-free, I am never completely free of cancer.

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Persistence is a must! I have seen Pileated Woodpeckers many times, too many to count, but today was the first day I have gotten a decent photo of one. I didn’t give up, and I will still keep trying to get a better, closer, shot. This drive is just as important when it comes to the health care needed to make sure remission stays. If my oncologist doesn’t seem to listen, I find one who will. A Pileated Woodpecker is not going to fly into my living room and land on my head screaming, ‘Look at me!’, I must get out of my comfort zone and find him.

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I was chasing a Northern Flicker when I almost ran into this guy! I was about 10 feet away when I noticed him – I literally gasped!

I wish I had been better prepared for him, I could have had some better shots. I really thought he had left our neighborhood. But I had my camera settings correct to shoot in a sunlit subject, that Flicker I mentioned, when I stumbled on Mr Pileated in shadows. Dang! The settings were to slow to freeze his rat-tat-tatting perfectly. But these will have to do for now.

This is not the first time I’ve seen him in this exact spot. I’m sure it won’t be the last.

It is so important to speak up for yourself!  Having an oncologist you can talk to can make all the difference in the world, in life and death.  It’s important to be aware of as much information pertaining to your form of cancer, and your own body, as you can.  Because you are fighting for your life.  Your oncologist has hundreds of patients, also fighting for their lives, and he can not be expected to remember every detail about each one.  So if you feel like he overlooking a test that you should be having it’s vitally important that you speak up, ask him when you last had that test.  He will look at his records and often times discover that suddenly it is time for that test.  You are your own best advocate!

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