It's Official--2009 and Cancer Treatment are Over

Here are the kids celebrating the holidays. Kate and Parker really enjoyed "gingerbread" house making in Mrs. Werner's class. Hunter got the chance to be "Pat" the Patriot during a girls' basketball game. Kate danced enthusiastically and was rewarded with 6 pink roses during her Christmas recital for Dance Unlimited. Tadman and Parker enjoyed trying out their new Christmas gifts on Christmas Day. (I hope to someday be less computer challenged and insert pictures throughout my blog instead of all at the beginning!)

For all my blog followers, let the celebration begin. Thursday I said my goodbyes to the radiology techs, to Buck, the radiology greeter/scheduler, to Pat, the head nurse in the chemotherapy suite, to Cecil, the parking lot attendant, and to the treatment that has occupied much of the past eleven months of my life. It was an emotional day for me, filled with both relief and regret, relief that I can be a better wife, mother, and household manager than I have been the past year, and regret that I'm leaving the most significant support system of my life, with the exception of family and very close friends, behind. As I stated last time I wrote, now I have no more excuses for being less than my best self. Now I live in a world of all kinds of people, and not just cancer patients and the people dedicated to making them better. I lose the warmth and security of being in a place where I have something in common with every other person in the room, where you can pick up a warm stocking cap crocheted with love by a person you'll never meet, and where you're treated like royalty to make up for the fact that you're there to be treated for cancer. On the other hand, I liked the feeling of watching Kate perform at the half time of a Centennial JV basketball game a few days ago knowing I was just another healthy, supportive mom in the crowd, not a cancer patient. So life goes forward without regard to whether I'm ready or not. I hope I am...
Most of you know already of the other significant post Christmas celebration in the Nettles family. Hunter, Greg, and I drove down to the Phoenix area on New Year's Day to be at the Fiesta Bowl. It took us 16 hours to drive down, and 16 to drive back, but for that minor inconvenience we were rewarded with glorious weather, a nice room with free cooked-to-order breakfast, and a great football game. Hunter had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to work the sidelines as a Boise State ball boy, and was on the field with the team during the awarding of the MVP and Fiesta Bowl trophies. He got a sweet shirt and hat declaring Boise State Fiesta Bowl champions, and had a great time. Greg and I hope he has a grasp of how cool it all was. We'll save him some newspaper clippings and ticket stubs to show his grand kids. For me it was especially delightful, as it was the first bowl game of the season I had actually watched from kick-off to conclusion, and those of you who know how much I love football will know that I was extremely disappointed to have missed watching so many good games. Unfortunately it made winter break go even faster, and it was hard to get back at 2 a.m. Tuesday night and hit the ground running with school, work, and radiation the very next day.
So although they occurred on January 4 and January 14, the Fiesta Bowl and the end of radiation are officially on my end of 2009, as opposed to beginning of 2010, calendar. It was a long, difficult year, but full of triumphs, one-of-a-kind moments, and life-defining experiences. I am grateful for the growth I have had, and pray that there will be no back-peddling, but that 2009 will serve as a springboard to 2010. I resolve to continue to cherish my family, and each precious moment I get to spend with them. I resolve to give people the benefit of the doubt, and to forgive imperfections and mistakes. I resolve to keep my body as healthy as I can by eating well and moving often. I resolve to be a light to my husband and kids, my extended family, and all those I come in contact with and to spend the majority of my time in the service of others. I resolve to live with joy and try to spread it to all those I come in contact with. I resolve to spend a little of each day counting my blessings and acknowledging their source.
Thank you, friends, for sharing this journey with me, for pulling me up when I was going under, for taking care of my kids, household, and obligations when I was unable to do so, and for enduring to the end of a VERY long treatment schedule. You are all ANGELS in my book and my gratitude will be eternal.