Protected: My oh my, not a wonderful day
Protected: Dress Shopping with Zoey
So I told Zoey about my cancer last Friday. She had a pretty hard weekend. She was really anxious, moody, and complained of “not feeling well,” especially when we wanted to go some where or do something rather than watch tv. My parents had a dinner party yesterday. She was complaining a little about going. Zoey doesn’t always really “listen” to what I say so even though I told her who was going to the dinner, it didn’t really register that her beloved cousins would not be at the dinner until about 20 minutes before it was time to leave. She was disappointed, but did not balk at going. Then we got into the car and I accidentally slammed her fingers in the car door! She ran out from the car and into the house. Many 13 year-old type declarations were made about how she was declining her invitation to the dinner party. However, we have a policy in these incidences of not allowing her to stay home by herself. She took issue with family policy as only a gifted 13 year-old Zoey can, by running out the door and climbing the Douglas Fir in the back yard. My father-in-law happened to be in the front yard and holding her coat. When he saw her run out the door he said, “Wherever you’re going, you’re going to need this coat.” So she put it on while on her way to the tree.
Our Douglas Fir was planted when the house was built in 1958. It’s TALL. She goes there for fun or when she needs time away. When I was a teen, I did the same thing. I went to nature when I was upset, though we had woods not just one tree. Anyway, I wanted a couple of minutes before walking to the tree and looking up. She had climbed 25-30 feet up that tree. (I was silently relieved that she was able to scale that tree after having accidentally slammed her fingers in my door.) I said, “It’s not too late to change your mind.” Then I went back inside. I came out after another 5 minutes and said, “You are up pretty high. You’re a really good tree climber.” She said, “Is it too late to go?” I replied, “No, come on down.”
We ended up having a really good time at my mom and dad’s. I was proud of Zoey for turning a bad situation around so fast. It’s got to be awfully upsetting to have a mom with cancer when you are trying to be a fearless master of the world.
I told you this tree is tall! Photo by Zoey.
I told Zoey about my cancer today. At first, she thought she was in trouble even though I said, “I need to talk to you about something important and you are not in trouble.” She sat wide eyed as I told her the following, “You know how I told you that I was having some medical tests? Well, the bad news is that I am very sick. The good news is that it was discovered early and there is a very, very high chance that I will be okay and live a long and happy life.” I described more, that I have cancer, a very small tumor in my breast, and that I will have surgery on June 26th likely followed by 6 weeks of radiation treatments. I never know what to expect of Zoey in reacting to different things. Her response? “Can I meet the surgeon?” I think that’s pretty darned sweet. I told her that we could probably arrange for that at my next meeting with him in a couple of weeks.
P.S. I may be asking one of you all to give her a ride back to school after she has a chance to meet Dr. Beatty. It’s my pre-op appointment and John will probably want to stay for the whole thing.
My Eyes Are Up Here 