Four days out (Cycle 2)

So the hardest part of Cycle 2 is over now.  I’ve been to chemo, I’ve spent four whole days in bed, and I’m starting to get up and around again.

It wasn’t an easy one.  It was extremely difficult to get out of bed at any point this weekend, and my arm and chest ache (from the cancer, maybe referred nerve pain, we’re not totally sure) tremendously, but between the pain pills and the anti-nausea meds and the bathing in good wishes and prayers this weekend, I feel so much better now.

I even got to spend some real time with my kids today.  The last few days have mostly been horizontal parenting, watching DVDs (a couple new ones from Parent Bloggers that I’ll be reviewing this month), reading books, and listening to Widget’s stories in between the near-constant naps (theirs and mine!), but today I was downstairs for a playdate, and Widget and his little friend had a great time together while her mom and I talked.  It was great.  I have to admit, part of the hardest part of all this for me is the loneliness of not being able to get out and around for playdates and adventures with the little ones.

At 6.5 months, Little Bear is sitting up now, playing on his mat and in the Exersaucers that we have (borrowed and) set up around the house (he spends more time in there than his brother did, I’m afraid, since I can’t hold him for very long these days).  I taught him to pull a lever on his pop-up toy last night, and when the little plastic animal popped out, he was so surprised!

Widget is growing like a weed, both in creativity and imagination.  Last week, he was working on something in the playroom while I held Little Bear, and when I asked him what it was, he held up a dowel with a long piece of string tied around it, and he very matter-of-factly said, “fishing pole.”  Cuteness.  This weekend, he tied one end of his skein of red yarn around a ball and made a toy to toss down the steps and retrieve, and then we turned it into a jump rope (at his request).  He and his little friend today had an amazing time just hopping across a piece of red yarn that we Mommies held and occasionally wiggled.  It makes me smile to see him so creative, and so happy.

And that, friends, is where we are this time, four days out.  Creative, crafty, and happy.  Tonight, we even left the house in search of ice cream cones.  Sitting in the car with my husband and son, ice cream melting all over us in the sticky summer heat, I experienced a few moments of peace and joy, where I didn’t even think about the cancer. 

Just the happy.

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