2023 – The beginning

We made it. We all made it! It is 2023 and we are two digits away from 2021. three from 2020. So much has changed in the world and our lives.

Many people are toying with working out and new year resolutions. Both are admirable. I would like to ask everyone to include acceptance and hope in your thoughts at this threshold.

Don’t Fall

Michele and I were on a walk this morning. It is damp and wet from the rain the last couple of days. Our sidewalks can collect a little “sludge” after a rain. We reminded each other that we wanted to watch for mud on the sidewalk. 2023 is a year with zero falls. This suits us both physically and mentally. 2022 had many falls. In that roller coaster of a year, we learned a lot about falls.

Yet, the biggest thing you will learn from Michele is that this is not a “Fear” of falling. This is a plan to avoid the situations for a fall. AND. When we find ourselves falling, minimize the impact and get back up.

We are reminded at MD Anderson that people are resilient! AND. wheelchairs are readily accessible to make sure that if you are at risk of falling, they want to prevent it from happening. They even give you a little yellow wrist band “Fall Risk” to let others know to support you.

Make Plans

In our first visit of the year, our doctor jokingly asks, “Where are you traveling next?” Half joking and half resignation that we are making plans! You can go back and read about our most recent bout with Covid and how it scared EVERYONE.

Plans are good! Give yourself something in the future that you look forward to. It could be a trip, visiting a friend, or how much money you are saving in 2023. It is something out there to strive for. We have plans and we have plans for if those plans don’t work out.

Acceptance of…

Fill in the blanks. What are you not accepting that you need to? Cancer has put some simple truths in front of us. Michele is a Leukemia Survivor. The label is with us, and we embrace it. We also accept that the journey to survivor is one we hope no one will have to take. We have accepted that some things that were extremely important before Cancer are not as important now. Accepting that we are in this moment and neither where we have been or where we thought we would be without Cancer. We are here. With far earlier bedtimes we imagined at 56.

Hope

Hope is that feeling when you pull forward with a positive direction. Overpowering the negatives. Negatives will always be present. Ask for hope this year. We have much hope.

We are two-time grandparents now. We know how quickly children grow up. How will we do this new round of grandparenting differently? How will we weave her life into our own?

We are back in business fully. After so many weeks of Doctors Appointments that have kept us in a holding pattern, we are stepping back into growing our business. How will we grow in this season of our lives?

Laughter

The most telling part of Cancer is that our laughter is contagious. We laugh about a lot of silly things. We even laughed in anger. It is funny when you look back at it. We have found interesting stories to tell. There are bloody pillowcases from cutting my head shaving. There is turning down the TV so that ALEXA can hear our commands clearly. There is the fight for a little more sleep in the mornings that was NEVER something Michele wanted. (It is nice she has come around to this).

Michele is continuing to do well. There are moments for fatigue and steroid rage that we go through. There is the paranoia of “is this pain of something coming back”. There is our struggle to leave the desks at a decent hour each night. She LOVES her clients. It is why she sticks around late. She loves what she does. After way too many Doctors in our life, you come to understand the benefit of the products she represents.

The only thing we can say we are still getting used to is the bruising that comes with blood work and treatments. It is a reminder.

Her hair is continuing to come in. She even got it trimmed up. The Pixie cut will be around for a while. It is nice to be able to run my fingers through her hair again.

We still have a couple of weeks to go before the next dosage. With acceptance and hope we will continue venturing into our future.

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