Catching up to me…
First let me say thank you to all of those of you who either in person, Email, voicemail, or otherwise have sent your congratulations for making this milestone. I’m very excited (I cannot begin to tell you how much) about finishing this phase of my treatment. Your (collective) love and support has been great and I appreciate and love you all.
Today started as has most days. I got up feeling generally pretty good, but after lunch, I started feeling queasy; by 3p I felt worn down; and by 6p I feel like I’m dragging. Perhaps as well as my body did while ON chemo and radiation, this is not rebound from being OFF? Either way, we had to reschedule a family celebration of yesterday. I’m sure I’ll feel better after a good night of sleep, but right now, I would say I feel as yucky as I did on some of my “Not Good” days! I’m sure it will pass, but today my illness caught up with me.
Last night I went to a scout leader’s meeting. As I was getting out of the car, I saw a gentleman named David Moose, also getting out of his car. David waved and came over and asked how I was doing. Before I could respond, he put his arm around me and said, “Oh wait, that’s one of the 10 things I’m not supposed to say!” That simple statement brightened my day. David did not know me before April 25th (the Friday of the first weekend of Wood Badge training), yet throughout the training and beyond, he has shown me compassion and friendship matched by few others in the scouting community. Beyond that, David has taken the time to read this blog and keep tabs on me and again, that means a lot to me.
I will be working with David and other leaders to help provide adult leader training (ALT) for boy scout leaders in the fall. After leaders talked about ALT during the presentations last night, I asked David if I would need to talk to folk about my situation. He assured me that he had already done so and that I should only worry about doing what I am able to do (within the limits of my illness) to help with the training.
I mentioned in an earlier post that purple is the color of pancreas cancer awareness. As a thank you to those who have supported me, I had made purple “Hamburger Helpers” wristbands as a small token of my appreciation of everyone who has supported me. My wife and I are in the process of handing them out, so bear with us. Last night, I gave one to David. Now, David is a giant of a man (both literally and figuratively) and the wristband would not fit around his wrists. So instead, he affixed the band to his uniform so (in his words): “People will have to ask me what it’s about.” I am honored that David was willing to do so; it’s amazing the how little things, the small tokens of friendship, love, and caring, often have the greatest impact on us. Thank you David; I was moved. Again, thank you to all of you who have walked with me as I have traveled this first leg of my journey to better health (positive spin, right?).
Merle