Birthdays
Hills and Valleys and Shadows
Monday, September 15th, 2008 | Adult Children, Birthdays, Cancer Survivor, Retirement, Teachers | 2 Comments
Well, I left you hanging last week with no blogs while I was riding the roller coaster of life—all of the ups and downs associated with being a cancer survivor. A lot has happened since then. Here are just a few of the hills and the valleys—amazing what can transpire in a short period of time that impacts your life.
Let’s begin with the high notes
A “54 kid turns 54—Not a Kid Anymore
Last Wednesday, I turned 54 years of age. I’ve been kidding about being born in ’54 and turning 54—seems an oddity, doesn’t it? Of course I’d rather be that than born in ’21 and turning 21—means it would be 1942 and we’d be in the midst of World War II without knowing the outcome. My son asked if I thought he’d make it to 83 years of age, since he was born in 1983. My reply was…not if you keep smoking you won’t. There I go into Mom Mode again!
Celebrating Retirement—Again??
My dear friends, Ed Hodges, who retired at the end of last school year, and Anna Sizemore, my media center cohort, hosted a wonderful retirement party for me on Friday. It was good to see my WHS family and friends. My most treasured gift was a folk art still life painted by Miss Lucretia Hughes of Washington. I understand she was quite the Renaissance woman who did many things well—genealogy, gardening, and painting, just to name a few. Mr. Hodges ( I apologize—hard to get out of teacher mode) acquired the painting through the long standing close relationship between his family and Miss Lucretia. His gift was so special because it was a meaningful token of our mutual respect and love of this town, its people and history. My hubby also was thrilled to see a family artifact of Mr. Hodges’. My hubby and he are descendents of Matthew Midgett, and Mr. Hodges has an old powder horn that belonged to Matthews’s son, Thomas Midgett. The horn is dated 1747 and has personal carvings, somewhat like scrimshaw, decorating the rim and edge. It was a true thrill of my husband to be able to touch and hold something that belonged to his family so long ago.
I always wondered if I’d ever stay anywhere long enough professionally to have a retirement party. So, this meant a lot to me. I quantified my career in my head this week—you do that when you retire and actually have time to think. Here’s what I figured out:
Elementary classroom teacher: six years in two states, 3 school districts, and taught six different grade levels or combinations: kindergarten-first, third, third-fourth, fourth, fourth-fifth, fifth grades. Central and Hardeeville Elementary Schools in South Carolina, Newland Elementary in North Carolina
Media specialist—best known as librarian: twelve years in four different schools, three different school districts, and two levels, elementary and high school. Chapel Grove Elementary & New Hope Elementary in Gaston County, Hornets Nest in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and Washington High School in Washington.
Teacher Resource Center Director for Gaston County: 3.5 years
Instructional Technology Specialist for Gaston County: 3.5 years
Instructional Technology Director for Rowan-Salisbury Schools: 3 years
Professional Development Specialist for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools: 2 years
Curriculum Development Director for ENTech (now known as QTL) developing a statewide technology-training program for teachers: 2 years
Whew—it makes me tired just thinking about it—think of all those teachers and young’uns!!!— as they called them in Newland, when I taught there. Not to mention, overhead projector bulbs, Vis-a-Vis pens, flip charts, Power Point presentations, floppy disks and flash drives, and DOS commands—yes, I even go back that far! C:> dir (just a little encryption for those of you that can go back there with me). And the C:> is not some new kind of smiley face either—although it could be…think of a big bubble hair do C with a pointed noise >–oops sounds like Tammy Faye! Man, am I ever getting off track because I don’t want to talk about the valleys!
Okay, if we have to go there, we must… to the valleys. Although, did you know that my minister told me that the quote about the valley of the shadow of death in Psalm 23 is probably a mistranslation. In the heat of the Middle East in Biblical times and now, to be in a shadow is where there is life. In the scorching sun is where one would most likely die. Interesting way to look at it, isn’t it?
One Big Valley
I found out last Monday, that not only am I a fallopian tube cancer survivor of seven years, but, now I’m a breast cancer survivor, also. My needle biopsy came back positive for DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ), meaning cancer of the breast milk ducts in place (in situ) meaning contained within the ducts. They say that is the BEST breast cancer to have—of course, I beg to differ, that NO breast cancer is the best kind. But, I’ll take it over the more aggressive ones like HER2, which my dear sweet friend, more like adopted daughter, Tiffany is fighting (and winning, I might add).
So, I have an appointment with my oncologist next week to discuss treatment—probably a lumpectomy and/or radiation and/or chemo.
So, there it is…I’ve written it in my blog for all to see. It’s out there. I’m exposed and vulnerable to all who read it. It has taken me a week to allow myself to think about it long enough to write about it. I think that just finally getting it out and exposed is very therapeutic. I’ve always been open and talkative about my cancer—even the grocery store clerk knows I’m a survivor. But, this one was a tough one. I’m hoping that just putting this out there into the scorching sun of the desert will kill any stigma that is attached to it. I’m hoping that everyone will continue to treat me the same—like someone who can beat this terrible disease. Like someone who still has a lot of living to live, giving to give, and loving to love.
Until tomorrow
De Ja Vu