The Diagnoses that Bind

Living gratefully today, I appreciate the street lights and vehicle headlights that light our way in the dark hours. 

Living gratefully yesterday, I paused to stand under the sky and take in a rainbow on my run. We got a brief squall of wind-driven rain and sleet before it passed and the rainbow emerged. All of that on just a 2-mile run. 

Today my sister Mary Jo begins ten rounds of radiation on her right femur and hip area to hopefully relieve the pain of bone metastases in those areas. I pray that she experiences some of that pain relief sooner than later. 

Last week on our visit, my sister Zita and I joined Mary Jo for an appointment with her oncologist. It was very meaningful for me to see the medical facilities she goes to and to meet the oncologist she has had all these years, since her original diagnosis in 2006. I have never been to someone else's oncologist appointment before. It's different when the patient isn't you. 

There is a tree in this cancer clinic. It has different colored ribbons to honor and memorialize those living with and who have died from cancer. You can tie more ribbons and add them to the tree. We tied this pink one (okay, we are ribbon-challenged but it's the thought that counts) and found a peach ribbon to put it by. Peach is the color for uterine (endometrial) cancer, which our sister Leonice was diagnosed with two years ago. 

Ribbons of awareness. Ribbons of strength, courage, prayers, and supportive thoughts. Ribbons that tie us together as sisters. Diagnoses that bind us together.

I can't entirely put this all into words. The emotional processing is ongoing. I do know that it was very important to me to be there at that appointment with Mary Jo and Zita, and to see where Mary Jo will go today to start radiation.

It meant so much to us to put this ribbon next to a peach one and bring Leonice into our experience that day. Cancer is ravaging Mary Jo. It has ravaged my family. But my sisters and I are bound together with love and hope. Hope for peace, comfort, treasured time together.