"In The Blink of an Eye"
16" x 20"
Acrylic on canvas
In looking back in time, life’s learning and life’s major events seem to have happened and continue to happen “in the blink of an eye”. The experience and knowledge from each “blink” has been and continues to be far reaching and meaningful in my life.
Beginning with the first awareness as a child and continuing on into the present.
Family, friends, loves of my life, education, professional careers, marriage, motherhood, death of my wonderful Grandmother and others, widowed after twenty-eight years, grieving, finding love again, breast cancer, marriage, becoming a grandparent. Yes, that is the order of things.
May, 2001 begins a new and different chapter in my life. I was a proud parent. I was so in love and engaged to be married. I sold my house of thirteen years. My fiancé and I were buying a new home in which to create new memories.
I discovered a lump in my right breast and, because I have had fibroid cystic disease. I immediately made an appointment with my Gynecologist. There was a referral for a mammogram. There was a whirl of activity and “In the Blink of An Eye” there was the diagnosis of Breast Cancer. My fiancé, my daughters, my best friends gathered at my new home to comfort and support me.
I made justification after justification as to why my life should be “put on hold” until we could see what the near future was to bring. Well, no one was comfortable with that, so, on May 14, 2001, driving down Abercorn Street to check in for my mastectomy, my then fiancé (now husband) started making phone calls to confirm our wedding, wedding reception, and honeymoon.
I need to insert here that I was given the opportunity to participate in a study that was exploring “sentinel node” identification. I believe it is routine now. At the time, it was not. The doctors could see the lymph nodes that needed to be removed . I willingly joined the study. I truly think that this was the point I personally headed in the direction of a much stronger faith and an attitude that there was a lot more living that I needed to do.
Medically, we believed that the cancer was removed. As a precaution, chemotherapy was recommended. Not physically pretty. But my body was strong. Emotionally, it was challenging .There was a second opportunity to involve myself in a study. This one involved using Procrit proactively instead of waiting until the red blood count was so very low.
My Oncologist and her staff were more than wonderful! It was arranged that, along with my wig, clothes, etc, along went a Procrit shot Blood work was done mid-honeymoon, much to the surprise of the medical facility where we stopped. The shot was needed and my new husband was the hero that gave me the injection
I want to stop here with the story of the treatment to tell you, that in the midst of it, some very wonderful things were occurring at the same time. My husband and I purchased a motor boat. Actually, it was bought a week or two before our marriage And, “In The Blink of An Eye” on July 14, 2001, we were married in a small but beautiful ceremony celebrating life and love.
After approximately 12 weeks of chemotherapy, I thought the treatment was over. However, it was determined that 30 treatments of radiation were needed. Every afternoon after work (oh, yes I continued to work), I drove across town for my radiation treatment. During this, guess what? Yep! In “The Blink of An Eye”, my hair was growing.
Now for the best parts: During my recovery my husband bought our first digital camera. He wanted to take photos and make memories to share with my daughters and friends. We are many digital cameras down the road. We have taken thousands of nature photographs and have even sold some! Imagine that! Along the way, we decided to take a trip to the Caribbean. St. Croix, USVI! That is the island where we began our love for scuba diving. My husband has taken those skills to a very high level. Me, not so much. I do have my Advanced Open Water Certification and some Specialties. Nothing like jumping into the water to see the beautiful landscape and living creatures under the sea.
I am thankful for having the opportunity to share my story. My intention is to remind myself how very fortunate I am. To thank my family, friends, and medical staffs for standing by me, loving me, and helping me live life to the fullest. I am also thankful for the chance to tell others that the choices we make in life to be positive have, in my opinion, such a profound effect on the outcomes of our experiences. Also, you can never minimize the effects of humor. I can recall many funny moments to mix in with the very serious moments of breast cancer.
To sum it up: I LOVE LIFE
P.S. The painting is actually taken from a close-up of the eye of a Burrfish taken by my husband in Cozumel, 2010
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