As a high school English teacher, the first day of school was one of the most anxiety-ridden days for me. Beginnings and first impressions are important. It sets the tone for what the rest of the 90-ish days together will be. Is this class going to be miserable because no one likes to read? Is this class going to be a behavioral nightmare? Or is this class going to be a reason I love teaching? The odds were always a toss-up. Inevitably, I would wish to be in the middle of September or October when expectations were established, I knew the students and the students knew me. The unknowns would not be unknown and we would be cruising through the semester. But getting there took time. 

So today was day 1. Not sure if today would even be considered day 1 given the radiation and chemotherapy I started at the hospital. But today was a “normal” day 1. So how did it go? It went. I took the anti- nausea medication before the chemo pills in the morning to try to avoid the nausea I felt in the hospital. Good choice. Radiation is quite the experience. I’m laying on my stomach on a board that has a hole for my stomach while my arms are somewhat hanging off the board on the top while this gigantic machine whirls around me. Super calming. But radiation is not long, maybe 15 minutes. The best way to describe the feeling of radiation is after it if your stomach had heart burn. At least for me. Then chemo pills after dinner. And that is day 1. I’m glad to get this process going and unlike teaching, I’m not in a rush to be in the middle of this cancer experience. A lot of the unknowns are still to be discovered but for now, it’s one day down on my road to perfect health.

Liz