Cancer Question #2

The second question a lot of people are now asking me is what about cancer treatment? Are you doing any? Yes, I am and I am very lucky for this beautiful state of the art cancer center is just four short miles from my front door. It is the Lake Manassas Cancer Center at Lake Manassas Golf Club. (Tiger Woods played a big event there a couple of years ago.) I believe the building opened in 2007 to serve the growing population in the northeast triangle of Prince William County that is connected by James Madison Highway (#15,#29) to both Loudoun County in the north and Fauquier County in the south.

This is the area where Disney wanted to build a historical theme park but was defeated by the old time landed gentry of the region. Consequently Disney sold their land holdings to developers who got around the landed gentry's land restrictions by building golf course communities that put homeowners in close approximation with lots of open space for the golf courses to provide the needed open space. Why am I mentioning this? Because I think that without all our golf course communities including two very big ones restricted to people 55 and over we never would have seen this state of the art cancer center become a reality. Which just goes to prove that old adage that when one door slams shut another one opens up.

On chemo days I go thru this front entrance to an expansive lobby to wait my time to go back for infusion. On cancer support days I go to the side of the building to a conference room where I meet with other cancer patients in a I Can Cope session.

This is Debbie who was willing to take a moment and pose with me. She was my infusion nurse and was she ever greaaaaaaaaaaaaat! She was laughing, joking and smiling the whole long day. Never a complaint from her lips though she was pulling extra shifts that week for some other nurse who was off on a cruise. Debbie drives here from home in Vienna, Virginia and I also learned that she went to nursing school at West Virginia University in Morgantown.

There are lot of TVs for passing the time so each person has their own TV that they can hear through headphones.

This was one of my infusion bags----I think this one had the chemo Fludar which is light sensitive so it is shielded in a green plastic bag instead of a clear plastic bag.

That's the chair I used the very first day which was my longest session because they always start new patients very very slowly so they can monitor how a patient is going to react to the chemos. I reacted quite well so from now on my infusion sessions should thankfully be shorter. Out the window you can just glimpse just a bit of the the beautiful Lake Manassas Golf Course.

I call this my Kick Cancer's Butt Bag.

I got it from my two daughters who filled it with green tea, dark chocolate, magazines, cards, a handknitted red scarf to stay warm, a sporty black cap knitted with eyelash yarn, a Never Give Up Magnet for my fridge, etc. Of course, I added to the bag each day my lunch, my many books to read and my little "Jackie Bear" for good luck.

Here's my ipod filled with downloaded music for meditating. I can also do emails and check the web thru this little gizmo. A cancer blessing---grandma is getting updated and joining the 21'st century. LOL!

And here's the great memoir I read last week. I'll want to blog about this good read. I'll keep you in suspense awhile for this one. Tomorrow the third most asked cancer question that I'm getting.