Cancer Chronicles

My son and I spent our first Christmas without Janet, and it went about like everything else in our lives.
Last Christmas Eve we had been in the emergency room with Janet. She awoke that morning with a splitting headache and terrible dizziness that kept her from standing on her own. It turned out some of the breast cancer cells had escaped the chemotherapy and double mastectomy to go to her brain. She was dead three weeks later. My son and I agreed we needed to get out of town on this first anniversary of that awful experience.
My son made reservations at a fancy hotel two miles from Disney Springs in Orlando. It used to be called Disney Marketplace, Disney Village and Downtown Disney. It’s a place with a bunch of restaurants, shops, movies, music clubs and even a Cirque du Soleil. Each time they add something new or remodel, they change the name. Janet liked going there but we hadn’t been in several years. The plan was we would eat at one of the nice restaurants, visit the new Star Wars store, listen to music on the street and watch the Christmas light show. The next morning we’d have a nice Christmas dinner and drive home. The hotel had a Christmas buffet. Sounded good.
The first problem was that the Christmas buffet wasn’t until 3 p.m. and we had to check out at 10 a.m. We decided to take a nap instead of figuring what to do about Christmas dinner.
The second problem was that Disney Springs was harder to get to from the hotel than we thought. Traffic was heavy. Half the world thought the same thing we did. It would be neat to spend Christmas Eve at Disney. We had to park on the fifth floor of a garage and follow a lot of signs to elevators and escalators before we got to the place with the food and music.
Pretty much we stopped at the first restaurant we saw because we were getting hungry by then. While we waited for our food to arrive I called my daughter, sang Jingle Bells to my granddaughter and handed the phone to my son so he could say merry Christmas. The meal was pricey but delicious. Tender, flavorful beef, fancy French fries stacked like Jenga blocks and salad with huge chunks of blue cheese and cherry tomatoes.
As soon as we left to walk around I become sick to my stomach. Finding the first rest room, I went in and had the dry heaves. I have no idea why. We listened to a band play Hava Nagila. I sat on a bench while my son went into the Star Wars store. We watched a laser light show. We went back to the hotel. I still felt like retching.
Fortunately, my son slept well. I was up half the night watching Christmas specials on PBS. I finally drifted off but awoke about eight because I knew we had to be out of there by 10. We did bring our Christmas presents with us so it was fun to sit on the bed and open gifts. How Santa found us in an Orlando hotel instead of at home I’ll never figure out.
After we checked out, we decided to head home instead of looking for an open restaurant in Orlando. I was feeling better but not all that good. When we arrived home we realized nothing was open there either. I remembered I had some frozen turkey and a box of Stove Top dressing. A Christmas casserole. Not too bad. Could have used a spoonful of cranberry sauce on the side.
All this reminded me of life with Janet for 44 years. We bumbled and stumbled around but everything always turned out all right because we still had family to bumble and stumble with us.
It also helped that in my head I kept hearing Janet laughing, “Are we having fun yet?”

1 thought on “Cancer Chronicles

  1. REBECCA CARD-SWERDLOFF

    44 years is such a treasure of memories. I know she must have been shaking her head at the traffic and confusing time structure. We tend to keep to our routines, and when we leave our routines our bodies sometimes revolt. I remember throwing up walking through a church tour in Guatemala. Nothing wrong with the food I had eaten. I think sometimes our minds overwhelm us. She will always be with you. You know what she would say, how she would laugh at certain things and scold you for others. No matter where you go, she will be with you. So enjoy your remaining time here on earth, travel do your bucket list, write, eat the cake, and celebrate the great life you shared and can continue to share with her. luv

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