The other day I took my wife to her radiation treatment. It took a little more time than usual because the technicians are very careful to adjust her body in the right position before they zap her. When she came out, she wanted to stop at an electronics store on the way home to buy a new land phone for our house. The one we have now is so old it still has to be cranked, and we get tired of shouting, “Hello! Operator! Operator!” into it.
At least the one she had picked out was on sale. But as usual she wanted to walk around the store to look at all the other bargains on sale. This may not seem like much, but this is the first time she has had the energy to walk into a store and do a little shopping. Cancer patients know how thrilling it is to have the energy to finally be able to do a simple activity like this.
When she wanted to go to the bathroom accessories store next door, though, I put my foot down. She didn’t need to overdo it on her first foray back into shopping center adventure. I think she has another trip planned after radiation treatment tomorrow, though.
This is quite a relief for me, in more ways than one. I have a REM sleep disorder which resulted in a heart attack a few years ago, so I have had to learn to ration my energy too. My wife would fuss at me when I would plan too much in a short period of time. I tried to explain to her that when I did feel good I wanted to take advantage of it. Now she knows how I feel. We have to spend our energy wisely, but still spend what we can.
We don’t want to put off living for a day when we feel better, because we don’t know when that will be.