After leaving the cancer care center yesterday, I went to Athens Regional Medical Center. I met with my radiation oncologist and started down the next path. I will start radiation next Tuesday. I start my hormone therapy on Tuesday as well.

Yesterday was a very unusual day for me. I was not sure what to expect when I was sent to radiation oncology. Well, now I have lovely blue crosses and lines drawn all over my chest and breast. I also had lots of photos taken of my left breast; I don’t think they will turn up on the Internet, though, so sorry to disappoint. All of these things are done so that each time I have a radiation treatment the technicians will be able to find the correct spot. I will have radiation treatments five days a week for six weeks – I get weekends and all major holidays off. Funny, right?

I also think it is kind of funny that the hormone medication has a label that says “Toxic.” Wow, that really makes me feel good about taking it. Ten years of hormone treatment. It seems like a long time, but you know what? Time really does have a way of flying by.

It scares me sometimes when I walk by a mirror and see my reflection. Who is that person? All I know is that the inside still feels so much younger than the reflection that I see. Crazy, right? Life is just pretty crazy. I am totally in awe about the whole thing. Do you ever just sit and think about it – think about life? All of us on this planet, we live, we die, and life goes on. Time passes. Me being me, I think about it a lot. I have lots of questions: “Why?” questions and “What does it all mean?” questions. And just questions about the wonder of it all

Being a biologist, I see examples of evolution, but that does not mean I don’t also have a belief in something larger than me. We see bacteria that are becoming antibiotic resistant and that, by definition, is evolution. Sometimes when I am sitting and thinking I might question the existence of a higher power, but then when I look at the beauty and the wonder of life, I know there has to be something.

So, as I’ve said before, I don’t have to know everything. I like to ask questions and I like to think about things that truly blow my mind, but I don’t have to have proof of anything. Isn’t that what faith is?

So thanks for hitching a ride along with me on my journey. It means more to me than any of you will ever know.