[2022-02-27] Shane's 31st birthday
Today is my son's 31st birthday. When we celebrated Shane's birthday a year ago, I was just a month and a half beyond my last round of chemotherapy to treat ovarian cancer. As our photo from last year shows, I had no hair, eyebrows or eyelashes. But I did have pride, as much on Shane's 30th birthday as I had had the day he was born.
A year later, my hair, eyebrows and eyelashes have returned, but so has cancer. I find myself once again, on Shane's birthday, just a few weeks beyond my last cancer treatment—this time radiation to treat perianal skin cancer.
But I'm not sad about that. I'm thrilled to be with my family to celebrate another birthday, no matter the circumstances. And I am, as always, proud of my son—celebrating his first birthday in his new home.
Milestones like birthdays are a great time to reflect. What I've learned over the past few years is that the initial shock of health-related news often gives way to elation months later.
- In 1990, I learned that I was pregnant. In 1991, I gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
- In 2020, I learned that I had ovarian cancer. In 2021, I rang the bell after finishing chemotherapy.
- In 2021, I learned that I had perianal skin cancer. In 2022, I rang the bell after finishing radiation.
Birthdays are also an opportunity to reminisce. Today, on the way over to Shane's apartment for his birthday supper, we talked about his first word. Pointing to the cupboard where we kept the cookies, he had said, "uh bee." It took us a few minutes to realize that he was asking for "un biscuit."
Happy birthday Shane. May we celebrate many more together.
