Done but not yet finished

Val at CancerCare on Monday, eating the lunch
kindly provided by Jacki and Erika.  Jacki drove
Val for her several appointments that day. 

Val will be glad to finish her radiation treatments today, but the process isn't really over yet. 

As Dr. Cooke made clear in the appointment on Tuesday, the effects of the treatment will continue to build for about 10 days and only thereafter will Val likely begin the road to recuperation from the radiation. 

The fatigue has really walloped Val, who finds herself "at the wall' quite suddenly once her energy has been all used up. She is coping remarkably well with all this, but , truth be told, is getting fed up. And who can blame her: It's been almost exactly a full year since she found the lump that marked the recurrence of the cancer and it's been pretty non-stop medical intervention since then. 

We hope to make it back to the cottage for the coming long weekend; the weather even promises to be what is passing for hot in these parts these days. I will take Friday off to ensure the preparations required for the weekend don't stall us from actually getting out there to enjoy the sun, warmth and scenery! 

We are also looking forward to a weekend trip out to Riding Mountain National Park with Yvonne and Bella for the weekend of the 31st. Val and I had our first hiking experience together in this Park, way back in the fall of 1993, and we have always enjoyed the scenery and trails. One of our fondest memories is of the weekend we spent there with my parents, Anne and Colin, and my aunt and uncle, Bridget and Arthur, who were visiting from Scotland in 1997 or maybe 1998. 

Regardless of all else, today marks a milestone in Val's cancer-recurrence treatment, even if it doesn't mark the end of it really.  So. Onwards. 

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Yesterday evening, we heard Germaine Greer speak as the final presenter in the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights' lecture series 'Fragile Freedoms'. She was a firecracker of straight-up talk on women's rights, specifically our right to "bodily integrity and autonomy", which, she says, we have yet to actually achieve. From her 53-minute lecture, I would say she is quite right. I loved her sharp humour and take-no-prisoners thinking. You can hear her yourself, when CBC's IDEAS broadcasts her lecture on May 28.