Photo by our friend Frank F.
Great memory for today!
This was my first post-mastectomy paddle. I had my surgery in October 2015 and one month very nearly to the day after that I was back in my boat. November 7th. It was one of the shortest paddles TQ and I have ever done together, he and our friend and clubmate Frank just took me to the "Jeep Marsh" (so called because of the engine block that's rusting away in the inlet to the marsh - that's urban paddling for ya, but it's still a pretty place, and close enough that when tides permit, it's a favorite destination for the club's public Open Paddle program in the summertime). We got there while the tide was flooding, there was just enoug water to get in, and then we just sat in the marsh, chatting and watching the brants fly by and the water rise.
I'd never imagined I would be back on the water so soon. I couldn't go far and I couldn't go fast but the joy quotient was immeasurable.
This was my first post-mastectomy paddle. I had my surgery in October 2015 and one month very nearly to the day after that I was back in my boat. November 7th. It was one of the shortest paddles TQ and I have ever done together, he and our friend and clubmate Frank just took me to the "Jeep Marsh" (so called because of the engine block that's rusting away in the inlet to the marsh - that's urban paddling for ya, but it's still a pretty place, and close enough that when tides permit, it's a favorite destination for the club's public Open Paddle program in the summertime). We got there while the tide was flooding, there was just enoug water to get in, and then we just sat in the marsh, chatting and watching the brants fly by and the water rise.
I'd never imagined I would be back on the water so soon. I couldn't go far and I couldn't go fast but the joy quotient was immeasurable.
3 comments:
I completely get it. That paddle must have been so sweet.
After my surgery, chemo and radiation, I needed a sense of normalcy and something to give me joy. We celebrated my younger daughter's bat mitzvah was just a few weeks after I completed my treatment. When my oncologist said I needed chemo, I cried, because I did't want to have to wear a wig to the party...He said "we're doing this because I want you ere for her wedding." she's 27 now (thoug not married yet) and I'm still here. A victory.
congrats on making it to the 4 year mark, and I hope you have many, many more paddles.
Beautiful memory. Such a positive after the trauma. Healing...
Ah, Songbird, what a story. Such good words from your oncologist. And here we are, still here!
Thanks, Diane. SO healing.
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