Barry Fraser, from the West Hills area of Toronto, wrote these words:
High on the wall next to the exit from the Chemo Day Care Centre at Princess Margaret Hospital a bell is waiting for me. As I mentioned in my post a week ago Friday, there is a ritual at PMH that those patients completing their last treatment of chemotherapy, ring the bell as they leave.
And whenever it rings the nurses and volunteers and other chemo patients pause for a moment and applaud.
When I finish my last injection of chemo, on Thursday February 18th at about 2pm Eastern Standard Time, I'm also ringing that damn bell!
As loud and as long as I can!
My cancer may not be cured. I may find myself back there again sometime, but for now, at least, I'm declaring victory. After all, you don't have to win the whole war before celebrating victory in battle.
Today at 11:00 Pacific Time I will ring the bells on this dear old childhood friend of mine, an elephant I have known for decades, and an omen, I hope, of good luck and longevity for blogging friend Barry. Barry, whose blog I have followed after Blogger chose it as a "Blog of Note" two years ago, has documented his battle against cancer with a wry humor and courageous good nature that has inspired all of his readers.
Barry, we know that the celebration of ringing this bell is tempered by the precarious state of your mother's health this week, but it is still a joyful sound, one that honors everybody out there who has fought battles with cancer.
Congratulations on ending this huge round of treatment, and may your health be quick to return and endure for a long long time.
Hooray for Barry. I'll be ringing too.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a bell here at work, but as a 2 time cancer survivor, I'll be thinking of Barry at 1:00 Central time. Congrats, Barry!!
ReplyDeleteJoined you in the ringing of Barry's Bell. Blessings to you.
ReplyDeleteQMM
Yay, I rang too and posted.
ReplyDeleteI just realized as I am cleaning out my inbox I never answered your question about Picasa. I actually goofed, on the post you asked I used Picnik, but I do use both. Picasa is good enough for a little tweek or some basic work and its free. I'm lazy and it's easy. I use Picnik when I want more options or more control. It is a little more time consuming because you upload your pic, tweak it, then save it somewhere. It's free except for some effects - but only $24/yr. I also have PSE8 and haven't opened the box yet. I've used PSE5 and it is more cumbersome with a much greater learning curve so unless I really want something special or am editing portrait type shots I use the others. I guess I really should get PSE* out of the box before it is obsolete.
The bells rang in Alabama at 2!
ReplyDeleteWe rang and rang and rang in Ohio - for Barry, for mom, for Brynn...ach, for too many people! Led to really good discussion with the girls...and when we were done, E went over, picked up the bell, and gave it another good ring for good measure.
ReplyDelete