BC Becky

Never thought I'd want to be a breast cancer survivor

Tag: selfie

  • A pre-treatment trip

    One of the bits of advice I received was to try and get away before you start treatment. Both Scott and I needed a couple of days to enjoy ourselves and enjoy nature. Since we already had plans to head up to Yosemite, we decide that we would modify our plans slightly and still go up. We left early on Tuesday morning and spent the night at the historic Wawona Hotel. This allowed us to spend two days hiking and biking around Yosemite.

    On the drive up, we stopped briefly at the Don Pedro Reservoir. It reminded me very much of the Dead Sea from our Going East adventure. I’m finding that a lot of things are reminding me of various aspects of our Going East adventure.

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    My favourite selfie of the trip. The giant sequoia in the background had branches that were 7 feet thick – thicker than any non-sequoia tree in the park. It was amazing to see. I was also struck but how different the sequoias are from the giant redwoods in Big Basin.

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    We took a lot of photos, so I’ve put them in a gallery for anyone interested in seeing them.

    We now have a few days to prep the apartment, go sailing, and biking before chemo starts on Monday. I’m feeling ready for it now – much more ready than I was even a few days ago.

  • The Cactus Garden

    Today was mostly a quiet day, with a great visit from a friend, and a quick trip up to Stanford for an EKG (baseline prior to chemo). Since I arrived early, they seem to have a habit of telling me my appointments are 20-30 minutes before they actually schedule the appointment, I took the extra half hour to take a closer look at the cactus garden. Just before the garden, there are a bunch of trees that have been relocated into giant transplant containers. They are building a new hospital, so there is construction everywhere. Apparently, they try to save a lot of the trees during construction, and replant them when the buildings are finished.

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    I find it interesting that Royal Roads University has a rose garden, and Stanford University has a cactus garden.

    2014-06-27 14.42.34 2014-06-27 14.41.37 2014-06-27 14.41.27 2014-06-27 14.38.06 2014-06-27 14.37.42 2014-06-27 14.37.37 2014-06-27 14.37.09And of course the requisite selfie in front of my tree :-), I notice that it is starting to loose a little more of its bark. Thanks Maha for the lovely scarves – this one does a great job hiding my port incision.
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  • Why I take selfie’s

    A friend is doing a sermon on selfie’s and exploring the role of selfies under various contexts. Scott and I took selfie’s throughout out Going East journey (before everyone had Smartphones and it became trendy). We did it because it was a fun way to say “we were here” without leaving an impact on the places we visited. I would love to have included a selfie of us at Palmyra Syria, but it appears we didn’t take one. So here is one of us at the monastery at Petra, Jordan. The picture actually make the monastery look small – so I’m including a second one that has me standing right next to the monastery so you get a sense of scale.

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    When we first decided to explore Stanford for treatment, it occurred to me that I wanted a series of pictures of me, taken at the same place, every time we go. I wanted a nice tree behind me, but we couldn’t easily find one near the cancer center. We will need to look a little further, as there are a bunch of giant Eucalyptus trees, which seem to be constantly shedding their bark. There is something symbolic in that, as the trees shed their bark I shall be shedding my hair.  When all this is over, I shall have a time lapsed video that shows a series of pictures of me as I progress through this process. It is both evidence and testimonial to my journey.

    Right now, I’m taking lots of pictures of myself – actually I’m having Scott take pictures of me. If I don’t make it, I want there to be lots of happy pictures of me. I also want my family and friends to see that I am doing well right now. I am strong, and I want to show it through pictures. I may need the pictures when I’m going through treatment, to remind myself where I was before this began, and where I want to come back to.

     

     

     

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