Thank You Florida Proton, For Making Me Depressed

I AM DONE!

YAHOO!!!

Had my last treatment yesterday... Now I'm depressed...

Thank you Florida Proton!!! Thank you VERY much!!!

(Oh, did I mention...? That's a good thing!)


It's a strange feeling that I have...

I don't have anywhere to go tomorrow.

Please don't misunderstand, I'm going home tomorrow and I can't wait to see my wife/best friend/girlfriend of 33 years. I can't wait to see my kids and grandkids.

But I don't have anywhere to go tomorrow...

They say it takes 21 days to create a habit. I've been here for 59 days focused on one thing. Going to treatments and getting better.

I have a habit!!!

I get up in the morning, have breakfast, clean up, go to the proton center and wait for my time while talking to my friends, (other guys in treatment and their wives). Sooner or later Loren, Crystal, Whitney, Ramon, or Michael will come out and say, "You're next, are you drinking your water? I'll see you in about 20 minutes." (I'll explain the water in another post.)

Loren, Crystal, Whitney, and Ramon are my therapists. (Not to leave Monica out. She's moved to a different part of the center to learn IMRT and IGRT.) Michael is their assistant.

"Therapist" is their title. It doesn't describe what they do. They take a semi-older guy who spent a year or more as an oncology nurse and who is scared spitless about dying of cancer, reassure him, joke with him, answer all of his questions, and then reassure him again. Oh, I forgot. They also make sure everything is exactly perfect, and then they shoot his cancer full of deadly protons. At the end of 59 days they aren't therapists, they are part of my family.

I love them like my own kids. It is just as hard to leave them as it was to leave Anne and the kids when I left Texas two months ago to come here.

Now, perhaps, you can understand why I say THANK YOU to Florida Proton for the fact that I am depressed. Thank you for such empathy, professionalism, and care. I miss you guys already.