Our Madison Vacation

Ray kept telling people we were vacationing in Madison, Wisconsin this summer. We knew we would be in Madison five days a week for his weeks of radiation treatments at University Hospital, the closest facility with the technology to treat him. The first week we drove every day and were exhausted. The second week we spent most of the week at a motel. One beautiful morning we took a hike towards Picnic Point, just north of the hospital. Due to a detour in the trail and Ray being tired, we didn't make it all the way.

At the beginning of week 3, we moved to an AirBnb long-term rental apartment. We were a block away from Lake Monona. Our street was very narrow, about the size of an alley. There were no sidewalks and very little traffic. We were located a few houses down on the left.

Looking at our street with Lake Monona just behind me.  

Our house - we had the entire 2nd floor and our entry was the front door.

Our balcony, back stairs, and yard. Also entrances to two lower apartments.

We took walks as much as possible. Here are a few pictures of our neighborhood. 

Lake Monona

Columbine

A colorful mural

Wisteria - oh what a heavenly smell!

Hammock bases

Yard art

Milkweed in bloom with a butterfly

Rowing Club practice

Bike path along Monona Lake

Blooming cactus in our neighbor's yard

Columbine

Capitol from pedestrian bridge over Washington Ave., Madison

The Weed Harvesters were interesting to watch as they 'mowed' the bay and off-loaded their haul. Each harvester was about 8' by 40'.  You can read about them here.

Weed Harvester on Brittingham Bay, Lake Monona, Madison, WI

 Moving one of three Weed Harvesters from our bay to another location.

Team Survivors, women cancer survivors, meet most Wednesday nights and take out their dragon boat. It was interesting to watch the 20+ women of varying ages, working and rowing together.

Team Survivors launching their dragon boat

We did leave our neighborhood for more than the hospital and groceries. One day we enjoyed a short visit to the zoo.

A short but fun visit to the zoo after 35 - 40 years!

We spent a little time at Olbrich Gardens.

One morning, we went just north of University Hospital to Eagle Heights Community Gardens. There are over 500 plots!

The raspberries looked soooo good!

How do you take a good picture of 500+ garden plots???

We met a lot of people in our neighborhood and in the hospital. People were friendly, kind, and caring. The hospital was an excellent choice as was our temporary home and neighborhood.

Ray's oncologist called his treatment "unique and complicated" because of the location of his cancer. Ray had to prepare for radiation each day. His prep really drained his energy and left him extremely tired and feeling weak and yucky, and he also had other side effects. His appointments ranged from 8 minutes  to almost 3 hours. This was not a fun time.

Our journey was so much easier because of some fantastic friends and family. All offered continuing support and more. Our close friends and neighbors across the street went above and beyond by jumping in and doing EVERYTHING that needed to be done at our house, inside and out, including the mowing, trimming, and weeding. We are still a little overwhelmed by the help given to us.

Maybe all of this is so touching because we were given a piece of advice early on by Dr. E-B, an oncologist at SSM Monroe. "You have cancer; you have no control." I can't count the number of times we repeated that line. It was/is so very true: when treatment didn't go well, when we got Ray's appointments for the following week and one was at 7:30AM, the way Ray felt from hour to hour, when his treatment room was running behind schedule, when we drove to treatment during a tornado warning, when he had diet changes weekly, when he rested most hours of the day over and over, when they couldn't do the treatment and it added another day to his schedule, etc. Everything became so much easier when we accepted that we really didn't have any control.

Watching Ray reminded me of how strong he is. He didn't complain; he just endured. He epitomized: "Sometimes you can because you can. Sometimes you can because you have to."

We celebrated successes with ice cream or doughnuts. When he felt well enough, we took walks, went shopping at a store, went out to lunch, went to a farmer's market...

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass;

it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Watching him feel so rotten and having absolutely no energy was by far the hardest part for me. This cancer journey is not over but the radiation is and we celebrate that. Ringing the bell was a highlight!

I ring the bell to celebrate! My treatment here is done...
Cancer does not define me And I'm already moving on.

Ray's shirt:
TODAY IS A GOOD DAY
TO HAVE A GOOD DAY

Most of the side effects from Ray's radiation should disappear within a few weeks. He still has some additional treatment ahead and in about a year, we'll know if it all worked. In the meantime, we are happy to be home and we plan to "dance in the rain".