Curt and I had a nice visit to Cabo, very relaxing. It's amazing how much it's changed since our last trip there 5 years ago. We had visited regularly the mid-90s and purchased a timeshare in 1998, the first time we took Adrienne and Daniel and it was sort of a home away from home. With Adrienne's illness, however, it turned out that we couldn't visit much. I last took Adrienne, Daniel, and a friend of his in 2005, just after her relapse that year. The doctor thought it was fine because she wasn't immunosuppressed yet, but after that, we were too concerned and time was short. This visit reminded me of all the good times we had, not just there, but on other vacations. There were a few little girls that were just like Adrienne at those ages. You just couldn't get her out of the pool. She would flip over and over again, touching the bottom as many times as she could. Both kids felt sorry for the poor children there so they went around town buying Chicklets gum for 1 peso each. We sure had a lot of Chicklets.
We took a lot of great trips over the years, Mexico, Hawaii, Colorado, Canada, New York, all over. Adrienne and I took a few trips on our own too: a cruise in Alaska (after the TNT marathon, of course), Montreal and Quebec, and even Spain. We were even planning a trip to France this spring to see her friend who's teaching English there for a year. It may seem like a lot but we put off a lot the last few years because of school and her treatment. We just never got to do all the things we wanted. I know we were lucky to have her as long as we did and I treasure the memories, but it was still too short.
Thanksgiving was tough, really tough. Christmas isn't a big deal for us since we're Jewish but we always got together on that day because everyone was available. I think we'll go to the movies on Christmas, like we did last year. I think my strategy will be to ignore the holidays.
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Adrienne was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease in 1996 at age 9. She had multiple relapses, two bone marrow transplants, and a range of chemos and radiation therapies, and passed away on October 1, 2009. We are heartbroken.
Out with the Girls
About Adrienne
- Adrienne
- Adrienne was very much like others with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, the most common cancer in teens and young adults. What was unusual is that she had it for more than half her life and ultimately, it took her life. Hodgkin's is curable for about 80% people, but Adrienne was one of the 20% for whom a cure was elusive. She considered herself lucky since treatments had been there for her with each relapse but she ran out of treatment options and her body just couldn’t take any more. As she said, "Though I’ve now had cancer for most of my life, I no longer plan my life around it; instead, I try to plan cancer around my life." We hope you can take inspiration from her and how she lived her life.
8 comments:
I did not know your daughter. I graduated from CMC in '04, but I recently received the newest magazine and unfortunately noticed a young face in the memoriam section. You have to be so proud of your daughter for going through what she did and still receiving her degree from a challenging college. What she accomplished in the face of such adversity should inspire all of her classmates and fellow CMC alums alike. I hope you find an opportunity over the holidays to celebrate the life of your courageous daughter!
Hi Alison,
Was just thinking about you guys and wanted to say hello. Glad you were able to get away for a while. Adrienne is constantly in my thoughts (as are you) and hope the pain gets easier to tolerate as the days go by...
Take care and Happy Chanukah (sp?)
Chris
Alison,
I'm glad you had a good trip and enjoyed some nice memories. You and Adrienne had some wonderful adventures over the years! You really exemplify what it means to live life to its fullest. Thinking of you and sending warm hugs, Janet
Glad you were able to relax a bit and hopefully had an overall nice time. It's so great that you were able to take so many trips as a family, what lovely memories there must be to reflect on. Wishing you continued healing and peace.
Bonnie
Dear Alison,
Your time with Adrienne sounds so amazing -- you did so much in such a short time! I enjoy reading your blog, even the saddest narrations -- perhaps, writing a memoir about Adrienne would be both healing for you and valuable for others going through the same ordeal. Just an idea... Hope the Hanukkah was special for you in a different way this year.
Much love,
Natalia
Hi Alison,
Thank you so much for continuing to write how you are doing and what you are doing. You are big deal to a lot of us.
We're going to see the new Meryl Streep movie Christmas evening that we hear is coming out that day. Hope you enjoy the movies; we'll be thinking about you.
xoxoxoxo,
Ann
thinking of you
j
Thinking of you this holiday time...as always. ((HUGS))
Susan and Rich
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