Cancer’s Bones
I got rid of most of the “stuff” that filled this house during Leroy’s cancer battle.
You’d be surprised,( or maybe you wouldn’t),to know just how many pieces of equipment is necessary to manage a life once this disease has settled into its final stages of battle. The bed,the machines,the wheelchair, all went out the door as fast as I could get them picked-up after Leroy died. I hated what they represented. But there were some things that made it to the garage and just stayed there.
Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.
So when I started clearing out garage clutter, I not only found memories from old Halloween parties, but I also discovered what I call “cancer bones.” These are leftover bits and pieces of a hard fought battle, now covered in spider webs and dust.
I already had old paint cans, broken garden tools and other odds and ends stuffed into my SUV, but you can be sure, when I saw these remnants of the past, I cleared a space…a space for the old bones.
I can only imagine, the pile at the dump, where they sit now, has other scrapes of metal and plastic that have similar histories. It just seems a fitting end.
The remains of a time put to rest.
May 21, 2013 @ 1:56 am
This has been a big problem for me. I still have most all of it – the hospital bed, wheelchair, walker, and lots of ‘cancer bones’. I moved most of it into the sunroom, thinking that would force me to deal with it. Instead it remains there & I don’t use the sunroom. I know I need to deal with this. I know others could use most of this stuff. I thought I’d feel like you, Laurie – want to get it all out of my sight as quickly as possible. But it represents such a major part of our life for over 4 years and that is making this hard to accomplish.
May 20, 2013 @ 8:22 pm
I still have so many things that I can’t let go of but Jim’s power chair was given to his best friend who has been diagnosed with a neurological disease that affects his balance…that was a bit bittersweet. I had a yard sale the spring after Jim passed away and had some things in it that were obviously medical equipment and a woman looked at it and said “Looks like somebody got better or died”. If that were today, when some of my fog has lifted, I would have had enough wits to come back with something that would make her lose sleep! Maybe each year our spring cleaning will include a couple of cancer world things..