Mother/Daughter Spa Day

This post is #113 in a year-long series ... Through this series of posts I plan to share our family's experiences during our 17-year-old daughter's year-long battle with brain cancer, which began in February of 2008. My desire is to process through the events of that year from the perspective that a decade of time has brought ... for myself, really. But if you'd like to follow along, you're welcome to join me.

October 16, 2008

During the year Hannah was battling cancer we received many wonderful gifts.  People were so incredibly kind.  After the recurrence of her cancer, hot meals were brought to our home nearly every day by people in our little community and from our church and that was such a blessing.  I had little opportunity to go to the grocery store during those days, much less cook!

One kind friend gave us a gift certificate for facials and pedicures at a local spa.  None of us had ever had a facial or a pedicure before, so this was a special treat, and so much fun to experience together!  We were all in the same room, lying on three beds side by side.  We had the opportunity to choose what type of facial we wanted and we each chose something different ... mine was some sort of seaweed concoction, as I recall.  Ahhh, so nice!  Then we choose our favorite polish colors and enjoyed having our toes done together and sitting in the fancy massage chairs.

The pampering was wonderful and much needed ... but the best part was the three of us sharing this experience together and the sweet memories it provided.  Hannah was beginning to feel the effects of the intensive radiation she was undergoing and we knew she was most likely just days away from losing her hair, so these moments of luxury were a blessing indeed.

My email from ten years ago today ...

Just wanted to let everyone know that Hannah is having a good week this week! Yesterday marked the half-way point of her radiation treatments...ten more to go. So far, the only side effect of the radiation (other than fatigue) is a sore throat, which they told us would probably occur. She is also losing some of her ability to taste, but thanks to the steroids, her appetite is still good. They have told us to expect hair loss some time within the next several days, so we are preparing for that. We are SO thankful for every good day...God has really been faithful to us. He is good, all the time!

Jill and Brad