I’m wondering what other people think of as luxurious… 1200 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets? A beach vacation to Fiji? Decadent chocolate truffles?
After ten weeks of going without, last night I got to take a bath. And boy was it luxurious.
Submerging in water has been a no-no since the mastectomy and follow up surgery. I could have hugged Nurse Holly when she gave me the all-clear. In fact, I think I did hug her at some point…
I got into the habit of taking a hot bath before bed every night when we lived in Fargo. Thanks to the bitter cold, it was the only way to truly combat the chill that settled daily into my bones. The tub was nothing special, just a regular old tub, but it did the trick.
When we moved to Ohio, a jetted-tub was at the top of my wish list. Seriously. Like, above “Bedrooms for children” was “Jetted tub for mom.” I’m a big bath person. Even in the summer. It’s my escape at the end of the day. It’s the time when I get to close the door, listen to music… or not… think about the day.
My sister sent me luxurious bath bombs for Christmas and I had used all of them but one before my surgery. That one lonely little vanilla bath bomb just sat there waiting for me. I’m sure it was wondering if I had forgotten about it.
So, I got to take my bath. And it was luxurious. But more than anything, it was one more step toward normal. It was one more thing that cancer had taken away but now I was getting back.
Nurse Holly asked me during my last appointment if I felt like life was getting back to normal. Yes. It is. There are finally more moments of the day when I am not thinking about cancer than when I am. And that, too, is luxurious.