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Yes I Can 

 Originally Written: May 1, 2013

By  Hanna Trafford

Check out Kathy's car! Clean and shiny, inside and out - because she could!
Check out Kathy’s car! Clean and shiny, inside and out – because she could!

Here is another contribution from my friend Kathy. She wrote it about a month ago and I just couldn’t believe that she actually got into her head to wash her car – inside and out! Fully understanding how tired one can get while going through chemotherapy, I could say nothing more than:” All my hats off to you Kathy!”

April 30,2013

I’m not sure where to start with this….but it was suggested to me that I write something about undergoing chemotherapy and also living my “ normal PRE-treatment life”. So here I go………

Some days…..it’s all I can do to do laundry or dishes or vacuum the house…. I do those chores because they need to be done, but also because I CAN!  Granted, I may have to stop in the middle for a few minutes, but I do it! It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to look around and see what I have accomplished on any given day.  You see….chemotherapy saps your energy…it tends to make you anemic and also lowers your white blood cell count…so if you manage to vacuum, it is a big accomplishment.

I have opted to keep working full time hours ( except for chemo week when I take the day of and two days after chemo off to recuperate). I have had 6 sessions of chemotherapy with only two more to go…hurray!!  I work in retail, so I am on my feet for up to 8 hours at a time. Yes, I am tired when I get home, but even if I weren’t undergoing treatments….I would be tired!  Yes, I CAN! I want my life to be as normal as possible throughout all of this…I’m not looking for pity…I just want to live my life!  I broke my baby toe 5 weeks ago and have a “ boot” on it….chemotherapy also makes you heal slowly, so my oncologist decided that a boot was the way to go to help my toe heal! It’s a pain to have to wear it, but it’s just another little bump in the road!

I live in Florida, where the pollen is already coating EVERYTHING in a green dust! A week ago, I decided that my car really needed to be washed, vacuumed, and given a coat of Armor-All…..I COULD have taken it to a car wash, and maybe I should have, but I decided to do it myself in the driveway…..YES…..I CAN!  I stood on a step stool ( with my boot on) to wash the roof….and then washed the rest of it! Yes, standing on the step stool was NOT the best idea, but there were no mishaps. 🙂 It took me over 3 hours to do the entire car, inside and out, I had to stop for a few minutes several times….but I DID IT MYSELF, and it felt GREAT to be able to do it!

Cancer has taken my hair and some of my energy, but it has NOT taken away my positive attitude!

So….even if it takes me twice as long to do something as it did before, the point is, I CAN DO ANYTHING I CHOOSE TO DO!  YES…….I CAN 🙂

Hanna Trafford


Hanna is the mother of two grown sons Dan and Dusan Nedelko, and is also the Grandmother to Jax, Cohen and Mila. She is the lead editor of Mama Knows and is hoping to create an exchange of communications with other grandmothers, mothers and daughters - giving everyone the opportunity to learn and share about everything that is "Mama"

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  • My hat is off to you, I honestly don’t think I could do what you do and going through chemo at the same time. I think that I would be flat on my back. More power to you. God be with you.

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