A Bell Rings

...and double dinner gets made

Before I volunteered for Apple-A-Day and became somewhat familiar with the cancer and treatment process, I thought that a patient ringing the bell meant that they were cancer-free. Many people are probably under the same impression. Once I learned that it actually signifies the end of a round of treatment, it taught me that these steps are to be celebrated. I didn’t yet know just how torturous that chemotherapy was, just that it was extremely unpleasant and carried with it some unfortunate side-effects. I got to watch a few of my brave little warriors ring their bells, both in person and online, and it made me so happy for them to at least get a respite from treatment (if not an “all clear”).

After my first round of high-dose chemo and bone marrow transplant,