Not very good pictures, I know but these are my most treasured posessions; my engagement ring, my wedding ring and my eternity ring.
Each ring tells its own story. Each ring marks a stage in my life.The reason they are not on my fingers, is because my fingers have swelled and they are too tight now. My mother recently had to have her 22 carrot (really thick) ring cut off because of her arthritus and she was gutted at having to damage such a precious thing so I decided to remove mine just in case.
The engagement ring is a cluster of little diamonds, shaped into a flower. A few years ago I paid £100 to have it repaired because the claws had become worn over the ten years I had worn it. The jeweller was happy because, "Its lovely to see jewellry being worn and not kept away".
My wedding ring..... well, I don't have to explain why that is precious do I? 15 years of marriage and 16 years together. We each wear the same style and inside mine there are my husbands initials and the date we were married and inside his are my initials and the date we were married. I remember our honeymoon in Spain were this ring got its first scratch!
The eternity ring was a birthday gift from my husband to me the birthday which followed the birth of our first son Joseff. Joe was about 10 weeks old at the time, my husband misdirected my gaze and as he did so, he put the ring into Joe's lap and there it was in its little packaged box.
The only time I have not been able to wear these rings was when our second son Harry was born. I swelled up so much I just couldn't wear them for the last 6 weeks.
My mum keeps telling me to treat this chemotherapy as a pregnancy, remember what it was like she tells me, there were things you couldn't do then as well. Only at the end of this chemo, I dont get to hold a perfect little baby, I get my life!
Has anyone else had problems with swelling? I dont know if I am just fat or it is indeed the steroids. However, my ring and little fingers on my left hand are near to the veins that were damaged after my second round of Epi-R and I get pains down the fingers too.
Ah well, next time I will tell you the story of how my husband and I got together, thats a good one!
Steroids honey...they make you swell for sure. I think you did the wise thing in taking the rings off. You may find you need to resize them when treatment is over if your fingers don't return to their normal size. And if you want to keep them close now you can always wear them on a chain to keep them close to your heart.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to take a picture of them to treasure them. I like the idea of putting them on a chain until you can wear them again.
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely rings and tales of them too.. In answer to your question my fingers swelled up like little sausages. I was most upset that i couldn't get my late mums ring off my finger and had to have it cut off. I got it re-sized once i got back to normal and now it never leaves me..
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Steroids ... my research nurse keeps reminding me of that. She says there isn`t much I can do about it either.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful and touching post.
ReplyDeleteI was only on steroids for a short while to stimulate my appetite and give me back some energy. I can't say, over that short time, I noticed any weight change.
I would have enjoyed a little swelling.
Even though I've now lost the chemo (ie custard and chocolate milk to calm my stomach) weight, my hands are still swollen, so i can't take my rings off! they7're not so swollen as to be a problem, just still not back to normal. i think the steroids can cause swelling to 'the extremities' ie hands and feet.
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