Hope Bells Replace Traditional “Ringing the Bell” at UL in Ky
I am so happy to see this change at one of the hospitals in my state! None of us are ever guaranteed to be “finished" with breast cancer, butthose with recurrent or metastatic cancer often have to watch the bell being rung over and over again by patients who are finished with their current chemo or radiation. I love the shift away from that concept and more toward one of hope and celebration of whatever means something significant to each individual.
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I like this change. As a de novo patient, I chose to not ring the bell when I "finished" my long round of radiation. While I saw others encouraged to ring, when I finished my 7 weeks and said I didn't want to ring, nobody batted an eyelash. I just said see you later and went on my way. The idea of Celebrating getting through a treatment feels real.
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I don't know how it's handled for chemo patients at the hospital I went to, but at the end of radiation a technician said, "Guess you're glad that's over." and I said "Yep." And because it was December, I gave them a little plate of cookies.
That was that.
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there have never been any bells where I’ve gone for treatment. I didn’t even know it was a thing until I saw people online talk about it.
I remember one day at the infusion center a man said today is my last day when he first came in and then when he was done no one acknowledged him, he seemed very happy to be done of course, and I wished the nurses would have been more congratulatory. I did smile and say congratulations. I totally get being happy to finish a course of treatment and it takes nothing away from me just because I’m not as lucky. I would’ve rang a bell at my final taxol treatment even though I still had to keep coming in for herceptin after that.
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I was asked to ring the bell after my last chemo and then again after my last radiation treatment at MD Anderson. I declined because somehow it felt like I was tempting fate, plus I hate drawing attention to myself. So the oncology nurses brought me a small (5") brass bell in a box tied with ribbon and told me to ring it with my family when I got home. I appreciated the gesture and I kept the bell, but I didn't ring it.
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