"If it weren't for an excellent prognosis...

...I don't think I would continue with the chemo treatments." It seems to keep coming up. This is hard stuff. And I can totally understand sitting next to her, watching as she goes through this, it would make total sense if it weren't for the excellent prognosis. We were talking about that young boy we saw yesterday and hoping he too had a good prognosis given what he has to go through.

Anyway, today's treatments are going well and quicker than we had anticipated. So we will get home early today. Which is always a bonus considering all the things that could make the stay longer than it really has to be. Hence why we always pray for good blood counts and a high output of fluids.

Nanc got to chat with 2 other women today with the same cancer. One I think I told you about is Virginia. We see Gini see around campus on occasion. Nanc has talked with her before a couple of times and they swap war stories though Virginia has had a different experience with the same exact treatment as Nanc's. She's lost her hair and suffers some neuropathy but not the same issues with food. Today was her last treatment so we were able to trade some high fives, some hugs and made some plans to check in with each other in a few weeks.

The second lady, well that was my fault. Me and my big mouth...

I was walking through the center and this woman came out from one of the rooms through the curtain and we nearly collided. She sort of freaked as she thought I was taken aback by her hair. I told her that I am quite used to it by now as I have been living with a bald wife for some time now. We both smiled and she demanded to meet her. So she immediately came over to Nanc's room, sat down and started chatting it up for a few minutes until her nurse came looking for her. She was admiring Nancy's head - she doesn't like the shape of her own head but was quite impressed with Nanc's .

It seems we made everyone late this morning but the women had a nice morning chatting before they had to retreat to their rooms to get hooked up. We got her name and number and Nanc promises she'll call her when she's up to it. I hope she does. She always feels better around women going through the same thing.

Oh yeah, her name is Jan. It was tough seeing the three of them so up and cheerful early in the morning and then to see the immediate effect of the chemo by 1 in the afternoon...

Our next angel hails from Motor City if I remember correctly. Meet Karen, who was Nancy's nurse on her first day of treatment. I think I told you a little about her before so now you can put a face to the name. I can picture her in patched jeans, cotton peasant shirt and sandals in 1969 doing what we all did back then. she may totally disagree with my impression but too bad - I'm writing.

She still carries a little of the times with her in her compassion and caring. She really makes Nanc comfortable in a motherly kind of way. She's alway ready with a remedy or trick to help with the side effects or just to make her feel at ease.

At the end of the IP treatments, you have to sort of roll around to get all the chemicals distributed in the abdomen. We had a little fun with that today. I don't think we would have attempted joking around like that 6 weeks ago. It's a testament I think to the fact that 95% of life is just showing up....

xoxo