Skip to main content

Chemo with Kathleen





After a recent chemo, where I was chaperoned by the always affable and charming Chris, my nurse Alicia queried “Who will be bringing you next time?”
Truly, the entire oncology staff was not only charmed by Chris, they were amazed at the intricate cross stitch stocking she was working on and then awed that it was her third and final work of art.

  I responded to Alicia (a new friend, really) that another friend would be bringing me and she remarked something like “you have a lot of wonderful friends”. To wit, I agree!

 Chris commented, “yes she does! Chemo with Kathleen!”

 Chemo with Kathleen. Sounds like a title to a book like "Tuesdays with Morrie" or "Me Before You", great books about friends stepping up to help a friend through illness and/or treatment. Only difference in this case would be that this sickie lives on to make more friends and to treasure the ones she has. 

What I’m discovering on these chemo days, aside from all the vital medical stuff I’m supposed to care about, is my friends are amazing people! Yesterday's chaperone was Jo who came after cleaning and preparing her boss' office for painting; she works as an office manager for a small church and has become the Pastor's organization guru (among many other things!). A heart of a caregiver, Jo has! I kicked her out after the Benadryl kicked in so I could nap and she could go back to help her Pastor.

 Another friend who drove me is the wife of our former Pastor. She has driven countless people to chemo or doctor's appointments and is herself a breast cancer survivor. She helps countless people to this day with small and large acts of kindness. Lois seemed to understand that on this particular chemo day, I needed solitude and a nap more than a friend to sit with me and she left to run errands. How did she intuit this other than through too many years of doing the just what she was doing for me?

 I discovered while talking with another friend chaperone, that she's a talented artist who likes to stretch her artistic boundaries by taking art classes in media she is unfamiliar with or uncomfortable using. She's in her 70s and enjoys learning new things, considers it a priority actually. I want to be like Marilyn when I'm in my 70s - not all complacent and comfortable but willing to expand my horizons.

 My sister, Kelli came and didn't draw on me with sharpies but drove all the way from Kohler Wisconsin to spend a lot of time watching me sleep (and taking pictures that she shared with family!). She also made dinner for us and kept me company for my first of the now-weekly chemo treatments. She too is a breast cancer survivor and I'm sure sitting with me brought back less-pleasant memories.

 I have a roster of friends that have signed up for Chemo with Kathleen. And more that have signed up to bring dinner on chemo Mondays. I have a roster of friends that have sent cards, flowers, gifts and messages. I have a roster of friends that I am grateful for beyond words. In this darker time of my life, while I battle this touch of cancer, they are providing light and love to help me fight the fight.

 Perfect time for some Carol King!

 You've Got a Friend
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

The meaning of success and how

I sat down to write today about being cast/boot free. It is a joy to be back to my 'normal' state of mobility - which is to say that I stumble and totter like a drunken sailor but at least now I'm not wearing a big black boot. Ahoy matey! But instead, I came across the above quote and being easily distracted, I began to think about it instead. (Heck, I'm tired of the damn cast and don't want to waste anymore time thinking or writing about it anyway.) It's a quote my Aunt Bonnie first introduced me too when I graduated from high school and it's come on my radar many times since then, but today for some reason it has given me pause. I laugh often, to be sure. I'm like the uncle in Mary Poppins - I love to laugh. I surround myself with people that make me smile and laugh and am grateful for a husband that still knows how to make me laugh. I'm not to sure about winning the respect of intelligent people, though. I tend to think out of the box and...
Post a Comment
Read more

The summer that wasn't

It's July 30. Summer, right? Wrong!!! In Michigan, we had our summer two weeks ago for about 10 days. Saw a recent post on Facebook that read:"You know you're in Michigan when you wear your bathing suit on Monday and your parka on Tuesday." We sweltered for a week or two and then were chilled again. That's where we are now. Chilling at 70. Weather aside, it no longer feels much like summer. The back-to-school ads, commercials, displays and talk have begun full-force. And I feel like I just got used to having the three-not-so-little Piggins home again and now I have to get them ready for school. Delaney has a little longer, but Michael leaves for Wayne State law in two weeks and Matthew for his sophomore year at DePauw in three.  I get the nest re-feathered and damn these 'baby' birds but they stay for too short a time then fly away. *sigh* Since this is the "glass half full" blog of a pseudo-Pollyanna, I will revert to thinking positively ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The "I'll Nevers" of growing older

  Years ago as a freelance writer, I submitted an essay entitled "The I'll Nevers of Parenting". It was a list, mostly, of things I had said prior to having children and the crow I was then eating because of the stupidity of the claims. You know little pearls of 'wisdom' that only someone who hasn't experienced the joys of  parenting could utter, like: I will never yell at my child in public or I will never let my child eat dinner in front of the television or my children will never stay up past 9 pm. I yelled at my children (usually when we were both tired and totally irrational!) in public. One time, as we were in the drop off lane at school with a long line of cars behind us, the boys hoped out of the car but Delaney was insisting on something that for the life of me I cannot recall and I was insisting that she get out of the van. We crept along, van door still open, until I got to the end of the line and yelled at the top of my voice, "Delaney get the...
Post a Comment
Read more