Even better than the cookies was the chance to go around and talk to everyone and listen to them a little while. Many of these women I'd met before - and everyone on the drip was female today, though there were some husbands around, too. One woman remembered my name, my whole story, my football-sized tumor, my "very long hike". . . Another woman had thought my headcovering was actually my hair from far away. Like I said a couple posts ago, someone who hadn't met before wouldn't be able to tell that I didn't naturally have neon orange hair! So we compared bald heads and talked about the curls that might grow in. Younger than the average patient age by 40 years or so, I get a kick out of fashioning myself a little bit like everyone's spunky granddaughter, and today I think I did it pretty well.
It's hard to see people doing worse than they were before - Three weeks ago Helen could transfer herself from wheelchair to recliner. Today it took two nurses. Stupid cancer.
Shirley wouldn't give me my certificate yet, since I might not be done, but I did catch up on my stickers-on-my-cancer-binder count of number of chemos I've gotten. Here's what 28 stickers looks like:
So if Grazelda's not dead yet, it's not for lack of capturing the magnitude of the effort visually!
The afternoon was also pleasant: after a little bit of loafing, I loaded my bike in its various parts into my car and took them to the bike coop, where, after 4 hours work, some more frustration, but more learning things and being successful at truing my very first wheel, I got my bike back together. So now I'm a Probably-Cancer-Free Young Woman With A Functional Bike And A Full-Size Accordion (as of Monday evening!). What more could a person ask for, really?! Oh yeah, grease stains. The picture doesn't show it too well, but there are even bike grease stains on my shorts.
Tomorrow I have my blood test. Friday I get the results. And I guess you could say I'm a little nervous, but more it's irritation at not being able to plan next week until I know whether it's totally taken up with chemo and feeling bad ,or if I just have my first follow-up visit on Wednesday. The test won't change anything in my body. Everything's already been done, endured, and survived. This test is just a measure of that which has been done (oh yeah, and I get poked again because that's what always happens).
That does sound like a good day! Hoping to hear good news tomorrow!
ReplyDeletelove,
Your Sister