It’s crazy how fast the time went and here we are again doing chemo.  It went fine again.  Thank goodness.  I am getting a little bit weary of this part of the journey and look forward to it being done.  In a way.  I want it to work and therefore wish to carry on with it and so want it to NOT be done.  If it is done too soon, that means it isn’t working and I believe I remember Dr. Tozer, in the very beginning, saying that if Plan A, B or C didn’t work, then he still had some tricks up his sleeve, but I’m not so crazy about seeing what those tricks are.  (Speaking of tricks, about 2 weeks ago, we were filling up the van with gas, and a pretty fair sized pick up truck was in front of us gassing up.  It had a bumper sticker on it which read:  ‘Silly cowboy, trucks are for girls.’  (A play on the words from the cereal commercial for ‘Trix’ where some kids say to the rabbit mascot–“Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.”)  Mendelt and I read it at the same time and he looked at me and just smiled.  He knew that I loved that bumper sticker even before I said–that’s an awesome bumper sticker–I love it!!)

But back to chemo, we had our favourite nurse help us today.  Her name is Chris and she sings while she works and always has a fun story to tell and a smile on her face.  She’s also the one that called me a freak when we told her my first chemo wasn’t working but the A/C type of chemo was.  Anyways, today she told me that I have farmer veins.  We laughed and weren’t sure if that was a good thing, but she proceeded to say that I have big veins that stick out nicely but it can hurt when the needle goes in because my vein bends when the needle goes in and she has to try and catch the vein.  She was not wrong about the hurting part.  (The nurse who helped us 3 weeks ago said I had tough skin.  SO, it is all making sense why I don’t enjoy the needle part of getting the IV set up….)

Chris also said something very interesting.   A farmer who had been a previous patient at the clinic had come to bring some bushels of peaches for the nurses and staff.  That prompted Mendelt to ask what could be done for the nurses to show our appreciation.  Chris said–nothing!  We are just so blessed by you guys.  Selfishly, we see you guys, you’ve hit the preverbial wall, and you are still living life.  It makes all the seemingly crappy stuff in our lives seem very insignificant.  Mendelt said that if that was the case, then us having this makes it seem a little bit better.

There was one sad part of our day.  At the tail end of me getting my drugs, a very young guy came in with his mom.  He got the bed next to me.  It broke mine and Mendelt’s hearts to see such a young guy here!  He couldn’t have been more than 16 or 17.  Seemingly in the prime of his life.  A mystery.

Our kids are doing well.  They see me come home from chemo and see my IV gauzed and bandaged up and they ask me about it.  I explain that it’s kind of a needle that the doctors and nurses put my medicine in.  They want to see it and so I show it to them.

Mendelt talked with Zion last night about me going to chemo again and he asked Zion if he knew what chemo was.  Zion said he didn’t and so Mendelt explained it was the medicine that I got to help me get better from cancer.  He got that.  Then this morning on the way to bringing Zion and Jacoba to Emily’s (whom he really likes but doesn’t love….)  🙂  Zion explained to Jacoba what chemo was.  She said “I knew that”.  To which Zion proclaimed–“You did NOT!” Yep, still brother and sister….  I also showed them my needles that I have to give myself for the blood clot because Zion really wanted to see them.   Really.  (His words) so I showed him (and Jacoba too, because Zion was seeing them and whatever he does she likes to do too….) and they took it all in stride.  Zion also wanted to see me give myself the needle but that is where I drew the line.  (I don’t think Mendelt even watches.  🙂  But he would if I asked him too.  In fact he would give me the needle if I asked him too he’s that great.)

I think that is about it.  Oh, a little bit about our oncologist.  He loves Mendelt’s piano playing (there’s a piano in the cafeteria at the cancer clinic that Mendelt gets to play for a bit and SO many people absolutely LOVE it) and so Mendelt asked him what his favourite song was.  Well, he proceeded to tell us about his favourite type of music in highschool (disco) and then in college (rave) and that his current girlfriend then, who is his wife now–found out he was married–was a DJ back then and that now it’s his dream to go to a rave party.  He said a number of times that he is very a-typical in his music choices and that it surprises so many people that he is an oncologist who likes this type of music.  We find out a little bit more about him every time we see him.  One of the chemo nurses also told us that he previously wanted to be an archaeologist and that today, when he takes vacations he goes to jungles and far away places to see things like lost and forbidden pyramids.  He is a unique individual whom we are VERY thankful for.  We are so nervous sometimes to see him (me especially because I’m afraid he’ll give me bad news…), but we know that he is my biggest advocate and is here to help me.

Okay, now I think that is about it.   Tomorrow I go again and my mom and dad are taking me and then on Thursday my sister Monica and possibly my sister Christy (she is just returning from a trip abroad on Wednesday so she’ll see how she is feeling) are going to go with me.  In a way it’s kind of nice to go to the clinic for 3 days because now more people can come with me if they would like.  Although, if all goes well and I only have this for 4 rounds….. 🙂  But, it could be more too, so I won’t get too excited or hopeful.

Good night all.

Love MaV