A Reality Check

The door slammed and she threw down the sack of “goodies” and slumped in the chair.

Then in her best social services voice, she began to pull the freebees out of the sack.

“Tess.......This is your extra soft toothbrush for when your teeth are hurting and your gums are bleeding.
“Tess.......This is your special toothpaste you use with your soft toothbrush when your have the mouth sores.
“Tess......This is the rinse for your mouth and throat sores.
“Tess..... Here’s the digital thermometer. If you have 105 temperature, you must call us right away. It could be fatal.
“Tess.....Here’s your information on constipation
...............on bone pain..............on diarrhea management...........on skin rashes........on burning bladders.......Oh that can be very dangerous. You must manage your liquid intake and drink lots of fluids. When you have to pee, do so right away because it could be burning your bladder. You may bleed. Drink fluids.

“Tess.......(as she is now crying and holding her stomach about to vomit before even seeing a barcolounger)........don’t bottle things up. Let your emotions out.

“Tess......Here is the treatment room (And she does view a room full of recliners with mostly greyheads doing crossword puzzles and knitting and one lone younger woman with yellow bags under her eyes, no eyelashes, brows or hair and looking wan and miserable.) “Oh, and honey. You will lose your hair.”

As I’m listening to her and laughing at her performance and crying for her courage, I’m thinking we’re going to need Dave Thompson to get her in that treatment room. Dave was the one who got her on the airplane when we moved to Brazil to live and she was 15 and determined not to go.
Fortunately, a friend of Julie’s who has just completed two years of intensive chemo and radiation, bucked her up. “Just remember. You act like you’re sick, you are sick. You act healthy, you are healthy. You’re strong and healthy just taking a chemo bath to kill cancer cells. So maybe it leaves a little hangover. You’ll be fine.