Treatment # 12

Today was treatment # 12.........one year of treatments.....it has been a strange and difficult year.
At the beginning the scary part was not knowing what was wrong, well that and the fact that I had battled lung infections for over a year.  To finally get a diagnosis was a relief, to know that I did not have cancer was a relief.

I have sat in those green chairs for a year.......I have made friends, "chair buddies" I call them.....some of them are doing well, and some well, they have gone on to hopefully a much better life.  I met a couple of new friends today and we filled that infusion room with laughter......it may seem like a strange place to share a laugh, but there are plenty of tears and sadness there too.  And today, that room needed the laughter.

One of my chair buddies came by to say hello, he is doing great......they got the cancer.....with chemo, radiation and surgery.  He glowed, and he spread hope to everyone in the room.......and that is something that is always needed for those who sit in the big green chairs......hope.  One of my buddies  is like me, his  treatments are open ended, this is his third year.  He gives me hope, though today, he did tell me I needed to eat more.  Ha,ha!

One of my new friends today, confided that sitting in those chairs was most difficult for her, not the losing of her hair, or weight loss, but the patience that it took to sit there and wait on the drip.
Then she asked me how long my drip took, hers was about an hour and a half.......when I told her mine lasts four to five hours, she shook her head and laughed and told me I had the patience of Job.
I think she was destined to sit by me, she was getting so restless, almost distraught.......we laughed so much, by the time the nurse came over to unhook her, she was surprised her time had gone so fast.

My other new friend promised his wife would bake a cake for our next session together......I promise I am not that thin, but they all think I need some weight.  It helps to worry about the others in the room, and not think about what is going on in your own body.

The room was full today, those angels in blue never slowed down.....I could see the fatigue in their faces, as they constantly poked and prodded, and checked on all of us. I pray they all get a good night's sleep.  My one year anniversary.......a year ago, I never dreamed I would be still sitting in those big green chairs for a whole year......but for now, they are my destiny, they provide a life sustaining elixir and for that I am grateful.....I know things could be so much worse, I know I am blessed......and I know my life is exactly where it is supposed to be.