Catching Up With My Favorite Princess

For the first time since her surgery for breast cancer in March, I had the chance to meet up with my friend the intrepid reporter Princess Patti and her entourage at a local eatery so that we could share a few smiles, laughs, hugs, and wine. Even though she has now started to lose her luscious locks as a result of the chemotherapy that she's going through, Patti was in very good spirits as she sported a new hat that she had recently purchased on-line. It has always been my own humble opinion that some people can pull off hats and some people can't (like myself) so I am quite happy to report that Patti pulls off hat-wearing with as much finesse as the Queen herself and has a lot more fashion sense than Princess Beatrice!

As you can see, Patti modeled not just one hat but a back-up hat in a snazzy red. Her daughter Allegra and I told her that she needed to get a different hat for each day but whether she'll do that or not is entirely up for debate. We also discussed gauzy scarfs and other head wear that might be suitable for the discerning almost-bald woman and agreed that if one was going to lose one's hair, it was best to do it during warmer weather!

Even though my own hair is no great shakes I'm not sure how I'd react to losing it; I'd like to think that I'd be able to handle it with as much dignity and grace as Patti is but I just don't know if I could. Actually, I'm not sure that I could even come close to handling a diagnosis of cancer as well as Patti has as the woman is simply amazing. It seems like she has hardly missed a beat during this whole ordeal while she's juggled her job, her family, and her illness while still managing to maintain her sense of humor throughout. Maybe in the cold dark hours of the morning when no one is looking she may have had a few moments of self-doubt and pity but you'd never know it if you were fortunate enough to spend time with her as she's still one of the most warm, caring, and funny women that I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Patti's gallant husband, Ralph, and her lovely daughter Allegra joined Amanda and I for the afternoon. The girls are both Whovians but Allegra couldn't say too much about the new season as Amanda has yet to watch it and she didn't want to give away any spoilers; they did exchange Tumblr names, though, and seemed to get along quite well.  Truth be told, I had actually forgotten that they hadn't met before as I've had the chance to get together with Patti quite a few times since we first met back in March of 2008 when we were both summoned to meet with Queen Mimi at a Bertucci's in Glastonbury. Ah, what fun we had that evening and I've had a good time with Patti every single time I've had the chance to get together with her since then.  She truly exemplifies what kind of friendships one can develop from blogging and I am proud and honored to call her a real-life friend - she's definitely one of a kind!

Ralph wrote a post himself about our afternoon and if you'd like to check it out, please do so over here.  He even managed to take a picture of me that I actually like that I snitched from his blog to share with you here ...

Apparently my "best side" is one viewed from wheelchair height - who knew?!? Oh, and just for the record, that little bit of blue sky that you can see in this picture was the first blue sky we saw all day and it only stuck around long enough for the photo op before the skies turned gray again!

Anyhow, before parting we made plans to meet again this summer down by the shore and raise a glass or two to the end of Patti's chemotherapy before she has to start her next course of treatment which will be five weeks of radiation. Her doctor is taking no chances on giving her cancer a chance to hang around - something I applaud as I am really looking forward to the time we all get together and raise a glass to the diagnosis of cancer-free!

In the meantime, maybe I'll do a little on-line shopping myself and see if I can add to my friend's hat wardrobe ... and I promise, Patti, that it won't be a fez even though they're cool!

Next Time The Dreaded 'C' Word is NOT Invited!

Earlier this week I had been trying to figure out what to do with the days off on my upcoming weekend and had tossed around the possibility of driving up to New Hampshire to take pictures or driving over to Cape Cod to take pictures or driving down to ... well, you get the idea! In the midst of all that, though, I stopped for a moment and thought that maybe instead of gallivanting around New England taking more pictures (after all, it's not like I need more pictures!) that perhaps I should see if my friend Patti was up for taking a ride somewhere and spending some time together. I've taken a couple of very nice day trips with Patti and seen parts of Connecticut I'd not seen before while always having a wonderful time but this visit would have an additional purpose in that I was hoping to take Patti's mind off the ordeal that she would be facing on Monday even if just for a little while.

Recently, Patti announced on her blog that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer - something that I had known for awhile but had promised to not spread around. When Patti first found out that she had a spot on her latest mammogram that didn't look right we had held out hope that it was simply a fibroid but further tests squashed that hope when she was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma. Okay ... that was bad but according to what I read if one was going to get breast cancer, that would be the best kind to get as it's easily treatable generally with just a lumpectomy. Unfortunately, though, that wasn't the case as when the doctor did the lumpectomy she found that a full mastectomy was going to be necessary to get all of the cancerous tissue.

When I heard the news after I returned from my cruise, I was pretty upset for my friend as Patti is one of those incredibly nice people that you think should never ever have bad things happen in her life but it seems like it's been one long string of misfortunes after another that she and her husband Ralph have had to endure.  Throughout it all, Patti has kept her wonderful sense of humor but come on Lord, enough is enough, huh?  Don't you think it's time to give the woman a break?  I sure do!

Patti is slated to "go under the knife" on Monday morning and I know that even though it's going to be a very tough thing to go through, I also know she's more than happy to get it over and done with and get on the road to recovery. As part of her battle against the cancer she's joined a support group at Griffin Hospital in Derby where she's being treated at the brand new Center for Breast Wellness, she tells me that her surgeon is an angel whom everyone respects and admires, she's writing about the ordeal on her blog which is very therapeutic even though she doesn't like to talk about herself, and she also has the love of family and friends behind her. With all that I'm thinking that this cancer really doesn't stand a chance!

Be that as it may, though, I'm sure that the cancer is never far from her thoughts so I thought perhaps an afternoon out and about in New Haven might be a nice diversion. I figured that if I could provide nothing else that I could certainly try to be a distraction and buy her lunch so to that end I met my favorite Princess in the parking lot of the huge Ikea store right off of Interstate 95 and we went in search of scenery and sustenance.

The first stop of the day was supposed to be the summit at East Rock Park where there is a statute that I've been wanting to photograph for some time now - the Soldiers &  Sailors Monument which honors New Haven men who gave their lives in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. Erected in 1887, the monument can be seen from pretty much all of the city including when you're driving past New Haven on the interstate and being that I'd seen it many times in passing I figured it was time to get up close and personal for some photographs. Before heading down to New Haven, I checked the city's webpage where it said that "The Summit Drive is open daily April 1 to November 1, 8 a.m. to sunset. November 1 to March 31, road to summit is open Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting." Even though it was cold and windy, it was still bright and sunny so the weather should have been permitting the drive to be open, right? Wrong!

Well what the heck?  Thinking that perhaps things had changed since whenever it was that New Haven thought to update their webpage, I walked over and took a look at the sign next to the closed gate ...

Uhm ... okay ... it was most definitely Saturday and it was most definitely between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. as I had met Patti at noon exactly and it only took about 15 minutes to drive over to East Rock Park but that gate was most definitely closed and there was no way that I was going to ask a woman who had recently undergone a surgical procedure with another major one looming on the horizon to hike up to a statue in 35-degree temperatures. I certainly didn't want to see the Soldiers & Sailors Monument that badly!

Oh well, on to Plan B which was to go by the New Haven Green and take some pictures of the historic churches located there.  We drove down to the Green but as I looked around at the Yalies all hanging around and the other assorted denizens of New Haven I decided that perhaps it was just way too cold and windy to be schlepping around in downtown New Haven so why not just go get something to eat instead?  Patti concurred and after a little while we found ourselves sitting in a booth at the Texas Roadhouse in West Haven ordering chicken in a steak joint!

We had a lovely lunch and chatted about my recent cruise and her recent visits to the doctor as well as her upcoming stint on an episode of Ghost Hunters which revolves around the Sterling Opera House and the mysterious lights that we saw there when myself, Patti, and my friend Amy spent Halloween Night in 2009 exploring the old opera house. Had I not been off cruising the Eastern Caribbean when the lead investigators for TAPS - Jason and Grant - were in Derby doing their thing, you can darn well bet that I would have been in Derby watching as Patti got interviewed for the show! Darn the luck for missing that one!  But I certainly won't miss it when the show airs in either April or May and I've got my fingers crossed that Patti's part does not end up on the cutting room floor!

Following lunch - which included a visit to the table by the owner of the restaurant (Mike must have been 7 feet tall if he was a foot!) who gave us each a coupon for a free appetizer being that it was our first visit to his establishment - we decided to take a drive out to Lighthouse Point Park to try to take some pictures out there being that it was still a beautiful sunny day.

The above picture is of the view out to Long Island Sound from next to the lighthouse.  As you can see, the water was pretty choppy and that was because it was darned windy which in turn made it darned cold! It's easy to tell from the picture of Patti below that her hair was blowing around pretty good as she checked her camera to see if she liked the shot she had just taken.

As I looked at the old lighthouse which was built out of brownstone in 1847 and named Five Mile Point Light, I thought that it most definitely was in need of a new coat of paint but then I thought that maybe they kept it that way for a more "rustic" look!  The lighthouse went out of operation in 1877 when Southwest Ledge Light (you can barely make it out in the picture of Long Island Sound above) became operational but apparently the City of New Haven sometimes offers climbing tours of the tower.  Gee, I wonder how far up the winding stairs I could get before I needed a medic?!?

In front of the lighthouse facing the Sound is the below monument marking a spot where British troops landed in 1779 with the intent to burn down New Haven ... the marker seems a bit out of place, like it's just sort of been set there until someone can find the proper place to put it.

It's even stranger when you walk around and read the inscription on the back! 

Patti jokingly said that perhaps we should notify the Daughters of the American Revolution in New Haven that that their cannon was missing, something that they probably wouldn't find amusing but would certainly provide us with a laugh or two! Honestly, though, the whole thing just looks like it's been ripped off another spot and dumped where it is but this is New Haven we're talking about so I suspect it's about par for the course. Maybe the same guy who was supposed to open the gates at East Rock Park was supposed to put this marker someplace else!

The above is just another shot of the old New Haven Harbor Light because - as you know - I like pictures of lighthouses and there's no way that I can write a post that contains just one picture of the same lighthouse!

Climbing back into the warmth of the car, we left Lighthouse Point behind and went back over to New Haven proper and the Ikea parking lot where we'd left Patti's car earlier in the day. Having never been to an Ikea before, I was rather looking forward to the experience as I had heard tell that they had cinnamon buns to die for and I just had to find out for myself!

Now, the building above is definitely NOT the Ikea but it is located next to the Ikea and I had to take a picture to share as this is one of those things that I have driven past on the interstate time after time again but never really stopped to look at even though it has always caught my eye.  As I told Patti, I can't help but look at it and think that the darned thing would never survive even the smallest of earthquakes as the top half would just collapse right onto the bottom part of the building. Patti said she'd never even thought about earthquakes and the building but I'm not surprised as Patti has never lived in California unlike myself who has lived there and been through a good number of earthquakes.

Anyhow, enough of that ... this is the main entrance to Ikea ... I bet that whole big "entrance" sign gave it away, huh?

Upon entering the store we made our way to the second floor where there was an enormous cafeteria/dining area with big windows that overlooked the parking lot.  Patti pointed out East Rock Park across the way so I went over to the windows and took a picture of the Soldiers & Sailors Monument way, way, way across the city. See that sort of finger in the middle of the faraway hill? Yep, that's it and that was going to be the best view I had of it all day!

As we walked around the humongous store we came upon a display of Knubbigs which are little round frosted glass table lamps that were quite cute.  Patti had been looking for a new bedside lamp and she thought perhaps a Knubbig might be nice. As she debated whether to buy one or not I made a joke about them being "Knubbig deal" - something that seemed to totally crack Patti up and may have helped her make up her mind to get one. Considering that my goal for the day had been to go to New Haven and try to get her to laugh a time or two, I was very pleased to see her doing just that even if the other shoppers in Ikea were looking at the two of us rather strangely!

After the Knubbig display, we came across a display that portrayed a small business in New Jersey I believe it was.  The owner of the shop had used all merchandise from Ikea to set up her coffee shop and that included the cute little semi-coffee cup that I took a picture of below. Isn't it just darling?

There was another set of even cuter gray half-size coffee cups with saucers but I managed to resist the calls of "buy me, buy me!" that I could distinctly hear from them. Cute or not, I need more coffee cups like I need another cat!  I did however, succomb to a couple of small purchases including some tealights, AAA batteries, a teeny tiny blue stuffed animal for Jamie called a Söt Barnslig (soft toy), and a pretty green Rotera (a small lantern for the tealights).  Patti got herself a pretty pink Rotera that I thought was appropriate considering pink is the official color for breast cancer.

As soon as we got close to the check-out counters we were overwhelmed by the smell of baking cinnamon buns - a smell I'm sure they piped into the air system at the store!  Even though I'm doing quite well at eating healthier lately, I figured I couldn't very well go to Ikea and not get a cinnamon bun after I'd heard so much about them so I bought two to take home with me. I suspect they're really, really good fresh out of the oven but I wanted to bring one home to Jamie and figured I could always pop them into the microwave for a bit if needed.

After we walked back to our cars, I told Patti that a picture simply had to be taken otherwise Mimi would never forgive me so she posed with her Knubbig and her pretty pink Rotera.  As you can tell, it was still pretty darned breezy!

Patti said she needed a picture of me, too, and even though she took one of me holding her purchases, she also took this one where I'm holding Jamie's Söt Barnslig. Even though I'm a little squinty from the position of the sun, I rather like this shot and I generally hate pictures of myself! Like I told Patti, she seems to have a knack for taking good pictures of me but that's probably because she always makes me smile anyway and I'm not having to force it for the camera.

Following our parking lot picture session I told Patti that I had hugs to deliver from some of her friends on Facebook so - much to what will probably be the shock of a lot of you - I then proceeded to give her five big hugs. No doubt people would probably have been looking at us strangely again were they to drive by but I really didn't give a rat's behind what anyone else thought. I've heard tell that cancer is best fought with a positive attitude and a lot of support and I wanted Patti to know that she had that support and then some. Before leaving I told her to be sure to have her husband Ralph let me know how she's doing on Monday and promised her that we'd be getting together again soon then I gave her another big hug and told her I needed to get going before I started crying as making either of us cry was definitely not my goal for the day!

As I walked across the parking lot towards my car and Patti started to climb into hers I turned around and shouted one more thing to her, "Hey! Next time we get together, don't bring the cancer with you, okay?!" Patti smiled and said that was the plan - one that I'm most definitely looking forward to!

A Few Skies for Friday and a Request

I know I mentioned that I would try to get my post about Baltimore up and running today but alas, I've still got a bit more work to do on it so thought that I would instead post a few pictures that I took on a short break from work yesterday evening. I had hoped to take a few pictures of the beautiful full moon but I still haven't acquired the art of taking lunar shots yet and they all look like the sky with a light bulb hanging in the middle of it! Lucky for me, there were some beautiful clouds in the evening sky, though, and no special skills were needed to capture their colors ...




On another definitely less-than-beautiful note, I'd like to take a moment to ask all of you to pop over to the blog of a friend who was just recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkins' lymphoma and who began his chemotherapy treatment yesterday. Even if you don't like Sarge Charlie's politics or always agree with him you have to admit that he's one hell of a patriot and he and his wife, Miss Bee, share a love story for the ages.

Sarge Charlie proudly served our country in the United States Army and was stationed at Danang, Vietnam the exact same year that my father was. That means that he was exposed to the exact same Agent Orange that my father was so, unfortunately, his diagnosis of non-Hodgkins' lymphoma comes as no surprise to me. My father died from complications from the very same cancer that Sarge Charlie has back in February of 2003 after putting up a very good fight and battling the disease for over five years.

Sarge's doctor is wasting no time in proceeding with his treatment and he's now in the hospital undergoing the first chemotherapy treatment of the many that he's going to receive over the next eight months. I bet he'd really appreciate it if you could take the time to leave him a comment - I know that I would as I also know that a positive attitude and the support of other people goes a long ways in battling cancer. Even if you're not the comment-leaving sort, please keep both Sarge Charlie and Miss Bee in your thoughts and prayers for a successful treatment and remission. Thank you!

Getting By With a Little Help From Her Friends

Since leaving behind police & fire dispatching and becoming an ambulance dispatcher almost six years ago, I have met some truly fantastic people. I'd like to introduce you to one of them today ...

To meet Kirsten Frostad, you would think you were meeting a 23-year old with a beautiful smile, sunny personality, and not a care in the world beyond those of every other 23-year old in the world – student loans, plans for the future, and what to do with friends on Saturday night.

Kirsten, however, is not your ordinary 23-year old. She’s a 23-year old who has been diagnosed with Stage Four Hodgkin’s Lymphoma with the rarest subtype of Hodgkin’s known. As a matter of fact, her type is so rare; doctors still aren’t sure what type of cancer has invaded her bone marrow.

A 2003 graduate of Wheeler High School in North Stonington, Kirsten went on to graduate with honors from the University of Connecticut in 2007 majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Her plans were to continue her education as a Physician’s Assistant specializing in oncology at George Washington University . In the meantime, Kirsten began employment at American Ambulance Service, Inc in June of 2008 as an Emergency Medical Technician; a job that was perfect for her as it gave her the chance to help others while saving up for her continuing education.

Her plans and her full-time job came to a halt in October after a swollen lymph node under her arm was biopsied and came back malignant. Following a month and a half of testing, her diagnosis was made and it wasn’t a pleasant one. Kirsten had cancer in her lymph nodes and bone marrow both and it was at Stage 4 – an advanced form of cancer. For someone who wasn’t feeling bad at all, it was an unthinkable diagnosis but reality soon set in when Kirsten went in for her first chemo treatment.

On December 10th, the first round of the powerful drugs that would eradicate the cancer began coursing their way through Kirsten’s system; drugs that left her weak and sick and feeling worse than she ever thought possible. Just a mere two weeks later, on Christmas Day, Kirsten’s hair began to fall out – a fact that she shared with her friends on Facebook and tried to make light of as much as possible.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, there was more to worry about than just the cancer that had invaded her body. Kirsten was obviously unable to work and her health insurance capped out and was canceled leaving her with over $20,000 in accumulated medical bills from the diagnosis and testing alone – never mind the next five rounds of chemo; the trips to Yale-New Haven Hospital to consult with the cancer specialist there in addition to the oncologist she sees in Norwich, and other living expenses which include unpaid student loans from her four years at the University of Connecticut.

On January 14th, Kirsten was finally able to return to work for a single shift at American Ambulance sporting a cute blonde wig courtesy of the American Cancer Society. Her co-workers were very happy to see her back but some weren’t sure how to approach her as there were rumors that she had been given a prognosis of only six months. Kirsten assured her co-workers that was not the case – that she had a six-month chemo schedule to start with – but that there was no horrible prognosis given.

If you ask Kirsten, she’ll tell you that her prognosis is excellent and she is going to beat this thing no matter what it takes. If she can beat it by dint of will and attitude alone, then her cancer doesn’t stand a chance as Kirsten has one of the most positive and upbeat attitudes ever. There is no feeling sorry for herself, no sitting in the corner and crying “why me?”, and no flagging of spirit in spite of not knowing what sort of cancer has invaded her bone marrow. She is an inspiration to everyone who meets her and rightly so.

Unfortunately, Kirsten is also fast going broke as she’s only able to work one eight or ten hour shift every three weeks due to a chemo schedule that makes it hard to work any more hours than that. By the time she’s starting to feel better and able to work, it’s time for another round of chemicals and then she’s down for the count again for another week or two. It’s a tough cycle – especially for someone who is normally so vibrant and active and would much rather spend her time taking care of others rather than having others take care of her.

A fundraiser for Kirsten has been planned by her sister and other friends for April 11th in the hopes that enough people will be able to join together to help alleviate some of Kirsten’s financial worries and make the difficult time that she’s going through perhaps a tiny bit easier. Money is not something that she should have to worry about at this point – getting well and beating the cancer should be her only concern.

If you live in the local area and want to attend Kirsten’s fundraiser, the spaghetti dinner will be held at the Pawcatuck VFW from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will include music by the band Double-Fisted as well as a raffle. If you can’t make it to the fundraiser but would still like to contribute a little bit to help Kirsten out, please feel free to click on the PayPal button below and make a donation. If you have any questions, please send them to for.kikii@gmail.com and someone will get right back to you.

Even though she hasn't asked for any of this help, I have no doubt that Kirsten will appreciate every single penny given as each one helps to lift the weight of the burdens that cancer has been placed on her way-too-young shoulders. Thank you!

To help us help Kirsten, click here -

Walk! In the Name of Love - Volume II

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Scroll down for Wordless Wednesday!

In a previous post I mentioned that one of my blogging buddies from here in Connecticut is participating in the 5k walk for Breast Cancer in honor of Empress Bee of the High Sea. She's doing wonderfully well in reaching her goal and is almost there but I wanted to make mention that Mags is not the only blogger I know who is doing something in honor of one of the most wonderful ladies in the Blogosphere.

Asara, another one of the most wonderful ladies in the Blogosphere, from Asara's Mental Meanderings is taking up the same cause on October 20th when she walks for breast cancer in her home state of Michigan. If you haven't donated yet, there's still time and you can either visit Asara's page and click on the pink ribbon on her sidebar or even easier, click here for to visit her personal page for the walk.

If each person donated only $5 think what a difference it could make! By itself these days $5 won't get much but when you add it to lots of other $5 it can do lots and lots and lots! Click the link and donate - you know you want to!

"He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything." ~ Arabic Proverb

I've never been the most energetic person on the face of the earth but neither would I have classified myself as a slug. Not until this past Spring that is, when I started to feel like I couldn't get out of my own way. No matter what time I went to bed I awoke tired and feeling like I hadn't slept at all; the smallest bit of strenuous exercise left me horribly winded with my heart beating at what felt like a mile a minute; and very recently even a short walk up a small incline has left me trying to catch my breath.

I had the feeling that all of this couldn't be entirely attributed to my advancing years, that perhaps there was something wrong somewhere, so I went to see my doctor. After going through the pin-cushion process several times and having what seemed like a hundred tubes of blood drawn, it was determined that I'm no longer on the edge of anemia, where I had sat for pretty much as long as I could remember. Instead I had jumped solidly down on the side of iron-deficiency anemia complete with miniscule red blood cells and low serum ferritin levels.

That certainly explains the fatigue, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, leg cramps, insomnia, etc., etc. - I've been feeling like I'm exhausted because I am exhausted. My red blood cells are too depleted to carry oxygen to my vital organs and apparently one's vital organs don't much care for it when they don't get enough oxygen. Go figure ....

My regular doctor referred me over to a hematologist, a doctor that specializes in blood and blood-forming organs, and as such I paid my first visit to Eastern Connecticut Hematology & Oncology this past Monday. For some reason, it didn't dawn on me until I stepped off of the elevator and stood facing the door that it was the office of Dr. Slater, my father's oncologist.

I had only been to Dr. Slater's office once and that was shortly after my father had died so unexpectedly during his CAT scan. Natually my mother and brothers and I had questions as to what had happened and Dr. Slater himself seemed flummoxed by the whole thing. He seemed genuinely upset about my father's death and assured us that it was not due to his non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He understood that we had questions but he didn't have any answers to give us. My Dad had very much liked Dr. Slater and felt that he had prolonged his life by several years when his previous oncologist had told him he had done all that he could do. In no way did I hold Dr. Slater responsible for what had happened but it was just a little disconcerting to be standing outside of his office.

As I sat in the waiting room filling out my paperwork, it occured to me that perhaps my father had sat in the same place filling out his own paperwork or waiting to be called in for his own appointment. For the first time, it dawned on me that I wasn't at a regular doctor's office, I was at an office that treated people with cancer - with diseases so horrible that we're afraid to mention them for fear that they'll attach themselves to the breath that we used to utter their names and we, ourselves, will become infected. As I looked around at the others waiting like myself I wondered what had brought them here, what their prognoses were, what the rest of their lives held in store for them.

After being called to an outer office and more blood was drawn (geez, I'm anemic as it is and you're taking more blood??) I met with the hematologist who explained my condition to me and the treatment that I needed. The cause of my anemia is yet to be determined but for now what it comes down to is that I'm a couple quarts low on iron and I need a fill-up. To that end, I am receiving intravenous iron infusions once a week for the next ten weeks.

I went in for my first infusion yesterday and though it wasn't painful, the whole experience was disturbing. I was led into another part of the office where reclining chairs are set up not more than four feet apart and though there were curtains dividing each section, they were all pulled back. There were eight chairs that I could count and most of those chairs were occupied by people in various stages of chemotheraphy treatments. To my far left was an older man and his wife receiving instructions on the pump that would be his constant companion both day and night while he received continuous doses of medicine. Next to him was a woman who was sleeping while her husband read a Stephen King paperback in a chair by her feet as the IV pump next to her sent medication through her body for what I later learned was breast cancer. On my right was a young boy of 15 who was receiving a treatment while his mother discussed school with him. There were several others beyond him, all either napping, watching TV, or chatting with a companion while they were in some form of treatment.

It hit me harder this time that I was probably sitting in the very same chair that my father had sat in when he came in for his own chemotherapy treatments; that of all the times he was there chances were real good that he had sat in that very spot several times wondering how the rest of his life was going to play out while my mother sat lovingly next to him and the medications ran into his veins. As I watched the old couple at the end receive their instructions and the man's wife ask a myriad of questions regarding his treatment, I could easily imagine the scene being played over and over again by so many others before them and no doubt many more behind them.

As I watched the fluids drip into my own arm I felt a bit like an intruder, an interloper, in a place where life and death is dependent on the treatments that those around me were receiving. But I also felt a lot of hope and love in that room. Hope that the treatments would be successful, hope that life would go on a little longer because of the medications that were being received, hope that soon maybe life could go back to "normal". The love was evident in the way a husband massaged his wife's feet while she slept, the way a mother laughed with her son, the way a worried wife asked questions.

It was a humbling experience and probably will be for each and every one of the nine times I go back there. Maybe by then I'll have gotten used to that room and the things that go on there but I rather hope not.