11 Hours of Chemo: The Rest of the Day

Snippets from CDfH:

A good friend of mine was in Israel for about a week, and the best time for her to visit was Tuesday afternoon. Since I expected to leave the hospital "on time", I invited her to come visit me at home that afternoon. So when the doctor ordered an antihistamine to counteract the itchiness, I negotiated the dosage down to a half dose. I hoped that by the time I got home, the drowsiness wouldn't be so bad.

I didn't feel the effects at first, so Yael and I set up to play scrabble (no scoring, just coming up with clever words). It was fun, but after only a few rounds, I started feeling woozy. We packed up the game and I spent the next few hours in a haze. I dozed off a little, but not too much.

The half-dose turned out to be a blessing. Given the full dose, combined with my being a naturally deep sleeper, I doubt I would have woken up to inform the doctor of the pressure in my chest. And, once I knew how serious the pressure was, there was no way I was going to fall asleep.

Of course, I took the half-dose so that I could visit with my friend.... but that didn't happen, since I wasn't going home so fast and she couldn't bring her child with her to the hospital. (though we didn't have quite as long a visit, my friend did come to see me the next day)

Gam zu l'tovah (all's well that ends well)

The sleepiness wore off later in the day, around the time I was moved into the hallway of the oncology unit. Yael had cleared her calendar for the day, and I was very grateful for her constant company. We did not run out of things to talk about!

In the middle of one of our conversations, an older woman came over and asked if she could join us. The woman was very cute, but quite during most of the conversation, and she left after a while.

Later, however, after Yael left, the woman came back and we spoke for about an hour. She told me all about when she was young... and Israel was young... and I got a really nice "picture" of a simpler time.

A bit later, my sister came. And when she had to leave, my friend Sari came.

I was glad for the opportunity to spend time with both of them!

All in all, I spent a lot of time talking and listening and spending time with interesting women.

What could be bad about that?

Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA