Fundraiser News
The Lemonade Stands for Hope fundraiser we participated in was a smashing success! Click here to read a little more and check out a photo.
This Week
When I started my run of radiation treatments, I was sad and upset on the first day (Monday) rather than the fourth day as I’d described last post. The drive into Winnipeg was good, but as soon as I stepped out of the car, a cloud came over my mood.
There was only one other person in the treatment waiting area. The TV in the corner burbled away. Trying to distract myself from my foul mood, I put in earbuds and started playing a video game. A moment later I heard a ‘clunk’ a few seats away, and when I glanced up, and elderly woman with a harp was turning down the volume on the TV.
Where had she come from? I didn’t think I’d been so immersed in my game that I’d miss someone moving near me with a large harp, of all things. But I wanted to hear, so I put the game and my earbuds away to listen.
She began to play something soft and pleasant, and reader, I don’t mind admitting to you: I started to cry. Eventually the other patient was called in, so for a few minutes it was just us. And I continued crying. The thought that kept repeating in my mind was: “This isn’t normal,” and because of that, maybe because of all the weirdness since May…I sobbed.
(if I’m being completely honest, my actual thought had more profanity in it)
Eventually I was called in. Before I left, I managed to thank the harp lady for her playing. I dried my eyes as I walked, and collected myself as I lay on the table being irradiated again. And of course, when I came back out, she was gone.
Make of this story what you will. I’m not going to try and make some grand point out of it. I just wanted to remember the Harp Lady. Thank you for making a difficult day more bearable.
The rest of the week continued as the others have. Rides to Winnipeg, chats, chemo pills, radiation. My potassium’s a little low, so I’m knocking back two bananas a day now. The real trouble has been– well, this is where things might get unpleasant to read, so you can skip to the next heading if you want.
So we knew going in that the radiation was going to irritate the areas it was hitting, and since the area is my rectum, it’s meant that in the past few days my bowel movements have become burningly painful. I can mitigate this with medicated wipes and warm baths, but those aren’t clearing away the irritation entirely, and I’ve been stopping to make odd faces and sounds of discomfort as I’m just moving around the house.
I’ll admit that I’m increasingly anxious about the next few weeks. I’ve come this far and I will keep going, but I can only hope things don’t get much worse.
Looking Ahead
🎵One week more!🎶
Once again, if you see people having a huge multinational celebration in, say Paris for instance, that’s a party for ME because on Friday I’ve completed my first round of treatments.
21/25 radiation treatments done and 168/200 chemotherapy pills taken. As 80’s new wave band Wang Chung once sang, “Let’s Go!”
In the words of Sheldon’s mom whenever Sheldon was sick 🎶 Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur! Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr! 🎶
Oh Nathan, I love your story about the harp lady. God meets us in our deepest need. And I just know He sent that woman to touch your soul that morning.
Wow, thanks for sharing! I love the harp lady even though I’ve never met her. God often knows how to orchestrate things in just the right way to meet our emotional needs – even when our emotional need is just to cry. Sometimes I imagine Him as this big artist, painting this huge, elaborate painting to put all these different circumstances and people together to work it out so that we meet Him and feel Him in ways like listening to the harp lady. It’s beautiful. And mysterious. And elaborate. And mind-blowing. Love to you, Nathan!