SICK NURSES, CHRISTMAS CAROLERS, AND WHAT DID YOU SAY?

Got to the Chemo Center at 7:30 a.m. for chemo number five? Turns out all the nurses are sick and wearing masks. The port works great, no pain, no looking for veins. I can’t look at the port hole but I would like to go on a cruise. There’s an issue about the chemo, (big surprise), and Michelle’s side effects, small loss of hearing and ringing in the ears. So we wait for the nurse practitioner to meet with us before starting the chemo. Well, it turns out that the nurse practitioner is worried about giving her the chemo that works because of the ringing in the ears and hearing loss and the nurse on call doesn’t want to give it to her either. Now at this point I find myself getting a little crazy and desperately needing a Quaalude, which they don’t make anymore. WTF! I want her to get the chemo and so does the doctor because let’s see what are the choices. Ringing in the ears, hearing loss or cancer. For me that’s a no brainer. I don’t want to even imagine what ringing in the ears is like for Michelle. I know it isn’t a small thing. But we’re talking cancer. Now I can’t hear out of my left ear and if Michelle loses some hearing in her ears, then we will just be those people that say what, what, what all the time. You know those people that have their TV up so loud that the neighbors are pounding on the walls. We can learn sign language. So we talked with the nurse decided she’s going to go with the chemo this time and the other half next week. But also Michelle wants to see what the tumor markers have to say because if they are lower than this chemo is working for sure. So they start the chemo and this is all upsetting because Michelle gets these damn side effects and they’re not minor.

So we’re hanging out and all of a sudden Christmas Carolers are down the hall. It was a nice surprise and they came and sang for Michelle. I asked for Adam Sandler’s Chanukah song, but they didn’t know it. I love Christmas Carolers at a Jewish Hospital. See we can all get along. Which reminds me of the time my mom and I went to visit my grandfather’s grave at a Jewish cemetery and brought a Christmas tree with all the trimmings and left it there. So we finish the chemo six hours later and leave hoping Michelle’s ringing doesn’t get worse. We’re supposed to check back with the nurse about the ringing when we come in the next day for hydration. Later on that day we get the call that the tumor markers are back down to 18, which is really great. Good news at this point is a wonderful thing!