THE BATTLE RAGES ON

My ordeal with leukemia was far from over. There was still chemotherapy and frequent visits to the doctor. Some time in June, Dr Singh became a US citizen and became Dr Gill (it’s a long story).

After one chemo treatment, I wasn’t “bouncing back” as quickly as he wanted, so I went back into the hospital. So, I ended up spending 4th of July in the hospital. Pat and her girls, Jennie and Lauren, came up and decorated my room for 4th of July. It was so cool! I was the envy of the oncology ward! (In 2004, I spent quite a few major holidays in Harris HEB: my birthday in February, Mother’s Day, Fourth of July.

Michael

But there was also a very sad event. I really didn’t feel bad, so much of the time the nurses pretty much left me to my own devices, unless I needed them. One evening, when Tony came to visit, he told me he had seen Michael (Navarrate’s) truck downstairs. Michael and his wife, Gabby (Gabriela) owned Miguelito’s Mexican Restaurant in Hurst and Michael had been diagnosed with AML in December, with me following in February. He also had occupied Room 212 before me. So he and I and another lady, Andrea Lorden, were “chemo buddies.” (Andrea had been diagnosed with AML in November, 2003.) Anyway, I really didn’t think too much of it until the next morning I was aware of a lot of activity in the hallways and the nurses moving a lot of beds around. When Tammy came in to take my vitals later that morning, I said something to the effect that they had been quite busy earlier. She told me that they had a patient in ICU that they had to move to Oncology and that “we’re probably going to lose them.” She looked upset and I just asked if it was a young person or an older person and she said “young.” I asked if it was male or female, and she said, “Male. . . . You know him.” I remembered what Tony had said about Michael the night before and I said, “Not Michael?!?!?” She just nodded affirmative and I could see the tears in her eyes. (Everybody loved Michael.) He had had a stroke and was on life support. That was Friday morning. Saturday evening they took him off life support and Sunday morning he died. I knew instantly when he died – I heard the commotion and crying. I had gone down Friday after Tammy told me and asked Gabby if I could come in and pray with them. I didn’t know her well, but she recognized me and said yes so I prayed with her and their 15-year-old daughter, Nicole. They had five children ages 5 to 15. Michael was only 42.

Blood Clots

Then, in October, I went back in the hospital again, this time with a blood clot in my right arm. Dr Gill put me on a blood thinner, Coumadin, and the nurses put a sign over my bed not to stick me in my right arm. It was a cute little sign with an angel. This time, I missed getting to see Max Lucado when he spoke at our church. But when I was telling one of the PCTs (Hortencia) about him speaking there, she managed to trade with another PCT and so she got to go see him.

I was in for two weeks this time and when I got out I would have had time to go to the Bluebonnet Camp the hospital sponsors for cancer patients and survivors. But after being away from Tony for two weeks, I just wanted to go home.

“Hair”

“Gimme a head with hair, long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there, (hair!)
Shoulder length, longer (hair!)
Here baby, there mama, Everywhere daddy daddy
Chorus:
Hair! (hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair)
Flow it, Show it;
Long as God can grow it, My Hair!”

So go the lyrics to the title song from the Broadway musical of the 60’s, Hair.

I actually lost my hair twice to chemotherapy: once while in the hospital, and again after I got out. It think it was my 2nd or 3rd round of chemo. I had always had really thick hair. When I lost it the first time, I told Tony that I guess when it grew back, we’d find out what color it really was.

When it finally grew back, it came in even thicker than before. And naturally curly. Not kinky curly, just a lot of body and enough curl to make it so very easy to manage and style. I loved it! I had always wanted naturally curly hair. Everyone I had ever known with naturally curly hair tried to tell me I wouldn’t like it. Oh, how wrong they were!

But it was very salt & peppery, so I had it colored, then highlighted. Then cut. I guess with all the chemicals, it lost its curl. Eventually, I had to have it perm’d. Bummer.

“Thank God I Had Cancer”

Soon after I returned to work, Linda and Sally gave me a book titled “Thank God I Had Cancer,” written by R. King Neal.* (He was our United Way representative at Bates.) When I saw the title, I thought to myself, “Oh my gosh! I know exactly where he’s coming from!” Then, after reading about him on the back of the book and just a few lines from the first chapter, I thought, “Oh my gosh! I could have written this book! It’s about ME!” So much about having cancer was a blessing. It brought me closer to God than I ever thought possible. I always thought I had a great relationship with God. I prayed daily. I went to church. I read my Bible regularly. I studied Scripture. I read various non-fiction books written by Christian authors about dealing with different issues and using God to help deal with them. I went to women’s Bible study groups. But until I had cancer, I had never had such an intimate relationship with my Lord and Savior. I learned how caring total strangers can be. I received over 50 get-well cards, many from people I don’t even know but go to my church. I received e-mails from total strangers, Prayer Warriors, from all over the United States who were praying for me. They knew someone who knew someone who knew me…

And, oh my gosh, Bates! What did they not do for me? Darla (Smitherman) put together a basket for my family with snacks, candy bars, playing cards, word puzzle books, crossword puzzle books, sodas, magazines - all sorts of things to occupy their time while they sat with me. Sally (Bustamante) sent Erik (Larsen) to my house every morning to pick up my parents and take them to the hospital. Then he came by every evening around 4, picked them up and took them back home. Debbie (Sullivan) brought me a laptop computer that Doug (Fretz) had set up so I could access the Internet from the hospital. That way, I could keep in touch with family and friends. Linda (Timmons) brought me a combination TV-VCR so Tony could bring me videos from home to watch when I got bored with the hospital’s TV. Debbie came to see me several times, as did Linda. Donna Medford came by one day and brought me the prettiest robe. I got e-mails from many of my Bates family while I was there.

Shortly after returning to work, we had our quarterly awards luncheon at Bates. Coincidentally, I was one of the award recipients, having just celebrated my 5th year at Bates. For each award recipient, Sally sends a questionnaire prior to the luncheon to get biographical information like marital status, spouse’s name, number of children, favorite pastimes, and who you would most like to have dinner with. When she called my name, before reading my “bio,” she talked about my long absence because of the leukemia, and said I was “truly an inspiration to us all.” I got such a standing ovation from my “family,” it was almost embarrassing. It seemed to last forever. Mark (Sanders) was smiling from ear to ear as I walked up to receive my award (a $250 gift certificate to Circuit City, with which I bought a digital camera).

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*I have since lost this book, which makes me very sad, since it was such an inspirational book and had meant so much to me.