Insights From Oncology

I spent the morning in oncology for my monthly three hour IV yesterday. I received treatment in a small Wisconsin town, Osceola, located along the St. Croix River, just east of Minnesota's Twin Cities. The facility was brand new. The ward was clean, bright and friendly. I shared the room with two other patients. One was a middle aged ovarian cancer survivor who contracted leukemia during chemotherapy. The other a twenty-five year old woman suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma. Years of treatment have left her without much hair. She was reluctantly anticipating a transplant using stem cells from donated umbilical chords after the first of the year. I tried to write, using my lap-top, but found myself distracted by conversations between the women and Cathleen, our oncology nurse. I always had my own room in the old facility. At first I was annoyed by the lack of privacy. I wasn't getting my work done. But as the hours passed, I began to appreciate the communal setting. Had I been alone, I would never have met two brave women living their lives with cancer.

Feel good and keep smiling! Pat