Dear Friends and Family,
There’s a common question on the “penthouse” floor of LDS Hospital: “How do you like my bald head?”
No, the question wasn’t from my Nancy. Our twenty-two-year-old friend Megan, the young woman fighting ovarian cancer, was readmitted to the hospital this morning and is once again our next-door neighbor. Megan’s newest complication is a kidney infection, and she has returned to receive powerful IV antibiotics that must be monitored in the hospital. As a prelude to her first chemotherapy course, she has shaved her beautiful, very thick, very long, very dark hair. But the long strands will not go to waste. Megan has donated them to the American Cancer Society to have wigs made for young children with cancer.
After admission, our youthful friend laughed and didn’t seem to mind when I walked over and rubbed her fuzzy round dome as I responded to her question, “I love it, Megan. In fact, I’m partial to bald-headed women. I know one in the next room who sends her best.”
“How is Nancy?”
Even before I could answer, Megan closed her eyes, and in seconds, was asleep. The bed swallows her tiny frame; she was barely over one hundred pounds before her cancer and subsequent surgery—and now, she is probably just a little over eighty.
Several minutes later, Megan’s eyes reopened. I knew to continue our conversation as if there had been no pause because Nancy has done the same thing many times when chemotherapy or the disease (or both) have sapped her energy
“Nancy cruised through her second round of chemotherapy. It was much easier the second time around than it was the first.”
My chest felt like my heart weighed a million pounds. (Megan’s mother has told me the chemotherapy has started roughly.) I hope her experience in the second round will mirror Nancy’s. Hopefully, Megan will go home tomorrow if there are no complications. Unlike Nancy, whose immune status precludes being outside the hospital, Megan is able to continue her treatment as an outpatient in the oncology clinic. Her prognosis remains very upsetting to me.
Summary: Please continue the positive energy for the next week or so as Nancy’s immune status will be at its lowest. She and I both truly appreciate it. During the dark, lonely, or frightening times I try to focus on the love you send us. It makes all the difference in the world. Also, if you have anything left over, send it in Megan’s direction.
With love,
Winnie