Admittedly
facing cancer and chemo is less fairy tale than scary tale.
And
yet.
A few hours into my first chemo treatment when
the nurse asked how I was feeling, I said
sleepy and dopey--and instantly thought of Snow White. I pulled out my cell
phone and whipped off something like the following email to my family.
Once
upon a time DOC gave me anti-nausea
drugs that make me SLEEPY, borderline
HAPPY, and just DOPEY enough to not be BASHFUL.
The miracle drugs are working and I am so grateful not to be nauseous because
that would make me GRUMPY. And, I’m
not having an allergic reaction like I did with anesthesia after surgery so Chemo
didn’t make me SNEEZY.
Oh,
and did I mention I’m sitting here with my prince?
While
my ditty lacks literary merit, my writer-self coming out to play during my
first chemo treatment felt absolutely huge.
If
it were up to me, I’d add a couple more dwarfs to the mix. The first time the
nurse put the needle into my access port, I filled up with tears. Not because
she hurt me, I barely felt it, but that needle under my skin, made chemo feel
more real. So I’d add a dwarf named Weepy.
And for balance I’d add Hopeful,
because that is how I want to face each day.
The
day before my chemo, I had a networking breakfast with one of my writing
mentors, and a writer we’d never met before who wanted to pick our brains.
The
new writer told me he believes the prayer of strangers is very powerful and
that he would pray for my recovery. My mentor said, “I’m praying for you too. I’m praying you keep writing.”
I’m
pretty sure he wasn’t talking about a three sentence scary tale. And, yet, I’m
guessing when he reads this, it will make him smile.
