Cancer, Life, Family, Stuff…

So... my Aunt Pat has been going through chemo and I’ve been sitting with her… she “seems” fine… she may sleep while I read, she may sleep while I watch my iPod, we both may sleep, we both may read, she may read while I watch, or we both may chat… although one day I got her to watch ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ on my iPod. Wasn’t sure if she’d like it, but she did. Kept her pre-occupied for 60-90 mins of her chemo at the least. Maybe next time I should have her watch Twilight, which I have on my iPod yes, just because it’s an escape and she may enjoy that.

Recently at her appointment, we got 2 recliner seats at the end of the room together (which is kind of hit or miss). We settled in and then I noticed this woman in one seat and a young 20+ something guy in the other. Well, the guy was getting chemo, and the woman was obviously with him in some capacity… as family or caregiver of some sort. My Great Aunt ended up asking and she said that she was his Mom. He was bundled up with his iPod plugged in. My Great Aunt said “I bet you wish that was you.” And she said “Yes.”. He ended up going to the bathroom part way and seemed capable. It was just my first experience of seeing a probably ‘under 40’ person there getting chemo. And to see that it was someone likely younger than me, was heartbreaking,

I have been helping her (my Great Aunt) out with these appointments of hers for a while now. My family takes turns, when they can. And when they can’t, it falls on me, as the unemployed family member. And I don’t mean that in a negative way, it’s just the fact. Sure she can hire cabs, ambulances, or other medical couriers to take her back and forth… but when she has living family, she shouldn’t have to. She has no children of her own, and her husband passed away years ago.

Spending time with her makes me think of spending time with my Grandma, who passed away years ago. She was my Grandma growing up, and I love her. But as an adult, I was never really there for her when she got sick. I was around, but wasn’t the “go to” person for these things. I was a bit younger then, and my Mom being a nurse of 30 years has always been that “go to” person. This is great for us, and the sick, because she knows best. But feel bad that her profession sometimes engulfs her life. And I don’t really mean “engulf”, it’s just that she is the phone call people make.

But anyway… my biggest memory of my Grandmother of my adult life, was spending 9/11 with her. After waking up how I did to the tragic news, I called her and headed over. I spent the day with her watching the news, and think we ordered Chinese for dinner, LOL.

Anyway… this last week I had the flu. And I haven’t had the flu in I don’t know how long. But I had dizzy spells, fever, etc. Not fun. The climax of it, was I drove to my Great Aunt’s last Wed to take her to her blood test, prior to her PET scan on Thurs, and as soon as I got there I thought I was going to get sick and pass out. I did one of the 2. Needless to say, I crawled into her bed and slept right then and didn’t leave until the next day. She rescheduled her appt and checked in on my from time to time. She gave me her bed, until 11pm or so when she was done watching her CSI and Ugly Betty, then I swapped to the couch. She couldn’t handle sleeping there, which I understand. When she and I woke up in the morning, she ushered me back to her bed. But it just made me wonder, who really was the sick one. And should I be complaining?

Then that afternoon, my Mom picked me up and took me to her house and I stayed there 3 nights, 2 of which were illness related. She, as I stated being the nurse, is great at all the “taking care of you” stuff. I needed her for making sure I drank fluids, actually ate some solid food, etc. which I may have neglected otherwise. I’m glad I stayed there. But by Saturday, I was 80% better, and so excited! I hadn’t been that happy to feel good in a while. And had Savannah’s bridal shower today, that I would have been bummed if I had missed.