Dan Digs It…and That's A Good Sign

A big smile spread across his face as grandson Dan looked at the new picture of his grandma.  "She has grandpa hair.  I LIKE it!"

My wife has cancer.  Diagnosed a few weeks back with "large B cell lymphoma", Linda has begun chemotherapy and it has, on schedule, taken her hair. No big deal really when you consider the consequences of not addressing the situation.  This is the "cancer to have" friends and survivors tell us.  We have no reason to doubt this declaration and pray that it's true.  Looking at the statistics it appears that the odds are in our favor.  If determination and attitude have a part in this--and I hear they do--Linda will beat this evil bastard back to hell and live to dance on its grave.  She's tough and able to endure anything, even 45 years of me.

I share this reluctantly.  Neither of us relish revealing more than absolutely necessary about ourselves. (The blog I do mostly for laughs and my own mental health.)  Linda, before retiring, was a librarian.  She prefers books to talking about herself.   As for me,  I sought the comfort of anonymity by hiding out on the radio where I could say anything I pleased without anyone seeing me.  Bosses, however, knew what I looked like and often made me pay for my temerity with my job, precisely why I wrangled the hits for 17 different stations in 40 years.  Some guys just can't take a joke…or a kick in the nuts.

I compose this as I sit by Linda's side for her latest chemo treatment.  The bag of good/bad poison is nearly empty and we will go home.  There will be some rough days ahead and just as she begins to once again feel fine it will be time for another visit to the clinic.  She'll be done sometime in late June.

This blog will not be posted if Linda does not approve.  The last thing I want is for her to be upset or embarrassed by anything stupid I might say.  There is little else on my mind these days; so I can think of no other subject on which to bloviate.  I too feel better knowing that maybe some of you who may also be experiencing cancer up close and personal will take some comfort in knowing that others are also in the fight.  And, if necessary, let this serve as a sympathetic nod to friends and relatives who didn't receive the empathy and concern they should have from Linda and me when you needed it.  We just didn't know.

With luck Linda will be in recovery and feeling fine by mid summer and we can fulfill our dream of moving to beautiful Lake Coeur d' Alene, Idaho to live long healthy lives.  This has been our plan for quite awhile now.  Of course,  some wag--I forget who--once sagely observed:  "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans."