sasha

had a beautiful 24 hours with sasha.

so grateful that i have such a sensitive child in my life. getting to see the world through the eyes of a 16 year-old is rare and lovely.

suddenly, everything is pristine and sparkling as a fresh snow fall. things are faceted with possibilities.

sasha is not always easy, but she is kind, fragile and, as a teenager should, wears her emotions so close to the surface you can almost run your fingertips across them feel them trembling. sometimes, an immersion into her vulnerability leaves me so breathless and raw, i can barely speak.

at the moment, she is full of questions about her own strengths and talents, the painful process of learning to balance pleasure and self-discipline and of course, the anger an adolescent has towards her authority figures. (and there are lots of times when we deserve it.)

feeling so lucky i am able to listen to her, lucky that she is the person who ended up being my daughter.

so after 24 hours of being really stressed-out and worried about my kids, i convinced james to bring sasha home for a bit of a reconnection. she spent the night, went to see a friend, and then we hung out all afternoon until james came to pick her up for the evening.

now relieved and a bit sad because i miss her, too.

co-parenting in the time of cholera

trying to be consistent with another parent is hard enough when your life is normal and you're together, but when you're sick and immobile

and the other parent is an exhusband with a new partner and he privately thinks you are deranged and power-hungry,

it is almost impossible.

so while i'm in hospital getting chemo - dad "trusted" them when they texted to say that they were at friends' houses - and they, like any smart teenagers, stayed in our empty apartment and threw a party that got so out of control, the neighbors had to come downstairs and close it down.

i found because my neighbor kindly texted me in hospital to ask if it had been ok'ed.

dad was most angry - not because random drunk people were showing up at his unchaperoned teenaged daughters' door - but because they made him look stupid.

the following weekend, when i was back in chemo and they were grounded for their illicit party, there was a change in travel plans.

dad was stuck with the kids on saturday night when he had somewhere to go and so did his girlfriend.

so he decided, yet again, he "trusted" them and planned to leave them in HIS apartment alone, this time with the younger sister. fortunately, my brother went and picked them up and brought them home.

his response - he doesn't like "being a policeman."

thus homework is not often done, the girls wear inappropriate clothes and talk back (all like normal teenagers) - but there is no parent either physically able or willing to monitor them.

augh.

oh well

i had convinced myself that the cancer was absolutely gone and i didn't need any more chemo.

was suddenly imagining entire weeks where my energy levels just kept getting better. thinking i'd be swimming laps again.

i called the doctor's office this morning at 9 am and left a message with the secretary.

then again at 12:47. the secretary told me they weren't in yet.

so, like a stalker, i called again 2. the secretary told me they'd call as soon as they got the results.

so all day, i was cross and anxious and pacing the floor. i'd been arguing with my dad about why i didn't need a hysterectomy.

and i even broke down and put some parmesan on my gluten-free pasta with broccoli rabe (sweetly homemade by my worried friend zia). i ate a dark-chocolate-covered almond.

i was waiting to hear that my blood hormone levels, the ones that tell you how much cancer is left in my body would be zero. or at least around 5, which is normal.

just to give you idea, when i went into hospital on november 20, they were 189,000.

anyway, after my first round of chemo, they dropped to 48,620, on the next 12,573, then 2047.

so like 15 year-old girl waiting for a boy to call, i was irritable and in limbo.

i kept checking my cell phone, every five minutes, even took it into the bathroom when i was in the shower, so i could jump out and answer it, just in case.

though when she finally called back, i was on the phone with my mum telling her to stop being so negative because the cancer was almost gone and that i was no longer interested in discussing hysterectomies with her.

the phone message - delivered in an upbeat, irish voice - "your levels are going down very nicely! it's 137."

i should be overjoyed about that number, the doctors seems to feel it's miraculous. but i'm so sad. it's not over.

that means at the very least, two to four more weeks of chemo.

at my next doctor's appointment, i am going to see how i can bring this to an end sooner. not sure how many more toxic chemicals i can take...

the day after

one day after chemo, two days after christmas. i've decided that all this cancer-craziness will be over by the first of february. maybe even sooner if i can work it.

from my last set of blood tests, more than 3 weeks ago, there was barely any sign of the hormones this rare uterine cancer produces. in fact, the chemo nurse was so overexcited he came rushing into the hospital room to wake me up and tell me.

the worst thing that can happen during holidays is getting sick.

a last-minute strep throat and your only choice is four-hours under fluorescent lights surrounded by moaning injuries at the emergency room, or hope for the minute clinic at the CVS - if it's still open.

all the serious doctors leave town. as they should, it's a grueling job, they need a vacation. but that means there is lots of room for being ignored. for stuff happening on automatic pilot. for nurses saying, "i can't do anything until i talk to the doctor." to a doctor. to any doctor...

the nurses who are left shuffling around the hospital continue like automatrons, simply following the printed list of instructions.

in 1995, i had a baby (zarina) one desolate weekend when my ob-gyn was out sick, her replacement called in off the golf course and his hands were shaking through the process of sewing up my episotomy (a procedure no longer deemed necessary). i ended up fainting in a pool of blood as the nurse nervously tried to cover herself because of course everyone else had jumped ship by sunday.

anyway, yesterday, i asked the nurse about my chemo and she had no real answers, partly because she didn't even know who i was, she was just filling in.

i complained about my usual aches and pains and she gave me some blood tests and my potassium levels were elevated but she couldn't do anything about it because there were no doctors around.

i got no real answers about what they were doing and when it was going to end.

here's what my doctor wants to do: keep giving me chemo even after the cancer is gone.

here's what i've learned: the more chemo you get, the higher your chance of future cancers, tumors and secondary infections.

so tomorrow i will call the doctor's office and see if i can get control of this - and a real date for when this is all over.

job 2: keeping my parents calm through the process. it IS hard watching your child suffer and be unwell. but when you're the child, keeping your parents pacified and positive rather than gloomy and pointing out all the past mistakes that got you where you are is draining.

that said, i woke up this morning feeling really sorry for myself. 3 kids, no job, no hair, no love life (let alone a husband or a partner), cancer, nausea and on top of that a god-awful headcold.

and then i saw the copy of oprah on the back of the toilet - with the interview with elizabeth gilbert (eat, pray, love) and i thought about how much i disliked her. typical, over-indulged upper middleclass white woman syndrome. moaning about how she didn't really want to be married to her husband but she didn't know why, losing sleep not over how she was going to keep everyone fed and clothed and in school but why she didn't want to have children.

then (more offensively) she had to go to INDIA - my homeland - that produces instant epiphanies in the minds of self-absorbed americans and indonesia to actually realize that it was not all about her.

and after thinking about how whiny she was. it occurred to me that i was actually being really pathetic myself.

(there are brief flashes when i remember that when you take an immediate and vehement dislike to something it's probably something you dislike in yourself.)

so here's what i got for christmas:

3 loving, healthy (in body and often, in mind) and growing girls
1 apartment that i still own (not foreclosed on) in tribeca
2 very involved and still married parents
1 very supportive brother
1 very supportive sister-in-law
2 super-cute nephews
1 delicious niece
1 amicable divorce
1 occasionally helpful and supportive ex-husband

also,

a few really great friends
clean water rushing out of the tap, breathable air, electricity, cable tv (even if it's not working right now), internet
lots of nice clothes (even after selling a lot of them)
lots of organic food in the fridge
cheerful, not-broken furniture

1 cancer that is, apparently, highly curable

an easily-tickled sense of humor (as i say about myself, i suffer fools gladly. even romantically, it turns out... :)

a nice smile.

christmas: the battle between selfishness and generosity

christmas eve dinner and christmas itself - albeit gaudium interruptus - was glorious.

shockingly (because we've had less than pleasant past memories) EVERYONE, from the adults to the amazons to ashraf and soraya's munchkins, even the tiniest one who had a headcold, was beautifully behaved at the table

and thrilled with the gifts they received

and even more thrilled with the smiles on the faces of the gift-receivers.

it's so satisfying when you feel you've hit the sweet spot with a present - searched and discovered something the person REALLY (and possibly secretly) wanted.

in the battle of greed and generosity that is christmas, i believe generosity and kindness won out this year.

sasha took masses of pictures of the details, zarina danced around with the baby on her hip and was quite possibly the best member of mirad's audience when he did his annual magic show.

mirad's sense of himself (for years, the only boy and a smallish one at that) in the complex hierarchy of our extended family seems strengthened by these gatherings, where the girls love and fuss over him.

nathalia bounced around with the awkward, vulnerable love and clear-eyed honesty that only a 6 year-old can have.

rara was, as usual, a drop of honey for me, sweetening every moment with her instinctive warmth and compassion.

the hardest part was packing up the car and leaving while the after-christmas wind-down was just beginning...

the night before christmas, pt 2

girlworld: we're lounging around looking at everyone's shopping and discussing next week - the amazons go hang out with james and his girlfriend elizabeth.

and how the main course will be prepared.

by my mum, thank god.

poor little omi has a cold and is crying and whingeing nonstop. someone's got to bounce him on their arm all the time.

and if we could just get zarina to stop flipping the camera around - because that's only fun if you're shooting not if you're watching - you'd get a sense of our cozy bedroom with the space heater on full-blast.

the night before christmas

and everyone (except the coughing and sneezing children) is exhausted.

my brother and sister-in-law drove half the night to get here. they've both got nasty colds along with the baby.

my mum is cooking and cleaning and organizing like crazy - while at the same time, taking the kids sledding, ice-skating and making them three square meals a day. she and my dad were up til 1 am getting the house ready.

sasha was at a sleep-over so she didn't sleep much. zarina's a mass of adolescent hormones and growls. mirad and nathalia left home an hour after their bedtime, so they are weepy and tired, too.

at the moment, the tempers are about to start flaring so i've slipped out of the kitchen.

my mum's carefully-planned christmas dinner menu started with a standing rib roast. but then my sis-in-law said she preferred goose or duck (after the menu was decided) and the search began - albeit on the phone because my mum was in nyc looking after me.

after a series of discussions and phone calls with my dad in dc over the course of a week,

he bought a 6-pound boneless rib eye roast.

and there were no small goose or ducks to be found in the suburban dc area.

so this morning, whilst looking at the french chef cookbook to firm up her ratatouille recipe and chopping aubergine and courgettes, my mum turned forlornly to the boneless rib eye roast and said, "now i don't know what to do with it..."

she asked me to look up some recipes in the betty crocker cookbook while she finished making scrambled eggs for the kids and bouncing the teething, whining baby on her hip.

i looked up some recipes online and while she was taking the younger ones sledding, i thought i'd be useful by pre-marinating the meat in a bit of tamari, salt, pepper and garlic.

though, of course, this threw off my mum's plan which she had formulated whilst sledding, to grill the meat with only sel de grillon and nothing else.

so when she came home, she took one look at the 6-pound monstrosity and said, "you do it." i had a feeling i shouldn't have tried to help...

then she proceeded to make the rest of her menu in an irritated way and complain to my brother about things.

my brother's reaction to his terrible headcold was to take nyquil - which has made him all spacey and tired - so he is managing to float past it and not offering any advice.

the teenagers have gone with my sis-in-law to the mall which makes them pleasantly absent. though i am sure they will return soon and grouchy, just ready for everyone to have a big argument.

now i'm being summoned downstairs to try to save the beef - am nervous that there is so much riding on it. perhaps i better just cut it up into steaks.

four hours left til the big christmas eve dinner.

good day, sunshine!

HURRAY! day 3 after chemo and i feel fine.

despite the frigid temperatures in my parents' house, sun is pouring in the big windows and i'm drinking glasses of fresh green juice along with an artillery of vitamins

and feeling just like myself (except of course when i look in the mirror).

my friend mary schook recommended a supplement called polymva - www.polymva.com. this is day 6 of their regimen (2 tsps, 3 times a day). i'm not sure which one is working better but, despite not being able to fall asleep last night (too much green tea?), i am wide awake and almost thinking clearly.

according to the doctors and nurses, chemo is meant to get worse and worse as it goes on. but so far, i seem to be tolerating it well.

am i an anomaly or have i convinced myself that i am? (that would be quite like me)

two days till christmas, so like everyone else in the suburbs of washington, dc, i am desperate to get to the mall before my steam wears off.

of course, my teenagers are slothing around in bed. rara is still in her pajamas watching tv and eating all the chocolates from the advent calendar in one fell swoop.

the problem with the post-chemo energy surge is that i am so overexcited i want to do ALL of the things i've not been able to face for days. answer emails, send faxes, return phone calls, go shopping, see movies, pack presents...

if i can get that far, i'd LOVE to see avatar - but sasha said it's a 3-hour movie - so let's see if i can make it.

merry merry merry merry

great

all the ads running down my sidebar are about cancer.

chemo side-effects, cancer treatments.

and honestly, the novelty has worn off.

my mum's chinese neighbor came over today and regaled me with stories of friends of hers who all managed to subdue their cancer by drinking a chinese herb that looks like wood chips.

they made it into a tea and drank it all day, "like water."

but of course, as soon as they stopped drinking it, they all died. as she says, "when the cancer comes back, there is nothing anyone can do." she did say it very cheerfully, though.

then my dad tried to convince me to have a hysterectomy, because if all the doctors he knows were telling me to do it, who was i to think otherwise?

and of course, my mum interrupted me watching a really silly movie to listen to hui's stories because she kindly brought over a bag of her woodchips.

(which is not to say that i wouldn't try the tea, either - but i refuse to believe in this impending doom philosophy).

here i am all excited because my doctors are saying that it's miraculous that there's no cancer left - and i am surrounded by people who all want to discuss how i will handle it when the cancer comes back.

(on the flip side - all i want is to eat a big, beefy crock of onion soup with tons of butter and cheese melted on top. that's the fall-out from watching Julie and Julia, i guess.)

yuck

still feeling nauseated and tired today.

guess i shouldn't complain. only day 1 past in-patient chemo which is the worst.

read lisa ray's blog today http://lisaraniray.wordpress.com/

which cheered me up since she seems to be going through the same stuff. injecting ourselves with gcf to increase the white blood cell count. which, in my case, gives me excruciating pain in my hips and legs - it seems that's where my body makes it's store of protection.

i heard from zia it's impossible to get it in south africa, so i am lucky.

in any case, my hair is so patchy, falling out like the pine needles from the tree after christmas. my pillow is dotted with tiny black needles.

i tried to shave it a bit myself in the shower and ended up looking like a doll with a chewed up head.

it reminded me of a baby doll i was given when i was small and loved all her hair and eyelashes right off her. my mother had to sew a little dress with a hood for her so that she still looked civilized.

anyway, it felt weird so i called zarina in with the mirror and realized how hideous i looked.

and then sasha had to come in and try shave it properly with the razor. and then it still looked terrible.

so after that, i had to ask rara to try and shave the remaining parts with a tiny electric razor designed for trimming your mustache and eyebrows.

now i just need some self-tanner for my scalp so it matches my face.

resting after chemo

exhausted and sick to my stomach from chemo, i had a hospital room full of laughing doctors and nurses at 7am.

"oh my gosh, it's miraculous!"

"you are the healthiest person in here! we've never had anyone go through chemo like this."

not sure which of the millions of things i am doing - but - in less than a month, all my levels are almost back to normal.

in fact, the thing that's making me sick is the chemo.

but i do have a whole list of advice for chemotherapy survival.

first off, diet. give up sugar and animal products as soon as you know you have cancer. you give your liver and kidneys an instant boost so they can work harder on fighting on the disease.

next, if you can, get rid of wheat and soy and reduce grains to a minimum.

the main goal is to make vegetables 80% of your diet. this helps your body cool down as the chemo cooks it.

anyway, am exhausted just now so more tomorrow.

when mother was away on business

so here's what happened to the amazons while i was in and out of hospital with chemotherapy and blood transfusions:

sasha (16) reacted by getting spacier in school and then throwing a party in the apartment (along with zarina) and telling james that she was at a friend's house.

she's become very slippery about what she's doing and where she's going. especially if it involves homework. she runs hot and cold.

zarina (14) got really angry at me, storming into the hospital room and demanding something to eat, being irritated that i've shaved my head, and not wanting me to make cancer jokes.

she stamps around the house and is generally bad-tempered.

and jahanara (10) reacted by being clingy and weepy and very babyish. she wants to sleep in my bed every night. she doesn't want to go anywhere without me.

my mother said, when she called from india to say she was on her way back, she asked rara what she wanted from india; and rara said, "just pray for my mama to get well."

she couldn't come visit quite as much when i was in hospital because she had a cold, so this is what she sent me.

cancer is so boring

i am tired of being sick.

i am SO over it.

bored of cancer and being tired.

bored of chemo every friday and having it ruin my weekend.

fed up of having people want to hold my hand when i cross the street like i am four.

and my mum telling me that she and my brother sat down to talk about how they were going to handle my finances and decide where i am going to live - like i am a 95-year old with dementia.

please, i am not dead yet and my brain - slightly fogged by chemo - is not yet gone.

i have to say that i did enjoy the attention at the beginning. and i was tired of being tough and independent and self-reliant. and everyone saying, well, you don't have to worry about ameena, she'll be fine. she can handle anything.

but just for a little while.

now i am ready to be myself again.

i must be feeling better.

cancer diaries- more FAQ about hair

your hair falls out from chemo.

and let me clarify, it's not just the hair on the top of your head. it's ALL your hair.

first i was bummed about losing my eyebrows, but the appeal of only shaving my legs very gently and then not at all, losing my mustache, my arm hair which is constantly being ripped out by bandages and tape when i get IVs and injections

and all the pleasures of a brazilian wax without the pain

are really winning out.

the amazons are bothered by my being bald. and my mum is so freaked out, she keeps readjusting my hat at home and she won't let me take it off while she's around (for the next 2 weeks, at least).

but i am enjoying both the shock and the androgyny.

there is something weirdly liberating in having no hair and being so skinny that one's body is all angles. i can suddenly see the pleasure an anorexic might take in having totally controlled the fecund nature of the human form.

it's so asexual as to be beautiful. sculptural and alien.

people are suggesting hats, scarves, earrings.

whereas i am enjoying the purity and simplicity of shape.

perhaps i am strange but - as when i was pregnant - i love watching the metamorphosis of my form. my body never ceases to please and astound me in all the shapes it takes.

cancer diaries

"make an effort"

while going through all this craziness that is cancer treatment, a friend who recovered from breast cancer gave me a piece of advice, "this is the time to wear make-up."

i suggest you avoid going all out so you don't look a slightly mad scrawny old coot with little circles of rouge on your cheeks but

i do think it makes a huge difference to get up in the morning, take a shower, use all your facial moisturizer products and blush and concealer and eyeliner. (whether you put mascara on your three remaining eyelashes is up to you, i don't because i feel i look desperate)

put on any fragrance that doesn't make you gag and wear somewhat attractive clothes that you could leave the house in

even if you just plan to go back to bed.

though if i am going to see my doctors, i might even tart myself up a bit more and dress like i am going to work. then when i ask questions, i feel more confident and professional.

on a day when i am staying home, i like to tidy up a bit and make my bed before i get back into it. it gives me a sense of calm and order and control.

somehow, wandering around in the same pajames and slippers you've worn for the past three days, leaving a trail of dirty dishes makes you feel like a tragic sick person

which of course, despite having cancer, you are not.

you are getting better all the time.

anger management

one of the most interesting things for me about cancer is how psychosomatic it is.

(i do believe it's an epidemic now because of the crap that's in our air and water - thus in our food as well - but also because of the tension and anxiety-filled lives we lead)

one fact in the literature they handed me at MSK (memorial sloan kettering) is that people who are angry, frustrated or striving for perfection are more likely to develop cancers.

in my case, i'd had a series of earthshakingly upsetting events from last spring to this fall. i was overwhelmed by a sense of injustice and being treated unkindly by people i'd believed i'd been extremely understanding to over the years.

and quite often, as all my feelings of anger and rage welled up inside me, i realized that a lot of my anger was towards people i'd be ashamed to even admit i was angry with. people who meant the best, or people i resented because my own reactions to them made me feel used or ill-treated. my mum, my dad, my kids. even the DOG for a little while.

in fact, i wasn't even that angry at the people who i really SHOULD have been angry with.

though i did keep engaging in all their whirlwinds and dramas. i kept responding to all their accusations. i kept getting hurt when they tried to hurt me.

in my case, in the midst of realizing i was sick, i had to keep letting the anger explode and then face it. i worked with tapping (EFT) http://www.emofree.com/, energy healers http://www.penneyleyshon.com and daria dibennardo, sufi chanting and meditation.

i prayed, i asked everyone of every religion i knew to pray.

and when an incredibly angry ex continued to spin and gyrate his narrative of hurt pride and bruised ego down to absurd levels of details, i was able to just disconnect.

(interestingly, he'd had cancer as well)

so the latest part of my cancer treatment is to stop getting angry.

just writing that is so ridiculous it makes me laugh as i type it.

but i am working on stepping out of the maelstrom, of separating myself from other people's stories and frustations.

i am learning to make a few decisions selfishly. this is what i need - and i will not try and balance out what everyone else needs before i do it - and if it makes other people angry, i will try and move away from them.

i was talking to my mum once when she was angry at someone. i reminded her of the chinese proverb (or quote - can't remember, but that's chemo in my brain) -

getting angry your enemy is like taking poison and hoping that your enemy will die.

you just make YOURSELF sick.

what's a uterus between friends?

my hair is falling out in wig-size amounts and everyone is breathing down my neck to have a hysterectomy.

if my mum and her friends could pull out carving knives and chop it out themselves, they would. in fact, every day, i get another phone call from one of her friends trying to convince me to do it.

and the women who have been castrated - apparently, the medical term of removal of the ovaries - compare it to removing your tonsils, your appendix, your gallbladder - all those other parts of the human body that years ago were considered unnecessary.

look at this:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5105a1.htm

hysterectomy is the second most common surgical procedure in the united states, the first one being a c-section.

the one thing i get asked over and over again, "do you want to have any more children?" and when i answer in the negative, they say, "well, then get rid of it."

i am finding it increasingly bizarre that the half the world thinks that the only value of a uterus is producing babies.

especially since, immediately after its removal, you start having hot flashes (with or without the ovaries) and you have to move gently so that your small intestines don't slide into its place. and those are the minor disadvantages.

and when i ask my doctor what the disadvantage is to a hysterectomy she says, "just one, decreased sexual pleasure..."

polling the women i know who've recently had hysterectomies, the one thing they all complain about is the ongoing pain, even years after the surgery. the doctors all insist that with a laparoscopy, you'll be up and about in 24 hours. though the reality is, even for that, you need two weeks to recover enough to go back to work.

here's something i found online:

Women report a loss of physical sexual sensation after hysterectomy.

A woman's vagina is shortened, scarred and dislocated by hysterectomy.

A hysterectomy's damage is life-long. Among its most common consequences, in addition to operative injuries are:

* heart disease
* loss of sexual desire, arousal, sensation
* weight gain
* osteoporosis
* bone, joint and muscle pain and immobility
* painful intercourse, vaginal damage
* displacement of bladder, bowel, and other pelvic organs
* urinary tract infections, frequency, incontinence
* chronic constipation and digestive disorders
* debilitating fatigue
* loss of stamina
* altered body odor
* loss of short-term memory
* blunting of emotions, personality changes, despondency, irritability, anger, reclusiveness and suicidal thinking

FACT: No drugs or other treatments can replace ovarian or uterine hormones or functions. The loss is permanent.

FACT: The medical term for the removal of the ovaries is castration. 73% of women are castrated during hysterectomy.

FACT: The uterus and ovaries function throughout life in women who have not been hysterectomized or castrated.

FACT: 98% of women HERS has referred to board-certified gynecologists after being told they needed hysterectomies, discovered that, in fact, they did not need hysterectomies.

FACT: Gynecologists, hospitals and drug companies make more than $17B dollars a year from the business of hysterectomy and castration.

http://www.hersfoundation.com/facts.html

if the doctors are not telling me it is a necessity to get rid of the cancer, why would i want to do it?

cancer patients FAQs

here's some stuff i didn't know or maybe never thought about:

one: cancer is not a death sentence. you don't need to go tiptoeing around people with a sad sad face like their dog just died.

lots and lots of people get cancer and get past it and get well.

could you please just make some jokes about it?

which brings us to

two: they say laughter is one of the best ways to increase your immune system. if you're going to visit someone with cancer, remember some jokes or funny stories or bring some funny dvds.

in my case, nothing too heavy. i am not feeling very intellectual right now.

three: chemotherapy and all those other drugs affect your vision, your short-term memory and other fun stuff. so if i lose the plot midway through the sentence - can you just laugh about it rather than looking alarmed? for about 3 days post-chemo, i am a nauseated zombie. it's really hard for me to talk on the phone, let alone sit up for great lengths of time.

easiest way to imagine it is a hangover. all those toxins are gradually exiting your body and everything aches. you can't see straight, words get all blurry, and you are so so tired like you were up partying all night (though in the case, it's without the fun).

four: chemotherapy makes you highly sensitive to scent. so if you're going to visit a cancer patient or ward, go lightly on the fragrance. i can tell you that all the victoria's secret fragrances make me sick to my stomach.

in fact, for me, all commercial fragrances make me feel really unwell - so if you've sprayed on something and you hug me, it feels like all the stuff has permeated my clothes for the rest of the day.

that said, i am liking natural oils - like lavender, rose and grapefruit.

however, you might find your fragrance necessary protection because as the chemo leaves my body - like alcohol, i guess - it makes my skin smell awful.

maybe the hugging is a bad idea to begin with.

five: hugging is a bad idea also because chemo greatly weakens your immune system. so in theory, i can catch every germ that goes by.

this doesn't mean i don't absolutely adore all your cute kids. i love them like mad and they make me laugh, but they are wandering around coughing all over the place and wiping their noses on their sleeves.

and all the doctors have turned me into a neurotic hypochondriac so i am terrified. plus, as i said, when you are all hungover, you just want quiet. even with MY kids, i am preferring them from a distance.

on a less amusing note:

six: chemotherapy and radiation are totally different. chemo (for short) is injections or a drip of highly toxic substances - think battery acid and dry cleaning fluid - that rushes through your veins like marauding hordes maiming and destroying until they get to the cancer which they kill. we hope.

in the meantime, if any leaks out onto your skin, as the nurse told me, "let me know if you feel any burning, because it eats through the flesh..."

then there is radiation.

which i have the pleasure not to experience. something like pointing an x-ray machine at the cancerous spot which is meant to dissolve on the spot, but also makes your bones ache.

more later... but just remember, cancer doesn't mean it's all over.