Saturday midday

Zap #3 and #4 down, 21 zaps to go

Nothing out of ordinary about zap #3 and #4 except perhaps how quickly they went. I was in and out of the Cancer Center in 10 minutes. At #3 I met a woman in the women's waiting area (it's for women because it has 3 women's changing rooms off of it where women can change their clothes and put on a gown, and then lock up their clothes and purses in a locker). She had been there the day before too; she said it was her 8th radiation treatment and she will undergo 35. Her scheduled time is 15 minutes after mine, so we'll likely overlap often. We introduced ourselves but didn't really have time to talk because they came to take me for zap-dom. Still it was nice to actually meet someone and talk a minute rather than just pass in the hall.

Jessie and I went to the park this morning. It was much warmer, much of the snow has melted although the pond is still covered with ice. It was nice out, the eastern sky blushing orangish-pink, like a ripening peach. Mostly nice because it was warn. We walked both loops - first time in a several weeks to do so.

My 2nd and 3rd books came - on ducks and geese and on pond ecology. The duck and geese book is pretty, nice color pictures of many different types of ducks and geese, but not a lot of information. As I already knew, the ducks at the pond are mallards, and the geese at the pond are Canadian geese. I will need to dig a little deeper to find out more, perhaps at the library. The pond ecology book looks good.

At work yesterday, I had 2 interesting cancer-related experiences. First, a woman lawyer with whom I've always had a pleasant but not a close relationship - just to say hello to, or chat a moment in the hall - stopped by my desk and said that she happened to overhear me discussing chemo with another woman in the office, and she wanted to wish me well. What was interesting was that she teared up while telling me she hoped I kept my positive attitude and came out of this all okay, etc. It seemed to me she must have had someone close to her go through this, perhaps with not great results. Then later I was in an office waiting for a meeting to start with several other people, including a new attorney who just started this week. At this point, only he and I were there (at that point I had been introduced to him but that's all). He leaned over toward me and said that he had had leukemia - I think he said 12 or 13 years ago - and had gone through chemo and all and had been completely fine ever since. He said if I ever felt I would like to talk to him about things, he would be glad to talk with me. Cancer, the great leveler.

Beautiful day out today. They say they have buried 40,000 people in Haiti and many more are still buried in rubble. The sun shines in Haiti, too, but obviously not so felicitously.

Prayers for peace, for health, for sustenance, for reunited families.