My first entry in months and it's angst. Oh well, nothing new there!
I have a friend who was diagnosed with AML about a month and a half ago. She’s been in the hospital almost nonstop since then, but she’s been able to go home for an indeterminate amount of days right before Christmas as they await the results of her bone marrow tests. She’s due to go in for a transplant mid-January; her brother is going to be her donor. He’s a freshman in college. She’s only 27.
The thing is, this girl has been a best friend of mine for more than half my life. We met in first grade when, in her words “[she] saw this me go up to the teacher and ask for a red crayon and thought ‘who’s that short girl??’ and she and I were thick as thieves for the next ten years. We lost touch for a while after high school, but we reconnected after my stint with Teach for America; she was considering joining and wanted my advice, so we met up over lunch and talked about Americorp and teaching and what we’ve been up to over the last few years. Not long after that, she introduced me to her boyfriend and, despite my reservations, I took an immediate liking to him. About a year later, she asked me to be the maid of honor in her wedding.
When I found out she had leukemia, I broke down. We aren’t as close as we used to be, but she’s still one of the kindest, sweetest people I know, and she was by my side through what was literally the worst year of my life. She’s been incredibly strong through all of this, and her husband has been a rock. He works in a town about 2 hours away (where they just bought their first house) and he commutes back here to the hospital where’s she’s being treated every single day. Despite the fact that her strain of AML is chemo resistant, the doctors are hopeful that this transplant will be a cure. Nevertheless, the next few months are going to be agony as side effects of a bone marrow transplant can range from mouth sores to nausea, extreme bleeding, and organ failure.
I’m not sure why I’m sharing this other than to ask for all the good vibes and prayers that any of you out there can spare. Her name is Emily, and she and her husband can use all the help they can get. I feel pretty useless on my end as visiting is limited due to her compromised immune system, but I’m making her a quilt for her hospital bed and I’m (tentatively) making a book on tape of The Fellowship of the Rings for her to listen to while she’s recuperating.
I also wanted to share something she texted to me the other day. One of the books I sent to her in a recent care package was The Hobbit. She’s been pretty much confined to a hospital bed since her diagnosis, so I thought she could use some diverse reading material. A few days ago, she texted me the following:
Thanks! Reading ‘The Hobbit’ now. Jon and I just finished re-watching ‘Lord of the Rings’ series so I was inspired. It was fun and I weirdly related my experience to it. Jon is the Sam to my Frodo, the members of the fellowship of the ring are like my supporters, and my leukemia cells are like orcs that must be defeated.
Here’s to hoping that, like Frodo, she reaches Mount Doom and casts the burden of her leukemia into its fires for good.
The thing is, this girl has been a best friend of mine for more than half my life. We met in first grade when, in her words “[she] saw this me go up to the teacher and ask for a red crayon and thought ‘who’s that short girl??’ and she and I were thick as thieves for the next ten years. We lost touch for a while after high school, but we reconnected after my stint with Teach for America; she was considering joining and wanted my advice, so we met up over lunch and talked about Americorp and teaching and what we’ve been up to over the last few years. Not long after that, she introduced me to her boyfriend and, despite my reservations, I took an immediate liking to him. About a year later, she asked me to be the maid of honor in her wedding.
When I found out she had leukemia, I broke down. We aren’t as close as we used to be, but she’s still one of the kindest, sweetest people I know, and she was by my side through what was literally the worst year of my life. She’s been incredibly strong through all of this, and her husband has been a rock. He works in a town about 2 hours away (where they just bought their first house) and he commutes back here to the hospital where’s she’s being treated every single day. Despite the fact that her strain of AML is chemo resistant, the doctors are hopeful that this transplant will be a cure. Nevertheless, the next few months are going to be agony as side effects of a bone marrow transplant can range from mouth sores to nausea, extreme bleeding, and organ failure.
I’m not sure why I’m sharing this other than to ask for all the good vibes and prayers that any of you out there can spare. Her name is Emily, and she and her husband can use all the help they can get. I feel pretty useless on my end as visiting is limited due to her compromised immune system, but I’m making her a quilt for her hospital bed and I’m (tentatively) making a book on tape of The Fellowship of the Rings for her to listen to while she’s recuperating.
I also wanted to share something she texted to me the other day. One of the books I sent to her in a recent care package was The Hobbit. She’s been pretty much confined to a hospital bed since her diagnosis, so I thought she could use some diverse reading material. A few days ago, she texted me the following:
Thanks! Reading ‘The Hobbit’ now. Jon and I just finished re-watching ‘Lord of the Rings’ series so I was inspired. It was fun and I weirdly related my experience to it. Jon is the Sam to my Frodo, the members of the fellowship of the ring are like my supporters, and my leukemia cells are like orcs that must be defeated.
Here’s to hoping that, like Frodo, she reaches Mount Doom and casts the burden of her leukemia into its fires for good.