The arrival of the pills

t was a cold snowy morning when the pills came. The flakes falling from the sky were small, but numerous, wet and heavy, sticking to the ground instead of melting away. The white blanket it created on the ground gave one the feel of December instead of October.

I stood over the sink doing dishes and watching fall transform quickly into winter in front of my very eyes. Why is it that winter never morphs into spring as quickly as fall disappears into the cold, snowy embrace of winter?

It's funny, the effect that the snowfall can have on a person. I immediately felt like Christmas was right around the corner and with that feeling, came memories of childhood and Christmas Eves and Days spent at Grandma Shiel's house.

I was lost in my nostalgia when Bear (our St. Bernard) began barking at the window in the living room. I snapped out of my reverie and went to the door, knowing without looking that he was barking at the UPS driver who had come to deliver my chemotherapy pills.

I signed the driver's tracking device and took possession of my package, still not wanting to believe that the day is coming very close when I'll have to actually ingest them and hope that my body will remain strong.

What you just finished reading was something that I started writing last night. I guess I must have been feeling pretty down. I just sat down intending to finish it and after I read what I had written, my first thought was that Charles Dickens had just written a new story. “A Chemotherapy Christmas.”

Anyway, the only new news is this. The pills are here, and I have to take my first dose on Monday after my radiation treatment. Although I'm apprehensive about the effect that they might have on me, I am anxious to get this stuff started because that means that it'll be over that much sooner.

I think that my wife is trying to kill me, by the way. We have started a walking program together and it amounts to two miles a night at a pace that a Kenyan marathoner would have a hard time keeping (or around 4 mph, whichever sounds faster to your ear.) I have dropped 10 pounds in the four days that we've been doing it. Amazing what changing your diet and exercising a little will do. Who knew?

But don't you worry Kelly Church. I'll be checking into the life insurance coverage and if I find out that there's been some massive change in benefits.... Trouble.

Actually, I'm very grateful to my wife for helping me get on the right track. Her workouts are slowed down by my turtle-like pace and after we get home from the Big Bear (walking track), she gets on the treadmill and puts in another 2 or three miles. How she does it I don't know. My legs feel like a couple of  wet spaghetti noodles when we're done. Where did the days go when we would play basketball for an hour in St. Helen at open gym and then pile in a car and drive to Roscommon and play for another two hours at their open gym? Oh yeah, straight to my right knee, that's where.

My change in diet took a little hit today though. I had dropped some winter boots and snow pants off at school for Abbie and she asked me to come back and eat lunch with her. I accepted after finding out that it was pizza calzones. When I say pizza calzone, what I really mean is hot pocket, regardless of what the school calls it. It was soooooooo good. Not to say that the food I've been eating is bad because Kelly has really helped me find foods that are both good tasting, and healthy, but I guess it must be true that the forbidden fruit is the best, because I've never liked a hot pocket as much as I did today.

And what's not to like about watching a bunch of second-graders play with their food and burp in each others faces and talk about how one kid's lunch looks like crap? (I found out today that crap is a swear word, so I guess poop must be the appropriate substitute).

It was actually nice being able to spend that time with her. One of the things that the doctors have told me is that I basically have to become a hermit while the chemo and radiation are going on. My immune system will be low and being around kids is a hazard. So, no more school visits for awhile and they even told me that if I go to Walmart, to go late at night or real early in the morning when it's less crowded and thus, less chance of catching something.

If I don't write anything before Monday, I'll let you know how the first treatment goes, although I suspect that it'll be somewhat boring.

As always, thanks for the support and good wishes!!

I Will Win