Life with Cancer

Our Life with Cancer has included many things.  Here are a few:


1.  I, Lisa, have been unable to read any fiction sense Madelyn was diagnosed.  I am reading a wide variety of things, but just can't do fiction.  I've been reading about wine, writing, parenting, cancer and travel.  I just can't seem to suspend belief for fiction.  I can only think in the concrete.


2.  Peter has been wearing clothes with holes.  Lots of holes.  Poor guy.  He has been severely neglected by yours truly.  I have recently, finally, rectified this situation.


3.  There was one day two months ago when the girls no longer fit into their clothes.  A growth spurt in unison.  Not a big deal for Phia as she has all of MJs old clothes, but Madelyn had nothing to wear.  I went to the Carter outlet store and bought 8 pairs of pants, 6 sweatshirts, 10 short sleeved shirts, 10 long sleeved shirts, 10 pairs of underwear  socks and four pairs of shoes.  In one day, in one store.  I had a two hour window and I knew I'd have no time.  So I got 'er done.


4.  Hospital puke buckets come in handy for many things.  We use them for a crayon holder, a craft bin and to hold our onions and potatoes.  Don't worry they've been washed.


5.  My Mom has been selling Peter's Mom's cookbook.  All the money she raises will go to the N Ave Beach Restoration Project in honor of Madelyn.  She has sold almost 100!!  How It Works, here in Anacortes, is also selling them for Madelyn. 


6.  When I prepare Madelyn's chemotherapy pills I have to protect myself.  I wear a mask & gloves, have a special pill cutter just for chemo and wear gloves to hand her the pills.  My little, baby girl is INGESTING these pills.


7.  The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team In Training group I met with back in April raised over $200,000 for research by running in the Vancouver and Paris marathon's.  We were so impressed by this that Madelyn, Peter and I decided she would become an Honored Teammate for Team In Training.  She has "joined" a group of triathletes  running in The Nations Race (Wash, DC) in September.  We will be cheering them on via pictures, email and visits to team practices.


8.  People always do a double take when they see Madelyn now.  Yes, she is bald and she is stunning.  A bald head is extremely kissable.  


9.  The top of the refrigerator is our pharmacy.  Pill bottles, miralax, thermometers, pill cutters, gloves, masks, medication lists, blood count spreadsheets, our Pediatric Cancer Bible.... it's all there and travels back and forth with us.  It's really the only thing we need to pack between the apartment and the house.  We have everything in both places so we don't have to pack all the time.


10.  Madelyn still loves to tell everyone about her professional pill taking skills.  As funny as this is, really it is a gift to Peter and I.  Medicine time for most pediatric cancer families is a nightmare.  A Serious Nightmare.  All we have to do is cut the pill, put it in a gel cap and giver her a glass of water.  That's it.  No screaming, no yelling, no crying, no chasing them around the house, no bribes, no awards.  No crushing the pills, mixing it with cherry syrup and sucking it up in syringes worrying that you got every last bit of the crushed pill. I thank Madelyn for this gift by constantly applauding her pill taking accomplishment.