Tuesdays and Thursdays

A guest post by my husband.

Thursdays, lately, have been the best day of the week. Tuesdays have been the worst.

In between, on Wednesdays, Donna-Lane receives her weekly chemo treatment.

By the way, the treatments are almost done. Depending on how the doctors interpret her condition, next Wednesday could be D-L's final chemo. Fingers crossed. It would be what I'm calling a super chemo, the equivalent of 3 or 4 treatments in one - with a different chemical than she has been receiving - and will likely make her very tired for days or even weeks afterward. But it should not have the side effect she is having now of burning hands and numb fingers and toes.

The day after each chemo treatment, Thursdays, tend to be relatively good days. D-L has reasonable energy for much of the day and sometimes into Friday. That may be due in part to the slight dose of cortisone they give her with the chemo drip.

But by Friday afternoon, certainly Saturday, the cortisone is probably worn off because the fatigue catches up with her. She'll be able to sit at her computer and work for maybe an hour or so, but then she hits a wall and needs to crawl into bed and pretend to read, often falling asleep within minutes.

By Tuesday, a week after the chemo treatment and the morning we head to the hospital for the weekly blood test and oncologist consultation, Donna-Lane's energy level is at a low ebb. One time, a few weeks back, she passed out from low blood pressure and we called the paramedics. By the time they arrived, she was back in bed resting, and her vitals were sufficient so there was no need to go to the hospital. This past week, she had the severe light-headed sensation again but fortunately did not pass out.

It was good that Christmas Eve was on a Thursday. We spent a great day in Hermance strolling through the village and along the lake. Christmas morning, Friday, was pretty good too.

Now it's New Year's Eve, a Thursday, and we're hoping to spend it with friends. Maybe not as late as midnight, but that's okay. The new year will arrive whether we're awake to celebrate or not.

It's been a challenging year in several aspects. There have been positive developments - my Permis B, a new job in Geneva for someone very dear to Donna-Lane, a publication date for her new novel (Murder in Schwyz), and during treatments she managed enough energy to finish editing a non-fiction book for a former colleague. Instead of traveling around Europe, we've found joy in driving along the edge of the lake or along a ridge where we can see a panorama of the lake, the city, and the mountains beyond. 

Most important, D-L is beating the cancer ... for the second time. 

We're looking forward to a return to 'normal' in 2016, as if the two of us could ever do 'normal.' Certainly we're eager to spend more time in our other home in Argeles-sur-mer and to seeing, in person, friends we've only been able to keep up with online.