My husband has long accused me of being an overachiever. Hence, instead of getting just one cancer, I have been diagnosed with “double hit cancer”. It saddens me greatly to let you know I have Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Burkitt’s. They say that attitude matters greatly with cancer and I do expect a cure. My version is labeled aggressive to highly aggressive which actually offers a better chance for cure. I spent one week at Scottsdale Healthcare – Shea. My physician’s are terrific as are the nurses and staff (including a very sweet maid) at the hospital. They instill confidence and have excellent bedside manner to those of us on the “onc ward”. So I now embark on a four month process of chemotherapy and ask for your prayerful support for me and all cancer patients (including the animals battling cancer!). During this time I will likely blog somewhat less and be a little slower to respond to questions. But, I will do my best to keep blogging.
For all of its challenges, life does present us with wonderful gifts along the trail. One of those gifts appeared in my hospital room in the form of Kaos and his handler Lance Henderson. It was arranged by a wonderful nurse named Alissa. She saw them downstairs in the hospital and asked if they would come upstairs to surprise a veterinarian. The initial chemotherapy had been quite rough and it brightened my spirit greatly to see this beautiful dog and visit with his handler. It turns out that Scottsdale Healthcare has a terrific security force which includes many dogs. Lance arranged for Athos and his handler Gabe Mejia to visit me when the shift changed. I hope in the ensuing months, they will continue to visit and I will get to meet more of these beautiful canines and their devoted handlers. As is often the custom for working dogs, they have cards providing some background. Here are the cards for these teams. Kaos is a Malinois/Shepherd mix and Athos is a German shepherd.
Here’s to a cure!
