I was out tonight with my son David and got a hankering for a milk shake. Those who know me will not find this surprising at all. There are only so many places to go at 9pm on a Wednesday in Catonsville and I wasn't feeling like McDonalds or Burger King. We happened to pass Tastee Zone and saw it was still open. And luckily the young woman working the counter was able to get the window open...it was stuck. I ordered a large vanilla malt and then turned around to watch David run to 7-11 for a Slurpee. While standing and waiting on their deck for my nightcap I noticed that the other young woman who was working was wearing a unique, scarf-like, head wrap. My intuition was that this young woman might have cancer. As she was emptying the trash I asked why she was wearing the head wrap.
Very honestly and in a forthright manner she replied to a complete stranger "I have cancer."
"What type?" I replied.
As fate would have it "Hodgkin's Lymphoma" came the answer.
"What stage?" I asked.
"Stage 2B."
"Are you on ABVD?"
"Yes."
With a big smile I proceeded to tell her about my past 7 months and where I was in the process. I then asked how her treatments were progressing. She's 20 and has had to take off a semester from Salisbury State to go through treatment. Unfortunately I would say she has not been as lucky as me. Her white cell counts have gotten too low and she was pulled off Bleomycin. She is also on neulasta - something Dr. Seifer is not a big fan of. She just finished chemo treatment #5 and has one to go. We talked about eyebrows (she has some left and does a great job job making them look better than they are) and peripheral neuropathy (she has avoided this thankfully). I also told her about Dr. Seifter because she's not a fan of her current team. As we talked I was struck by how confident and brave she was. I hope she is cancer free after her next treatment so she won't have to endure any more. Otherwise I told her to consider Dr. Seifter.
I left her with the address of this blog so that she could have some additional info.
I wish her the very best.
6 comments:
Wow... special synchronicity. And such a good thing to share... with her and with us.
Thanks for sharing, Brack.
We love you cuz you family but so much more, we love you cuz you are a fantastic human being.
Love the synchronicity... and how you could share your experience with someone and connect.
Angels are all around us and you were "it" when you got a hankering for that shake!!! Love ya!!
And this is an example of being the "superhero" that you are. This is one of those special, and seemingly too rare, examples of a person being a blessing to another - which is FREAKING AMAZING! And now you have super powers to do that - and you do it well!
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