NOTE: The path to cure or remission in cancer is at best a long highway, with occasional road bumps, or a torturous journey, bereft with breakdowns and set backs. The process usually consists of an initial surgery and recovery period, followed by a course of radiation and/or chemotherapy, then a period of 'rest and recovery, during which - I have discovered - the body heals, and the patient slips back into his or her normal life, often times forgetting that they are, in fact, still sick -- no one has pronounced them cured, or in remission! Then just when the patient thinks it's over, you enter a second, longer treatment phase that my include new medications, new side effects and new challenges. For some the new treatment may involve intense daily treatments, and equally intense effects, or they may be spread out over months, easing the effects and allowing the patient to handle things a bit easier.
CHAPTER 25: Come on, Lets go home
Reg awoke, to find himself surrounded, again by his medical team. Doctors, nurses, and his family, Polly and daughter Lucy, who seemed oddly happy, her healthy yellow light beaming from her body, Polly the pleasing green. Once again he squinted to get the colors to go away, but after a moment, reailzed the effort was pointless, and again, tried to begin living with this new visiual reality. From now on, he will see people and the auras around them and will know more about their health than they do.
Sitting there drinking the amazing coffee that is Amazon Nectar - snuck in by nurse Clarice, once she discovered that they shared the love of really good coffee... Clarice handed him the cup and from her arm eminated a floral pink and yellow light, "Man. That's gonna take a lot of getting used to." he thought he had said to him self, but Clarice picked up on it....
"What's that chile? What's gonna take gettin' used to? Me bringing you dis wonderful coffee? Ooooo Lord! It's good!" she continued, "But, since you goin' home today, somebody else gonna have to be your pusher-man!"
Reg nearly spat the coffee over the clean green robe, and onto the Xacto suit on his chest.."Going home? Really? But what about..." he waved his coffee free hand down his body indicating his new 'skin'.
"Don't you be worryin' none, chile. The doctor say your clothes will cover most everything, lessin' you plan on going shirtless, or skinny dipping in that pond of yours." Clarice said, as she swiftly began removing various monitoring patches, tubes and I.V.s. "The doctor will be here soon to talk about getting you home.
"Home," Reg thought, sipping carefully on the hot coffee. Maybe it was the suit, maybe it was just the drugs, but he could FEEL the invigorating effects of the coffee course through his veins. When he opened his eyes, the world seemed brighter, like someone had released a mist of light-intensifying glitter in the air around him... "What the hell, now?"
He sipped some more coffee, the light intensity returned, the auras of the people in the room intensified too, "Hmmm," he thought, "Coffee is an enhancer! Who would have guessed. Maybe this won't be all that bad?"
Lucy, noticing that her Dad was awake, cam rushing the bed, "Daddy, Daddy, You're awake! Mommy has your stuff packed! The Doctor says you can go home!" I can't wait, I got video from the concert you missed when you were sick." Lucy was tugging on his robe sleeve, trying to get him sit up. As he pulled his arm, the rob slipped down his shoulder, the suit offering no resistance to the fabric of the robe. Lucy jumped back, with a start, "Aghhhh, Daddy! What's wrong with your skin?"
Feeling bad for his little girl, Reg reached for her only to have her step away to Polls lap a few paces away. "It's o.k., darling, Daddy has a special suit that he has to wear now to help fight off his cancer... you remember, last week when he was in the big tank....?"
"Yes, Mommy, the green jello tank?" Lucy asked, calming down in her moms arms.
Polly continued, loud enough so Reg could hear and simple enough that she cold understand. "He has to wear the new suit all the time, it makes him better and keeps him healthy.
Lucy looked back and forth from the bed to Polly and to Reg. "Does it HURT, Daddy? The suit?"
Reg motioned her to the end of bed beside him where he gave her a big hug. "No sweetie, it doesn't hurt, but it does itch a lot." She smiled up at him.. O.K. then, let's go home!!!!
Polly zipped up the suitcase, Reg slipped on his blue Addidas, grabbed his bag of hospital paperwork and goodies, took Polly in one hand and Lucy in the other. They nodded to his nurses and doctors on their way, chatting and saying goodbye to his treatment team... "God, I FINALLY get to get he hell OUT of here."
As they turned the corner to the long-term parking lot, Reg, looked at his wife. "Polls, keys please."
She chuckled, "You are KIDDING me right? You are still hopped up on Anesthetic, Atavan and the chemo coming from your suit! You are not driving $50,000 car by yourself!"
"I had Carmella pick it up last week, get it washed and put it in the garage at home." She motioned to the van at the curb. You, blue man, will be riding in the van, with me chaufferring you home today, and when you get there we have the guest room all set up for you...
Reg slipped into the passengers front seat, his wife went around the other side of the van, hopped in hit the gas and started the long drive home. With his window down, hair flipping around in the breeze.... he was asleep by they time the entered the express way.
CHAPTER 26: From The Mouths of Babes
Several days had passed since Reg returned home and during this time, he had noticed that, while he was happy to BE home, things seemed a bit 'off'. No surprise that his altered vision was making things a challenge, other more subtle things were going on. Polly and Lucy seemed much quieter, there seemed to be more 'hushed' conversations between them. Polly had become distant, less talkative to him, only wanting to take care of the basics of care as he recovered. Lucy on the other hand, was all about being the proper little nurse; fetching things, taking Daddy's temperature and as you can guess, always touching the Xacto suit...
"Daddy, what does the suit do again?" She sat, on the edge of the bed, running her hand over her dads arm, feeling the smooth, cool texture of the silk covered suit.
"Well, honey," Reg explained (again!), "It allows the doctors to give me my medication by simply coating the suit once a week or so. The suit is kind of like a sponge, it lets the medicine get everywhere all at once... with no needles or ports or other things that patients usually have to go through."
He saw that she had lost interest in his explanation after the word., "....my medication..." so he ventured a different explanation. "Lucy, I will tell you a secret...one that Mommy doesn't even know. Come closer."
"I think something happened when the suit got stuck on me, it lets Daddy see colorful glows from people and I THINK the colors tell me how healthy people are. AND I can cure them by touching them."
Now fully engaged, Lucy replied, "REALLY Daddy.... That is soooo cool... Hmmm what color am I? What color is Mommy..."
Reg chuckled at her renewed interest, "Well, you my darling are a bright yellow, like the sun."
"And Mommy?" lucy begged. "Well your Mom is a beautiful shade of green."
Lucy was quiet for a minute, "That's weird...." more quiet, Reg could see her thinking... Lucy was thinking now of sick people - the little girl the same age as her - in the hospital who had cancer, and then was cured. She thought she remembered her Daddy coming out of the girls room, she had thought he was just walking around.
"Daddy, back when you were in the hospital, there was girl down the hall from your room. What color was she?" Lucy enquired.
Reg was suprised that Lucy had noticed. How to tell his daughter that he had somehow CURED the little girl by defeating a demon he saw hovering over her bed???
"Wow, I didn't think you noticed I was on my walk then. Yes, I did visit her. Her color was a very dark yellow, like someone or something was trying to steal her light." looking at his daughters face for confusion, finding none, he continued.
"When I got to her bedside, there was a strange creature floating above her bed, he had his claws wrapped around her chest and head. I got angry, because I could tell that this thing was hurting her."
Lucy watches with rapt attention, like her Dad is on an Episode of Dr. Who or something! "Uh, huh, yes..." is all she says.
"So I didn't really now what to do, so I put one hand on the little girls arm, with the other I pushed at the monster and shouted 'Get Off of HER!' and as soon as I did...it screamed, let go and vanished. I was suddenly really, really tired and then went back to my room...that's where you and Mommy saw me coming back." he completed the story.
"So," Lucy the thinker - he liked seeing her this way, it reminded him of Polly, always sorting things out, "You touched the sick girl, and the monster, and she got better and the monster went away...?
Reg, thought for a moment too, "Yes, I guess so!"
Lucy brightened and smiled proudly at her Dad, "You know what Daddy? That makes you a SUPER HERO!!" She leapt to his arms, gave him a hug and hopped off the bed... "I gotta go tell Mommy!! My Daddy is a super hero."
Reg tried to protest, "Lucy, Lucy! come back here you silly goose!" she was out the door before he could protest again....
Reg sat there, drinking the amazing coffee that made the room shimmer, and thought a bout it for a minute... "Hmmm, a Super Hero? Maybe so."
As he sat there pondering his new label, running name through his head, after all he chuckled to himself, "A super hero has to have a name, right. Let's see; Blue Touch, Cancer Killer, Captain Chemo, Sickness Slayer.... No, No, No... Hmmm. The Chemical Man, The Blue Survivor...no, yuck."
A bit more coffee and it hit him, "I have been through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, how could I combine them....Ah Ha! I have it 'Chemo-Radiation Man' "
He was laying there, puffing up his chest Super-hero style, whispering his new name, "Hi, I'm Chemo-Radiation Man'! Step aside and let me cure this child." when Polly came into the living room, with an armload of laundry. She did not look happy.... here green glow was tinged with flashes of red... a sign that Reg learned indicated that she was angry about something.
"You know, I don't mind doing your laundry, washing it, folding it, putting it away, because you have been tired, but could you please get it into the damn laundry shoot, Reg." She plopped the clean laundry on the couch, marched past him as he sat in his recliner.
"YOU can fold and put away this load, I am tired of it." she stormed off to the family room. Reg heard the click of the remote, the wind up of the television, and a few moments later, some sit-com or other filled the room with staged laughter.
Reg folded the laundry, went upstairs and went to bed, with thoughts of 'Chemo-Radiation Man' dancing in his head.
