I took my grammie to her chemo infusion last week and I had the best day I have ever had! I know that sounds kind of inappropriate to say but it was a ton of fun. My grandma is going through breast cancer for the third time so none of this is new to her but I had never experienced this part of her illness before. I was excited and nervous as the same time because I am obsessed with breast cancer and I didn't want this to get my spirits down for finding a cure.
I picked grammy up in Kaysville and we headed to the Huntsman Cancer Institute for her treatment. She checked in and we went to wait in the lobby where grandma of course found somebody she knew. This gentleman had incidentally just read an article about my dad in the newspaper. My grandma and I had no idea why he would be in the paper and he said it was about the award. Puzzled we looked at each other. My dad is on a mission and has been for the last two years so what kind of award would he have gotten. Well it turns out he got the 2009 Mountain States Insurance attorney of the year. He really is the best lawyer even if he isn't handling cases. Nobody can compete with daddy. Way to go. Anyway, back to cancer. Grammie got her blood work done without even wincing. I believe anytime I have an IV or blood drawn I cry. 82 year old grandmother: nope. We had lunch in the hospital and it was delicious. No, believe me, it was delicious! Then we settled in upstairs in the chemo room. This was a depressing site to see. But all the patients no matter how sick they looked were so nice and in great spirits. Grandma and I sat there and played Reader's Digest games for 2 hours. She loves the jokes and word power. I might have just turned into a RD junkie myself. Then I pulled out the iPod touch to show grammie some pictures. That turned into a 40 minute session trying to get her to understand how it worked and what it could do.
After her infusion treatment I took her to visit her brother Michael and then we went to Cousin's salon to have her head shaved for her new wig. This is when it all sunk in as real. Yes, I had just spent the day with her in the hospital having a chemical drug pumped into her body but seeing her lose her hair without a wince showed me how brave she really is. She has done this before and she continues to fight through it because of her courage and faith. Grammie is the biggest example for goodness and strength. I am so grateful I was able to spend the day with her. She is my hero and I will continue fighting for a cure because I could never give up on her.
