A Comparison

My bloodwork came back largely normal today. Not cancer patient normal. Normal normal. WBC at 7.2! No artificial assistance, I made all those cells on my own. Isn't that exciting? It really is, trust me.

In honor of this great spontaneous cell production and just because the comparison is so africken-mazing, I am going to share a photo with you. This was taken at my request the second week of November just before my mom and husband near-carried me to the car to go to the ER for the first of my 5-day hospitalizations. It was a week after my 6th and final round of chemo. To me, this is what chemo looks like - along with dehydration and the beginnings of a pseudamonas infection on my face. A few hours later the spot on my cheek would swell to about the size of a baseball and require minor surgery and another two months to heal. And lots of bitterness to get over.



And then there is this one of David and me having a blast in NYC. Just a small dimpled scar is left on my cheek. And I am not so very bitter. And not so very sick. That is nice.