Oncology Clinic

Lauren has been frantically working on some scholarship applications - she feels bad that she hasn't ever been able to have a job and make any money. She isn't a fan of this picture, but I wanted to show her regular hair. She has been going without her wig since January.


Chemo yesterday went well. One of her chemo drugs, Rituximab, she receives each week. It doesn't seem to cause her too many nasty side effects. We had heart tests yesterday as well and all seems to be fine there. The past few days Lauren has been much more active, awake and out of pain. She stopped taking oral pain meds on Friday. I just picked her up from her 2 hours at school and she plans to go back a bit later.

Oncology clinic is such an interesting place. Cancer is no respecter of age or nationality or religions or economic status. We run into the poor, the wealthy, all colors of skin and languages, kids with parents, grandparents and caretakers. Some of the kids look so sick - it just breaks your heart! Baldness is in style on the 4th floor at Children's. The successful businessman thinks his child should be taken care of first because he is so busy. Some parents dote on a whining child's every wish. Then there are those who try to play and laugh with their child. It is a great people-watching experience!

It made me grateful in a way that this all began for Lauren as an infant. She has never known anything else. I can't imagine a perfectly healthy teenager all of a sudden having their world fall apart with a cancer diagnosis.