Thursday, February 7, 2019

Falling off the Grid

Two weeks ago, Baltimore, MD called me to the bedside of my beloved brother, Everett. He is gravely ill with 3 forms of blood cancer. A combination so rare that treatment possibilities are almost unknown. Johns Hopkins Weinberg Pavillion is treating him with a combination of aggressive chemos, to be followed, hopefully by a bone marrow transplant. I am here with his wife, Jenni, and son, Martin,  and we are holding down the fort, as their life has been thrown into a completely new form.
Ev will be remaining in the hospital through the completion of treatment.  His treatment falls within a a clinical trial which, I believe was pioneered at Sloan Kettering in NY. It is a last ditch effort. Each day finds Jenni and I driving almost a half hour into downtown Baltimore, and checking in to the hospital, where we have to wear masks, at all times.  Johns Hopkins is an amazing institution and surely on the cutting edge of cancer treatment and many other diseases, as well. We stay with Ev for a few hours, then leave to pick up the pieces of our souls.  This will be a day to day process.

Meanwhile, back at their house, I have been cooking and helping Jenni to get some life things in order.  We manage to keep our spirits up, but, of course, there are breakdowns into tears.  My free tie is spent notifying the rest of the family and siblings of progress. My siblings are the world to me, and I am homesick for them all right now!

So that is where I am, I miss my family back on Cape Cod so much....going home for a short time next week, but will come back.

Love and peace and extra hugs to family at this time.

No comments: