I’m watching Jen sleep right now. Her second chemo session went smoothly. This afternoon’s infusion started around 12:30. We had lunch after, and a little dessert. Eventually though, this part of Jen’s treatment took a bit out of her.

Today’s session was an hour long. Tomorrow’s will be the first of two extended treatments, lasting 3-1/2 hours each.

Dr. Jadiga (the hospitalist) showed us the latest CT scans of Jen’s hips. She says the pathological fractures will be slow to heal because the metastasis has weakened the bone. While Dr. Shasti explained that surgery is not a viable option right now, Dr. Sarma says, “the hope is that all activity on the part of the cancer would stop, now that chemotherapy has started and healing would begin. That’s our hope.”

Angels are real. We were visited by four this week. 

The first came in the form of three friends and neighbors who tackled the chaos and mess that became our living space. It’s crazy how quickly things got out of control. These three angels picked up, vacuumed, scrubbed our bathroom, cleaned dishes, mopped our floors, sorted out our refrigerator, washed and folded laundry, and did countless other chores — in the process creating time for Jen and I to focus on each other. We couldn’t be more grateful.

The second angel arrived earlier this evening, and surprised us with a random act of kindness. One of the floor nurses, not on duty for Jen’s ward tonight, came in to visit. Elana greeted Jen with a cheerful smile and a shopping bag filled with gifts. The first was a plush blanket, because Jen gets cold at night, the second a table top fan, because she is sometimes overtaken by hot flashes. The third was a copy of HGTV magazine, because she loves watching those home improvement shows. Jen was overcome by Elana’s thoughtful and friendly expressions of kindness.