Tampa Airport, August 22, 2017
There are a myriad of things a father can do with his daughter. He can take her to parks, to ballets, concerts and theater. They can go to ball games and movies and special lunches. The one thing no father should ever have to do it to take his daughter to chemotherapy, and yet that is what I did yesterday.
In early June Megan was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. A true mystery - it usually hits black men over age 60 (she is in her mid-40s) - she'd had symptoms including anemia and a sore jaw for several weeks and the tests revealed multiple myeloma. It's a bad one (bone marrow cancer) - BUT she has been accepted into an excellent trial program at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa and the prognosis is as good as it can possibly be under the circumstances.
Megan's attitude is phenomenal (but of course; it's Megan!) and her labs have been extremely good. She is a model patient and does everything she should do which of course works in her favor, as well as the fact that all of her organs are strong and healthy. She started weekly chemo in June that will last for a total of 4-5 months - she is just over halfway through at this point. After that it will be a bone marrow transplant but she IS GOING TO BEAT THIS, for sure. As her sister Valley says, when cancer chose a victim it chose the wrong one.
She is a favorite of the staff at Moffitt, they all know her and love her and do everything they can to make her comfortable during the chemo sessions. I sat in amazement at all that has to be checked and double-checked; it gave me great confidence in the program and staff. Megan has had marvelous support from her employers who are continuing to provide her with everything she might need to make her life a bit easier: Weekly ‘care’ packages, flowers and plants, and most importantly a great health insurance package.
Twenty-five days a month Megan has to take medicines that cost $1500 per day! The three chemo sessions per month cost upwards of $5000 per session. These are numbers that just stagger me and I’m so thankful that access to excellent care is not an issue for her.
My job yesterday was just to be with her, which is the easiest thing in the world to do (despite the location!). I was also responsible to providing laughter, keeping her wrapped and warm during her ‘drip’ sessions and making sure she was hydrated. She, unbeknownst to me, was up at 3 am making sandwiches and snacks for both of us since our 05:45 departure for Tampa precluded breakfast, although she did have her health smoothie that has ingredients too vile to put in print. Just to spice things up for her last Monday, I provide a Solar Eclipse as a surprise, which was much appreciated. I also provided chef services and prepared a great meal: open-faced starters of Burrata with pesto and tomato, followed by foie gras seared and served on toast, and finally duck confit with raspberry sauce, roasted potatoes, and broccoli with cloves of garlic that had been sautéed in duck fat. Megan ate some potatoes and some duck, which is a lot for her after a treatment. Blake and David assisted me in finishing the rest of the food.
So, this is how Megan and the rest of our family have been spending our summer vacation. I know Cindy and I shall be making more trips back to Florida to provide support, laughter and love, trips that we look forward to making as Megan works towards complete recovery. As my dear mother Kay used to say in times like this, “hold good thoughts.” Best wishes, Cindy and William
