Saturday, July 17, 2004

Day 47: PostScript

Just to reassure you all, I need to tell you that everyone who sees me is surprised that I look better than they expect, after getting these graphic descriptions of burns and blood and tubes and other horrors.

For one thing, I haven't lost much of my hair. My hair was thick to start with, so it's only thinned a little. Maybe that last dose of chemo will make me bald before its effects are gone, but so far so good. And, even though I could stand to lose a lot more, living on 1000 calories a day tube feeding means I lost about 25 pounds. Besides all of that, my complexion has lost the florid look I get when I let my pale Irish skin get too much sun.

When Eowyn arrived, she said, "Auntie Roseanne, you look awesome."

Irene Holochak, my fellow student from the Institute for Leadership in Ministry, told Liberty she practically started dancing when she saw me one day she came to give me a ride, she was so relieved that I looked better than she expected.

Another person who was delighted to see how well I looked was Liberty's friend Luke, who came by with some other friends for Liberty's birthday. We all got to spend some time together. I helped them prepare their barbecue and cooked a red white and blue birthday pie even though I couldn't eat anything, and played a bit of Risk (the Lord of the Rings version) with them. Afterwards Luke wrote a sweet email to tell me how much better he felt after seeing me, because not seeing me led him to fear the worst.

I just wanted to make sure that you all have this picture too, that I'm doing better than it may seem from what you read in these blogs.

Affectionately, Roseanne

Keep in mind that I once stated that my epithet should read, "She had a penchant for hyperbole."

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