This is a photographic display, taken on day 2, round 2, of the chemotherapy. The chemo bottle is attached to me and is pumped into my body while I am at home from the night of the first day to the afternoon of the third day. You might find the fourth and final photo more revealing than you want.
This first photo shows me looking very normal. The chemo is on. The bottle is in my front, left jean pocket. The tube winds from the pocket in between the two low buttons on my shirt, under my shirt, passing through the pump that is taped to my skin and joining to the needle that is inserted in my port-o-cath.
The second photo shows me displaying the bottle.
The third photo is a close up of the bottle. You can see the chemo is contained in a balloon inside the bottle and has shrunk somewhat. The balloon shrinks as the chemo is pumped out over the two days. The chemo almost completely emptied this time while the first time it fully emptied.
The fourth (and revealing photo) shows the bottle and tube passing across my body up to the port-o-cath on my upper right chest. I am pointing to the pump part on the tubing. The pump is on the lower side of the join to which I am pointing.
Dear David,
ReplyDeleteWhen I read Pete Everett’s email a couple of weeks ago about your not being well, the first thought that crossed my mind was that of your spiritual perspective in life.
I vividly remember a conversation we had some 10 years ago when you said that your religious outlook changed after you travelled and encountered other cultures and religions. I have often recalled that conversation because it gives me hope that people can and do broaden their religious perspectives as they encounter very decent human beings living lives of love, service and sacrifice under very different belief systems.
I was happy to read in your blog that you have maintained this broader spiritual perspective even as you encounter (as we all must, sooner or later) the finiteness of life. I was also happily amused at your references to Catholic prayer and the Redemptorists. My family is Catholic and I was in religious life a good six years because opting out of organised religion (while retaining a sense of wonder at the great mystics and fine devotees that religions have so often produced – and keep producing).
As you continue on your physical and spiritual journeys of healing, may I wish you and your loved ones a joyful and blessed Easter.
Kind regards,
Terry Netto, Malaysia