Last Chemo…

This Friday will be my last scheduled chemotherapy treatment. I’m looking forward to it. I’m familiar with the faces and personalities of the many tech’s and nurses at the cancer treatment center. The layout of the maze-like building is no longer a mystery. I know when and where they are going to poke me with needles. The “beep-beep-beep” alarm will sound at the emptying of each bag of I.V. The friendly volunteers will offer warm blankets and baskets of snacks. My wife will be nearby, reading a book, playing her games, watching me sleep on and off.

Then, before I leave the treatment room at the end of the day, I will ring the bell signaling my last treatment. Everyone there will applaud and I will leave. If my prayers are answered and the doctor’s expectations are met, the cancer is gone and I am on the road to recovery.

But it will still be three weeks of continued side effects. I’m used to the weakness and digestive difficulties and seeing an old man in the mirror.

Soon I’ll get the PET scan to confirm that the cancer is gone…or if I need more. The unknown no longer bothers me. I’m willing to wait and return if necessary. I do not long for the familiar but will do whatever is required to be free of cancer and get back to participating in life: Work, play, rest, create.

I thank God for so many friends who are praying for me and this situation. I do the same when I am in the chair. I pray for these strangers hooked up to bags and tubes. So many are older than me, both men and women. Lord, give them strength and hope and a future.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord…Jeremiah 29:11.