by Laurie Wagner | Jun 21, 2017 | Blog
A few months ago I was hired to write with cancer patients at a hospital near my home. The woman who hired me brings artists, writers and musicians into the hospital to give patients some relief from what they’re going through, and an opportunity to channel this time in their lives in a creative way. Every Monday I scrub myself clean and walk through a series of sealed doors and into the bone marrow unit, which they’re proud to say has the “cleanest air in California,” and where very sick men and women with severely compromised immune systems and very few white blood cells camp out for up to one month as they get ready to go through their bone marrow treatments, which, if successful, will give them new, healthy blood cells. My cousin Craig, a doctor, tells me that bone marrow transplants are end of the line choices. They’re painful and can have terrible complications. They can also extend a person’s life by years they wouldn’t have had. I’ve often felt clunky around sick people. Everything I want to say to them feels cliché. When they ask me about my life and I say, “Great! I’ve got this new teacher training and I’m playing racquetball again,” it can sound ridiculous. I have one friend who I may have lost because of a letter I sent him which was meant to be inspirational and encouraging, but felt to me after I re-read it like I was out of my mind, completely insensitive. Every time I get to the hospital my heart is pounding so hard that I have to stop...
