Interestingly enough, on the 2nd year anniversary of Susan's stem cell transplant, I finished a chapter in the Donkey book. To me this is one of the most important chapters because it breaks down the cancer into easily understood chunks.
I was surprised at the effect writing this chapter had on me. I found it to be quite calming. It helped to take the scariness out of the equation for a while. If I could retrace and recite the steps to her illness, perhaps it wouldn't be such a mystery.
The difficult part for me in writing this chapter is remembering what actually happened and in which order. My sketchbook was a great help, but I hadn't recorded what myeloma is (because at the time, I didn't really know). So the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation website was invaluable.
One very important thing I learned from that time, the days soon after my partner's diagnosis, is how awkward it is for health professionals to issue a prognosis. They're not good at issuing such news. And it seems that they are (thankfully) often wrong. Whenever the palliative team arrived, I associated them with death, so I kept wondering, 'Is she dying now?'
The next chapter I'm working on now is about the steps taken to immobilize my partner's back. I documented this part pretty clearly, and my memory is sharp. I just can't seem to settle on a title page for this chapter. It'll just have to keep percolating, I guess.
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