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Here's a photo of the monster, prettily dressed in warm and water-proof clothes.
When standing out in the elements at a bus stop, I dress for the weather. The inside of a crowded bus has a different climate than the bus stop, so once sitting on the bus, I swelter. The mask adds about 20 degrees of heat inside its discreet area. My glasses steam up. I scare children and little old ladies. Looking at this photo, I realize I wouldn't sit next to me.
I talked to my Nurse Navigator yesterday. I agreed to participate in a study of newly-diagnosed cancer patients working with Nurse Navigators (herein called the Nursigator), to help them navigate the confusing, alien and illogical world of cancer
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I talk to the Nursigator once a week. She asks me how I'm doing, I ask her the questions I've been saving all week, she makes recommendations, etc. Yesterday I told her I had been thinking about returning to bicycle commuting, but was having mildly painful throbbing pulses in my head, chest and lower back when I exert myself. Her opinion was that this was due to depleted oxygen in my system because chemotherapy kills white blood cells.
Chemotherapy kills fast-growing cells, which applies to cancer. Cancer is cells growing at an out of control pace. Other fast-growing cells are white blood cells, which battle disease and infections. Chemotherapy reduces white blood cells to such an extent that not only is my immunity down, the other fast-growing cells in my body can be damaged, such as stomach lining, hair, and mouth. And since white blood cells are made in bone marrow, the Nursigator explained, the throbbing pain was occurring.
So, we agreed that pedaling 17 miles a day through hilly Seattle may not be such a good idea. My knees can't take running anymore, so I may be doing lots of walking. Dammit. I love riding my bicycle.
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He said "Someone must have picked them up." I told him I was very worried about him and if he saw any more masks on the stairs, I wanted to know about it immediately.
Dear Rebecca, this is upsetting me. I will assume you DO have cancer and this is not a Metro bus ad campaign. I appreciate your humor (as always), but when you describe which bus and exactly where, and what tunnel bus, etc it makes me nervous that this is all in jest. It better not be a stunt . . .
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