On Day 68 the oncologist sends me back to the beginning, back to the radiologist’s office where I had the mammogram and sonogram that revealed the mass before we knew it was malignant. This time I try to park close to the front doors because my red blood cell count is half of what it was last time I was here due to eight weeks of chemo, which means I’m walking very slowly in my wig I call “the Hitchcock blonde.” The “Tennille” wig I wear to work, and somehow I’ve frayed it a little around the bangs. I think from the time I leaned to pull a sheet of sweet potato fries out of the oven and felt the steam from the gap of the oven door sprawl across my cheeks. Leave it to me to melt my best wig. Or it could have frayed because Tennille filed for divorce from the Captain. So I sweep the Hitchcock blonde bangs back and step into the building’s lobby, which looks like the Genesis cave in Star Trek: Wrath of Khan. Stone walls and greenery.
Tagged: breast cancer, chemo, children, Cynthia Hawkins, Damien, Wrath of Khan