What a difference!

Mary is clearly feeling better although not anywhere near 100%. Just to see her in the kitchen helping or fixing food for herself is great. She made herself a chicken quesadilla for lunch yesterday which is more than she has been able to do on any Saturday for the past six weeks. And she was very active preparing dinner with me last night. Clearly, having only 3 treatments this week did not knock her down as far as a 5 treatment week.

This morning I ran over to the lab to have a blood test draw for me. When I got home, Mary was sitting at her computer reading email and, more importantly, drafting a response here and there. That has not happened since this all started back in April! Her sister, Reenie, has been prodding her to get on Facebook and she has done that too.

The plan today is a coffee klatch with MaryR at our favorite place, I assume. The two Marys will work it out and I'll hear about it later. I also assume MaryR is driving because Mary says she isn't ready for driving yet.

Mary has stopped some meds (like the chemo pills) and is tapering off on others per the doctors' instructions like the nausea drugs. Her digestive system seems to be just fine and she has avoided the typical side effects when under treatment of radiation and chemo to the abdomen.

The signs are very good for her to regain a whole bunch of her strength and interests. For example, she was really lusting after the iPhone 3GS. Many of you know she has a first generation iPhone so she is very familiar with the iPhone and its Apps store. However, the first generation doesn't have the GPS chip for best location finding functionality and that is something she really wants and frequently needs. Wednesday night, after dinner, we went down to the Los Gatos Apple Store and acquired her new phone.

Yesterday, I am leading a meeting with about 20 people in the room. My phone vibrates while sitting on the table and I see its Mary calling. I said, "Excuse me, its my spouse, I'll be right back."

I left the conference room and Mary says, "The voice dialing on the iPhone works great--in fact, that is how I called you."

Expecting more news, I ask "Is anything else?"

"No, I was just testing iPhone voice dialing--it works and its cool," she replies.

I come back to the meeting and expect to keep going. My coworkers know what is going on with Mary's health so the question arrives, "Is Mary ok?"

Now what does one say? I decide the truth is probably the best.

"Well, I gave her a gift for completing radiation and chemo yesterday. It was a new iPhone she really wanted. Mary was just testing the voice dialing function and letting me know it works--and its cool."

Among the sounds of laughter I heard, "That's so cute!"