Tapping

A lot of things get easier with time. Taking your child to chemo treatments isn’t one of them. On the drive to the hospital Nick sits beside me with his Beats on, his fingers tapping along to the music, looking for all the world like any normal, healthy teenager. On the drive home, his complexion is sort of greenish-grey, he sits perfectly still with his eyes closed, and doesn’t talk or listen to music. He heads straight for bed when we get home and doesn’t get up until the nausea overtakes him. Then we have a few days of ‘quiet Nick’. He still gets up and does stuff, but doesn’t say much and eats very little. By Wednesday he seems his normal self again and returns to eating us out of house and home. Next week’s session will be even worse I imagine as it will be the day before his 19th birthday, but it will also mark the half-way point in his treatment.

Nick’s been in a writing mood this week so he’s been tapping away on his laptop. Presumably one day he’ll be in a publishing mood and I’ll  be able to share it with you. He and Ray have been busy working on the new 2-piece bathroom in the basement, painting the walls and laying the floor tile. We’ve been a one-bathroom household for 18 years with no problem, but with the three of us here 24/7, it will be nice to have a second option. They’ve also been making meals together, with Nick collecting ideas for when he starts cooking for himself at university.

We’ve been having unseasonably mild weather for the past week or two, so the taps have already gone in – earliest ever. I have no doubt we’ll be hit by more nasty weather before the winter is out, but it’s been a nice reprieve.