TAKE TWO - 5 January 2026
A welcome respite - If all had been moving along according to plan, Gloria would have begun her second three-week cycle
on December 23. But because of Christmas and New Years falling when they did, the next cycle was rescheduled to begin on
January 6. This was a good/bad affair - good because she had bounced back and so felt pretty good, but bad because she wants to
get all the treatments behind her.
Gloria has always had thick hair, but the treatment was causing it to shed around Christmas. In the front, the loss was
virtually unnoticeable. In the back, it was definitely noticeable, although because it was initially thick, she still had more
than many women of her age.
That said, finding a few strands here and there annoyed her. I don’t think it was the sort of annoyance that arises from the
weather spoiling a day out or misplacing your phone. Instead, I think she saw every tuft as a sign of things to come and was
tiring of her role being to just endure. So well before we went to daughter Mariya and daughter-in-law Miriam’s place for
supper on December 29, Gloria had been talking about asking Miriam to "shave" her. In fact, she had even asked me, but her use
of the word "shave" gave me the impression she wanted a true shave and I explained that shaving long hair was difficult ...
that there was a need to cut it fairly short first or the razor will clog. Somehow we never got past that missed communications.
These are our Muslim Singing Santas. If they are tapped on their bottom, they sing "Jingle Bells." We assume they are Muslim as they always face east.
But almost immediately after our arrival, she asked Miriam and Miriam said she would ... and did.
Gloria quickly mentioned how cool her head became ... meaning in regard to temperature. She cut it to perhaps an eighth-inch,
creating the "feel" of a short bristle brush.
But she was shocked when she looked in the mirror. She was reminded of pictures of women in the concentration camps of
World War II. I asked her if she knew why those women had short hair. She did not. I explained that the primary reason it was
cut was to use as insulation.
The chemo causes a platelet drop, encouraging a bloody nose as the blood clots less easily. It will rebound in a couple of days.
Busy Tuesday - She went into Stonecreek to have her blood checked. Everything was good.
Someone from the oncology center called while we were at the lab to schedule a visit with Dr. Koeneke the following week and
then set times for the second-cycle treatment which was to begin the following day.
We ate lunch at Culver's and then stopped by Ekart's to reclaim Gloria's car after installing a new turbo unit. On her own,
she bought some reading glasses, stopped by the credit union to order more checks, did two loads of laundry and located a
picture I had asked her to find from the year she had the miscarriage in Germany.
She decided a nap sounded appealing, but just as she was drifting off, a police officer rang the doorbell. It seems a busload
of people with various disabilities had been at Keats park and when they returned to the shelter on the east side of
Manhattan, they were short one person.
In the afternoon, A college-days friend Ann B. called quite out of the blue and in the chat, Gloria discovered Ann had had
several strokes and her husband is bedridden. Once again, every time you think you have it bad, you don't have to look far to
find someone who has it worse.
One matter that had been annoying both of us was the oncology center - Cancer Center of Kansas - scheduling system had been
down for some time, making planning difficult. During Gloria's first treatment, a patient arrived and mentioned that before
retirement he had been a system administrator and if he couldn't get their system operational in two days, he would have been
fired.
That was near the beginning of December - 27 days earlier - and his comment made it clear that it had been down well before
that day. Gloria had mentioned to friend Paula about the scheduling problem. It seems CCK also handles her husband's
treatments and she too confirmed it had been going on for some time. As a consequence of knowing three people who were
adversely impacted, I wrote to Koeneke suggesting it was a bad "look" for the business.
On Wednesday - the very next day - before the letter could have been delivered, the following message appeared overlaid on
CCK's website home page:
Important Notice: We have been experiencing a nationwide system outage since October 19.
Thank you for your patience as we transition to a new system designed to improve your experience and care. We sincerely
apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and cooperation with our team during this unexpected change.
Please allow a little extra time during your check-in.
WOW! Two months the system had been down! However, one part of the statement seemed odd. CCK has 20 locations, all in Kansas.
Why would they use the word "nationwide?"
That same afternoon, friend and former colleague Linda P. stopped by for a visit Gloria and stayed a couple of hours. I think
it did them both good.
Gloria spoke with friend Phyllis and learned that the missing man had been located and all was well.
Thursday through Monday were, in most regards, days pretty much as they might have been without treatments. The one item that
certainly was not usual happened Monday night. I had paused at work a day or two before and searched through a number of
movies, looking for one that might interest us at some point. The one that caught my eye was a 2018 offering called "Eighth
Grade." I liked its portrayal of the angst girls often experience during those years and was impressed that none of the people
were of the Hollywood beautiful people crowd.
We enjoyed the show Monday night and just began chatting about it after it concluded when I heard a "pop." It was neither quiet
nor loud. When I turned toward the TV, it was black!
Then there was another pop and soon the smell of hot printed circuit board material - a very familiar smell - was detected.
Gloria was worried the TV would start burning, but I assured her that I had experienced the same situation with various
electronic devices many times and we had just witnessed the death of an old friend. TVs today generally have a five-to-ten
year life, so at sixteen years, we had done well. And it was soooo considerate to wait until the show was over!
So, Tuesday, after we meet with Dr. Koeneke, we'll buy a new TV!
Details
Sunday, December 28
-Katie and Matt arrive in U.S. from Japan about 7:30 a.m.
-13 F outside
-had potatoes and BBQ pulled pork for supper
-Gloria works on almanac column
-scanned pix for update
Monday, December 29
-picked up Dexamethasone for next cycle
-supper with Mariya and Miriam at their place
-Gloria had Miriam cut hair to fuzz level
-Gloria was surprised how cold her head was
Tuesday, December 30
-arose about 9:30 a.m.
-labs at Stonecreek at 11:30 a.m.
-CCK called, Koeneke appointment on 6th, chemo on 7th
-We ate lunch at Culver's
-picked up Cruze from Ekart's shop
-Gloria bought reading glasses
-two loads of laundry completed
-Stopped credit union to order checks
-found Detmold hospital pix
-4 p.m. policeman at door looking for missing person
-spoke with Ann B who has had strokes, husband bed bound
-wrote letter to Koeneke
Wednesday, December 31
-on CCK website today:
Important Notice: We have been experiencing a nationwide system outage since October 19.
Thank you for your patience as we transition to a new system designed to improve your experience and care. We sincerely apologize
for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and cooperation with our team during this unexpected change. Please allow a
little extra time during your check-in.
-1:30 p.m. Linda P came for a 2-hour visit
-missing person found, was one from Big Lakes bus trip to Keats Park
-more tummy problems than recently
-green beans/peaches supper
Thursday, January 1
-arose about 9:30 a.m
-work on "Friday's" column
-did the laundry
-another supper of salmon, yum
-went to bed about 2 a.m.
Friday, January 2
-arose around 10 a.m.
-Go to Mariya's and Miriam's and DQ's for chicken-rice soup
-watched a "Morse"
-a "U" day - great in morning and evening, bad afternoon
-Gloria took a two-hour nap
Saturday, January 3
-unloaded camera pix to back-up
-hunted for newsletter photos
-edited "Miscarriage" article
-found Pavarotti article about Fron in 1995
Sunday, January 4
-see DQ & supper with Mariya and Miriam
-worked on newsletter
-Gloria made friendship bread for Jo
-photo transfer to back up
Monday, January 5
-TV blew up
-lunch at Culver's
-labs at Stonecreek
-Fed Ex to ship Jo's bread