So I had my second infusion this Monday, which went fine? Nothing major. I’ve been fatigued off and on this week, with some joint and nerve pain, but no bad symptoms beyond that which is a relief. I’m kind of tired and fuzzy brained a lot, so it’s unpleasant but not scary. My mother-in-law was here for the infusion and will stay through tomorrow (Saturday), and she’s been amazing—keeping us fed and the apartment tidy, making sure the little studio for visitors is stocked and comfortable, and cuddling the little dog who is completely enamored with her. Among many things, I am incredibly grateful for Nico’s family! Here are some things that happened this week, in order of occurrence:

• I started rewatching Veronica Mars—I’ve only seen two of the three seasons so I started back at the beginning. It’s awesome and all three seasons are on go90.com. If you’ve never seen it and you liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer or other female-led shows that require suspended belief, I recommend.
• Natalie Portman sits a little low on my chest and I need to wear fairly low cut shirts to make her accessible. Big ups to J. Crew for bringing back the built-in bra tank tops this year, since bras hit the port uncomfortably too. Although I wear stuff over the tank top, I walked out of the port draw with my sweater still off and my mother-in-law exclaimed “cleavage!” loudly and cracked up in the waiting room. Just normal, family jokes at the cancer center.
• While waiting in line for the bathroom in the treatment area, an older woman in a wheelchair came out and was negotiating the door around her chair. Even though I had a tube in my port and the tall IV bag encumbering me, I asked if she needed help. She looked at me, laughed, and said “Honey we don’t need the blind leading the blind here.” For some reason I found this hilarious—it’s like she was saying, “you’re sick too, kid.” I laughed, made kind of a rag doll gesture, shook my IV pole (note: you’re probably not supposed to do that?) and replied—“you’re right! What am I going to do with this thing?” She opened the door unassisted and we both laughed, moving along to continue our treatments. I think someone pointing out that I’m sick would have been upsetting a couple of weeks ago, but now I’m finding random things like this hilarious and going about my annoying day.
• Though I arrived after the actual event, I got to stop by the kickoff for my friend Gabe’s campaign for alderman in the 49th ward! I’m so proud of my friend and his wife Marissa, it was worth a little extra tiredness. Plus people get really excited when you show up for shit and you feel like a masked celebrity of some kind.
• My nephews, sister, and dad are visiting now and my nephews have been insanely cute about everything. The older one diligently wore a medical mask around me even when I told him it’s okay as long as I wear one, and when we went outside he nervously asked “do you think I should wear it all the time, just to be safe?” We wanted them to get a visit in before I start chemo and I’m so happy to see them. Tonight we’re having pizza and watching Harry Potter under the new leopard print faux fur blanket they picked out for me. They are little kings of hygge! Tomorrow we’ll have dinner at my friend Ruth’s. She’s hosting Meg and the boys for four days in addition to her own two boys…in addition to being an immigration attorney? So you know, just a low-key simple life over there. I’ve also had two family friends fly in from Boston for 12 hours just to see me, one cousin stop by while here for work, and one friend who has spent more than a year caring for other people here, taking my walks with me. So much happening in everyone’s lives and all of my friends have still offered to fly in, send things, help my sister, whatever I need. Just constantly blown away by it!! Thank you to everyone.

Finally, here are photos of Fanny wearing some blog-branded swag—compliments of one of her (and my!) favorite people, my cousin Rachel.