this might be part of why this hits hard -- she's over a decade younger than me and has a brain tumor which is going to dramatically shorten her life expectancy. At one point, everything was going better than he was expected to. Now it's going worse than expected. And while she's ok, the chemo is just so hard on her body. I can feel the optimism draining out of the situation. There was a point in all of this where she could meet up with us and "feel normal" and we are not in that era right now.
Sometimes, chemo can bring one to the brink of death. Sometimes, people bounce back and sometimes they don't. But how does one NOT try to think/believe for the best possible outcome?
The next round is supposed to be a little less taxing, so fingers crossed, but the number it does on your body... I felt like our group of friends was being a little naïve about what she was in for.
I did 4 rounds of terrible chemo followed by 16 of 'easy' chemo. And the terrible chemo was bad - really bad, and there was no way I could pretend everything was okay. The next chemo SEEMED easier because it followed the terrible chemo and how could one NOT feel better? But it's still chemo and by the end, it was starting to wear my body down.
I hope the next rounds are easier on your friend, it's so hard to see our loved ones suffering, so take care of yourself, as well.
