the sock ladies had left.
a gentleman of russian descent sat down.
it wasn't just a cancer place.
it's a blood place too.
he was drainin' out some of his excess blood
or something. i'm so medical.
i have no idea.
i had gone to the bathroom and as i came
back to sit down i smiled at him and looked
across the way there at the bag next to him.
it was filling with his blood.
it had just started, so it was really wild
looking. blood splattered all over it. (on the
inside)
i had never seen anything like it before....
hmmmmmm.....i wondered........am i gonna do
okay with this??
TER?! *HE'S* the one giving it. you'll be okay.
so i sat and watched.
the nurses were trying hard. turns out that he
had some tricky veins. he said they were fabulous
at finding them. best he's known. that they had
actually drawn a map of them and put that in his
folder to help anyone who needed to poke him.
my eyes widened.
no kidding?!!
no kidding.
the one nurse stayed for the whole time.
pumping that thing, making the hoses work, tellin'
him how excited she was as that was the most blood
she'd ever gotten out of him.
and the bag kept filling.
we were all chatting and talking and distracting
him from it all. there was lotsa good natured teasing
and nice chatter.
and the bag kept filling.
i watched.
participated a little bit.
but for me, i was quiet.
i was more interested in watching.
he was an amazing man.
so good natured. so kind and gentle.
and filled with gratitude for the nurses.
i watched him...i watched the bag....
i watched the nurse rubbing those tubes
and making it all work....
and the bag finally filled up.
i joked about it popping...
and the nurse did a happy dance that she
had got it full.
the man smiled and told us he was going to
bake them cookies for his next visit....
and i marveled at the human spirit.......
and the silver threads shone steadily on.......
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