By coincidence, my son Eric and I met a wonderful lady Jean during the 11th cycle of my second chemotherapy treatment. She is facing late stage ovarian cancer. I had been told that it was her birthday but I never expected a full-on party to erupt courtesy of Jean's friend Lynne. This video is a little snippet of the session and as short as it is, I think it's one of the most meaningful for me.
We really didn't get around to comparing medical notes but something told me that she was facing significant uncertainty as I am. And as much as I like to think that I have my act together, I was moved to meet a traveller of such strength and dignity as Jean. And this video is a reflection of my encounter and perhaps Jean and Lynne might see this as a small birthday gift.
Happily, this is my shortest video in my primary Living with Cancer series but I also believe it says it all ... yet it only traverses two bits of singing. Later that afternoon, our conversation led us to some chit chat on our respective experiences in music and for me my brief stint in a very respectable high school choir so many decades ago. And eventually this all lead to actually fulsome treatment of songs that we all cherished. This included Edelweiss and Do Re Mi from the Sound of Music and a beautiful French song called Le Temps de Vivre by Georges Moustakis. This last song was my choir's signature song and by yet another happy surprise, very familiar to Lynne.
Unfortunately Sharon could not make it today and Maddie had to leave for an appointment shortly following the birthday singing. it would have been more complete if we had been together but perhaps the quartet that eventually remained was the right number to allow the moments to truly sparkle. Besides if we were any louder we could have been cited with a public disturbance!
Other minor miracles included all of the patients near by greeting us with approving grins and two of those in the audience was an elder and a second gentleman from the Old Order Mennonite community in our region (Anabaptist Christians like the Amish) who also offered us approving neighbourly smile but these two themselves spoke in the Waterloo variant of an ancient language called Pennsylvania Dutch -- a direct linguistic descendant of the German spoken by their ancestors hundreds of years ago. Only in Waterloo Region, Ontario (and maybe in Lancaster County Pennsylvania) could one experience time travel while undergoing chemo.
And another elder patient was being treated in a private room but remained our most ardent fan and eventually she came out of the room to express her happiness from the afternoon. She too was clearly in an advanced state of treatment and disease progression but she found the motivation to join the party.
The final minor miracle of the day, I thought, was my voice. For the past months my voice and lungs had been ravaged my the chemo meds and surgeries and any thought of singing with others present was unthinkable. But I hope you can hear my own voice, a hint of actual singing. I was amazed that some parts of my singing capacity returned. Pitch, diaphragm control, and even vibrato was kind of there.
Musician son Eric posited that when all constraints are removed from a person's life, our physiology may be able to relax and get on with what is was always designed to do. Hmm ... having wise children is yet another miracle indeed. Having said all this, I think I still owe an apology for hogging the mic and having my recovering voice dominate the sublime singing abilities of my quartet mates. Unfortunately the vid was taken with my phone and my voice was only a few inches from the mic.
As much as this was supposed to be a gift for Jean, I really believed that it was just as much of a gift for me. Jean's treatment goes for 6 brutal hours compared to my 3 hours. When it was time to leave I gave her a big hug filled with gratitude and Eric helped me settle and wipe my tears.
I had planned for a very different sixth video for this particular series but this one just popped up from the events of the day. But it seemed ideal for my year-end reflection. And with that I want to wish all my fellow travellers and family and friends who often hurt even more than we do, my best wishes for the new year. I promise to be good! Be well.
Tom.
