Stranger Than Most

by SUSAN LAUTZ, LPC

Haven’t written about my cancer journey for a while, so I guess it’s time to catch  you up. Took my first chemo treatment a couple of  weeks ago. Even though I’d convinced myself I was ready, I was NOT prepared.  I thought, “Susan, you’re in pretty good shape. You  eat right. You walk a mile every day. You’re tough! You’ll be fine.”  No such luck. Sure, I felt okay the day of what we’ll call “the infusion”, but  then I got sicker and sicker and sicker. Nausea, diarrhea,  pain and weakness. I hobbled around like an old  woman, gasping at every step. But mostly I just lay  on the recliner, wall-eyed in front of judge shows and  cartoons, inert, exhausted.