So, for those of you that aren’t familiar with the process of chemo, it is normal procedure to install what they call a port. It goes under the skin in the chest. A tube connects to it and runs across the chest to an artery in the heart. And that is how the chemo is disbursed through the body.
Each time I go in, the nurse inserts a needle through my skin into the port, flushes it to make sure everything’s working well, and gets me all set up on IVs. This particular chemo I’ve been on for the first 4 infusions can’t be administered through a vein because it is too strong and it will damage it. It has to go into an artery. Being my father’s daughter, and for those of you that didn’t know my father, he was a jokester, I decided that I needed to name my port. So, my ports name is Portia. Portia Port. After all, she is part of me now for 4 months.
There is a nurse there that I have gotten to know that I really enjoy. She is a Christian, and we chat a lot about the Lord. I kind of set her up several weeks ago by telling her that I had named my port. So, today I was in a terrific mood and that side of me that I inherited from my father came out. Before I left the house, I placed a pair of googly eyes on Portia. I told the nurse that my port was celebrating never having to have that horrible chemo that they call the red devil again after today and is very happy. I pulled the corner of my shirt over so she could see the port and she jumped back, squealed, and started laughing.
She called the other nurse over, who thought there was something terribly wrong and came rushing over. And when she saw it, she burst into laughter. They said that that was a first. I imagine it was. Later she came over and thanked me and told me that she really needed that laugh today.
I know, for pete’s sake, this is serious stuff. It is, but laughter is good medicine. Joy is contagious. Find a way to laugh at the bad and rob the enemy of his plan for defeat. I am my father’s daughter. And I am my Fathers’ daughter, and He laughs with me!