The eve of Christmas Eve 2003.

  The year 2003 was filled with medical visits, 3 separate surgeries, those hour-long bone scans, and countless (almost) labs, CT scans, MRI's, as well as an eight  months long course of chemotherapy followed by a full course of radiation.
    Dorothy was here as usual and left for her home the evening before Christmas Eve. I had thought I was coming down with a cold or something, but when I got up and went into the bathroom, I saw in the mirror a terrible sight; instead of clear glass, the mirror was of patterned stained glass, mostly in shades of blue and black. That might sound like a lovely thing, but it struck me as being hideously ugly. Then my legs and body surrendered to whatever effect, and I couldn't move.
       Dave called M. and they drove me to the E.R. in Saratoga, because that's where all my recent testing had been. Dave was concerned about the ride to the hospital in my weak condition, so he fixed a sleeping bag and pillows in the back of M's station wagon. I didn't want to lie down in the car though, but the project was not unutilized. We had a long wait in the ER, or maybe for the test results, and it was the middle of the night, so during the wait, Dave went to the car and took a nap. M. waited somewhere, not sure where.
   I found out the results of the testing when the nurse came in with a mask for me and said I was positive for the flu, Type A.  I had not gotten the flu shot that year--too many other medical procedures. I remember both M. and the young nurse said they hadn't gotten the shot either. They were so young and dumb they wouldn't even wear the masks, even being right next to me. The doctor , whose name was similar to Jon Bonjovi, recommended I stay overnight, but it was almost Christmas and I wanted to go home. However, he said to not be near small children. Ben was a toddler then and Greg only weeks  old, so I was isolated for Christmas that year.
     I don't remember what the gifting was that year, except my favorite present was in a goody bag that M. brought to my house. In it was a roll of Werther's. I hadn't known they came in rolls like Lifesavers, but they did that year.