Shane was a slightly built will-of-the-wisp who, at irregular
intervals, attended the clinic. His sparsely covered scalp identified
him as one of the group, but he was special because he was
independent. He was only a few years older than myself, and
at a stage of recovery which did not require heavy treatment.
It was some type of maintenance program. I lost contact with
him, not knowing whether he had simply moved, changed clinics,
or failed in his battle.
Keeping in contact with these people became more and more
difficult as time went by. Each patient's schedule was different,
and often asking the nurses was the only way to find out how
others were progressing. After a few years, and some negative
answers, I stopped making the inquiries.
One of the friendliest couples we met was an elderly Polish
couple. The husband had acute myeloid leukaemia, and at sixty-•
five years of age, the odds were stacked against him. They were
very much in love, and spoke highly of the country which had
adopted them. The struggle was a valiant one and, after six years
of treatment, regular hospitalisation, and so much discomfort
and trauma, his situation was looking relatively good. Then bowel
cancer was diagnosed and took his life shortly afterwards.
His spirit had been shattered.
I was down to around 65 kg, which is 20 kg less than my
present weight. A lack of appetite was responsible for this
situation, and I knew that I had to force myself to eat. My mother
was lacing my drinks with glucose, and my grandfather had
supplied a can of chocolate-rnalt vitamin supplement drink, large
enough to last for years. This is the only vitamin supplement
that I have ever taken.
