On Tuesday I got some bad news from my friend and labmate, Dave. His mom passed away. We all knew that she had been having some troubles, recently, but I at least didn't know that it was life-threatening, so it kind of came as a shock to me at least. It turns out that it was a recurrence of breast cancer. Most of "the lab" -- Bobby, Bender, Cristian, Aaron, and myself (and obviously Dave) -- attended the funeral, in part to be there for Dave and also because we had actually met his mom at his thesis proposal. I didn't really get to talk to her at that time, but she seemed like a wonderful woman, and that first impression was reinforced at the funeral service. I haven't lost someone as close to me as she is to Dave, so I really can't understand what he must be going through right now... all I can do is be there for him if he needs me.
Unsurprisingly, this is the first funeral I've been to post-Carmichael. Part of me wants to say that it affected me differently than previous funerals, but I don't think it would be entirely honest. I remember going to the funeral of Kirstin, a girl I went to elementary school with who died in a car accident, and thinking at the time that it could have just as easily been me in that car. The same thing happened with Jordan's funeral after high school. As much as I go to these events to mourn the passing of the people I know, I feel like I also look at them as a reminder that one day I too will die, and I'll have one of these services of my own. Maybe I've just been watching too much Dead Like Me, but I really kind of wish that my death is something spectacular. It would be even cooler if I died doing something heroic, but modern life does not leave much room for heroism. No, in all probability, I will die of something mundane, but with any luck it won't be because of Carmichael, and it won't be any time soon.
The world marches on past Dave's loss... less than an hour later I found myself at the doctor's office. Today's appointment was a little shorter than the previous ones had been; I probably could have gone in to the lab for a few hours afterward, but between the funeral and the rain I just didn't feel like working today. My next two appointments (in two and four weeks) will just be a matter of getting blood drawn, and then they'll call me if there's anything unusual. Then in six weeks I'll have a full appointment again, and they'll do a FISH test to see details about Carmichael. Until then, as I have been anticipating, my CBC is looking very good across the board, so in some sense I'm doing better than I've done in a really long time. Hurray.
PP (post... post): For the record, when I die I want to be cremated, and have my ashes spread somewhere cool, like in an active volcano, space (including, but not limited to the moon), or Antarctica. If those are all too difficult, then a cave would suffice, but it should be pretty deep at least.
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