Chimerism

Two Years Ago

After our Hazen reunion in Fort Benton, Montana, we head down to Yellowstone, then on to Island Park, Idaho, for a Johnston reunion of Jim’s siblings and families. We spend Sunday in Shelley, Idaho, where Jim’s mom summers and several aunts, uncles, and cousins live. We’re in Charlotte’s living room when we speak with David on Jim’s cell phone. He reports the latest chimerism testing of his blood shows that 80% of the blood cells are Sam’s and only 20% David’s. We’re relieved and thrilled.

Late July 2016

We have multiple days of 90 plus weather, and a brief hailstorm on Saturday. The storm cools things off for the night. Each night I open all the windows and close them in the morning against the heat of the day.

I’m still thinking about the upcoming twelfth of August. I’m not sure what to name it: ‘David’s Anniversary’ sounds so wrong. That word conjures up happiness: a remembered wedding, first romantic date, first day of sobriety, day we bought the house. He’ll never have those happy events to commemorate. And saying ‘David’s Death Anniversary’ is such a downer. In this American culture of positive thinking, the mention of death feels morbid. I don’t want to be the conversation killer.

Sunday evening we have our Weekly Gathering: twenty people around the two supper tables, including a beloved missionary whose parents have come from Arizona to tour New England before taking him home. It was a shock to me when, several months ago, he immediately knew what acute myeloid leukemia was. He developed it when he was 15 years old and had a successful stem cell transplant from his younger brother. Now he’s completed a successful two-year mission in New England. His parents come to supper and afterwards I talk with his mom. We share the experience of a loved son going through cancer. The helplessness of learning that just one mutant cell can multiply uncontrollably and cause such havoc. The sorrow of watching a son go through both the illness and the treatments. Their journey isn't over: the transplant has caused graft versus host disease. It's never easy. It’s comforting to talk.

It’s been a good week.