September 17, 2006
- Day 5 - Week 24 - Jennifer Kreitler
Diagnosed with cervical cancer two months ago Jen
has begun chemotherapy and radiation simultaneiously
and it has taken a terrible toll on her body, and
psyche. Listening to her father recount the
relatively minor rigors of 5 months of chemo did not
prepare her for what she experienced during both the
first and second rounds. Not only did her blood
pressure drop to dangerously low levels requiring
monitoring every minute for several agonizingly long
stretches of time, her nausea could not be abated by
the strong anti-nausea drugs. In other words, what
could go wrong did go wrong and her promised ‘piece
of cake’ ‘walk in the park’ treatment has
compromised her well being at a significant level.
It appeared early on that the surgery had removed
the cancer, but lingering doubts about lymph
involvement mandated visits to specialists who
proscribed a regiment of chemo once a week and
radiation daily. An hour here, a few minutes there,
and Jen you would be home in time to see the kids
come return from school. In a blink of an eye the
scenario changed from normal to frantic and scary.
Minutes turned into hours and each of the last two
Thursdays became a living nightmare for Jen and
Mark.
Drugs of the power required in cancer treatment
affect individuals differently, and one of the two
Jen endured brought her blood pressure to 60-42. On
the other hand, the regimen proscribed for me did
not significantly affect my blood pressure at all.
In addition, Jen had both the dry heaves and
continual nausea, I had none. Father and daughter
with similar genes, though different cancers could
not have had such profoundly different results. Why,
only science will tell one day, but in the meantime
perhaps the Kreitler Compact will continuing with a
little different twist.
Keep a good thought for Jen as she awaits
treatments 3-4-5 with understandable anxiety and
trepidation. Sometimes the old adage becomes true in
one’s own family; ‘the cure just may be worse than
the cancer.’ Each of us find the strength internally
and through the support of family formulate a way to
endure even the most challenging of circumstances.
Jen’s husband Mark, though running a large division
of Enterprise rent a car, has been ever present as
chauffer, nurse, caring husband and attentive
father. Jen has lifted up the value of friendship to
new levels, and has greatly appreciated her mom
being there for her through the difficult Thursday
and Friday sequence. Maybe the lesson once again in
all of this is that the compact we make with one
another to be present is what sustains us through
life. We all are thrown curveballs, and indeed every
family is fighting a hard battle in some fashion,
but when the team comes together ultimate victory is
assured. Thanks team for being there for Jen.
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