I thought it was going to get better. But even a week after the chemo infusions had ended, mom looked worse than ever. Pale, stooped, shaky. I kept saying to myself--"this is the worst it will get..the most of the poison she will have in her body." But it didn't really make me feel any better.

Today, she received a transfusion of blood, from someone whose blood was not full of poisons or cancerous cells. I watched as the stranger's blood made her cheeks flush with color, her eyes grow more clear, her lips become distinct again. My mom is O-. I am O+. I couldn't give her my blood, even though I sat there wishing I knew where that blood had come from. I know the screening procedures are good. Intellectually. Otherwise, I was wondering...what if there is something in that blood that hurts her? I can't help it. Cancer has made me paranoid.

When we got back to the house, she walked down the hall without running into the walls. It worked. She is back.