Cancer patients know there is a cure for the cure to the cure for cancer.
It sounds like Gertrude Stein’s poem, “A rose is a rose is a rose,” except that the observation on cancer is not poetry but pain built upon pain built upon pain with a topping of frustration and anger.
First was the diagnosis of cancer immediately followed by hugs and reassurance. The first line of treatment was chemotherapy. The patients learned that they returned the very next day for an injection to increase blood cell count and reverse the harsher aspects of chemotherapy.
What patients experienced from the injection was fever and chills, loss of appetite and little red dots on their arms and legs. The staff had a pill for that. At least it was an over-the-counter drug primarily meant for allergy relief. It worked eventually, but by the time the appetite fully returned it was time for another chemotherapy session, then inoculation and another round of allergy pills. An over-the-counter lotion was supposed to fix the rash; well, may for some but not so much for others.
This vicious circle consisted of pain, discomfort followed by a few hours of almost feeling good before the whole process started again.
No wonder patients start snapping at the caregivers if their pills were not delivered as promptly as they would have liked. If caregivers asked patients to repeat a request because the last word of the sentence was lost in a cough, the patients reprove them for not bothering to listen.
Caregivers can take it because they know sometime along the way of life that they had had moments of temper which the now-patient took in stride.
It is part of the better or worse clause, but this is not the worse. What could be better than showing love in the worst of circumstances?