Cancer: Away With You!

My best friend has neuroendocrine tumors -- NETs -- another word for cancer. Val had surgery in late September, previously discussed here. For five days early last week Val had a fever ranging from 100.6 to 103.0, complete with chills, and shaking body ache, the whole thing that goes with a bug of some sort. Good news came today: her temperature was 98.4. Can you hear my big sigh of relief?

Recovering from surgery of any kind is tough, especially when one is active, always on the go, and thought to be in excellent health. Val was my Sonoma Diet buddy, and together we lost weight; now Val has lost 15 more pounds of weight she didn't need to lose. She is tall at 5 foot 8 inches, carries herself with distinguished grace, and has always looked tall and thin. Now she is tall and too thin, if one can ever be too thin. Time to bring in the refrigerated bottles of Ensure, each worth 350 calories of protein, calcium, and several nutrients and minerals. A strawberry Ensure for Weight Management was the flavor of choice, and after a little nudging, nothing remained but an empty bottle. She had consumed 550 calories for the day. With a little hope, a lot of herbs and seasoning, and a fair amount of nurturing, she might be able to reach 2000 calories by dinner.