Support Amanda

I'm not alone up here

Written 2 hours ago by Amanda Berbig

As you all know I am doing so much better. Zach has been an amazing support to me and has done a wonderful job of keeping all of you informed when I could not. Thank you for giving your support to him. He is working so hard to prepare for me to come home. He really is amazing taking on all the tasks that I do while trying to do his own as well.

Please come and see me anytime now. If you are sick, we can Skype and you can see my crazy bald head. Otherwise you'll just have to wait. I am not used to it yet and it itches but so do my nose and my arms, so it might have to do with the narcotics that I am on so that I can drink coffee and eat. That’s a really long sentence and I am not going to try to fix my grammar right now because there's not a button. I am up and full of energy today. It may be somewhat do to all the coffee I am drinking. Yum, coffee. They got a new special coffee machine in 7C's kitchen. They get all the fun stuff in their kitchen. I am glad it is close to my room though.

 I really wanted to write about a patient I just met while I was going to heat up my coffee that I let go cold. His name is Benjamin; he is 33 with 3 children. In his hands he held a school size container of milk, a small bowl of cheerios, and his water pitcher. It started with small talk; like I said I am feeling really well. Ben on the other hand is not. He has Lymphoma that he’s been fighting it for two years. Ben is a born fighter; his family is survivors of the Holocaust. He is here again for more chemo to prepare for another bone marrow transplant. The doctors haven't been able to find a good match for him anywhere in America. Ben is a rare case, his body does not take well to the chemo treatments and my doctor had told me that there have only been 2% of patients that they haven’t been able to find a match for. It breaks my heart that Ben asked his 6 year old son if he should stop fighting. Ben thought his boy would want him home and Ben was tired of fighting and being away from his family. His son told him that he should never give up. I told Ben his son is right, he has so much to live for. He knows this. I think he feels beaten down. I hope I just caught him on a bad day. One thing he said to me that I really respect is that he told his Doctors that he did not want to hear about the negatives. Part of the battle is in our minds, we need to take things one day at a time and try not to worry so much about the next battle we have to face around the corner. He agrees with me, so I know that he is ready to face what awaits him. We exchanged room numbers and hope to talk soon. I told him I would pray for him despite the fact that I am not one that prays often, even in these rough times. I hope God listens to me and I want to ask all of you to say a prayer for him too. I think he needs them more than I do.

Thank you, I love ya all.
-Manda