This wasn’t exactly one of my better days. The doctors started the new chemo this morning, and I haven’t felt particularly cheery since. They woke me up early before they started; they were afraid if I woke up with any strange, new sensations that the chemo may have caused, I would freak out. They were probably right, but I couldn’t go back to sleep after that. Tesla also left kind of late last night, despite having school today; Mom eventually had to usher her out, earning herself another glare. With those two factors in play, I didn’t fit that many hours of sleep in.
It’s a really crummy sensation— I felt tired, but I couldn’t sleep. At other times, I was bored and wanted to do something, but I didn’t feel like actually doing anything. I’ve never had either of those problems before…
With Mom at work, Dad took off an extra day to stay with me during chemo. He tried to start up a conversation with me, but I don’t think he got the result he wanted. I did remember to ask him what ‘Casanova’ meant, and he laughed about that; his explanation kind of bored me, though. He looked a bit put down when I stopped listening, but that’s understandable. He probably thought I was straight up ignoring him after I had just asked him a question. That wasn’t the case, though— I just felt really crummy.
I felt like that all day; ponyfeathers, it sucked.
To add to it, at one point I scratched my head and found strands of blue and yellow in my hoof— quite a few of them. I realized my mane had started coming out. Great— it seemed like everything bad the doctors said could happen was happening all at once.
The day dragged on for what felt like forever, but eight o’clock is late enough for me. Buck it, I’m gonna try going to sleep again. I seriously hope I feel better in the morning.
Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha… Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha… Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha… Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha…
Geez, aside from the obvious, now I know why cancer is such a hassle. Those treatments are not fun. I felt better today, though. I woke up late again, but at least I felt refreshed.
Since it was a weekday, Tess and Starry were at school, and Dad went back to work. I decided to drag myself and my IV pole down the hall to the PonyLife room. Luckily, the doctors said there was no reason why I couldn’t go in there. My treatment ended last night, and the doctors had expected all of the side effects I dealt with.
As I left Mom to her own devices on her computer, High Flyer escorted me as I dragged my pole down the hall. When I walked into the PonyLife room, I saw a familiar face sitting with an unfamiliar one.
“Crimson! Hey!” It was Blackhawk; he sat with another colt, sifting through a pile of board games. Blackhawk made the introduction: “Hey, Crimson, this is White Stripe. Stripes, this is Crimson Star. I met him…” He paused and looked at me. “…what was it, about a week ago?”
“Maybe a bit more, but that sounds about right. I haven’t seen you since then. What’ve you been up to? Just hangin’?”
Blackhawk shrugged. “Basically. I finished all of my Power Ponies comic books, and I don’t have much else with me. There’s really not a lot to do around here, is there?”
“No, not really. I’ve got my games, and you have your comic books, but they get boring after a while, don’t they?” Blackhawk shrugged again and nodded as I turned to the other colt. “Oh! Sorry, White Stripe. Hi there! Nice to meet you.”
“…Hey. You can just call me Stripes if you want,” White Stripe replied.
Aside from being a bit large, Stripes looked about the same age as Blackhawk, if not younger. He was an earth pony too, and his coat was a really dark brown, even darker than Blackhawk’s. The black stripes on various parts of his body threw me off for a second, but then I noticed that his lack of a mane followed the ‘chemo side effect’ pattern. Thinking back to yesterday, I realized I would soon be following that pattern as well.
I felt a little miffed— he kind of brushed me off, like he wasn’t interested in me at all. I almost felt insulted, but then Blackhawk gave Stripes a nudge, and he spoke up again. “Sorry. I do like meeting new ponies, I just may not look like it right now. I’ve been in the hospital for a while, and I haven’t felt much better since I got here. I’m waiting on a bone marrow transplant, but they had to do chemo first. Gotta say, the chemo sucks.”
All the negativity I felt toward him vanished in an instant. “Yeah, I feel ya. I had treatment yesterday, and I felt like crud all day.”
Blackhawk looked at me. “Wait, Crimson, aren’t you just getting Ribucks? You seemed alright with it when I met you.”
“I was, but the doctors said it didn’t do as much as they wanted it to. They gave me a different one yesterday. I was barely awake when the docs told me about it, but I think they called it Neightoxin.”
Blackhawk and Stripes looked at each other and nodded with a unanimous “yep.”
It sounded like they both knew what I was talking about, but Blackhawk made the first comment. “Yeah, Neightoxin is the first chemo that really starts bringin’ you down. It’s not that bad, but it’s definitely worse than Ribucksimab. That’s the one that caused this.” He swept his hoof over his head. “Did you pull any of yours out?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I got a few strands. All I did was scratch my head, and they started coming out— it wasn’t particularly encouraging. Well, at least I won’t need a hairbrush in a little while, huh?”
Both Blackhawk and Stripes laughed. “There you go! That’s the way to look at it.” Blackhawk smiled and gave me a hoofbump.
“Yeah, I lost my mane to the ‘toxin, too. Another chemo took my tail.” Stripes shifted in his chair and showed me his backside, which was bare of mark and tail.
“Well, that’s a bummer,” I responded. “How many chemos have you had? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Nah, it’s cool. I think I’ve had five different ones. Sorry to break it to you, but the side effects get worse with the chemos after the Neightoxin.” I wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear that.
“Yeah, Crimson, he’s right,” Blackhawk said. “Try not to worry about it too much, though. You deal with it as it becomes necessary, but for now, just hope you’re good with the ‘toxin. Oh yeah, that’s the other thing the doctors all say: don’t lose hope.”
I nodded. “I guess you’re right… Can we change the subject?”
“Yeah, please,” Stripes sighed.
Suddenly, I saw Stripes perk up a bit. “Hey B, I just realized— with Crimson here, that makes three of us. You wanna get out Settlers?”
“Hey, yeah!” Blackhawk rummaged through the pile of games, then looked over his shoulder at me. “Hey Crimson, you ever played Settlers of Patan?”
My eyes lit up. “You guys play Patan? Oh-ho, I’m in!”
“I’m guessing that’s a yes,” Stripes said with a chuckle.
“You bet your flank it is.” Both of them laughed along with me. I sat down at the table as Blackhawk grabbed the box from the pile.
My curiosity finally got the better of me, so I decided to ask Stripes before I forgot. “Hey dude, I’m sorry if this is insulting, but I just have to ask— White Stripe?”
He chuckled, then looked at me with a smirk and a raised brow. “Believe me, you’re not the first pony to ask. Let’s just say my parents have an interesting sense of humor.” The three of us laughed as Blackhawk found the box and started taking out the pieces we needed. “I’d styled my mane before, but it doesn’t really help right now. I’ll do it again when it grows back— hopefully that’ll take care of the confusion.” He shrugged as the three of us put the game board together. After we set everything up, it was game on.
Aside from the IV bags on the poles next to each of us in our peripheral vision, it felt like we were just three colts playing a game. I think we all needed that little escape.