The Last Chapter of a Bad Habit

I just finished reading Sundays at Tiffany’s. Excellent book, beautifully written. I nearly ruined the book for myself however, when a bad habit I picked up nearly two years ago reared its annoying head.

Two years ago I was spending my spring and summer at the Cancer Center taking chemotherapy for leukemia. After an initial five treatments of arsenic in the hospital, the other forty-five treatments were completed at the Cancer Center. Some days I would be at the Cancer Center for as long as five or six hours if it was a seeing the oncologist day or if I needed my magnesium or potassium beefed up. But if I was lucky, I could get in and out in about three hours. What does an English Lit major and Reading teacher do by herself during chemo? Read, of course, if I wasn’t either a touch loopy from my premeds or, especially near the end, just plain old worn out and tired.

As I selected and read during those times, I did find out that not all genres were conducive to chemo, especially classic literature ala Sense and Sensibility. Class literature is classic for a reason but it is not a good genre to choose from, for me, when trying to block out the IV pumps and hubbub in the chemo room.

What were some good choices? A reread of Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split (probably the best book title I’ve heard in a long while), the book sequel to the awesome eighties miniseries V (thanks Karen for lending it to me), and the mysteries I like to read (Joanne Fluke, Diana Mott Davidson). What was not a good chemo read was The Friday Night Knitting Club.



(If you want to read the book but don’t want to be spoiled, STOP READING THIS BLOG RIGHT NOW!!!)



I was enjoying the book, engrossed in it. It was the perfect distraction from the arsenic running into the port in my chest and the slight nausea I would sometimes get from the previous day’s treatment. I read and read and read and then… AND THEN I WANTED TO THROW THE BOOK ACROSS THE TREATMENT ROOM BECAUSE THE MAIN CHARACTER DIED OF CANCER!!!

I stopped reading at that point.

It was one of those books that does not hint at anything like that happening. The book needed a warning label for chemo patients.

So back to the bad habit I picked up from this experience. I started reading the last chapter of any book I started to read. I don’t want to be caught in a crappy cancer surprise. I have a point, right? So far, I’ve only ruined one book that way – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I didn’t even start that one after reading the last chapter. To be honest, I shouldn’t have done that with Striped Pajamas anyway since it was a Holocaust story but like I’ve referenced, it had become a habit.

I do believe though, that I’ve broken that habit. Finally. I really wanted to do it with Sundays at Tiffany’s as it seemed like the type of book that might smack me upside the head with that awful twist. I found myself refraining though and began the book. When the book started to take a turn, a turn I thought might lead to smacking, I was able to stop myself. (Have I finally achieved self-discipline? At least with reading, perhaps not with chocolate.) I continued on and was rewarded with a good ending.