Ramblings of a guest blogger

Ramblings from visitor & guest blogger, Sonja (Hultstrand) Matzke. 

It’s 9am (EST) on Sunday morning and I only now, just woke up. The sleep, uninterrupted, dark room, dreamless sleep I have gotten on this visit to Anne has been fantastic. It’s a big change from the working, mommy, wife life/sleep/routine I took a quick hiatus from when I flew to Ohio.

Anne’s sleep, on the other hand, is one of the only things that so clearly points to cancer. Anne’s always been a morning person, something I have admired since our early am, before student council meetings in high school. But now, the drugs that keep her from reacting to the toxins in the other drugs, make her nights restless. She was up yesterday morning from about 4-6 am watching a movie and then was able to fall back to sleep. Thank goodness, because we had gone to a Christmas party the night prior (my lack of normal responsibilities lowered my inhibition) and it was a delightfully late night full of craft beer, delicious food, peppermint patty shots and vivacious conversation. We solved the world’s problems and debated whether business casual was “easier” for men vs women…

Other than not so fantastic sleep, Anne really seems like her normal self. She is the same person: vivacious, passionate about work, frustrated with her student’s poor research papers, she has seen all the moves on Netflix, and she happens to also to chemo on Friday mornings and have a fuzzy head. Oh and every now and then she gets a hot flash. When we were at the Christmas party on Friday night, we were talking to a young eligible male and I though Anne had gotten embarrassed… turns out, just a hot flash!

When Anne and I were texting last week, I admitted that I was looking forward to coming but that this trip was going to be as much for me as it was for her. I needed a time out from my work/mommy/wife life. I love my life but some weeks are pretty hard and the past week was one of those weeks. The first night, Anne and I spent our time cuddled up on the couch talking about all the not so great things and getting through the quick status update of good friends that don’t talk frequently. It’s one of the fantastic benefits of good friends; we might have missed a few pages of detail along the way but we are able to pick up at current day and enjoy each other. Anne and I made a deal, I could talk about my hard stuff if I wanted but she wouldn't bring it up and she could talk about cancer if she wanted but I wouldn't bring it up. Deal.

It’s been interesting and an honor to be close enough to peer into Anne’s life. She does a pretty damn good job trucking along without the thought of using cancer as an excuse to slow down. Hopefully her students understand how lucky they are to have a professor who cares as much as Anne does. I am glad to have met some of the friends she has here in Dayton who are her day to day support system. And, I loved being included in talking to “call mom mobile” (Barb) in the car. Having a supportive mother is a blessing I am thankful to be familiar with as well. To Barb, and the other moms of daughters in their 20’s and 30’s, thank you for all the support that comes with your friendship.  I will speak for us all in saying, we don't say thanks often enough.

Thanks for the recharge, Annie. Good luck getting through the rest of finals. Enjoy your time with family in California for Christmas. And remember, it’s only a couple short plane rides to northern Wisconsin. Although, you may want to wait until May when we start to thaw out. Love you!