Weeds for nausea

I found myself in the garden today. I've ignored it far too long. In fact, I never finished planting this year as in June, my husband of 41 years was diagnosed  with glioblastoma multiforme, the brain tumor John McCain has made a household word. Only Jeff's was in a location that was not operable so radiation and chemotherapy have been our daily routine.

Today, Jeff was too nauseated to go to radiation and I had an hour before the sun got hot. So hat and sunglasses on, along with a slather of my favorite sunblock, I marched to the backyard with gloves, a trash bag and my phone - in case of a call from the clinic or the doctors.

Weed after weed came out in my hand. I saw the tomatoes and cucumber plants begin to take form. I was able to separate them from one another, direct the tomato stems up the planter poles and lay the leaves of the cucumber plant down and away from the tomatoes.

The weeds came away from the beleaguered  pepper plants that had become completely overrun and covered from the light of day. Flowers had managed to bloom on one of the plants and leaves remained on the other. Two earthworms squirmed toward each other as I removed their protecting but undesired invading leaf umbrellas and just prior to batting heads veered off in orthogonal directions.

How unfair that I can simply pluck the offending roots and growths from my garden but I am powerless against the tumor growing in my beloved's brain. I have to rely on medicine, radiation, chemotherapy and guesswork. Yes, since each person is unique, each tumor is as well and therefore, guesswork is part of the therapy.

Too bad the weeds I pulled from the garden went into a bag to be tossed in the trash. They were not the kind Coloradoans speak about as helpful for cancer. Rather, they are just offending growths that prevent the fullness of life from flourishing.

Weeds. Tumors. Nauseated.