- banana nut muffins arrived on my doorstep just now, with a note suggesting they could make breakfast a little easier tomorrow (or lunch, snack, or freeze...)
- my editors taking on some of my work to make it easier to finish the anthology
- books being mailed to me (one on fighting cancer, one a cheerful picture book telling kids why mommy's hair is falling out)
- my department hiring subs to cover classes I can't get to (this one is HUGE, and I am so glad my department has both the financial resources and the social will to support me in this way)
- a mom at the school's PTA re-opening the after-school class registration so I could get Kavya into the new Indian dance class (that I helped organize adding to the curriculum!) -- I had been so harried the last two weeks that I'd missed the sign-up period, but she's in now!
- a friend meeting Kavi at the bus stop and keeping her 'til 4-ish most days the past week, when I had hospital procedures
- literally gazillion offers to help, and local people especially offering babysitting or grocery runs or hospital chauffering
- many people who have been through cancer, or had a friend go through cancer, offering to be there as a resource, as needed
- medical friends doing research to learn more about breast cancer and then offering me advice
- doctor / hospital staff going out of their way to make things more comfortable / easier / possible for me
- a glorious floral arrangement from my college roommate (that one is for wedding, not cancer, but including it because it's in the picture :-) )
I know it's super old-fashioned to offer to bring a casserole, and it undoubtedly feels cheesy, but I have to say -- I think it's not a bad idea. I mean, we don't need fifty casseroles the first week -- we don't have the freezer space. But last night, we were too tired to cook after the day of procedures, and ended up ordering out; luckily, we can afford to do that on occasion, but I would not have turned up my nose at a casserole, esp. a kid-friendly one!
The problem is that everyone has a different idea of healthy/ kid friendly/ acceptable. I read this horrifying advice column where a daughter was still angry at the time her parents brought the wrong casserole prepartum, a year earlier. Dude, give the offending meal to your husband and have him buy you something. The grocery store sells premade meals, far cheaper than takeout, and most will defrost/bake mindlessly. I bet if you told a nghbor/friend what you would like, they would buy it/ repack it freezer size, e.g. an extra rotisserie chicken plus a frozen stir fry veg mix. I can’t tell you the number of times I thought to take something to my neighbor (husband sick/ died) but had no idea if she ate that. Extra chili has meat/spices, extra idli is ethnic, a bottle of tequila could exacerbate any depression, lentils/rice could seem cheap, sesame noodle may seem odd since i use buckwheat noodles. And thats not even dealing with kid palates.