I will be your guest blogger today as Stine is feeling a bit weak.

Heading into a chemotherapy cycle is like driving into a tunnel. It will be dark, you want to slow-down, and there simply isn’t anything you can do but go forward. Outside of Norwegian tunnels there is a sign that lets you know the tunnel length, so you get a bit of an idea how long you are going to be underground. In Stine’s case, we now know it is about five days before she starts to feel well again. 

Lois dropped by with some flowers today, and our neighbor Daiana brought even more fish over late yesterday. These are sure ways into a Norwegians’ soul. Stine is planning on how to cook the fish up and getting inspired by pictures and recipes. 

When I dropped off Stine at the hospital for her therapy today, it was almost deserted. In these times, I am thankful for empty hospital parking lots. The last few days have been exceptionally busy for our company as we assist our clients pivoting to address COVID-19. One company is opening up a vaccine fill/finish line. For another, I submitted an SBIR grant today to develop a rapid COVID-19 next-generation sequencing kit. We wrote a press release for a group and they just received contact this afternoon from an organization needing manufacturing help for a COVID-19 diagnostic kit. What a whirlwind. And joy of joys! I found a spare N-95 facemask in the back of the truck! It is the small victories in life that keep us going.

We are getting more organized (well, I should say that Stine is getting us more organized) on the quarantine zone for food and packages. Each sequestered group has a post-it note with date entered and the date to be released, on a specific table in the garage.  It is funny that we now look forward to different releases. Bananas? That is tomorrow. Batteries? Friday-unless you want to individually clean them. Meat? Well, if it is on the table and not refrigerated, then you had better throw it away.

Looks like I am up for cooking today. Stine has taste buds right now, so that is always challenging. I suspect my cooking is easier to ingest when the chemo has taken away her sense of taste-which will be in 2 days. Yep- that is the tunnel. Just need to keep going.