When the blood test says there's a problem, that means one or more daily visits to the shot clinic. If you live around the corner from the clinic, it's not much of an interruption in a day, but Corinne and I have a long- albeit it beautiful and mountainous - drive to the city. The trips, which were sometimes seven days a week, gave us good quality time together, though.

Linda's oncologist trusted her to give herself the daily Nupogen shots to boost her white blood cells. I remember being shocked when I picked up the carton of ten vials at the pharmacist: $1,750. They are nearly twice as expensive now. Corinne's oncology clinic is very cautious, though, requiring a nurse to visibly inspect the patient with low blood counts on a daily basis. Watching other patients sit in line for shots, we see the benefit of that. Besides, with Corinne's aversion to needles, she wasn't about to do this to herself.