Alice suddenly jumped out of her chair, startling Dana in the process.  “Oh I forgot to tell you!”  Alice was so excited she was bouncing in the chair.  “I talked to Dr. Kelly today.  He said that you are progressing well.  So well that if you keep it up he is looking at possibly letting you go home next Friday.”

“What?”

“Yeah.  He thinks that by then you will be able to at least walk on your own with a walker.  He also thinks by then your body will be strong enough to handle the chemo treatments as outpatient like you were doing before.  You are already eating on your own and probably be eating solid foods by this weekend.”  Alice was grinning from ear to ear.  Her smile faded slightly when she realized Dana did not have the same enthusiasm that she did.  “What’s wrong?  I thought you would be happy to know you might be able to go home soon.”

“I am.  It’s just…there are a lot of if’s and they all depend on my health.”

“Dana look at me.”  Alice waited until Dana was looking into her eyes before she continued.  “You are getting better.  You are going to walk out of the hospital and go home.  That’s not an if, that’s a when.  The only if is if you leave next week or a month from now.  Regardless, you are going to be able to go home.”

“Ok.  For awhile I wasn’t sure it would be possible so I tried not to think about it.  I guess I need to talk to Dr. Kelly about it.  It may take a few weeks to set up the nursing schedule and transportation.”  Dana looked away from Alice and started thinking about everything she needed to discuss with Dr. Kelly.

“Nursing schedule and transportation?  What the hell are you talking about?”  Alice was confused. 

“Yeah, I will need to have a nurse come by several times a day to check on me and have a special van drive me too and from the hospital for my treatments and doctors visits.”

“Dane, slow down and listen to me for a minute.”  Alice was serious now and nodded her head in understanding.  “When Dr. Kelly let’s you go home, you won’t need nursing assistance or transportation arrangements.  First, he is not going to send you home until you are capable of doing at least some daily stuff by yourself.  Secondly, the nursing stuff and driving you around I can do.  Like I said, it would be like before you came to the hospital when you were going through chemo the first time.”

“No.  I can’t ask you to do that Alice.  Especially with the holidays coming up.  You have done enough just staying here with me.  I can’t ask you to continue putting your life on hold for me.  I’ll talk to Dr. Kelly about getting at home care.”

“Damn it Dana!  You are not asking me to.  I’m telling you I am going to do it.  I want to do it.  I helped you before and I am going to do it again.  We both know you don’t want a stranger helping you and you really don’t want your mother helping you.  Don’t use the holidays for an excuse either.  I always spend the holidays with you and your family.  Now stop worrying about what is going to happen when you go home and start working on what you need to do to get home.” 

Dana knew by Alice’s tone that the conversation was over.  No matter what she said Alice had her mind set and there was no way she was going to change it.