?Sylvia, How Is She?

Devoted readers and cognoscenti: The question of Sylvia (a.k.a Savta, a.k.a. Ema) is a complicated one. If my mother is asked directly how she is doing, you will received a curt "fine" or "I'm doing better," and the topic will be switched immediately to how you're doing, not-so-subtly implying that your hangnail or cold is somehow equivalent to her cancer. Don't be fooled! Cancer is worse, particularly when one is allergic to one of the chemotherapy agents and has to go back to drugs used in the late medieval period, and then only on the worst of the heretics. She feels awful, but the only thing that makes her feel worse is complaining about it. So here's my suggestion: Don't ask, tell. Tell her that you are thinking of her. Tell her (if there's even a small chance that God likes you) that she is in your prayers. Tell her that food will taste good again someday (a side-effect of the chemo) and that you will take her out for a vanilla malted as soon as her appetite returns. Tell her about all the upcoming simchas and the recent chochmas, (especially concerning her grandchildren). Regular email contact (she can be reached at rjehiel@aol.com) and an occasional mishebayrah for Tzipora bat ha-rav Yisrael v' Ahuvah is the very best medicine.