One of the side effects of cancer is the collateral damage. In this case, my youngest daughter, 20 years old, lets call her Oli. She is a Junior in the University of Maryland and about to flunk out. She is on probation after only passing one class last semester. No, it is not partying too much. She slept, and slept, and slept through everything. When she comes home to visit she sleeps. The doctors, those for the body and brain, are both worthless in identifying the cause. She is smart enough that she can smoke everyone. She tells them what they want to hear and they say she is fine or sick with a specific aliment based on what Oli wants them to believe. I have watched her dance around doctors her whole life. She is stubborn and wants to be in control, even if she is on the Titanic.
My best diagnosis is depression from three things (1) her mom's cancer, and (2) she really doesn't know where she wants to go in life, and (3) her general health is not that great. She has no plan, she procrastinates and she avoids the hard questions.
And whow, does it hurt to watch this happening. I woke early this morning and made her a poster that said: With Procrastination everything is harder until it is impossible. Signed, trying to save you, Dad. Our relationship is pretty good, and she doesn't try to smoke me like the doctors, but she just tells me, I don't want to talk. I wish I had some magic.
