Cancer and Cucumbers

This post has nothing to do with kindness letters or anonymous acts of kindness, but I wanted to tell you all about it anyway.

A couple of months ago a friend told me she had just been diagnosed with cancer. It was caught somewhat early but even after having surgery to get it removed she found out she would be needing additional treatment.

She started chemotherapy last week and I had been trying to figure out what I can do for her. She doesn’t want anyone cooking for her, cleaning, doing laundry, or anything else like that. She’s a very private person and I am respecting her wishes.

But I felt like there had to be something I could do to make her feel better and feel thought of. So Sunday morning I started thinking about everything I knew about her. And then I remembered a certain cucumber dish she loves from a Chinese restaurant we’ve frequented for years. We like to do girls night out with two of our other friends, and half the time we end up going to this particular restaurant. The last time we went there my friend was disappointed because they had taken the cucumber dish off the menu.

Sunday after church I went to the restaurant and tried to order the cucumber dish to go.

“We don’t make that anymore,” the lady behind the to-go counter informed me.

“I know, but is there any way you could make it just this once?” I asked. “My friend just started chemo a few days ago and it’s her favorite side dish.”

The lady thought about it for a moment and then said “I’ll ask the kitchen if they can make it.” She disappeared for a minute and then came back and told me they would make it.

“Thanks so much!” I replied with gratitude.

10 minutes later I walked out the door with the cucumber order and went straight to my friend’s house. Her husband opened the door and asked me to come in. He was whispering, which I took to mean she was asleep.

“No, I just wanted to drop this off. It’s her favorite side dish,” I whispered back.

I handed him the bag, he thanked me and I headed home. A few hours later I got a thank you text from her.

What I did wasn’t anything big, it was just cucumbers. But I felt the need to do something and I found something unique to her so that she would know I’m thinking of her. Not only her cancer, but who she is as a person – her likes and dislikes. No one wants to be defined by what they’re suffering through, but they do want to feel special and taken care of. This was my little way to do just that.