It's not easy to watch someone suffer. This truth is something that informs the way many of us act when dealing with death. Two hours of watching an exceptional Emma Thompson, mostly sans hair, suffer the humiliations of being a research subject as she slowly succumbs to cancer may not be your idea of entertainment, but it's a fascinating story. Vivian Bearing now finds that her intellect and sharp wit are sad company as she undergoes eight months of debilitating and intensive chemotherapy for stage four ovarian cancer.
Every new day offers a lesson in loneliness, lack of privacy and basic humiliation.
She, of course, provides witty commentary that's frequently at odds with her situation. I am isolated because I am being treated for cancer. But it's all kind of, well, icky and uncertain, especially as scientists fret about a virus pigs can carry somehow spreading to humans and giving us AIDS2. Check local cable listings. Part two airs April 3, 9pm.