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reflection |
day in the life
Highlighting
the everyday life of a couple living well with a slow-growing cancer.
Life isn’t
always easy, and there will certainly be sorrows and losses
along the way. But being alive is good. It is very good.
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Monday, February 23, 2009
It's official!
Just a quick note to say that today's mail brought us the
official ruling from the IRS - Cancer Adventures has been
approved as a 501(c)3. Yahoo!
I've been working on a grassroots grant hoping we'd hear from
the IRS ... so it couldn't be better timing. The grant deadline
is March 15.
Here's hoping the weekend coming up is cold and snowy so I can
hunker down with multiple cups of tea and a fire purring in the
fireplace to help me put the finishing touches on the grant
submission!
Comment
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Having fun with
the medical professionals
We’re driving
home from Portland as I'm writing this. We made a quick stop for
Chai tea in Sandy, and straight ahead - frosted with snow and looming large
on this beautiful, clear day - is Mount Hood.
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A
couple hours ago we presented at the 26th
Annual Seminar for Radiation Oncology Professionals.
Terry Wagie and her team
at Legacy Health System
hosted this top-notch event
at the Multnomah Athletic Club.
We had a lot of fun with the attendees. Normally our
presentation takes about 20 minutes, and since we
had an hour to fill we incorporated some of what we
do in high school |
health
classes.
Gary started
by having the group count off from 1 to 3 (later he would ask
all the 2’s to stand to illustrate the number of people in a
group this size that would be diagnosed with cancer at some
point in their lifetime).
Because the
conference attendees were all sitting at round tables of eight,
the count-off was a bit challenging. One table would end with 2
and someone at the next table would start off by calling out
“One.” (Even high schoolers know that 3 almost always comes
after 2!)
For the Q&A
session, we brought Hershey’s kisses with the idea of bribing
the participants for intelligent questions: “OK ... high
schoolers can count to three better than you guys, so here’s a
chance to redeem yourselves!” as we poked fun at them. And they
took it so well.
The
conference attendees were radiation therapists, oncology nurses,
social workers, dosimetrists and physicists. I work with a
terrific blend of these professionals in the Cancer Treatment
Center in Bend, so we were in good company.
They let us
make fun of them. They laughed in all the right places in our
presentation. They were an attentive audience even though we
were on the schedule right after lunch – right around the time
when people would rather be taking afternoon siestas.
What more
could you ask for from a group of medical professionals!
Comment
Saturday, February 14, 2009
To my valentine
We fell
asleep to the muted roar of the ocean last night. We’re on a
make-a-date-out-of-a-cancer-appointment weekend at the
Oregon coast.
So, the good
news from the doctor yesterday was that Gary’s CT and bone scans
were clean. The bad news is his PSA count continues to rise.
Ketoconazole was prescribed, along with Avodart to counter the
side effects of Ketoconazole. If
the count is
elevated again by our next appointment in April, the doctor will
recommend chemotherapy.
I asked about
chemo: “I thought it wasn’t effective because it attacks only
fast-splitting cells and prostate cancer is slow-growing.”
You’re right,
he said, but the rate at which the PSA is climbing indicates
it’s not slow-growing at this point.
Not words we
wanted to hear, but meanwhile, we plan to enjoy this respite at
the ocean. We took a long walk on the beach this morning.
We brought books and a couple of DVDs and I threw in my latest
knitting project.
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We’ll have dinner at Mo’s, home of the best clam
chowder in the world. The story is that a customer
put her car in forward gear instead
of reverse while leaving one day and crashed through
the front wall. Mo consoled the woman and installed
a garage door so she could drive in anytime she
wanted! On warm sunny days the garage door is opened
for a sidewalk café feel. |
Tomorrow we’ll head back over the snowy mountains to our life in
Central Oregon. It is a good life and I plan on having many more
years with my valentine (that would be Gary!).
Comment
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Memorable
moments in Jersey
I’m sitting
in the Seattle airport waiting to catch the puddle jumper to
Redmond on the last leg home. I’ve spent the past week in New
Jersey with our daughter Summer, son-in-law Josh, and the three
grands.
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Last Tuesday, Summer and I took Lilly, age 8, and
Titus, age 6, to see Little Mermaid on
Broadway. We caught a mid-afternoon train into the
city and had a leisurely dinner at Max Brenner (for
those who think Max Brenner is only a chocolate
café, try the smoked turkey and mushroom crepe
smothered in Swiss).
Little Mermaid
was amazing – the costumes, the set, the
actors/singers. Just amazing. After the show, we
emerged onto a brightly lit Times Square covered in
a light layer |
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of snow – the city that never sleeps – and caught the subway
back to Penn Station, dragging sleepy children behind us (Summer
loves it when tourists stop and ask her for directions, which
happened twice that evening).
Obviously the
Broadway play was a highlight of my trip, but not as memorable
as bonding with 9-month-old Lydia with her Bugs Bunny drooling
grin … and not as special as conversations with Lilly and Titus
(one afternoon we walked over to Starbucks for hot chocolate and
they talked non-stop – I love it!).
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Watching karate practice, baking cupcakes, reading
bedtime stories, building towers for Lydia to knock
down, tucking warm bodies into bed, late night
conversations with Josh & Summer, sleeping in – the
almost perfect week (perfect would have been
if Gary could have gone).
It
will probably take me a full day to catch up on
v-mail and e-mail at work on Monday ... |
the price one
pays for taking a full week off. But so worth it to spend time
with the little people!
Comment
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January 2009
Leaving on a
jet plane
Scans ordered
Welcome to life
Insane residents
Back in high school
Engaged crowd
Out of the mouths of babes
Divine intervention
December 2008
Christmas
via webcam
A merry little
Christmas
Somewhere on purpose
Adventure and
romance
Celebrate life
Imagine
Men and menopause
November 2008
My Thanksgiving list
Thanksgiving
Eve
Roundabouts
How Starbucks
saved my life
Training for
Switzerland
Radio interview
Super colon
Thoughts on
being invisible
The speed of a turtle
October 2008
Obligation of
the cured
Cancer Adventures – the book
Blue and orange town
Hope Couture
First snow
Simple
pleasures are the best
128 quilts
September 2008
Whale watching
and kite flying
The new and relaxed Gary
The scenic
route
Packing the essentials
One step at a
time
PSA count celebration
August 2008
Frost in August
Reading list
Soaring Spirits
Checking in
9:30am rock band
Lingering
July 2008
Grand for a reason
Mickey Mouse
pancakes
Survivorship is all the rage
Follow your dreams
Birthday weekend
Only in America
Unrelated goose incident
June 2008
Geese
Road trip
Friday night date
Tough day on the job
Best dad
Confession
Light bulb moment
Homesick
Amazing volunteers
May
2008
Countdown
Extended family
Testing the limits
Trailblazers
The last lecture
Mother’s Day thoughts
Welcome to our world, Lydia
Personal touch
April 2008
Dispensing goodness
Cancer community – Part II
Cancer community
Barn
door analogies
Homemade soup day
Mice and tumors
Waiting room magazines
Weekend date
First entry
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