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On Enduring Pain
I had a rough day yesterday. It was one of those days where all I could do was get from my bed to my recliner, and then just sit. Even feeding Gordon his doggie breakfast was a chore; it took about an hour of sitting still and staring off into space to recover from that.…
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Who knew?
A little over a year ago, I was referred to a nephrologist. If you don’t know what that is, you’re not alone – neither did I; when I first got the referral, I assumed a nephrologist was a historian that specialized in ancient Egypt, specifically on Nefertiti, queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt…
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If it’s not one thing, it’s another
Last summer, when I was diagnosed with lung cancer, I promised to keep you, thoughtful reader, updated on my journey. In that regard, it’s all good. The tumor on the upper part of my right lung was 10 mm in size when first detected, grew to 14 mm before treatment began, and has now shrunk…
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Pandiculation
Every morning when he wakes up, Gordon goes through the same routine. First, he has to find his way out from under the covers on my bed. As a little guy, he doesn’t have a lot of insulation, so the first thing he does when he goes to sleep at night is burrow deep under…
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Golden Years
In a few months, I will turn 60. 60 !! It is already weighing on me. I breezed through the other life milestones without giving their significance much thought because my mind was elsewhere. At 40 I was too busy having the mid-life crisis that landed me in a wheelchair to have a proper mid-life…
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I did it!
I completed radiation treatment (radiotherapy) for lung cancer (adenocarcinoma) last Monday. This is treatment room A (above) in the radiation oncology department (called Bighorn) at the Lucy Curci Cancer Center in Rancho Mirage, California. I underwent a two-week course of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy, or SBRT, delivered daily with one day off to rest between doses. …
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Let’s just skip this month in the future
I am not one given over to superstition. I do not believe in karma – there is no mechanism beyond mere wishful thinking to mete out the rewards and punishments based on the rights and wrongs; moreover, whether something is “right” and deserving of a reward or “wrong” and deserving of a punishment is a…
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We have a plan
Yesterday marked one month since my cancer diagnosis. In that time, I have had multiple consultations with doctors, quite a few tests, and I have been reading everything I can find on cancer and its treatment. When I was diagnosed with PML, I took quite a different approach; PML is a rare disease, so there…
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How I spent my summer, so far
When I was diagnosed with PML my first question was “what is PML?” And by that I mean beyond what the initialism stands for (Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy). I’d never heard of it; most people haven’t, although I do hear it more and more these days in those laundry lists of potential side effects that get…
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Today is my annHIVersary
To tell you this story, I first must introduce you to Paul and Martin. For much of the 90s, Paul was my wingman. Along with Martin, we were the “three amigos” of the LA gay scene. The three of us met in the seminary as undergraduates when we were all Conventual Franciscans studying philosophy. Paul…
Your mileage may vary.