About 30% of people diagnosed with breast cancer at any stage will develop distal metastasis. I am one.
I’m not a pretty picture at the moment. Today is Friday. On Tuesday morning I’ll have the bone scan to verify the extent of the new mets (metastasis), and the results from that should probably come in a few days later. I am stressed and anxious and my mood is...
My neurologist (Dr. K) called a few minutes ago. Although I have not yet received the results of the head CT, she has. My brain is clear of tumors, thank God, but there is a finding that looks like new metastasis in my skull. Next step is a bone scan,...
Well, this is strange. In the weeks and days leading up to my recent CT, I was a quivering mess of anxiety and drama. I divided my time between obsessively cleaning my house and taking advantage of the kind and patient emotional support of my long-suffering friends. (You know who...
There is a sort of religious corollary to Godwin’s Law. I am not sure exactly how to formulate it, but it seems that the longer any online discussion of public issues continues, the greater the likelihood that someone will eventually make a reference to religion as the source of injustice,...
Full disclosure. I live with cancer. I hate that I live with cancer. Cancer and I may have reached a delicately balanced modus vivendi, but cancer still scares me. I have mets (metastasis, secondary tumors) in my bones, but the last chemo series greatly reduced them and I am pretty comfortable...
Jerusalem is a multicultural city, and I have friends and contacts of different languages, religons, ethnicities and cultural traditions. People who live in more homogeneous settings sometimes find it confusing to move among cultures. I was discussing this with a friend recently. Being a person who writes (and talks) to figure out...
You can’t always get what you want You can’t always get what you want You can’t always get what you want But if you try sometimes you might find You get what you need. (Rolling Stones) I was disappointed today. There was something that I wanted, not something huge, a little...
My very dear friend Aliza wrote this response to my Valentine’s Day 2012 post. Not only a dear friend, she’s a great writer and I am delighted that she gave me permission to publish it here. Aliza, I love you. My friend was about to undergo a major operation and...
I’ve had a rough couple of weeks physically, and it’s been interesting to observe how closely my physical, emotional, mental (cognitive), and spiritual selves are intertwined. Waddaya know – I really am one multifaceted being. This will come as news to no one but myself, but I’m a slow learner, and...
… Abyss by Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) Translation by Jerzy Peterkiewicz Abyssus abyssum invocat (*) You always see it as space filled with cascades of air where glass splinters reflect and glitter like seeds planted in distant stones. Now observe the abyss that glitters in the eye’s...