This winter’s end has been mild, snowless and unusually benign. Although its given some days the raw, discouraging gray-brown of November, much of the time it has looked bright and felt hopeful and encouraging to me. Now that it is official, spring has, paradoxically, come in with a blanket of snow and a no-school day. … More The Birth of Spring
We are on the other side of New Year’s day, and I have been thinking over what the last four months have offered me, and what I would find gratifying to write about. During the fall I unintentionally left the blog, and my esteemed readers, in the lurch, which is exactly what I did not want … More Fall 2015
Well, now. Part of the past year’s activities involved the three little day old chicks that arrived here on May 1. You might recall the changes we made for them, from cardboard box to kennel on the porch, to borrowed mobile coop, to their palatial digs in the field near our gardens. Up to now … More Eggs on the way soon!
A year ago this month, August 2014, I was gratefully ending IV chemo with Taxol and beginning to let in the possibility that I might stabilize and begin to feel better during the coming year. That summer was pretty much obscured by treatment and its unfortunate side effects, and colored by the uncertainty I lived … More The Wedding in Paradise Valley
I have been thinking about the choice making function in everyday life lately, since I have a well developed ability to imagine doing all kinds of things. Being retired from what used to take 80% of my energy, I see many novel areas to dive into or expand upon. For instance, there are aspects of … More Choice-making in July
“We’ve been wrong about what our job is in medicine. We think our job is to ensure health and survival. But really it is larger than that. It is to enable well-being. … Whenever serious sickness or injury strikes and your body or mind breaks down, the vital questions are the same: What is your … More On Being Mortal
I got out of bed on two strong legs. It might have been otherwise. I ate cereal, sweet milk, ripe, flawless peach. It might have been otherwise. I took the dog uphill to the birch wood. All morning I did the work I love. At noon I lay down with my mate. It might have been otherwise. We ate dinner together at a table with silver candlesticks. It … More Otherwise
Healing after the removal of the sentinel node and the tumor, (2.6 cm, grade 1, stage 2, er/pr+, her2-) (no positive nodes) went along well, except for a stubborn area of encased fluid called a seroma. It was near the incisions, which were on the right side of that breast near the armpit. Surgeons, I … More Details III, medical and radiation oncology 2003
With the freshly minted diagnosis of a malignant tumor in my right breast, upper right quadrant, I polled the friends who had had surgery for these kind of things. A, B and C were close friends, and E and N were neighborhood aquaintances. All were between ages 40 and 50 at diagnosis, roughly between the … More Details ll, Surgery 2003
Chemo with a Side of Barn 