These days I find myself noticing the textures of things that I touch. The velvet of that duster-length jacket at Coldwater Creek that I wanted for my own. The smooth hard cool of my computer desk. The slight grittiness of my car that needs washing so badly. The acidy crackle of the catsâ coats in…
Dr. Fell called back at 8:10 last night. He and my transplant surgeon have agreed that until we get the results of the staging tests back we should start treating topically. Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma starts out like a generic skin rash, and eventually gets a raised, red and angry look to it. I’ve got a…
You get pushed out of the plane with no warning, and itâs 9.8 m/s2 straight down. The lurch in your stomach, the wind in your hair, everything so tiny beneath you growing steadily larger. You are all powerful, looking down on the ant hills below. The sense of weightlessness is almost exhilarating. You didnât jump;…
I don’t know a whole hellofalot more now than I did before the doctor’s appointment this morning, but at least things are moving now. They took enough blood out of me to leave me anemic for a month, and we’ve got me scheduled for a PET scan first thing the morning of December 31st. The…
Yup, it’s that time of year again, when the new star burning brightly doesn’t herald the birth of a new King, but instead signals me the there’s an incipient ulcer flaring in the GI tract. It’s my annual “wrap books for donations to the cat shelter” event at the local branch of a national book…
Itâs been a stressful few weeks here in Lake Woebegone. Iâve finally been semi-officially let in on the problem from three weeks ago at work, mostly because the situation was exacerbated by an incident that happened at work two weeks ago. While the incident has been resolved to everyoneâs satisfaction, the problem remains like the…
My transplant coordinator called this morning, said she’d gotten through to the cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (which I am here-ever-after calling CTCL because writing it out is too damned much work) expert and that I should expect a call from him today. Sure enough, at 6:30 this evening he called. He said he’d gotten all kinds…
Current status: The dermatological oncologist who my dermatologist wants to refer me to can see me ⦠on January 23rd. I donât think so. I called my gastroenterologist, who used to be on the transplant team at Big City Hospital. Surprisingly, he was no help, just saying that he wanted me to see the guy…
Months ago I spoke in this forum about the NPR series âThis I Believeâ. Iâve listened to it on my local NPR radio station since it first reappeared a few years ago. Iâd wanted to write a âThis I Believeâ essay myself, but when I tried to come up with a topic I mostly proved…
Funny thing about the holiday season. It tends to bring the dilettante altruists out from the woodwork. Iâm not complaining. Iâm just striking while the iron is hot. The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is when the cat shelter I volunteer for gets the bulk of its donations. The single biggest fund-raising event we do…