Computed Axial Tomography

I started the last day of 2008 in a CT scanner getting my abdomen checked. It beats exploratory surgery. Thankfully, the procedure is painless unless you count drinking the contrast solution, which tastes like banana flavored chalk.
 
Computed Axial Tomography, a.k.a. CAT or CT scan, was invented in 1972 by a British engineer and a [...]

Best Reads of 2008

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others, read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcuts.” – Stephen King

Like King, I don’t read to study the craft; I read because I like to read. I love [...]

Happy Holidays

I have a lot to be happy about this holiday season:
 
I saw the doctor on Monday and will have a CT scan in a few weeks. If it’s clear, I’ll officially be “in remission.”
 
I am a month out of chemo and starting to grow my hair back. It’s coming in slowly and as gray as [...]

Figure of Speech

A comment on a friend’s blog (Running For My Life) sparked this post on the quirks and inexactitudes of our language. One of Ronni’s pet peeves is “not to mention.” If you’re not going to mention it, then why did you?” she asks.
 
When people say, “to tell the truth,” or “let me be honest,” I find myself thinking, so, [...]

Crapulence

“Crapulence” was in the dictionary long before Monty Burns used it on the Simpsons. It’s now in my vocabulary as the perfect word to describe chemo and its aftermath. Three weeks out from my last treatment and I still have neuropathy in my legs and near apathy in my energy level.
 
Crapulence is “sickness caused by [...]

New Habits

Some people are as reluctant to change habits as old-school nuns. But facing your own mortality can make one more malleable. Cancer has caused me to pay attention to the mundane business of staying alive. Here are a few of the adaptations I’ve made and plan to keep:
 

Disinfecting wipes and paper towels in the kitchen [...]

Tale of Two Emmas

Emma Hamel, my paternal grandmother, died recently at 104. Meme was a grand lady, full of yeast and vinegar till the end. She survived the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. She outlived the Thousand-Year Reich and the Soviet Union. She witnessed the advent of the automobile, the airplane and the Apollo spacecraft. She went [...]

Penultimate Post

I’m coming out of the chemo fog for what I hope is the last time. If my January scan confirms I’m clean, I’ll be officially declared “in remission.” YEA!
 
But there’s a P.S. Lymphoma has a nasty habit of returning, so they’ll keep a close eye on me for the next two years. I’m on the [...]