Riding the Pooka

The balm of human kindness…

When my family gathered to intern my father’s ashes in July 2011, I was overcome with the need for more ceremony. His ashes were contained inside a plastic bag within a plastic black box from the funeral home. The unimaginative, and cold hearted priest presented the most monotone and meaningless reading at the graveside you could…

“When I grow up I want to be an Old Woman”

This last treatment seems to be a doozy. My blood counts, for red, white and platelets, were predictably at there lowest point when I went in for my last chemo treatment on the 1st. Because I am due for surgery on April 28th, Dr. Anderson scheduled a nuelesta shot for me- adding a whole new…

Moving forward

So, we actually decided against changing to the treatment plan outlined in the April Fools post – though we hear it’s working great for some (see 4/1 comments). Tuesday’s final session of chemotherapy went smoothly. Now we’re in recovery mode, and Preparation-for-Surgery mode. Iris is spending extra time horizontal, reading books pertinent to treatment. We’re planning…

New Treatment Direction

So after seeing Doctors yesterday we have a new treatment plan. Dr. Goodbody’s Total Goodbody System™ – you can read all about it here: New Improved Treatment Plan We could not be more excited. A.C.K. Orderly Joe is particularly pleased with the prospects- so much so that he may adopt some of the regiment to improve…

Happy

So a couple of months ago my friend Jan sent me a link to a music video by this guy Pharrell Williams. As I live under a bit of a rock, pop culture wise, I am not sure who this guy is – however I have been dancing nearly daily to this song since Jan sent it to…

Super Powers

If you believe that breast milk rocks, then you need to know about Hathor the Cow Goddess, really you need to. Many of the comics are a bit on the snarky side – so if you think babies breastfeeding in public is wrong, you probably won’t find the comic very funny. As of 1998, the…

Those who have gone before.

Today my friend Patty Adelsberger would have been 44 years old. She died from ovarian cancer in 2010, the year we turned 40, and just a few years after her beloved mother died of the same disease. I met her at the Cambell Club Student Coop in Eugene the day I moved to Oregon in September 1990….

Great Big Love

There is nothing like getting a big scary death threat from your body to kick up the level of self reflection and inner listening. So when I was first diagnosed, I started asking myself questions right away. One of the questions I asked was, “What thoughts or actions have I been engaged in that make my…

Resiliency

Early on Dr. Allderdice had me fill out a whole page of questions, and sign it. One of the Questions was “How committed are you to your healing?” He was asking for a percentage. I said 100%. So when I feel whiny about taking 25 pills everyday, or doing hydrotherapy in the shower (which means…

Birds in the Year of the Horse

I really love this time of year. This full moon, in cultures which celebrate the Lunar New Year, it is the New Year’s Lantern Walk. For 15 years we hosted a Lantern Parade to celebrate the quickening of spring in early February. Now that torch is being carried by our friends, Lam & Kestrel, who…

“Quick, Look at her elbows!”

Today we travel to PDX to go to the Hai Shan clinic for more TCM mojo and acupuncture. I love acupuncture. If you have never had it, know that it is not super painful- though there are definitely sensations. I can’t begin to explain what is happening. It is in the realm of energy medicine,…

Grateful

Wow. Thank you to everyone who attended last night – we were surprised to see so many venture out in the weather. What a beautiful event. Grace Episcopal is a gorgeous church, Andrew filled the sanctuary with sweet notes, and Rex held the audience spellbound with the fascinating story of Mozart. We snuck in at…