A Tale of Two Biopsies
“Okay Mr. Grinkmeyer, that’s it,” announced Cheery Nurse. I was lying face down on an operating table with the top of my butt exposed to the three ladies in the room. A blood pressure monitor was...
View ArticleOn Chemotherapy, Mustard Gas and the Garden of Gethsemane.
After the seemingly perfunctory 20-minute wait, Dr. R tapped lightly on the door to announce his arrival to Joan and me. We, of course, invited him to join us in his own office, and he entered in his...
View ArticleI Cried Today
(I wrote the following on April 29, two days into a “rough patch” that now has thankfully passed. But I wanted to share it because it describes a predictable low point in one cancer patient’s quest to...
View Article60 Days of Mantle Cell Lymphoma Chemotherapy
On April 10 of this year, 52 days after being informed that something evil had established its reign of terror in my body, I received my first of several infusions of chemotherapy drugs. A God-cell...
View Article“30 Days in the Hole”
Getting through the first 60 days of chemotherapy was pretty much a breeze. After Round 3, things took a nasty turn for the worse. “Black Nepalese, it’s got you weak in your knees, Take a grease-sick...
View Article“Today I’m feeling fine/tired/ like sh*t.”
Them: “So how you feeling?” Me: “Today I’m feeling fine/tired/ like shit.” With chemotherapy, it’s a day-to-day thing. I’m never sure how I feel until I return from my AM walk with the dog. That stroll...
View Article“Complete Remission”; Here’s What That Means
My eyes slammed open around the same time as local radio personalities Bob and Tom. They went live on the radio at 6 AM; I, on the other hand, had nothing to do for hours. Despite it being...
View ArticleI’ve Decided To Eat Like an Ape
When I learned I had lymphoma one of the first things I did was try to figure out what to eat in order to help fight it. I spent some time as a vegetarian back in my college days. And while I...
View ArticleThe How (and Why) of My Homemade Sauerkraut
Homemade Sauerkraut Until recently, sauerkraut showed up at my house only slightly more often than Ed McMahon and the film crew from the Publisher’s Clearinghouse sweepstakes. And when it was...
View ArticleLiving With Cancer; the First Year in Review
“So how you doin’?” It’s a question I get a lot when meeting up with friends I haven’t seen in a while. They typically ask in a sort of hushed tone, with a facial expression clearly projecting the...
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