Yesterday there was an article in the Boston Globe about a young man (high school) who suffered a major spinal cord injury while playing football. He is in rehab learning how to use his upper body again and hoping against hope that he will regain use of his legs as well. His attitude and courage amazed me, and made me feel a bit sheepish about ANY whining I have done about my current convalescence. Piece of cake compared to what this kid is facing and he’s got his whole life ahead of him. That’s the thing: when you start taking yourself too seriously, it is never hard to find another’s situation to put it all in perspective.
On that note, I have returned to household chores such as doing the laundry and cleaning up a bit: last night I cooked dinner and this morning I drove Pete to school. Feels so great to get back into the everyday routines. I also went for a short spin on the exercise bike yesterday. It was kind of trippy, as my ankle has a long way to go before it is flexible, but I’m glad I did it.
The disruption of my regular routines has messed up my sleeping patterns as well. Sleep is one of those things that I am generally very good at; getting somewhat prone and being warm are usually my only two requirements. I am waking up a lot in the middle of the night now and unable to go back to sleep. There are positives to this though. It is a very creative time, as long as I can remember all those great ideas in the morning. And last night I saw a shooting star–a rare treat.
Jemesii helped me tweak my blog a little. I have added the Pfizer video to the mast head, just right of ABOUT, and also provided a link to the ABC interview. Unlike a book, a blog reads sort of backwards, and you have to work a bit to access the early chapters. I wanted the videos to be easy to retrieve as I believe they are both very effective illustrations of the efficacy of the trial. The loose format of a blog is very conducive to the way I work, but ultimately I would like to organize certain “chapters”. For instance, once I have finished recounting the events directly before and after my diagnosis in 2005, I will make it easy for someone to read those in consecutive order. And so on and so on!
In the meantime, I need to mention that several weeks ago I quietly observed a very important anniversary. As of October 1st, it has been one year since I took the lead in dose of PF-02341066. One year of effectiveness and counting. As remarkable as my initial response was, I believe this is even more amazing. In a field in which the extension of a cancer patient’s life by weeks or months is considered beneficial, a year is HUGE. Earlier this year I sent a thank you note to the CEO of Pfizer (to which he graciously responded) and I have just mailed another to him–in recognition of this milestone. I sincerely hope stories such as mine soon will become commonplace, and that cancer really could be a chronic condition rather than a death sentence. Next, perhaps a cure.
And now for a little visual distraction. These photos are of some antique microscope slides. I have always loved microscopes, and I found these old slides vastly superior in presentation to the sloppily prepared slides of my youth. I am attracted to the shapes (got a thing for circles), colors, and all the graphical elements. And then there is the subject matter.
.. They are almost like little poems: Foot of Spider 4, Tongue: Sphinx Moth 3.
life and breath: outliving lung cancer 