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 
i love the one with the black and green design on it! so lovely… we should write down the captions from the slides, those would be fun names for pieces.
❤ jemesii
Yes my friend we are lucky and blessed after all.
I felt very humble too after clicking on the names of the very very nice humans answering my question. At 29 like Caroline and Kokomo now, I thought that life was a beach, not anymore, but I don’t want to insult Honey my lovely female dog.
http://www.inspire.com/groups/lung-cancer-alliance-survivors/discussion/stable-with-alimata-what-can-i-do-now/?page=last
Here I recommended your blog that is getting even better with videos and interviews, you and family look super.
I am glad that you can exercise and do household chores, you still have an excuse not to do them…
Congratulations in your 1 year anniversary, we can be celebrating 4 years from diagnostic or 10 years or more surviving with undiagnosed cancers, at that is really HUGE.
Thanks as always for the support Guillermo. I went to the Inspire site and saw your little picture with your dog–too small though, I would never recognize you in person. Caroline’s blog is very good, although the Google translation is a little rough. She is very brave too, to be confronting all this at the age of 29. When does your cruise start? Take care, Linnea
In the Inspire site, under Discussions clicking on Stable with Alimta, what can I do now? you get detailed entries. Under Friends see lovely Kokomo also age 29.
Last month a yellow finch hit my window and after I helped to recover chirped happy and flew south encouraging me to follow the sun.
Canada geese are gone, today was sailboats haulout day. No more Vitamin D until April.
My cruise 28 nights departing Nov 13, 2009 in
Holland America’s Statendam
DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE DEPART
Fri Nov 13 Fort Lauderdale, FL 5:00pm
Sat Nov 14 At Sea
Sun Nov 15 At Sea
Mon Nov 16 Aruba 8:00am 5:00pm
Tue Nov 17 At Sea
Wed Nov 18 Panama Canal (Full Transit) (Cruising)
Thu Nov 19 At Sea
Fri Nov 20 Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica 8 to 4
Sat Nov 21 At Sea
Sun Nov 22 Huatulco, Mexico 11 to 5
Mon Nov 23 Acapulco, Mexico 8 to 5
Tue Nov 24 At Sea
Wed Nov 25 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 7 to 5
Thu Nov 26 At Sea
Fri Nov 27 San Diego, CA 7:00am 5:00pm
Sat Nov 28 At Sea
Sun Nov 29 At Sea
Mon Nov 30 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 8 to 5
Tue Dec 1 At Sea
Wed Dec 2 Huatulco, Mexico 8:00am 5:00pm
Thu Dec 3 Puerto Chiapas, Mexico 8 to 8
Fri Dec 4 Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala 6 to 4
Sat Dec 5 At Sea
Sun Dec 6 Fuerte Amador, Panama 6:00pm
Mon Dec 7 Fuerte Amador, Panama 4:00am
Mon Dec 7 Panama Canal (Full Transit) (Cruising)
Tue Dec 8 Cartagena, Colombia 11 to 5
Wed Dec 9 At Sea
Thu Dec 10 At Sea
Fri Dec 11 Fort Lauderdale, FL 7:00am
I’m glad you saved the yellow finch and that it inspired you to follow. Sounds like a wonderful trip you have planned. Linnea
Is easy to inspire me to go south in the Canadian winter. I was born in winter AUGUST 1938. I cropped my picture in Inspire for you, was taken last Xmas, after Abraxane chemo my hair is curlier. Caroline has a good blog and is very brave. I helped a 65 year old taking his sailboat from Toronto to New York, he continued to Florida and returned 1 year latter with terminal colorectal cancer. I remember how scared he was in the hospital. He died 1 year after retiring.