Scattered Thoughts . . .

The following morning after we sat down with the doctor to discuss the results of Sheila's mammogram and ultrasound imaging, we were headed back to the hospital for a biopsy. Sheila has been down this road before. Her first biopsy was 11 years ago, then surgery, radiation, chemo and the years of follow-up testing, imaging and exams. But, this morning, we were back at square one again. I have to say that it was not a pleasant feeling to be back at square one again. We both were so anxious that we thought we couldn't eat. We sat down to eat but we both commented that we had no desire for food whatsoever. The funny thing is... once we started eating, we pretty much finished our meals. I think the food absorbed some of the stomach acid being pumped into our empty stomachs due to our nerves. We felt a bit better after eating. On the drive to the hospital this morning our conversation changed from a pep talk type of thing giving positive reinforcement to someone who has already

I've said this countless times before, with my voice and on this blog, but I'll remind everyone anyway... Just because a cancer patient may appear to be cancer-free at any given moment, this in no way means the patient "beat cancer" or, an even sillier notion, "kicked cancer's ass".   The fact is... and, yes, this is a fact and not just my opinion... that cancer patients have a significantly higher incidence of a recurrence of cancer compared to the incidence of a person who has never had cancer getting cancer for the first time. Until there is a true cure for cancer, the statistics show that the cancer patient is only buying time in getting beyond the first occurrence of cancer.  Unfortunately, the time that Sheila bought (or perhaps "earned") by getting beyond her first occurrence of cancer is suddenly up.  This all started last week, Sheila and I traveled up to Burlington last week for a mammogram. This is a standard, typical, repet

Not much has been getting accomplished on the house lately. My health and the weather are not cooperating with each other in the least. I've been feeling absolutely miserable on some rare beautiful weather days and I've been feeling halfway decent on some rainy days... and, even if I were healthy, we've had a lot of rainy days this summer so getting much accomplished on the house would be difficult anyway. Regardless, I'm not too pleased with how little I've accomplished and how much it affects my health. At some point, I need to feel very well on a few very nice days! In the meantime, I'm trying to keep busy in the house. Most of my down time has been spent sketching plans for various projects around the house, researching building products, and even sitting at the piano whenever I'm feeling up to it. This evening, however, I decided to sift through some of my latest photos to see if I could find anything interesting. The first photo that captured my at