Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2022 – (Cont.) On the “work-up” days that preceded my BMT (bone marrow transplant), I noticed patients in various stages of their own procedures. Some of the people looked drawn and frail, as they sat in clinic wheelchairs, waiting for their appointments—blood draws, infusions, provider consults. I worried that one day soon, I’d …
SEPTEMBER 9, 2022 – (Cont.) We had to arise at an ungodly hour again this morning for my appointment, but the effort was worth it: my white blood cell count had rocketed to 5.5 and with it, the all-important neutrophil level had blasted all the way to 3.5 from yesterday’s 2.2. For a nurse, I …
SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 – (Cont.) Today’s 6:15 a.m. appointment at the “combination clinic – positive reinforcement center” revealed a jump in my hemoglobin to 9.3 (two days ago it stood at 6.9), to which the P.A. remarked, “Are you trying to show off?” The all-important neutrophil count was up to 2.2 (from 1.9, yesterday; zero …
SEPTEMBER 7, 2022 – (Cont.) For me, the past 24 hours have been packed with deep emotion. When I put my head down on my hospital bed at 11:00 last night, I was filled with amorphous trepidation, the Ativan taken a half hour earlier having had little effect. My sleep through the night, interrupted by …
SEPTEMBER 6, 2022 – (Cont.) At the outset of my current expedition, marathon, trip across the ocean, I’d formed four mental linear graphs by which to mark my progress: 14-days; 20-days; 30-days; and 100-days. Others exist beyond, of course—180-days, a year out, two years, and so on. But for now, in the midst of the …
SEPTEMBER 4, 2022 – (Cont.) When my mother got older she became obsessed (apparently) about her kids being rash. “Don’t do anything rash,” was a regular part of her farewell after every visit at “the home.” I won’t speak for my generally well-behaved sisters, but I’ll readily acknowledge that at an earlier stage of life, …
SEPTEMBER 3, 2022 – (Cont.) It’s not what I’d pictured. The hospital room, I mean, where most likely I’ll be until Tuesday—Day 14. It’s a luxury suite with a commanding view of Mississippi River, as it wends its way between Minneapolis and St. Paul. If I’m still a little seasick, I’m in the best care …
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 – (Cont.) When one is far out at sea, beyond the reference points of land, each day mimics another, except for the clockwork and declination of sun, moon and stars. This morning I slipped out of bed extra early for a 6:15 appointment with the Angels of the University. In the glow …
AUGUST 31, 2022 – (Cont.) Day 8. Like a sea of porpoises, arching in and out of the water, waves rise, crest, and fall relentlessly toward their destination beyond the horizon. Day and night, they carry my plucky little vessel forward across the boundless sea. Now, in the moment, with the sun in my face …
AUGUST 30, 2022 – (Cont.) “Day 7” is feeling like mile 13 of a marathon. I’m still flying along, on pace, but the pavement’s beginning to burn underfoot. I’ll spare the reader the details I shared at today’s appointment—“It’s all good!” as it is said—but not qu-i-i-i-te as good as it was the previous day, …
AUGUST 24, 2022 – Blogger’s note: Being under the gun to make it on time to my daily appointment at the “Center,” I haven’t proofed this post. (Cont.) Yesterday I learned another lesson in hope for humanity. Before the transplant procedure yesterday afternoon, I hadn’t known the somewhat ritualistic significance that the medical team assigns …
AUGUST 22, 2022 – (Cont.) Yesterday afternoon I joked to some friends that “I like going to the U of MN Cancer Center so much, I even go there on Saturday and Sunday.” Joking aside, this past weekend’s sessions, each for an infusion line flush, were brief and uneventful, except for the discovery that my …
AUGUST 20, 2022 – Blogger’s note: The gracious reader will accept my apologies for the poor self-editing of yesterday’s post. The explanation (versus excuse) is that our hyper-imaginative granddaughter was under our day-long charge. Among her plays, musical performances, story-telling, painting sessions, and backyard expeditions, all of which required audience/spectator participation, I assembled very few …
AUGUST 19, 2022 – (Cont.) Yesterday, calm prevailed in my own little world, however much “wheels-off” was the theme in the larger picture. Occupying the tranquility, but not disturbing it, were numerous exchanges with people who influence my outlook on life and humanity. Caught up in my own hopes, fears, and focus, I’m pulled away to broader …
MAY 11, 2022 – Blogger’s note: Something so extraordinary happened to me yesterday, I felt compelled to write aboiut it today, interrupting my travel blog series on Siberia. Tomorrow’s post will resume my account of the “Grand Odyssey.” I take my daily hike in “Little Switzerland.” In reality, it’s a hilly golf course in St. …
JANUARY 20, 2022 – Blogger’s note: This post is dedicated to my wife, the ceaselessly caring, loving mother of the mensch and the philosopher. As in politics, so in families occurs an aversion to the loss of control. My grandfather Holman controlled family affairs with an iron fist, even after all the iron was out …
JANUARY 13, 2022 – Yesterday, anxieties developed sharp edges, and the barometer of my physical condition—a one-mile walk—left me sore and tired. Yet, countering these setbacks were turns of encouragement—reminders that what falls down bounces up. Often the harder the fall, the higher the bounce. (Can we hope as much for the country we share?) …
JANUARY 9, 2022 – Friday evening, dear friends called. Together they’re a tour de force in innumerable cultural, intellectual, and philanthropic corners of the Twin Cities—and far beyond. They’ve also weathered personal challenges that would cause lesser souls to fold. They’re a phoenix pair, who’ve squeezed more from life than life knew it possessed. This …
DECEMBER 28, 2021 – Yesterday, I’d just pulled some old journals off my shelf, when friend/neighbor, “K.O.” Paulson stopped by to check on me. I’ve posted about him before—a smart, thoroughly amusing, tough-talking, literary savant/retired honors English teacher, and former baseball/basketball coach, who scouts locally for the Twins. I gave K.O. the current, unvarnished low-down—to …
MARCH5, 2021 – On August 5, 2019, I met Idris, a 27-year old Somali immigrant who made an immediate positive impression. The next day, I wrote about him in a blog post (I’d misspelled his name, adding an extra “s.”). Yesterday, Idris called out of the blue. I was delighted to hear from him, and …
APRIL 18, 2020 – Daily for a fortnight I’ve been doing “deep breathing” exercises for meditative reprieve from anxiety. One of the exercises calls for sitting comfortably, eyes closed, and thinking of a word, five or six times, as you inhale, then another word, again repetitively, as you exhale. The selected words should relieve stress—like, …
MARCH 18, 2020 – Yesterday, I enjoyed a long-distance conversation with Dean, one of my brothers-in-law. I introduced my blog-followers to Dean last September (see The Dean of Readers – 9/16). For newcomers, he’s wheelchair bound by multiple sclerosis. His mind, however, soars freely and far beyond his physical limitations. He and my oldest sister …
MARCH 17, 2020 – As I sit in our “sitting room,” sipping coffee, distancing myself from the latest news (while my wife, on the other hand, reads it), and moving my fingers across the keyboard of my laptop, I realize that by chance I’m wearing my dark green sweatshirt—the one about which my wife often …