Cancer Journey Blog

Praise You!

Praise You!

April 26, 2022—Driving home from the West Cancer Center, I changed the car’s Sirius Satellite to Lithium, which is a channel dedicated to grunge and other alternative music from the 1990s. I had a pretty good morning, even for being at a cancer center. The CT scan...

Summertime (Part 3)—Pride and Joy

Summertime (Part 3)—Pride and Joy

Writer's Note—This entry is the third in a three-part series entitled Summertime, based on that classic song from the musical Porgy and Bess. If you’ve never heard Ella Fitzgerald’s version of this song, you should. Late Summer 2021—The radiology technician led me...

Summertime (Part 2) — Paperback Writer

Summertime (Part 2) — Paperback Writer

Writer’s Note—This entry is the second in a three-part series entitled Summertime, based on that classic song from the musical Porgy and Bess. If you’ve never heard Ella Fitzgerald’s version of this song, you should. Mid-Summer 2021—After my last CT scan in June, the...

Summertime (Part 1)— Livin’ Easy

Summertime (Part 1)— Livin’ Easy

Writer's Note—This entry is the first of a three-part series entitled Summertime, based on the classic song from the musical Porgy and Bess. If you've never heard Ella Fitzgerald's version of this song, you should. Here are some of the lyrics: One of these morningsYou...

Lucky Number 13

Lucky Number 13

June 11, 2021— For centuries, the number thirteen (13) has been considered unlucky, which developed an irrational fear of the number and anything associated with it. Some historians trace the stigma of "13" back to Judas Iscariot—think Last Supper—the biblical...

I’m a Mess

I’m a Mess

April 28, 2021—The phlebotomy tech begins to poke an IV needle into a vein in my right hand. As part of the little stick portion of the process, he tries to distract me with small talk—a question about why I'm having an echo, questions about my overall health—and I...

Rollin’ Stone Week

Rollin’ Stone Week

March 13, 2021— It's been a week...man, it's been a week. As many of you know, I love blues music, and this week has been one continuous blues song—full of highs and lows, and just about everything in-between. The theme of this post is dedicated to that legendary...

And The Beat Goes On…

And The Beat Goes On…

February 4, 2021 - Before I get started, I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, support, and kind words. It means the world to me—and to my family.Today's message is The Beat Goes On, which, you might recall, is the title of a famous...

2020 – We Deserve a Happy Ending

2020 – We Deserve a Happy Ending

December 29, 2020 - SiriusXM is set to B.B. King's Bluesville. I'm driving east on Neshoba Road, headed to the Germantown Community Library to return several books. The volume's slightly low, so I'm not really listening. I'm a bit distracted. As I stop at the traffic...

‘Some Pretty Good News’

‘Some Pretty Good News’

December 3, 2020 - My oncologist walked into the examination room and, as he sat down, proclaimed, "Well...we have some pretty good news."Yes, I'm smiling.The good news? Today's CT scan showed that one of the tumors in my lungs had a 30 to 40 percent reduction. The...

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