Cancer and birthday parties!

July 27th- after three weeks of chemoradiation.-Well, I'm still here-halfway through the first 6 week round. My therapist, tries to encouragingly point out that I'm half way through ("the glass is half full") I immediately counter with "yeah-but the 6 week chemoradiation is the easy, "piece of cake" part of this masochistic marathon" says I. "It's bad enough now(diarrhea, sore throat, lip sores, etc.) " What about later?" "You'll get through, I know you will," he says. ""No fun" says I!
So what WAS fun this week , was watching my granddaughter's 8th birthday party yesterday. We started at the Gymnastics club where she takes weekly lessons. She and five friends wildly trying out all the equipment and climbing through the giant whale that they blew up for the party. Toby and some other Moms trying their skill on balance beams and attempting headstands that they probably hadn't done in 20 years.. After an exhausting hour and a half of cavorting , we brought the kids chez-nous for ice cream cake, punch and more fun and games. Toby and Jade made sure that the kids had the requisite number of party favors and kiddie "tchakas" that kids nowadays require for maximum party satisfaction. "A good time was had by all." Grandpa rested on Sun.

Reality and Art

July 21st- Well, started the 3rd weekend of chemoradiation. Must say that by the end of the 2nd week(unlike the end of the 1st week)I did feel weakened, less energetic and very much in the land of the"sick." It's all quite "real" for me now and I understand what a long haul lies ahead. Thank God for ART!. Playing flute and piano with my good friend-flutist Kathleen Purcell cheers me up no end. We're reading though a interesting piece "Undine" by Reinecke(19th century Romantic composer with a Brahmsian tinge ) that we'll be performing in May for the S.C. Chamber Players. When I'm playing music, I'm no longer "sick." I'm just in the world of music-making-a much better place to be.

Friday night went to the Shakespeare Santa Cruz's opening performance of "Bach in Leipzig," a brilliant contemporary play by the brilliant young playwright Itamar Moses(a former Ivan piano student from the Berkeley days which, of course accounts for his "brilliance! no doubt)) . WOW! What a tour de force-A play about Baroque music and politics- erudite AND funny -Very impressive! Cheers, IR

The Latest

7/8/08- Well the S.F. hotshot surgeon has flown the coop. He will leave UCSF for greener(very big bucks no doubt) pastures in So. Calif. So, right now I'm without a surgeon but am hopeful that another excellect colorectal surgeon at UCSF, Dr. Mika Varma, will take me on as her patient. She's on vacation right now but I hope to see her as soon as she returns.
Started chemo-radiation yesterday. So far so good. Not feeling any differently yet , though it's a bit weird to be hooked up to this chemo-infusion pump 24 hrs. a day- a kind of medical "doppelganger" I'll be hooked up for at least 6 weeks, so I hope I grow fond of the bugger and give it a loveable name like Bruno . Am also getting daily radiation as well for the next 6 weeks. Painless but sort of weird having this giant machine whirring above you and praying that it has impeccable tumor-aim. That's all for now. IR