Eclipses & Ellipses...

It has been a very long time since I posted anything - and that can either be positive or negative - or a bit of both which is, in fact, the case.

Slouching Towards 2012

It's been quite awhile since I have written and it is not for lack of material.  The last month has been filled to overflowing with things I want to write about - participating in the Commonweal Cancer Help program,
having my three month MRI (no change),  getting a second and third opinion at Stanford and MD Anderson - but honestly my month has been dominated by one mundane, prosaic thing which has prevented me from writing - a bad tooth.

Fierce Ambivalence

"But Roseman had also spent a sleepless night, brooding over the Perry Mason television show the evening before, which his wife was fond of but toward which Roseman cherished a fierce ambivalence, wanting at once to be a successful trial lawyer like Perry Mason and, since this was impossible, to destroy Perry Mason by undermining him."
Thomas Pynchon The Crying of Lot 49
I had my MRI yesterday and saw my neuro-oncologist.  After standing for over an hour on a combo of MUNI buses headed to China Basin (hacking fellow passengers everywhere - anyone seen Contagion yet?), I arrived late for my MRI.  They pushed me back forty minutes but were able to get me in.

Devouring or Devoured?

I thought it was time to rename the blog.  Keeping Up with Chris, Steph, and Walt Van Bebber has done the job admirably since we started this last January when simple and literal seemed appropriate.  Getting overly  precious about what we called it just didn't feel right at the time.  But recently it's just seemed a bit too bland and descriptive - like a folder we have in the file cabinet labeled "Taxes 2006" or "Moscow Receipts."
I found out not too long ago that one of my oldest friends called me the "Devouring Mind" in high school I think mostly because I was curious about and interested in everything and I just had a burning desire to know and discover things.

Round 11

I've just finished my eleventh round of chemotherapy and, unsurprisingly, it has begun to take its toll.  I guess when you reach the 11th round of anything (a heavyweight prizefight, your turn to buy a round for the eleventh time), it is time to think about packing it in and going home for a rest.  I'm almost there.  When I swallow these seven capsules of poison for five days every month, I think - just attack the cancer.

Settling In

We've been back around three weeks now and we are just beginning to feel adjusted.  The last three weeks have been such a rollercoaster, for both emotions and expectations, that we are still feeling a bit out on our feet.  Well, two of us do anyhow - Walt has never looked happier to be reunited with his toys, piles of sports equipment, books, and "his" backyard.  I wouldn't say that he was miserable in the City but I know that he sensed the uncertainty and temporary status there.  Being back together with his "stuff" has seemed to reassure him above all else that life is back to normal.  I wish it were so simple for adults.

Heading "Home"

It looks like on Sunday the three of us will be boarding a plane bound for Sydney and heading back to our house in Canberra and my job at the Embassy.  The last few days have been a Through The Looking Glass inversion of our last few in Australia.  Fours days ago, it just did not appear to be a realistic possibility that I would be medically cleared to return to Australia.  Now that I've had a few days to process this and let it sink in,  I  couldn't be happier.