Archive for August, 2014
|The Most Important People
Written by Drusilla on August 30th, 2014
(Dictated by Dru to Art)
The most important people in a hospital get the least attention. The custodial staff mops up our vomit, our shit, and our piss and learns to hold their gag reflex at the worst smells imaginable. This is a cancer blog; now’s the time to be honest. I don’t know how much they’re paid— probably a lot less than they’re worth. Honestly, would you give up the services of the woman who cleans the toilets for the opportunity to do it yourself?
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Filed under Life Matters | Tags: cancer, custodial staff, Hospital, Nurses, People
The Chemo Lab
Written by Drusilla on August 22nd, 2014
(Dictated by Dru to Art)
In one way the chemo clinic at Scripps Green Cancer Center is like Ruth’s Chris steakhouse downtown on San Diego’s marina: There’s not a bad table in the house. Everyone’s gets a view of either the Torrey Pines Golf Course, groves of Torrey Pines, or the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes one glimpses a hang-glider, like a red or yellow petal cast in the breeze. Of course, there are some differences: recliners and gurney-style beds, not tables; no steaks with slathered mash potatoes; the help wears cute scrubs, not crisp tuxedo shirts. But each nurse and aide at Green would beat out the wait-staff at Chris for my tips any day.
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Filed under Life Matters | Tags: cancer, chemo, hope, Scripps Green
Pirates’ Luck
Written by Drusilla on August 20th, 2014
(Dictated by Dru to Art)
Last Sunday Art could feel I was suffering from cabin fever and suggested we go for a drive. But what the San Diego Bureau of Tourism doesn’t want me to tell you is, “If you live in this town for forty years you will run out of interesting places to drive to.” If we go south we’ll be in Mexico where I don’t feel comfortable because I’m not fluent in Spanish. If we go east we see mountains, then miles of boring desert. If we go north we have to get beyond Los Angeles, which means traffic, traffic, traffic. And if we go west, it’s wet. In a way, living in San Diego is like living on an island: It takes some effort to get away from it.
Filed under Family & Friends, Life Matters | Tags: cancer, Games, San Diego
Cancer & Food
Written by Drusilla on August 17th, 2014
(Dictated by Dru to Art)
I like to think that Art and I have had an as-close-as-it-comes to a Perfect Marriage. But that’s not quite true. There are three things I can think of that made it less-than-perfect.
Filed under Family & Friends, Life Matters | Tags: cancer, food, love, reversed roles
Taking Addictive Drugs as a Recovering Alcoholic
Written by Drusilla on August 12th, 2014
(Dictated by Dru to Art)
I was a junior in college the first time I knowingly took a mind-altering drug. Living in a great little apartment on San Salvador Street in San Jose, California, I was carrying a heavy academic load: dual majors in English and Drama. One weekend I escaped to my parents’ home, dragging with me books on costume design, stage lighting, 18th century poetry, and other useful subjects. My intention was to study round-the-clock.
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Filed under Family & Friends, Life Matters | Tags: Addiction, cancer, college, Drugs
Cancer and I Have a Short but Serious Conversation
Written by Drusilla on August 10th, 2014
(Dictated by Dru to Art on 10 Aug 2014)
Last night I enjoyed a rare, nearly full-night’s sleep. It was bliss. I threw away two of my four sitting-up-to-sleep pillows and slept on my side, which is an under-appreciated experience.
Filed under Family & Friends, Life Matters, Uncategorized | Tags: cancer, Conversations, Garden
Inside the Novel
Written by Drusilla on August 9th, 2014
(Dictated by Dru to Art)
For most of my life, I’ve known about this distant presence called Death. I’ve also believed we only really “live” in the present moment and I’ve based some of my novels on this view. On the other hand, I’d been operating as if I had an unlimited number of moments in my life. Now suddenly I’m facing both death and the fact I have only a limited number of moments. With these truths now literally “realized,” I’m shocked to see that before I’d only treated them as theories. Now I’m actually inside the novel. For me and the many loved ones who’ve been reaching out to me, these facts are here, now, and real. So, finding myself inside the novel, my guess-what for today is “How do I deal with them?”
Filed under Family & Friends, Life Matters | Tags: cancer, in the moment, living in the present
When Cancer Speaks
Written by Drusilla on August 7th, 2014
(Dictated by Dru to Art)
This morning Art prepared a scrumptious breakfast (coffee, fresh orange juice, oatmeal, bulging green grapes) and served it on our sun-shiny patio while jazz floated from our den window. But no sooner had I strolled out on the patio than I felt so weak and nauseated I had to stagger back upstairs. After barfing virtually nothing but stomach acid, I fell back into bed and slept for four hours! When I awoke Art was beside me with his laptop and coffee, determined to master the e-banking procedures I’d shown him last week. When I asked if he was just a little angry with me for spoiling our morning tete-a-tete he smiled and replied, “Not even a tad. When cancer speaks, I have to listen.”
Filed under Life Matters | Tags: breakfast, cancer