Loose Strife

A couple days ago I posted “nothing new about Laura recently,” which was pretty much true at the time. Then she had a series of remarkable days this past weekend followed by the last 30 hours, which have been pretty awful. But do you really want to read another post about vomiting? It’s an awful […]

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“Translational research” is the term used to describe the application of basic knowledge about cancer (basic research) into practical use for patients (the “clinic”). Earlier in the summer I started to write a post about why this is so difficult along with various misconceptions about breast cancer. I don’t need to finish writing most of […]

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Yesterday afternoon the four of us left for Irene’s in Brookline. We enjoyed a Venezuelan homestyle dinner and then this morning awoke to a gorgeous day for a walk. The crowds at UMass Boston were huge and the weather was perfect. Macey, Mary Beth, Tom, Kelly, Ben, Jonathan, John, and Ruby all traveled from Northampton […]

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Today I spent alot of time thinking about Laura and her entourage at the Komen for the Cure race/walk. I personally have been greatly touched by the generous contributions made in Laura’s name by friends and family. But I still find myself asking “what else can I do”? Well, I’ve prayed (and hoped), visited, hopefully […]

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Laura is doing so much better today compared to a few days ago. Still fatigued, yes. But up and dressed and walking around the house, often cavalierly without a walker. She read stories to the girls this afternoon for the first time in weeks. I had a call from hospice this morning asking whether a […]

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After yesterday’s post about treatment decisions, how ironic that I got a call this afternoon urging me to have Laura drink alkaline water. Hadn’t I heard that cancer cells don’t survive in an alkaline environment? I’ve got a bad sinus cold right now and my girls were tugging and whining. I muttered something about it […]

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When Laura and I were first married we thought it would be fun to read to each other aloud in bed. The only problem was that I invariably fell asleep immediately. Since then it’s always been a running joke about Laura’s hypnotic personality. The truth is that I fall asleep most quickly when I’m reading, […]

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Ha! I bet you thought I was going to write yet another morose post about cancer. No, no. The monthly Ashfield News arrived recently. It’s quiet in this fair town. Obviously so. Our police log is “edited for space” and yet the following entry survived: Wednesday August 13 5pm: Report of a low-hanging large tree […]

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At this point I don’t know if we’ll actually make it to Boston for the race or not, but tonight I’m feeling a little more optimistic. Yesterday (Tuesday) Laura’s nurse came to the house and we agreed on several changes. First, we switched over to hospice. Because the visiting nurse association and hospice are the […]

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We got a call today. The person was upset to here that Laura was not fairing well and wanted to talk about whether everything that could be done to cure her had been tried or considered. I want to say definitively yes. But the truth about dying from cancer is more nuanced. Certainly we want […]

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