Kitty Corner

Old pics of my cat during college days in Chile. So long ago. So cute.

Down

I’ve been sitting crossed legged a lot lately. Mostly at home, in my room. Not because I’m praying or meditating, but because of the intense backache from the tumor. It’s really difficult to fall asleep at night slumped over, cross legged on your bed.
Nothing some painkillers can’t help out with.
Painkillers to numb away the pain.
There’s just so much of it!
It’s been 8 months since I first got sick.
Time flies.
Flies by so quickly I can’t remember the last time I smiled without trying to conceal a grimace. The last time every bite of food didn’t taste like it was coated with a thick metallic aluminum chemical. Time since I last got drunk and was able to carelessly laugh away the night. Time since my dick didn’t get rock hard at the contact with another aching body. Time where I didn’t look in the mirror and have trouble recognizing the face in front.
I’ve been listening to Sigur Ros a lot. It seems most vocalists lack the words to say anything I want to hear or haven’t already heard. Instrumental is best.
No words, just silence. There is nothing to say.
Just, I'm beyond exhausted. Everything weighs a ton.
It's just been a bad, day today.

Self

My Life Now

Wish it was just candy. (not my picture)

San Francisco

My Life Without Me

It's 4:19am. I randomly woke up and can't fall back asleep. This has been happening with some frequency. It's never less than irritating. I blame it on the constant pain in my back. Pain that in the last few weeks became an alert that something was up.
Turns out my cancer is back. I guess it never really went away. The tumor that chemo had shrunk, has grown back to half it's size in what seems to be a very short amount of time.
What does this mean?
More tests, blood work, bone scans, body scans, sad faces, tearful hugs from my favorite nurses at the chemo wing at St. Mary's and the pledging support of my family and friends.
Truth be told...this time treatment could either be a breezy walk in the park or depending on a potentially advanced stage worse and longer than the time before.
Towards the end of my last chemo treatment I felt like I barely made it...can't really wrap my mind around what longer and worse could be. And if I could come back from a longer stint in heavy treatment or in what state.
As before feelings are mixed and jumbled in the hot pot of my head sprinkled with the most random thoughts, all these bubbling and boiling inside ready to spill over at any moment.
But there isn't anything left to say that hasn't been said. The stakes are higher this time, every time the cancer comes back it seems to come back stronger than before.
How many times is this going to happen I wonder?
Right now I'm stuck in this limbo waiting for results that could potentially be devastating. I just don't know what to do anymore.
I'm tired and drained...the only way to not feel it is to keep moving.

My Life Without Me is one of my favorite all time movies. A quiet, heartbreaking story with Sarah Polley and Mark Ruffalo about a young girl that discovers she has a terminal disease and sets out to live her last days to the fullest, all the while not telling anyone she's ill. It's not a groundbreaking story by any means, but the subtle acting and very realistic approach to a theme that is often times dealt with a heavy hand makes this a beautiful, moving film.
I'm not a terminal patient but after everything that has happened in this past year and knowing how cancer and treatments could steal my body and mind away again, it's hard not to have somewhat morbid thoughts on the subject.
There's this wonderful scene in the movie where the main character is walking through the supermarket, in voice over she comments on her surroundings and how no one is thinking about death in a supermarket. Classic music starts playing and all the customers around her start dancing and swaying in a completely oblvious state, carefree and happy. It captured perfectly the isolation that happens when dealing with something like this. Everything seems so trivial and stupid. Such nonsense.
I had a moment like that today while I was running errands downtown. It was a bit surreal. No one thinks about death and dying in the food court at the mall.

Twin Peaks

Big Sur

Sweet Tooth

A New York City Cupcake



Strawberry Shortcake

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Spotted in Big Sur.

Financial District

New Horizons

I took a look at my blog post from last year's birthday. There, I decided I would find a job I love, build a massage practice and take more pictures. By those measures 28 was a failure. I did find a job I love (as much as you can really love restaurant work if you're not looking to make it your career) I definitely didn't come close to building a massage practice nor did I take any exciting pictures. Oh well.

I did end up having to battle a little ol' disease called cancer. That has taken most of the year until now and I'm still not really in the clear. But grateful that I'm slowly getting healthy and able to tell the tale still. Grateful for everyone who stuck by as my hair started to fall out and I was puking my insides out.

Now I feel I'm 29 going on 40. What do I want for this new year? Health. Good health. Something so often overlooked and taken for granted. I never thought of health as something to put on a wish list. But after it gets taken away and you're lying in a hospital bed wishing it would all go away...well, it skyrockets to the top of the list.

I suppose whatever happens, time to move onward and upward. Here I go.