[Magdalen] Pseudo-epiphany, & The latest.

[Jim Guthrie]

Well, our was pseudo as my treatment time at Sloan Kettering slipped from 3:45 
to after 6 -- which meant we did not get the the Epiphany service at St Mary's 
in NY as Planned.

But overall -- a good day as the preliminary results of my CT Scan indicate all 
my tumors save one have shrunk considerably (one is half the size it was in 
October); one remain the same -- but is still quite a bit smaller than it was at 
the beginning. Blood tests were all in normal range, too.

Actuarial expectations give me a max of about 4 1/2 years with this -- but I 
always tell people I;m aiming for at least ten!

We also (finally) met a couple in good spirits amongst all the gloomy gus's in 
the waiting room (and not that I'm saying that some don’t have reasons to be 
gloomy, but I think a positive attitude is important). We Immediately connected 
amongst this sea of unhappiness (even their son who drove them in from Sage 
Harbor LI was not in the cheery mode). Joe is 82 years old and was in for his 
every six-month checkup. He had his bladder and prostate removed about 4 years 
ago and has been cancer free for four years. He has a catheter and bottle to 
take care of things that he's learned to change daily himself -- much to his 
wife's relief. That he could laugh about it  He and I carried on our laughing a 
joking in the cubicles waiting for our CT Scans. I got the distinct impression 
that our jocular behavior speeded up the techs in getting us out of there, too!

Later, a gentleman in the waiting room recognized as as neighbor's from Bay 
Ridge. "I used to see you every day and sometimes more than that walking past my 
house. Where've you been?" We explained all manner of gossip about our old 
neighborhood. He let me know that a neighbor in a wheelchair we were acquainted 
with had died. I told him that Dan Levins -- another neighbor who died and the 
travails of his wheelchair bound husband Gene (he suffered a stroke while in a 
burning building as a NYC firefighter). A third guy in a wheelchair -- a block 
down is still going strong. He was paralyzed at age 10 sledding in Owl's Head 
Park -- a block away from home. Albert and I sometimes helped him get up the 
ramp into his home when the wheelchair skidded and wouldn’t make it during ice 
and snowstorms.

In any case -- despite no church -- a great Celebration of Epiphany, I think.

Cheers,
Jim