Up like a bolt at 4:30 today when my alarm rang. Despite going to sleep at 11:30 (because I was waiting to see Mom when she arrived), I felt pretty rested. Good thing, since I took 2 mg of Decadron last night. I’m experimenting this time around with taking it earlier in the evening, around … Continue reading Gamma Knifed! Part Deux

I haven’t posted a photo of myself here yet. I guess this is as good a time as any. I think the photo of the woman with two band-aids on her forehead in the brochure was a mock-up. She hadn’t just been through gamma knife surgery! Or she had and she allowed them to slap … Continue reading Gamma knifed!

We’re about to finish the calendar. I tend to reject the imperative to take stock of myself at this time of year, since I prefer to do that in the autumn when the Jewish new year rolls around, with its generous ten days to reflect (between the start of the year and the confirmation that … Continue reading Recalibration

Five years ago today was my last ride in the gamma knife machine. Since that last surgery. It was one that I like to call a “touch-up,” because unlike my first gamma knife surgery, which was to treat nine lesions in my brain, the second one was in response to a single spot of concern … Continue reading Another milestone

The past week has been hard. I have been at a loss for what to say about our national predicament, which is not a new one, and which is better addressed by people who aren’t me. I am listening and trying to learn. I am standing in solidarity and sadness and anger. And I’m doing … Continue reading Distress signal

Today is I’ll Live’s fifth blogoversary! I couldn’t have anticipated a lot of things when I began this project, not least among them that I’d be composing this post from a different home zip code than the one where it started — or that my father, who lovingly commented on my posts here while he … Continue reading Five years, & nearly four

School’s out. The kids’ final report cards came in the mail… but they weren’t here to receive them. Last week, we dropped them off at camp for three and a half weeks. It is our summer vacation. Even though it’s the third summer in a row they’re gone, the sudden silence that descends over the … Continue reading Summer torpor

I’ve done it again — passed my scans with flying colors (even though a pneumonia was still visible on the CT images, alarming Dr. P, who wasn’t sure I knew about it! Oh, I knew). My next MRI is in three months, but the CT scan is not for another SIX. Wahoo! Since these scans … Continue reading High pass