Cancer Journal

 Maybe five years ago or so, my wife attended a reunion of what she calls her old hippie friends.  Also at the reunion was an old boyfriend, Davy, and his wife.  She hadn't known the wife but they visited and liked each other.  The wife said, "I won...I guess."  Jean also learned that the wife's mother had been part of The Chordettes, the old 1950s group that had sung Mr. Sandman.  The mother was still alive, in her 90s, active and alert but with virtually no short term memory.  They all lived across the state in Sheboygan.  A door of invitation was kind of opened up to come over and visit some time. I wasn't at the reunion but when Jean told me all about Davy, his wife and her mother, I got quite hepped up about visiting with a member of the group that had sung Mr. Sandman , a song I had heard plenty in my childhood and which has been an intermittent earworm ever since.  I pressed Jean to make a definite acceptance of this invitation which m...

 Do you know Archie Bleyer?  If you do, it's probably from a song he sang, "Hernando's Hideaway" although, as you are about to learn, there are plenty of other reasons why you just might know him.  Anyway, I ask because I own an overcoat that was specially tailored for him.  The provenance is established by a tag on the inside of an inside pocket with his name and a date, 1-26-60.  It's a camel hair dress coat made of cashmere.  I've been told and I believe that cashmere from 60 years ago is superior to what they call cashmere today.  You feel that coat and you know you are in the company of high quality.  When I wear the coat on an evening out, I am indiscriminate in who I ask to feel my coat.  People are slightly uncomfortable with being asked to violate my space in that way but when they touch it, the universal reaction is, "Oh, my!  Yes, that's so nice!"  The lining could use some repair.  I'm willing to live with that, at ...

 This won't be long.  Only to say that I had blood work done today and my PSA# is still too low to be detectable.  My last appointment was with a physician's assistant I mentioned to her that going three months between PSA tests was making me a little uneasy.  She reduced it to six week intervals.  Good of her.  I joked with her that the doctor was willing to give me a three to seven year life expectancy range when I first met with him, he would not give any revised numbers with my long stretch of undetectably low PSA.  I did get kind of a number out of her.  She said that there would maybe be five years, give or take, before the cancer did a work around of the meds I've been taking, given the success that I have had so far.   My main interest in getting numbers is to give myself something to beat.  Perhaps my regular oncologist sensed that and didn't want to be party to my plans to beat the cancer system.  Can hardly fault him...