Cancer Journal

 A while back, the New York Times had an article on whether there was a danger of developing a dependency on Melatonin.  I decided that I had something to say on that subject.  I wrote them a letter.  Here it is: C Charlie Schaefer Chippewa Falls Wi Sept. 17 I have been diagnosed with Stage IV Prostate Cancer. One of the therapies advised by the Riordan Clinic. a medical facility focusing on complimentary medicine, is to take high dose Melatonin. And by high dose, they mean high dose. I take 180 mgs every night before going to bed and another 60 in the morning It is reported to have remarkable antioxidant qualities, indeed much better ones than whatever is in second place. I am also advised to take 300 mgs an hour or two before undergoing x-ray procedures to serve as a protective agent against the harmful effects of x-ray. I've been doing this for well over a year. My PSA numbers during that time have dropped to a level that is undetectable. Who knows wh...

 This one is going to be about cancer.  Any rhymes or rhythmic patterns will be purely coincidental. (The same is surely true of my poetry but, oh well.) I had a bone scan done this last week.  I hadn't had one since August 2021.  Then, the metastatic bones had faded some but were still cancerous.  The guy this time who did the interpretation of the scans saw something on my ribs that he said was either a broken rib or else a new cancer spot.  It's a broken rib. Let me digress with a story I hope you will find interesting.  There is an invasive bush around here called buckthorn.  It was brought from Great Britain in hopes that it would make a good hedge.  It may have but it spread beyond the hedge, sending runners out then popping up a new shoot going all over the place.  And then it retains within its own wicked network all the ground moisture which kills off all the other plants.  It is really bad stuff.  And it has done very...

                                                Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock (Rev. 3:20). Lord, give it a good loud rap, no gentle tap, And if I don’t respond, do it again...and again. I should never be irritated with you But sometimes, I fear I can be. Please, please, don’t let my irritation chase you away. Respond to the part of me that wants you always. Burn off and leave as dross the rest. Surely what wants you is the real me, Not some outward thing intended for show. I’m right about that, aren’t I? If I’m not right, make it so. Make what wants you the real part And burn off the rest. Lord, don’t stop knocking. This is what I wrote for my most recent writer's group.  It was respectfully received I thought although, unless I misheard (whi...