Cancer Journal

Here is a letter that I wrote to the New York Times in response to an article about stretching. If I had read it over more closely, I would not have used the word "still" twice within the stretch of five words. Oh, well. Next question is whether my writing a letter to the New York Times warrants its reproduction as a blog entry here. I'm a little on the edge on that one. But you got it. And it's pertinent enough to the theme of the blog. So you got it.   Charlie Schaefer  Chippewa Falls Wi  I am a 73 year old man, diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. I would like to create an environment uncongenial to the growth of cancer. Toward that end, among the things I do is spend 20-25 minutes most days in an infrared sauna. Rather than just sit there, I stretch. My sauna is not much bigger than an old time telephone booth so I am limited in what I can do but there's still plenty of stretches still available. I full blossom grimace while I'm doing them. ...

Here are companion poems I wrote for my writing group. Calling them companion poems was not my idea but rather someone in the group. It works though and I'm going with it. They were well received, I think. They had some suggested revisions, most of which I have made. They liked my wife laughing in the surf and my liking that. They liked not coming to South Florida for the shade, as did I. My wife said I must have liked it since I said it so much. I don't think I said it all that much. Two---three times tops.   On the Beach   Lake Michigan  Mid-October We walk along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. Several million miniature clam shells amid the sand  make a pleasant crunch under our feet with each step.  Piled up in places, profuse abundance,  a feast for whatever got to the meat from these shells. The horizon, a line as straight as straight lines get.  The colors of the water and the sky, multiple hues of light blue.  Along with the l...