MaraBlog: Thanks for the inspiration

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Thanks for the inspiration

Wow -- this blogging thing is great. I can't tell you all what a good day I had through all the affirming messages and thoughts from friends and family regarding that conversation with the doctor yesterday. I feel like me again! It is okay to have a positive attitude, even if it scares the doctor! Thanks so much! It was really uplifting to read interpretations of that behavior and read about some similar doctor experiences from other survivors.

After a quiet morning, I had a quite a busy afternoon! That is good because it is distracting and amusing. I had lunch with my dear friend Robert Greenan (we took a self-timed photo so that I could add something today), who leaves this weekend for a Foreign Service post in Cairo. Inshallah, I will be seeing him in the Middle East soon enough. Then I met my cousin Nathaniel for a tea -- always so much fun catch up with him! And then I had acupuncture again -- I just love it. I love the doctor (Yi -- originally from Taiwan, so my Mercy Corps friends can imagine I had fun talking to him about my visit there!). He is very in tune with my needs right now. I have two more appointments set up for next week already.

Then I went to my Aunt Mary's for dinner -- I found a little organic, vegan place from which I took out. It was perfect. Mary, Katy, Meg and I sat around talking until about 10:30 and now I am quite tired.

Hey -- I got an amazing delivery of baklava from Zalatimo Sweets in Amman today -- but with no note! Who sent this devilish delight? And from my favorite folks at the International Center for Not for Profit Law (ICNL) I got a generous Harry and David delivery of more American, but just as devilishly delightful, confections! Thank you so much! It won't keep me skinny but it will make me friends! And I got a great card with tons of drawings from my nephew and niece, David and Anna, in Sweden. Not only did I receive tons of animal and bug drawings, but also creatures that look like my head guys! So much fun!

David will be back tomorrow, which I am looking forward to! I think he had some interesting meetings in DC. Somehow, my hair is still there -- perhaps so he can get a last glimpse. I keep trying to show people how it is falling out -- but it simply isn't very dramatic yet.

3 comments:

Zlatna said...: Dearest Mara! What a nice blog today! As you know, I begin and close my day with your blog and, needless to say, I was so happy a while ago when I opened the site and read the message! I called my doctor to share the message and she, too, felt very glad.
It's so good to see old Rob after so many years! Hi, Rob! It was hard for me to recognize you without your chequered red/yellow/black hat you used to wear when we first met in NYC. And I am so glad to see you and Mara together! I can imagine the great time you had!
Mara, you've got much more hair than Rob (Sorry, Rob, no offence meant, but it's a fact!), so stop warning us about your hair-falling - no need fishing for compliments, we know you've got a beautiful skull!:)
I can imagine the pleasure you're taking from your accupuncture and I was thinking about you, lying there, talking to the doctor, humming quietly, probably? Oh, how nice!
Please, relax more, darling, and don't tire yourself too much! I love you and send you hugs and kisses and ENERGY!!!
Zlatna; September 26, 2007 at 11:32 PM
Unknown said...: Hoi Mara,
wow what lovely foodstuffs you are getting ! Great!
It'll be good to have David back from DC - hopefully with good news about the bidding.
I do agree with Zlatna about your skull!
Big hugs from Jeroen and me and many tailwaggings from Loodi, Kiphond and Barend.
Ems; September 27, 2007 at 2:22 AM
Liz said...: Hi Mara,
I'm hoping there was no news from you yesterday because you were doing something wonderful. Fun to see Juliana and Rob's baby's picture and I can think of nothing nicer than to have a baby named Flo Popper Dapice. I thought the picture of Juliana looked more like Mimo than Juliana.
I read your blog every day and think you are more than wonderful.
I hope you have a really good weekend and feel good to enjoy it. Next weekend Lauren and her partner are coming to Buffalo and we are driving to Vermont to see all. It should be a good weekend for foliage. I hope so as I love it. Sending love to you,
Liz; September 28, 2007 at 6:10 AM

Post a Comment

The Story

Hi Folks! Here's the story straight from the horse's mouth:

August 29 I stumbled over a word. It wasn't a big deal but I noticed. Then on Thursday night (August 30) David and I left on a fabulous long weekend in Syria. Friday we left Damascus for Palmyra. It was really hot. That day I stumbled over a couple words too -- it stood out to me since I never do that....

Saturday we walked all over Palmyra and I was really suffering from heat, or so I thought. I felt like I was making lots of mistakes in my speech -- but David didn't notice. Then I noticed that I had a small numb spot on my scalp behind my right ear. Strange, strange, strange. On Sunday, back in Damascus, the speech got worse (comegranite instread of pomegranite, etc.). By the end of the day I really felt like I was having trouble simply getting sentences out that were in my head. I couldn't make small talk with strangers (imagine that for me!) -- it was stressfull.

When I got home Sunday night I wrote my melanoma oncologist and he said I should immediately get an MRI. So Monday morning by 8:30 AM our fabulous health unit in Amman had me in a an MRI machine. By 9:30 I was out and found that I had metastatic cancer lesions (tumors) on multiple sites in my brain. Most notably, a frontal left lobe that deals with oral expression (the largest at about 1.8 cm). I also have one on the base of my brain where it connects to the spine, which may or may not have to do with the scalp numbness.

So -- Monday was a fabulous day in the hospital in Amman where practically everyone I have worked or played with in the past year came to visit -- it was a big party! By the next morning I was on a plane back to New York, accompanied by the Embassy's excellent doctor -- Curt Hofer. Tuesday night we arrived in New York and took a taxi directly to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center hospital where we met my mother and oncologist. The past week in New York has blown by with tests and doctors and museums. David arrived from Amman on Sunday, September 9, and is going to be able to spend a month in the States (actually, we had a vacation planned now...).

So -- that's the beef. No headaches. No stroke-like symptoms. Just speech problems. In the last week the numbness on the right side of my head has covered my ear, jaw and moved down my neck and right arm. But as you will see from the blog -- treatment has begun so I hope it will all get better soon.

The plan: three weeks of full brain radiation (with weekends off). That is about all I know. There will be a plan afterward but we have to wait and see what this does before we decide. I still have a number of melanoma "freckles" on the skin of my chest -- so those have to be dealt with. I will keep you all updated regularly through this site!

MaraBlog

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Thanks for the inspiration

3 comments:

About Me

It's Mara

The Story

Blog Archive