AuthorFrancisca

Journey of angels

J

Making lemonade out of lemons is a skill I claim to have. Yet occasionally I do nothing and the universe simply conspires to make the best of an undesirable situation by sending angels into my life. Sometimes they are stranger angels—and there is always an abundance of those. But today I want to tell you about a few angels in human form who showed up to make getting yet another PET-CT scan done a...

Navigating life’s ups and downs

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Good news, bad news, bad news, good news, good, bad, good… And so on and on it goes. Life is a continuous series of hopes and disappointments. Ups and downs. It’s been especially so for me these past weeks. And there’s little to do but to stay in flow. Take last week, for example. My honey discovered that a few of his external hard disks with data he’d prefer to salvage had irreparable bad...

The MRI machine and more

T

In the midst of my third diagnostic test prescribed by my new ocular oncologist, I felt full of eager anticipation for uncovering the mysteries of my left eye. A mere two weeks ago, she set the course for a series of tests aimed at revealing any potential spread of cancer in my body.   Today it was for an MRI to check my liver, one of the key sites for metastases. It turned out to be another...

Embracing reality: The power of acceptance in tough times

E

Acceptance is not resignation. That’s a phrase that’s curiously popped up for me from a few different sources this past week–on a Facebook meme, in a guided meditation, in an email newsletter. I’d say it’s synchronicity in action. And I reflect on what that might mean in my uncomfortable situation of not yet knowing what exactly is the nature of the tumor in my eye and how...

My eye has atypical features

M

Today, I returned to the eye clinic, and the outcome of all the tests done so far is to do more tests. Getting to that outcome was an interesting process for me. I arrived at the clinic at the appointed time, 9:15. Within half an hour, I was called in, but not to see the esteemed ocular oncologist I had expected to see. I was first interviewed and examined by a young intern from Australia. After...

F*ck… it may be a tumor after all

F

My honey and I are now in beautiful British Columbia. We landed in Canada 16 weeks ago, and these weeks passed with many graces, as well as the red tape hurdles posed by our return. With most of them behind us, we were starting to feel settled into our new (albeit temporary) home and looking ahead to building our new life. Settled—until today. The grief with my left eye began just over ten months...

Good news: No cancer

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I have good news to share with you, dear friend and reader. But I am struggling with how to draft it as an entry that makes your time reading it not wasted with useless drivel. So, in case you want to skip the read, let me start by blurting out the news: there’s “probably” no cancer in my eye. And that news alone is worth celebrating! Do a happy dance with me! The rest below are mundane details...

Letting Go with Intention

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Today I offer my initial reflections on our navigating a major life change and embracing the complexity of emotions this entails. My journey through liminal space continues. The pace of our transitioning between continents is that of a snail. And for the time being, that still feels mostly okay, even as the days on the calendar whizz by, as they have been for many months, even years, now. Our...

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