TL;DR for family and friends:Last Thursday I underwent the procedure to insert a radioactive plaque in my left eye. The day was filled with a mix of emotions, a bit of confusion navigating the hospital, and lots of interaction with caring medical staff. Despite a few hiccups like getting lost and dealing with the hospital’s admissions process, the overall experience was positive, thanks to...
“You’re practical,” she said, when I told her I didn’t see any point in doing a biopsy of my left eyeball. My ocular oncologist readily agreed with me, and I think you may, too, after I give you more details. From there, she laid out my treatment course. First, why would I need a biopsy at all? Because after all the cancer diagnostic tests I’ve undergone in the past two and a half months—an MRI...
It’s the last day of 2023 and as I sit here to reflect on this year, it’s pitch black outside, with most of the day already gone, and I’m nursing a nasty cold, my first in many decades. My speaking voice may be gone, but not my writing voice. So here goes my stream of consciousness of last-day thoughts. By the time I complete this post, we’re likely to be ready to watch the city’s fireworks from...
The last thing I’d expect is a call from my ocular oncologist at 8:30 at night. But, to my surprise, call she did tonight. “Hello, may I speak to Francisca?” “Yes, that’s me.” “Good evening, this is K…P… How are you feeling?” “Well, curious, mostly… curious about the results of all those diagnostic tests I’ve undergone.” Satisfaction of one’s curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness...
Today, December 10, is Human Rights Day. The United Nations is commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. You’d think over three-quarters of a century humanity would have become more enlightened and fair in how we treat our fellow and sister humans. Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being. Khalil Gibran We can...
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...
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...
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...