Breaking the Silence

I have been quiet for a long time (well, three weeks almost, truth be known). I was struggling on the cancer front, waiting for lab results and a sit down with my oncologist. The work fronts, both mine and Warren's, have been wild. And writing, even when I thought of it, was not merely shoved to the side, but seemingly off the screen all together.

In short, it has been an intense, overcrowded, exhausting, worrisome several weeks.

The posting will resume (soon, soon, I say). In the meantime, here is the short version of what happened yesterday in Cancerland: the news from the lab was the best I'd had in years. My oncologist Tim grinned ear to ear, which he only does when he is really, really happy. Not out of the woods yet, but the forest just got a lot lighter. The cancer is receding! We are tweaking my regimen to spread the steroid out over the week, instead of all clumped up at the beginning of the week, as he thinks my adrenal gland is beat up from cancer/treatment and not functioning full tilt, hence the always feeling lousy long after the chemo (which does not make me feel lousy!) until the day of chemo, when I get 2+ good days and then feel lousy again. We'll review in four weeks when I see him again. 

Warren, who is always there for my appointments with Tim, hugged me hard before he went back to his office (he did not stay for the chemo treatment, which involves a lot of waiting around). Actions often speak far louder than words. 

I did not got home until early evening (a long and wild day at the office, once I got out of oncology) and, no surprise, I was wound up from steroids and the news. I called my sons, sent some emails, posted on Facebook, smiled a lot, and managed to get some sleep, but it has been a short night and a long, long, long day faces me today. (It is the height of truancy mediation season, which is my bailiwick, and there is no break until spring break next week.) 

So while I am steaming towards spring break, I wanted to share two links with you. The first is my third column for The Myeloma Beacon. In a nice twist of fate, it ran today, shortly after I got back from my oncology appointment. I was writing about my treatment, and had the pleasure of updating the situation in a comment to the post, The Velcade Velocipede. 

The second link is to a brand new blog that the Central Ohio Symphony debuted today: ReconnectingRhythms. I am proud to say that Warren is the pen behind this one; there will be other contributors as time goes on. Although he teases the reader, I will not: the Symphony will be starting a therapeutic drumming circle in collaboration with a local treatment provider and our Juvenile Court to provide drumming to young offenders with mental illnesses and/or addictions who are currently in the Court's treatment docket. I am so proud of Warren and the Symphony for this groundbreaking program! 

Warren's opening post encouraged the reader to "grab a drum and play a little every day." He surprised me at the end of last week when a new Remo Versa timbau arrived on our doorstep with my name on it. Warren decided I needed one to help me through my treatment. 

I have been drumming a little every day. Sometimes more than a little. Saturday night our good friends Margo and Gerald came over and Margo drummed on my timbau too. (What are drums for but to share with friends?) Warren is right: I needed a drum It lifts my hearts and it reconnects me to where I need to be: here, both feet in the present, facing the future. 

These are pictures of the Versa timbau drums from the Remo site. My drum has the finish on the right:
Warren knows I like colors.