Putting it all behind me

I went to the hospital today for the doctor to interpret my test results. Everything is OK. The higher values on the blood tests have nothing to do with cancer. It’s just a virus of some kind. No medicine needed. The doctor told me to drink more water! The best thing of all: he suggested I […]

another checkup

I’m going in for another set of tests this morning. Nothing special, just the regular 6-months checkup, that regular reminder of my mortality. Is this the time when they finally will discover that the cancer has returned? Of course not. Think positive! (as though how I think has anything to do with it). Living so […]

Presumptousness

Getting ready for my visit to TaiDa hospital, I think about the presumptiousness of the living and our scorn of those who are dead. I feel an unspecified sense of responsibility for the departed on days like this (a responsibility which I quickly, and happily, forget about as soon as I get the doctor’s “all […]

a very great day

Today is a great day.  I just came back from the hospital and I’m fine.  I got results back from a slew of tests, and I’m now officially cancer free. .”Yeah,” said Diane, “and there is no Bush in the White House.” “And,” said the kids, excited about their Chinese New Year’s vacation that started […]

Back for test results

I’m going back to TaiDa hospital today to get results of the tests I took last week.  I don’t understand why, but I’m really worried about it.  I have this premonition of disaster.  Perhaps it’s the lung X-ray I did — I really don’t want there to be anything wrong with my lungs.  Perhaps it’s […]

Testing, testing

I went up to TaiDa hospital today.  I went alone, and it was great.  I can do things alone again, like in the good old days before my diagnosis.  Met professor Ko, who operated on me.  He seemed happy enough with my progress, although the neck is stiff and my mouth is dry.  I should […]

three months on

It is now three months since my treatment finished.  Progress has been very slow, measured in weeks rather than days.  I’m still too dry to sleep properly.  I wake up at 1 or 3 or 4.30 — and usually I go to the computer and start writing. I’ve written a lot in the last three […]

red berries galore

In China red is the color of happiness and good luck, and naturally it is associated with the New Year.  A popular New Year’s present is to give away red fruit and berries — red apples, grapes, strawberries.  Lucky me, I got a number of boxes of bright red fruit this year.  Funnily enough recent […]

Merry Xmas from the soup kitchen

Merry Christmas to all of you.  We are celebrating our holiday in Taiwanese style, meaning that we work and go to school as normal both on December 24th and 25th, while, half-heartedly, handing out a few presents and saying a few cheers.  No, the Christmases of my childhood it ain’t. I’m still on my soup and […]

merry Christmas 2008

Season’s greetings to you all.  May yours be jolly and white and all that. As in previous years we are trying to fit a European holiday into a Taiwanese schedule.  It’s not easy.  Today and tomorrow are regular school days for us, with school bus in the morning and homework at night.  We have added […]