My blogging history:
2012: diagnosed with and underwent treatment for Primary CNS lymphoma in my brain.
2012-2013: blogged on Caring Bridge.
2013: moved to Blogger.
2017: diagnosed with bladder cancer and blogged through 14 chemotherapy treatments and 37 sessions of radiation therapy, each with its own t-shirt and musical selection.
2018 to February 2020: Treated every 3 weeks with pembrolizumab for spread of bladder cancer to lymph nodes. As of June 2020, continue to be cancer free.
Those of you who have known me for a
long time know that I am a huge fan of singer/songwriter Carole King. We were
not able to be on the Great Lawn in Central Park yesterday for the Global
Citizen Festival, but thanks to the internet I can share what I believe was the
highlight of her performance, “You’ve Got a Friend.” She also sang “Beautiful,”
“Natural Woman,” “I Feel the Earth,” and “Where You Lead”. Her voice is not
quite what it used to be but her spirit is still very much in tact. It was particularly inspiring to see all the
young people in the audience who sang along with her. By the end
I felt tears in my eyes wishing we could all find a little more of that spirit
of friendship during these troubling and divisive times in which we find
ourselves.
We had a terrific weekend up in Sharon.
We had Shabbat dinner on Friday night with Simmie and family, and then
joined Dina and family for Shabbat lunch, after which the 12 of us (plus
a couple of the children’s friends) gathered for a birthday celebration for
Joshua and Aaron. All the food was fantastic. I only wish I had remembered to
take a picture of the black and red checkerboard birthday cake Dina created; of
course, I doubt there was much left by Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon the whole family
went apple picking. Barry and I had never done this before, but our children
and grandchildren go every year. I was not quite sure how this would work out
for me, and a couple of weeks ago had a lovely chat with the owner of the place
where they had gone many times and we were planning to go, who assured me that
appropriate accommodations could be made for people with disabilities. Unfortunately,
we learned that the place was in an area that had Eastern Equine Encephalitis
(EEE), so they chose a different place that also assured accessibility, Doe Orchards
(https://doeorchards.com/) in Harvard,
Massachusetts, about an hour northwest of Sharon. This turned out to be a fine
choice. I had meant to take pictures of all the apples and peaches we took home
but somehow that slipped my mind. Nonetheless, I do have some nice pictures of
the children (thanks to Eliana for taking some of these) at the orchard. This
is definitely an activity we’ll need to add to our annual fall calendar!
As I was completing this little post,
the phrase “apple of my eye” came to mind, so I looked up its origin/meaning:
The apple of one's eye originally
referred to the central aperture of the eye. Figuratively
it is something, or more usually someone, cherished above others.
This week, Barry will
be attending the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology
(ASTRO) in Chicago. You might be wondering what that “T” stands for, and I
found the full history of the name on Wikipedia:
The
organization began in 1958 as the American Club of Therapeutic Radiologists.[1] In 1966 it became the American Society
for Therapeutic Radiologists (ASTR).[1] In 1983 it became ASTRO (the American
Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology).[1] In 2008 it became ASTRO (the American
Society for Radiation Oncology), keeping the acronym ASTRO while redefining
its expansion.[1] The members decided that the term
"therapeutic radiology" was outdated and confusing to a general
audience and that the new name would better reflect the specialty.[1]
By way of background,
I found this on the ASTRO web page:
ASTRO
publishes three top-notch journals to bring the latest radiation oncology
research to our members quickly. Our flagship journal, theInternational Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology •
Physics, also known as the Red Journal, focuses on cutting-edge
prospective clinical research. Its companion journalPractical Radiation Oncology, publishes
research such as guidelines and white papers that will make an impact in your
practice today. Our newest journal,Advances in
Radiation Oncology, focuses on important retrospective work,
clinical trial reanalyses, survey analyses and case reports.
A couple of months
back, Barry was invited by the editors of Practical Radiation Oncology
to share some reflections on his 40 years of teaching radiation biology to residents
training in radiation oncology, which was just published and is attached here.
After reading the smashing reviews (see,
for example, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/theater/moulin-rouge-review.html), we decided to get
tickets for one of the new shows (officially opened on July 25th) on
Broadway, Moulin Rouge! The play is set in the Montmartre Quarter of
Paris, France, during the Belle Epoque at the turn of the 20th century. The
musical relates the story of Christian, a young composer, who falls
in love with cabaret actress Satine, who is the star of the Moulin Rouge
cabaret.
Although there are some original songs,
much of the music is excerpts of popular songs from the 1970s and 1980s. Here
is a list of the songs included:
(in order of first appearance)
“Lady Marmalade” - Labelle
“Because We Can”- Fatboy Slim
“Hips Don’t Lie”- Shakira
“So Fresh, So Clean” -
OutKast
“Money” - The Trashmen
“Ride wit Me”- Nelly
“Burning Down the House” -
Talking Heads
“Let’s Dance” - David Bowie
“You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” - Dead or Alive
“Royals” - Lorde
“Children of the Revolution” - T. Rex
“We Are Young” - Fun.
“Diamonds are Forever” -
Shirley Bassey
“Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
As an 11-year-old in the 6th
grade on November 22nd of 1963, I still remember the principal (I
cannot recall her name) coming into our classroom to share the news of the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I have a strong recollection of the
tears in her eyes as the entire school was dismissed and sent home for the
remainder of the day.
Yesterday was the 18th
anniversary of the only other experience in my lifetime that resonates in this
way, the bombing of the World Trade Center. Every year on that day, those of us
who are old enough to remember think back on where we were when we were when we
first heard the news. I can still recall my assistant, Carla, coming into my
office to tell me that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. My
immediate reaction was that it was a terrorist attack, which sadly turned out
to be correct.
Yesterday I was thinking of Carla and
sent her a note. She wrote back and said
I had you on mind yesterday, I took the day off to take my
mom to visit Ground Zero.
Yes, you called it first, and to this day, I wonder why that
came to your mind in a flash.
I think that's why it came to me right away. Also, it seemed
impossible to believe that a plane would just fly right into one of those
buildings, and by the time the second plane hit it was clear to everyone that
this was not just some random accident. That's why I immediately thought it was
terrorism rather than just random bad luck.
In the days and weeks that followed we
came to learn of friends who had relatives who had worked in the World Trade
Center and did not survive the attack. Carla wrote something that made me
ponder just how many other people have died in the years since from injuries or
exposures they had in the aftermath of the bombing.
My friend that told me (that it was no accident) died this
past Mother’s Day; she developed Pulmonary Fibrosis, which they think was a
result of the dust from 911.
Will we ever really know the true toll
of that horrific day?
This showed up in my
Facebook feed and I could not resist sharing it here. The joy in the faces and
actions of these two little boys is simply inspiring.
Our last few days
have been filled with baseball. First, we saw the new film “Heading Home: The
Tale of Team Israel,” a documentary which follows the team before and during
the 2017 World Baseball Classic. In fact, the team was comprised of a group of
American players of Jewish ancestry (not always Jewish according to the strict
traditional definition which requires that one’s mother be Jewish or that one
has undergone a proper conversion), none of whom had ever visited Israel before
the trip they took in preparation for the tournament. But, as the film points
out, Israel is not the only team that has “imported” members to play on its
team.
The team even has a mascot, called “The Mensch on the Bench.” This word derives from the German word for human being but has come to signify a person of integrity and honor.
The documentary film crew happened to be in Israel at the same time that a ceremony was being held for the opening of a new ball field in Ra’anana named in memory of Ezra Schwartz ×¢”×”, an 18 year old young man from Sharon, Massachusetts, who was a brother of one of our grandson Joshua’s friends. Ezra was murdered by a terrorist gunman in Israel in 2015 while spending a year there after high school, and this was briefly included in the documentary.
The Israeli team did pretty well. In their initial division, they won all three of their games, enabling them to go on to the next level, where they were able to win one game but unfortunately lost the other two, ending their inclusion for the next level.
On Sunday we went to see the Mets play at Citi Field for what will likely be our last game for 2019. It turned out to be the longest 9-inning game in Mets history, going 4 hours and 29 minutes! It came close to breaking the all-time 9-inning game record length in major league baseball history of 4 hours and 45 minutes (Red Sox vs. Yankees at Fenway Park in 2006). Needless to say, we did not stay until the very end, leaving in the 8th inning when the Mets were losing 10 to 7, which turned out to be the final score. We listened in the car, and the game was still not quite over when we arrived at home!
We look forward to the return of the boys of summer in 2020!
Two “campers” joined us for the final
session of Camp NanaSabba: Ella (age 13) and Maya (age 11). We had an
incredibly busy and fun-filled week.
Ella’s father dropped them off on
Sunday on his way with her two younger siblings to spend time with their grandparents
in Baltimore. A couple of hours later, we took off for Muse Paintbar. To learn
more about this fun place, and to see if there is a location near you (we went
to the one in Yonkers), check them out at https://www.musepaintbar.com/about/.
Each of the participants is provided with all the materials they need and step by step instructions to copy a painting. Here are a couple of pictures of our two artists at work and of their final products:
On Monday morning we headed off to The
Bronx Zoo. We spent the morning at Treetop Adventure, where the girls went
through the first and second levels of climbing and had a terrific time. You
avid readers may recall that last year Maya had been just barely tall enough to
get through the first level, but with the extra few inches she grew this past
year she was able to reach all the hooks for her harness and both girls did a
great job and had loads of fun. It is hard to get good pictures while they are
climbing because of the lush vegetation, but we do have a few.
After the climb we had our picnic lunch
and then spent some time at the zoo. At the end the girls bought matching stuffed
tigers at the gift shop.
On Tuesday we headed over to Rye
Playland. It was a bit cooler this week so we waited to do the flume ride until
the end of our day there, but it was not excessively crowded so they were able
to go a few times with little wait time.
On Wednesday we did some shopping and
then Ella wanted to have her nails done so Barry and Maya watched a movie while
I took Ella to a local nail salon.
Thursday we hung out at home until the
early afternoon because we had big plans for the evening: dinner at one of our
favorite restaurants, Noi Due, followed by the Broadway show, “Wicked.” A
frequent challenge with multiple activities in the City is getting the timing
right. We wanted to be sure not to be late to the show, but I guess things are
relatively quiet the last week of summer so we drove in and finished dinner
much earlier than expected.
The restaurant did not really have anything on the
dessert menu that interested the girls, so instead we went to a place we had
once taken Eliana, Holey Cream, where they loaded up on sweets enough to last a
good month. Neither of them finished those treats!
We are still not all certain we
understood the story line completely, but we did all enjoy “Wicked.”
On Friday morning we headed over to the
New York Botanical Garden. We had wanted to show the girls the current special
exhibit, “Brazilian Modern: the Living Art of Roberto Brunle Marx.” I thought I
had written about this fascinating installation when Barry and I first saw it a
few months ago, but I apparently failed to do so, so I will include a couple of
pictures here.
We had a lovely Shabbat. The
girls spent part of the afternoon rebuilding Lego kits they brought down from where
they have been stored in our attic, and we left those until Sunday when we could
take a picture.
We had boiled some eggs and when
preparing our Seudah Shlishit (light evening meal) Maya was intrigued to
find this, which we saved to photograph after Shabbat.
On Sunday I waited at home while Barry
drove the two girls to meet Maya’s father in Connecticut. Unfortunately, there
had been an accident on the highway which slowed the traffic, but eventually
everyone arrived at their respective homes safely and soundly.
All in all, it was an incredibly fun albeit
exhausting week! Now I am off to work on the photo album!
