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.
I have not posted for
two weeks. I wish I could say it was because I was just too busy preparing for
the holidays and enjoying the company of family and friends. Unfortunately,
this was not the case. About a week and a half ago I had a very difficult few
days from which I have still not completely recovered. For reasons I cannot
fully understand, I was unable to urinate, which landed me in the emergency
room in quite a bit of pain. I was catheterized for a few days and then finally
managed to have the cystoscopy that I had mentioned in my last posting. I am
now scheduled for a CT scan tomorrow, hopefully to help better understand what
is going on and plan the next steps.
Unfortunately, this
incident left me completely drained both physically and emotionally. I am only
trying little by little to regain some strength. It was not the best start of
the New Year.
I hope you have all
been well, and wish only the best of health and happiness to each and everyone
one of you.
I was supposed to have a cystoscopy today but it has been
postponed to ensure that I am definitely past a recent urinary tract infection.
We are waiting for the culture results and, if need be, I will be treated with
additional antibiotics before the procedure can be rescheduled.
Frustrating, for sure, but just another little bump in the
road.
When our four older grandchildren all decided to spend the
first 2018 summer session at camp, we knew we had to squeeze our “Camp Nana Sabba” sessions
into just a few weeks. Short of having four straight weeks, which would have
been a bit too exhausting for us old folks, we decided to pair up two of the children.
Ella and Maya were the obvious choice. Although two years apart in age, they
share many common interests. I think all of us would agree that it turned out
to be a great plan.
Because of logistics, Ella came first, on Friday the 17th.
I had a treatment that day but had managed to schedule it in the morning, so we
arrived home just around the time that Dina dropped Ella off on her
way to Maryland with the other three children. We had a restful Shabbat,
including three games of Rummikub.
On Sunday, Barry and Ella drove to Connecticut to meet up
with Maya and Ronen and brought her to New York.
Sunday was Maya's 10th birthday!
On Monday we headed over to the Bronx Zoo. They recently
opened one of these “TreeTop Adventures.” You can watch a video here:
We spent much of Tuesday at the Museum of Natural History.
Of course, Barry and I had seen most of the new exhibits (as well as some old
favorites) with Joshua just a few weeks ago, but we knew that Ella and Maya
would enjoy them as well, and they certainly did.
After the Museum, I took Ella and Maya over to have their
nails done.
On Wednesday morning the girls worked on art kits they had
bought at the Museum of Natural History, and then Barry took them to see
“Frozen” on Broadway. Needless to say, they enjoyed the show!
Then on Thursday, a simply beautiful day, with clear, sunny
skies, low humidity, and temperatures in the 70's, we headed over to Playland.
The pictures really say it all. They went on the "Playland Plunge" three times, which is how they were drenched to the bone!
I found this video of the plunge on-line:
Since no visit to New York is complete without Menchie’s, we stopped for our frozen yogurt fix on the way home.
On Friday we packed up the car and drove up to Sharon, where
we spent the weekend with the whole family for the first time in over two
months.
Now I am just trying to get through the hundreds of pictures
we took and start work on the photobook; I have already done the ones for Julia and Noah, Eliana, and Joshua.
Just want to let all
of you know that I am still here. It has been a very busy period, between
another treatment and having two of our granddaughters with us last week. Once
I have a chance to go through all the pictures and organize my thoughts, I will
definitely update. It may take a few days because I have a follow-up cystoscopy
this week.
Thanks to all of you
who have sent notes confirming that I am still hanging in here!
Spike Lee has written, directed, produced, or starred in
close to fifty movies, and I cannot say I have seen more than a small handful
of them. But his newest work, which he wrote, directed, and produced is
definitely worth seeing. “BlacKkKlansman” is based on events in the early
1970s, when the Colorado Springs Police Department hired Ron Stallworth (played
by John David Washington, who may look a bit familiar as he is the son of well-known
actor Denzel Washington) who sets out on a mission to infiltrate the Klu Klux
Klan. Of course, he needs a white colleague to help him with this, and he
recruits a fellow, more seasoned officer, Flip Zimmerman (played by Adam
Driver) to this role. Together through many twists and turns they actually
manage to infiltrate the local KKK chapter.
I have probably noted before that I tend to shy away from
anxiety producing films these days, and it was clear that this would be such an
experience. But, this film had received such accolades, coupled with the fact
that it is based on actual events that are a part of this country’s history,
and perhaps its present as well, means that we should find it anxiety producing. In fact, the film ends with familiar
footage of our current president attempting to blur the distinctions between right
and wrong. This film gives us all a lot to think about.
Joshua came to New York a week ago this past Sunday, and left
today. We had a great time: three baseball games (two Mets, one Yankees), Museum
of Natural History, Bronx Zoo, NFL Experience, bowling, miniature golf…I am
exhausted just going through the list! It is best shared through some pictures
I took.
We picked Joshua up at LaGuardia airport and headed directly
to Citi Field for our first Mets game, which they unfortunately lost.
The next day we visited the Museum of Natural History. There were a number of special exhibits, including one called “Your Senses” which is where this picture was taken.
On Tuesday we checked out the NFL Experience and stopped at the M&M Store, followed by lunch at a place called Kosher Deluxe. Later, Joshua and Barry went to see the new Mission Impossible movie.
The Mets played another day game on Wednesday, this time beating the Cincinnati Reds 8-0!
We spent Thursday at the Bronx Zoo, always a favorite for our family.
On Friday, we prepared for Sabbath and went bowling and played miniature golf. We had a nice Sabbath, played a lot of games and just enjoyed each other’s company.
Then on Sunday we saw the Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 7-2.
It is always a joy having Joshua around. I don’t know how much longer he will be willing to indulge his grandparents but I hope we still have many fun opportunities ahead.
Now we have a few quiet days before Ella and Maya are coming. Of course the list of activities is quite different as well as the restaurant choices: Joshua enjoys meat while the two girls are mostly vegetarians.
On Tuesday we took Eliana to Playland Park, formerly known
as Rye Playland. We had never been there, although I had immediately recognized
it when we had taken Julia and Noah to the Westchester Children’s Museum which
is part of the same complex, because it was the amusement park where Tom Hanks
makes a wish to “Zoltar” to become “Big” in the 1988 movie of that name, and
later returns to undo that wish. Zoltar is still there, and much of the rest of
arcade looks quite similar to the way it did in the movie thirty years ago.
Eliana is a big fan of amusement park rides, so we bought
her the “day pass” and she went from one ride to the next while we watched and
tried to snap some pictures. When she came out of the “Playland Plunge”
completely drenched, she figured she might as well go again, and looped right
back on line to repeat the thrill.
All in all, it was a fun day. This afternoon, Barry and Eliana are at the Gershwin Theater on Broadway seeing “Wicked.” None of us have ever seen this one but many people have told us it is quite enjoyable. I cannot wait to hear all about it.
You might be wondering why I am not with them. In the Jewish tradition, during the year following the death of a parent, it is customary to refrain from attending live musical performances. Two years ago, when Barry was in that period for his mother, I went alone with the children. This year it is Barry’s turn to take them. In a few weeks he will be seeing “Frozen” with Ella and Maya. Joshua is visiting with us next week, but he has little interest in Broadway musicals – instead we have tickets for three baseball games!
Meanwhile, tomorrow we have tickets for a Mets game. It turns out that Eliana has begun to enjoy baseball, something she can definitely share with her father. We are just hoping the game will not be rained out. After the game, we will be taking Eliana to Cedarhurst to visit her other grandparents for a few days.
