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.
During the years I worked for Pfizer in midtown Manhattan, I
seldom drove. To the best of my recollection I have never driven in Manhattan
and never wanted to do so. Still, it was nice to be able to occasionally get
into the car and drive to suburban stores.
But primary CNS lymphoma made such an outing pretty much
impossible. It is rather ironic that our car is in my name, a requirement for
obtaining the handicap license plates for which I was eligible primarily due to
my pulmonary condition. But I drove the car only once, taking a very brief drive
early on a Sunday morning when we first bought it. I am not sure I even
remember how to start the engine!
But my “driving” days may not be over after all. Barry
happened to hear a report about Tesla’s efforts to design and manufacture a relatively
affordable self-driving car, the Model 3. It seems they are getting close. For me, this may
literally be the best thing since sliced bread.
So, we have just put down a deposit to hold our self-driving
car. This is really exciting! Let’s just hope all the pieces come together
(literally) to make this happen sooner rather than later.
Love,
Rebecca
Thank You
Your reservation is confirmed
Model 3 production is scheduled to begin in late 2017. North American deliveries will be first, followed by Europe, Asia and Pacific countries then countries with right-hand drive configurations. Those who own Model S or Model X cars will be offered priority production slots as a special thanks for supporting the Tesla mission.
We are back in New York now, having spent over a week up in
Sharon. One of the many highlights of our family time was taking Julia to see “Disney
on Ice” at the TD Garden in Boston. We had originally planned on just the three
of us going, but when we purchased the tickets there was a group of four
handicap seats and the venue insisted on selling them as a set. We invited Ella
to come along and she graciously agreed. Barry and I are not as young as we
once were, so having that extra pair of hands with our little
not-quite-three-year-old was extremely helpful.
Dina of course knew something we had not realized, that most
of the little girls who come to these events do so in their “princess”
costumes, so Julia and Ella were dressed appropriately. Julia was simply
mesmerized throughout the performance. The lighting was a challenge but we did
manage to take a few nice pictures. This outing was such a big hit that we have
now purchased tickets for “Sesame Street Live” in April, and Ella will again be
joining us.
By now I am sure you are all aware of the mix-up at the end
of the Oscar Awards show last evening. We had long since fallen asleep and only
awoke to that news this morning. It is hard to even imagine how painful this
must have been for the fellows who were in the midst of accepting the Best
Picture award for “La La Land,” and their acceptance and grace was almost inspirational
at a time when mutual respect often seems in short supply. Both “La La Land”
and “Moonlight” are very good movies and worth seeing, but at the end of the
day I think that “Moonlight” was the worthier choice for Best Picture.
We finally had a chance to pick up our annual family
picture, and I have updated the cover page of this blog. This is no easy feat.
Blogger keeps making changes to the software and I cannot remember from one
time to the next how in the world to do these simple tasks. There was a lot of muttering
helplessly before I finally pressed the right buttons! As for the picture, the
little ones were not quite as cooperative as we might have hoped, but at least
the rest of us did pretty well. It’s no easy feat to take a picture of a dozen
people ages 0-65!
At Eliana’s request, we took her to see “The Lego Batman Movie.”
I have to say that Barry and I found the nonstop violence, albeit with animated
versions of little plastic pieces, rather disturbing. To be honest, this is not
a movie I would recommend for anyone, even though it received a 91% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes and a positive review by Manola Dargis, with whom I do not
always agree.
But we thought we had found the antidote to this when we took Maya to see the recently released film, “A Dog’s Purpose.” Maya was not interested in Batman but requested this film instead. The film follows the lives of few dogs and their owners. The catch is that each of the dogs is a reincarnation of the dog that came before: different owners, different breeds, even different sexes, but all the same heart and soul. Some of the dogs simply die of old age, but one, a police dog, is killed while tracking down a brutal robber. In each case, the screen becomes fuzzy and the next dog in the line is introduced.
I have to say that, although somewhat sappy, it was a very sweet story. I am not a huge fan of dogs, but even I found myself tearing up when each of the dogs died. The movie seemed to be a love story for dogs and their owners.
But as I went to write about it, I discovered that this movie, when released, stirred quite a bit of controversy over the treatment of the dogs during the filming. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) strongly urged a boycott of the movie, and that may in part explain why it seemed to have disappeared from many theaters rather quickly after it opened.
Most of you know that I am a vegetarian (who does eat fish occasionally), and I am frequently asked why I have long followed that diet. I never stand on a soap box about this, but it has just always felt better to me not to eat meat and chicken. So I am sympathetic with many of the issues PETA raises. But this time I may have to respectfully disagree. Although the videotape PETA posted on-line does seem to show a rather distressing scene in which a German Shepherd is forced into a raging river, overall I thought the movie offered an incredibly sympathetic view towards animals and their relationships with their owners. I left the movie with a newfound appreciation of my many friends who keep and love their dogs and mourn them when they pass on. Of course we can never know just what the dogs are thinking, but the folks who made this movie surely have tremendous compassion for their pets.
Speaking of animals, the weather was so warm here in New England today that we went to the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island. There is still some snow on the ground and not all of the exhibits are open, but we had a nice time with the children.
The weather does not feel like February vacation, but you will not hear any complaints from me!
Near the top right hand side of this blog, a little beneath
our family picture, there is a counter that tracks the total number of times
people have looked at this blog. There are usually 60-80 page views on the first
day following each time I post, which is consistent with the number of folks to
whom I send e-mails directly. As the blog owner, when I open Blogger I see some
additional information that includes a report of recent activity.
This morning, Blogger showed the following tally:
Pageviews today
100
Pageviews yesterday
169
Pageviews last month
999
Pageviews all time history
39,966
This is more than a three-fold increase in the usual number
of views for a new post. How and why did this happen? I wonder if it has
something to do with my having included that pharmaceutical advertisement, but
I tried googling that and it did not lead to my blog. Otherwise I cannot
imagine what I might have done that has suddenly made me so much more popular.
I have no fear (and no ambition) that I am about to “go
viral.” Meanwhile, 40K here we come!
Daytime television is full of commercials geared to the
predominantly older audience who have the time to watch television during the
day. The commercials are primarily for Medicare supplement insurance plans,
pre-paid funeral arrangements, and prescription and over the counter medicinal
products. One of these has me scratching my head every time I see it: an ad for
a prescription drug called Toujeo (insulin glargine injection) indicated for
the treatment of Type II diabetes. Here is the commercial.
As I am writing this it occurs to me that it provides perhaps a very good segue into the movie we saw a couple of days ago, “I Am Not Your Negro,” a documentary about the playwright/essayist/novelist James Baldwin that received a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. I have to admit that I was not at all familiar with Mr. Baldwin’s work, but the script of this documentary was all from his writings, either captured in tapes of television shows or read by Samuel L. Jackson. It was clear that he was an amazingly talented man. Despite a rather miserable life as a young child with an abusive father and coming of age during an especially difficult time for young black men, he managed to maintain a sense of decency, saying “I can’t be a pessimist because I’m alive; I’m forced to be an optimist.” It was a thoughtful documentary worth seeing.
I am busy today pulling together everything we will need for the next ten days that we plan to spend in Sharon. We have even put together a schedule for activities with our grandchildren, who are off school next week. This “President’s Week” vacation seems to be part of the school calendar only in the northeast. My first winter in this part of the country was when we moved from St. Louis to West Hartford, CT the summer before my senior year of high school, and it seemed somewhat odd that there was yet another vacation so soon after returning from winter break. My impression was and is that it was primarily instituted as an opportunity for New England ski resorts. No one in our family skis, but we have a long list of fun things to do, including Disney on Ice for Julia, a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts with Maya, and a new indoor go-kart place for the older children. Then there are movies, bowling, indoor rock climbing, and trampolines. And in between we will spend time with Noah, who is growing up very quickly and waiting for his turn to participate in all this fun. I just hope we old folks will have the energy to enjoy it with him!
Sitting in a small restaurant in Manhattan yesterday, we
were reminded of a terrific scene from the 1977 Woody Allen movie, “Annie Hall.”
Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) and Annie Hall (Diana Keaton) are standing in line in
front of a Manhattan movie theater. A fellow standing behind them is pontificating
rather loudly to his date. Alvy becomes increasingly annoyed until he can no
longer control himself and begins arguing with the fellow. What happens next is
a great moment of fantasy.
Sitting at a table quite near ours yesterday were two young fellows, one of whom was regaling the other with what was mostly nonsense science and medicine, some of which was well within Barry’s area of expertise. Barry is not the type of person who would start up such a conversation with a stranger, but he could have used Mr. McLuhan’s “you know nothing of my work” line quite effectively. Nonetheless, the scene did provide some much-needed comic relief!
In my post a couple of days ago I mentioned that we had gone to a performance at Lincoln Center that included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1. When we got to the final movement I realized that this was quite a familiar piece, one about which I had written back in 2013:
Speaking of Beethoven, last evening was the second class of a 12 week course at the 92nd Street Y entitled “Mozart and Beethoven: The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.”
Mozart’s Piano Concertos are the peak of his instrumental achievement for orchestra, a perfect synthesis of both concerto and symphonic elements, and perhaps his most personal, characteristic creations. Beethoven builds directly on Mozart’s achievement, and yet the unique characteristics of his musical personality and approach to large-scale form transform the piano concerto into something both monumental and intimate. We explore more than a dozen piano concertos by these two composers in depth, masterworks all, ranging from early to late in each composer’s output.
Barry and I are attending this course together. As far as I can recall, it is the first time we both registered for the same course since “Differential Equations” at the University of Rochester in the fall of 1970. Barry dropped that course while I went on to major in mathematics. Fortunately, there are no grades being given here, so I think we will both stay in this one!
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about “Yertle the Turtle.” It may have been the only time I had written about anything political; I shy away from this topic because I recognize my relative lack of knowledge. A few dear friends who read this blog expressed serious concerns about my viewpoint. I am glad they felt the need to do so, because it would be a sad world indeed if no one cared at all. To quote another Seuss book (“The Lorax”)
UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It's not.
It is most heartwarming that, to a person, those same friends responded enthusiastically when I shared the results of my MRI just a few days later. There have been moments of watching the news and listening to the pundits over these past few months that cannot help but make me wonder whether we have completely lost our way as a nation and are no longer able to engage in political discourse. But at least in the small world I inhabit I can see that this is not the case. We can agree to disagree and still care deeply for each other. I am grateful to those who reached out and showed this to me.
