Dog and CAT for the Holidays...

We are thrilled to welcome our new pup, Hubert the Hound, to the family at 59 Ivan St.  This beautiful Blue Tick Coon hound came through PAWS, a national pet adoption service.  Hubert had quite a hard journey - captured and put in a "high kill" shelter in Tennessee, saved by a rescue foster mother - neutered, fattened up, medicated; three days in a transport truck to RI, a week quarantine - finally Dec. 21 came to us!

Hubert is affectionate and needy.  He is a bit of a scaredy cat after all the transition, but is settling in and loving his bed and toys!

It's great to have "new life" in our house since we sent Frankie the Beagle to the great dog park in the sky in November.  We were just casually looking at adoption sites, and Hubert's wonderful face caught our eyes - it was love at first sight for us.

Glad to have this project and distraction - still working and feeling okay, but learned that my tumor marker blood numbers have gone up in the last three months - not a great sign - so will be back on the table for another CAT  scan next week.  So the adventure goes on!  Exciting new research reported in the NY times gives all of us hope!  We need to use our genetic codes to give the message that those big C cells need to go to their "reward"!!  Apoptosis rules!

And of course I continue to fight the insurance company Unicare that is refusing to pay for my radiation!  What a world - stage IV cancer, yet a refusal to pay! 

Wishing all the best of New Years - and for all of us, peace, hope and progress towards the cure!!

Cruising into the Dark, reaching for the Light!!

Greetings all - The Holiday madness has definitely taken over!  Of course, each new season, each new month, each new day - these are my miracles.  We spent last evening decorating our new little charlie brown tree - the traditional ornaments, the sparkle of the lights, the stockings, the Santa and Ms. Santa plus elf - these chochkas of the season reminds us of our childhood holidays!  (Any youngsters reading this wont get the reference - think fifties. Ah the "Fat er Knows Best"ness of those occasions!)

 We just watched a hokey Christmas show called "Christmas with the Fitzgeralds" about a totally dysfunctional (therefore normal) family dealing with multiple issues over the holidays" .  Neither Beth nor I had that kind of dysfunctional stuff so blatantly, but the pressure for "joy" and " merry"ness can be a bit overwhelming.  Nevertheless, I am embracing those themes I wish were the sense of the season - peace, love and hope - rather than "black Friday" and  the Christmas shopping extravaganza!

Just found out that Beth's cousins wife who survived breast cancer now has developed bone cancer - Need to reach out to her this week!  The support of others who have been through this adventure is so important to keep the emphasis on LIFE!!.    My holiday wish is for effective cancer treatment:  my resolution for 2013 is to devote time for cancer outreach.   C'mon, Santa - bring us a REAL gift!!

Go for another blood check this week - think shrink = I need for those marker numbers to go DOWN!!  Til the next post xxx