Category: Book

“Garden as Though…

You Will Live Forever”-William Kent

Wow! Where did that week go? My intent to write twice each week has been lost this week. Reminds me of  the lyrics to My Poor Meatball “that rolled right out the door”! I meant to write, I intended to write, and it all slipped out of my hands and right out the door!

Gardening is one of my passions. This year, with the clinical trial for recurring melanoma, I chose to focus on healing, well-being, gardening, and finding balance within the cancer life. The middle of last week found me starting to disassemble my garden beds…bittersweet, for sure.

“If you have a garden…

and a library, you have everything you need”- Marcus Tullius Cicero

Veggies are growing, the Three Sister Garden has had some success and some failure (I’ll talk about this in another post), and my glorious sunflowers are now bending and bowing with the weight of shorter days. Fatigue gets the best of me so my dreams of preserving, drying flowers, saving seeds, and more are not realistic. Healing comes in the form of watching and nurturing the garden, the self.

DSC01682

Wonder and wonderful beyond words for me this past weekend was the visit from three very dear librarian friends. Adrenaline got me through the basic preparation for this easy gang. Because of the incredible dynamic among this former work team, each of us jumped in and as always, things went as smooth as butter (with lobster, of course)!

Dancing to the Salsa

Tomato season is here, right? I have a lot of sweet cherry tomatoes. Company brought some of the most amazing, BIG tomatoes, peppers, corn, etc. Conversation rambled about fresh salsa ingredients, issues in the world, food choices, mutual friends, healthy diet ideas, and books, so much so that I need to make a list with the titles reviewed. I’ll be sure to share it!

full frame shot of red tomatoes

Amazing Vermont produce, two seaside dinners, and chocolate humus were just the side dishes for me. Nourishment of the soul came around those meals. Laughter, love, and life made our time replete. Sated by friendship, deep and strong, I will remember to carry this soul-fullness on more challenging melanoma treatment days. #melanomatheskinwerein #cancer #laughteristhebestmedicine  #melanoma #naturalskinrocks  #thankyouforbeingyou

We can-cer vive!

Janis

 

 

Genre, Cancer, and Book Bullying

Building the reading list!

Listing

What do you read? With company visiting, this is a common conversation in our home and one that always fascinates me. Titles, electronic or hard copy, are shared. Favorite library tales are discussed and everyone returns home with new lists, fodder in consideration of future reads, not all will be read but all will be considered.

Easy reader!

Hammock Reading

We are readers, my husband and I, with rare common ground. He sometimes enjoys light reading, and Robert Parker is his favorite mindless read when looking for something comfortable and non-strenuous. He tackles other things but loves a-re-read of Parker, The Ancient Child, All the President’s Men, and others. He is voracious, I dive deep into well worded writing. One we both enjoyed and have talked about at length is A Gentleman in Moscow.

As a librarian with a huge focus on family literacy, I am passionate about picture books and will always bring home a stack from my local library. I also love children’s chapter books that I can share with my grand-girl. I find this to be an enjoyable escape from the drama of being a cancer patient and the uncertainty that melanoma brings to the mind. This is my complete area of comfort, my hammock in the library world.

children of blood and bone.jpg

In working with young adults, I learned to love certain authors; currently I am reading Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone; this title has shown itself in multiple reviews and Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show chose it for a summer read. Well, technically, it is the finalist of a handful suggested. With his promotion of reading and libraries, I knew it was a book to read now!

Library lover!

Reading In And Out Of The Zone

I’m out of my element with this book as I’m not a fantasy fan. It’s an allegory of the black experience, gods of color, and the belief of magic. I love it and highly recommend it! This is definitely a series in the making with movies to follow. Check out this interview with Tomi Adeyemi and I’m also loving that she encourages young writers. Thank you, Jimmy Fallon for this suggestion. Sometimes, it’s great to read out of our comfort zone.

So why blog about this and how does it relate to cancer? Reading takes on all forms; an engineer friend who reads technical matter, a non-fiction lover like me, or a light summer read that everyone loves. It’s all GOOD! Reading Matters! Recently, when getting scans at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, I asked a technician what she was reading. She joked and said she reads scans. We all have our focus and I’m grateful for that expertise. With an area in question on the CT this time, medical and professional reading is critical.

Awareness of discoveries, studies and clinical trials, and pertinent health information leads me to books and the latest in the field of cancer. AACR medical journal articles editor picks relating current cancer studies involving prostrate, breast, lymphoma, and other cancers are weighty reads, at best. For me, it’s an attempt to understand that which is not understood.

Beyond the Fantasy

But then, aren’t we all waiting for the cure; the magic beyond the fantasy, the scientific moment when healing takes place, when pain is replaced with hope, when that one child is given the reward of life for all his or her courage and efforts to be well. Cancer research is not a facile path, nor is the documentation. Reading snippets works for me; I leave the serious understanding to medical professionals!

Reading Matters!

Skip judgement and don’t be a book bully. People read for many different reasons. Escape/fantasy seems to bring more balance to me right now though next up is a non-fiction book I’ve been wanting to read by Tara Westover, Educated, another New York Times bestseller. So tell me, what are you reading and where do you find your inspiration? I’d love to add it to my list! #melanonatheskin #cancer #melanoma #bookreviews #readingmatters  #Tuesdaythoughts #whatareyoureading #librarylover #naturalskinrocks #wecan-cervive

We can-cer vive!

Janis

 

A Wrinkle In Time

Have you read it? Did you love it? Author Madeleine L’Engle wrote this engrossing novel, winning the Newbury in 1963. This travel through time and space is a delight and one I intend to return to again…and soon. Reaching deep with themes of death, social conformity, and truth, this children’s chapter book can be a whole new adventure read as an adult. Here’s an interesting take on this read from adults in a Mashable podcast.

wrinkle

 

A Wrinkle In Time is the first in the Time Quintet series. Right now, it’s resurgence is notable in relation to the release of the movie in February 2018. Every where I turn I see this classic and what a wonderful thing that is! But what does this have to do with cancer and melanoma?

Scans and Tessering

space

Well, here goes my thoughts on this and cancer patients and caregivers might be most able to relate to this. Time goes fast, time goes slow for all of us. I am learning to live in the moment, the here and now but what happens when you have a full day of appointments, appointments that will give you more time to enjoy life, or bring you to that place of worry when not “passing” the scans? Let me know how you deal with scan days.

My caregiver works with me as I submit to the surrealism of MRI, CT, any various dyes, drugs, and blood letting. Liquid hope is funneled into veins like water through a hose. Like A Wrinkle in Time, there is a sci-fi quality about my Dana Farber day,  lying in tubes hearing thumps or being directed to breathe and not breathe by mechanical audio direction. Big Brother, is that you? Meditation helps to keep me in balance and mindfulness reminds me that this singular moment of pain and discomfort will pass, too.

Each of us has our wrinkle in time, a place between reality and the unknown. Sensations of time and place muddle. Questions of belief and hope are only human, and that’s just fine, to feel human. Characters in the book find their time spent with tesseracts; this time travel is often physically painful and leaves them with anxiety, uncertainty. Sound familiar?

Parallel Universe?

time tunnel

Parallels between A Wrinkle in Time and our own cancer journeys are uncanny. Reality is a fine place though some days we feel as though we are in a time warp, part of a science fiction writing that brings us places we never thought we’d go. Balance tips  as our health tessering brings concerns to the forefront, our future looms closer. Living in the moment skyrockets out of reach as medical melee hurls us toward the future.

Madeleine L’Engle  states that “For me, this book activates both transparency and resistance. It urges us to open ourselves up to those hurts, those tribulations, those disappointments, those doubts, those uncertainties. All of which can be summarized as darkness. It walks us through that pain to a light within ourselves, sparking us to resist all that is not for our good and fight for a better way. Simply put, A Wrinkle in Time offers a glimpse of eternity”.

Not sure where I am with the idea of eternity, but I totally look for the light in each moment, and not the sun light! Find that light within yourselves and fight the cancer battle with courage. Not the journey we chose, but how lucky to still be on the trip! #melanomatheskin #cancer #awrinkleintime #melanoma #Thursdaythoughts

We Can-cer vive!

Janis

 

 

Heir Apparent

Battle Royal

Yes, I sometimes think in dark places.  I mean with metastatic melanoma, scars on my face from excisions, radiation treatment, and now a clinical trial, it’s not all that hard to find your mind go murky. At times, I feel like the next in my family, riddled with cancer, to wear the crown of cancer.

bird crane balearica regulorum royalty free

A person of our American royalty, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt is the central figure to a fictional account of her life in the book, White Houses by Amy Bloom. I enjoyed reading this novel that imagines the life between Eleanor and Lorena Hickok though it blurred the lines for me between historical information and an invented story. I devoured the book knowing I prefer more factual portrayals of people of ER’s stature.

DSC01606
One of my favorite quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt hangs on my fridge!

 

Royal Treatment

Why mention White Houses? Author Amy Bloom uses a description about saplings in the woods (forgive me for not having the wording handy). In comparing shaded saplings to people, the author relates the smaller trees will be stunted by those towering trees that relish the canopy, thriving on the light well fought for by competing trees.

An analogy that works eloquently for those of us with skin cancer. Do we now hide in the recesses of  dingy corners of our world? Should we resign ourselves to a tenebrous existence far from the beckoning sun? Are we relegated to be lowly saplings who never benefit from the light?

Those that reach for the light grow!

Hell, no! Shadowy thoughts like that are the last thing we need. Acknowledge those cancer moments, grab your cancer crown (a large brimmed hat for me!) and sun screen, and seek the light, seek the positive.

Use sun-safe habits and your #sunsmarts. Enjoy the things you love and keep solar mindfulness with you at all times. Take your vitamin D and find the courage to get out there! Light is metaphorical for illuminating the positive and also offers physical improvement when sensibly enjoyed. That doesn’t mean ignore your doctors!

Some People are…Well…A Royal Pain

Where did the light come for this blog? I just read a blog post where the writer stated we need direct sun and that sun screen is not good for us. Really? I know that the sun is essential to life; I get that in a big way, but really, no sun safety? Yes, that statement angers me because I GO TO THE DOCTORS, I GO THROUGH THE PAIN, I FIGHT FOR MY LIFE. I commented on that blog! The response explained that melanoma is a blessing. Really? No words here.

landscape nature sun forest
Stand Tall!

Reach for the light every day. Open your mind, open your heart, and you will leave the gloomy thoughts and the darkness in the undergrowth. Don’t read trivial stuff. Do what you love and grow strong; become the tall tree.  #melanomatheskin #cancer #melanoma #readingmatters #becomethetalltree

We can-cer vive!

Janis

 

Birds of a Feather

Cancer patients or is that cancer patience? Ah, I’ve learned a lot about patience as I plod along hoping that each day on this clinical trial brings me closer to healing. Rather than live in fear, I have the belief that in being patient with the immunotherapy drug that potentially treats melanoma and kicks my butt, that I have a chance.

robin 3.jpg

Hope and inspiration might just come from odd places as we fight cancer and look for balance in our lives. I find that living in the moment is a good place for me to reside! Simple pleasures come and go, as do the trickier moments of scans, tests, and infusions. The natural world bestows the greatest moments of a-ha and reminds me of what really matters.

Life on the Wing

And so it is with the birds. Living where nature abounds, panoramic views gives ample opportunity for viewing. A plethora of shore birds arrive seasonally, while the hardier sparrows, blue jays, and gulls will tough it out with the rest of us year rounders.

Reading Round Robin by Jack Kent is a fun picture book and always a reading rite of Spring  bringing lots of laughs! Three robins nests in the rafters at our house this year and I’ve learned a lot from the National Audubon about the American Robin! What better way to be reminded of the hope of tomorrow than with watching life unfold.

Rule the Roost

Nest #1 appeared in May, and we barely noticed it nicely tucked in to the far end of the deck…not sure how many eggs there were, but if you look closely at the pictures above you will see two young birds. Flights ensued the day after this picture and they were on their own shortly thereafter.

Nest #2
Nest #2

Nest #2 came immediately after #1 on the busy, walkway under our deck. Long strands of grass and nest making material had me keen to this busy pair of robins. Four blue eggs later, we waited. With a 12-14 day incubation that felt far longer, we finally had one robin. I’ve been told that 50% hatch is normal. My grand-girl caught this baby bird on video early on, and I’ve watched this video several times. Life is amazing, right?

To Every Season

Nest #3 is in the middle rafters and contains 3 eggs. It’s another high traffic area so we put a flower planter over it to provide a privacy screen. One robin hatched the other day, one egg is cracked, and one looks to be losing its robin’s egg blue.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This will be the last of the robins for this year. The weather will cool, the birds will leave, the landscape will change. I’ve taken the time to watch life, to have the patience to let it unfold. Meditation comes in many forms and be sure to take a moment to pause, find courage in your good moments, and let those positive thoughts take flight.

Thank you for signing up for my blog and let me know what you do to find those cancer-free moments. Stay tuned to learn about the empty nests!

#myhusbandwantsthedeckback #melanoma #cancer #Thursdaythoughts #melanomatheskin

We can-cer vive!

Janis

 

Fear and Reading-“The Emperor of All Maladies”

Warning: Dangerous Curve Ahead

Librarian and literacy advocate-gotta love a career like that. I find my melanoma takes away from what I want to do, how I thought my life played out. It’s changed my course in life and how dare those cancer cells take my greatest passions from me. Okay, I said it. Now, it’s time to get on with the life I never envisioned! Here’s one great book and one tiny, little reason not to read it, FEAR!

curve.png

Many of us get thrown curves in life and the big one for me right now happens to be cancer. I’ve always loved my profession and especially, the possibilities for connecting people with books, materials, resources, and education to empower them.  So it’s bound to overflow into my blog!

Avenue of Escape

My librarian/mentor and best bud long ago taught me that quite often the kids reading sports books are not the ones out playing sports…they just want to read about it.  The kids reading about abuse and tough family situations are quite often not living that at home, they just want to read about.  Often, our reading is about escape, about learning about what we don’t experience. We might just learn something!

I want to share a book about cancer. Now, why would we cancer patients want to read The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee? Initially, I had no idea it was about cancer and as a lover of non-fiction (okay, I confess…I am a multi-genre lover who keeps multiple titles on the nightstand!), I made a mental note years ago that I wanted to check out that book some day.

In 2011, it won the Pulitzer Prize which reminded me again that someday I would read it. Then a few years later, I learned the subtitle :A Biography of Cancer. Shit! How does one read this book when already drowning in words like biopsy, cancer diagnosis, treatment, stress..that list is long so just suffice to say c-word stuff?

Mukherjee’s book was first published in 2010, so by 2017 with another melanoma diagnosis, it was time. I mean, the book’s information was no longer hot off the press and I knew I wanted to read it. Fear, fear, fear that it would bring me to places I didn’t want to go had held me back.

detour.jpg

The Road is Long

Goodreads.com offers relevant reviews and varied thoughts on this book, but I’d like to share a few thoughts as well. Non-fiction, in the contemporary publishing market, tends to weave facts with interesting story lines. The Emperor of All Maladies:A Biography of Cancer traces cancer from thousands of years ago to the 21st century, interweaving science, history, and human experience. Cancer has not taken the express lane!

Rather than feeling chaffed reading this title, I felt soothed. The Dana Farber Cancer Institute connection added another layer of confidence with my already swelling assurance of my skin cancer team. Secondly, I gained tremendous respect for the scientists, oncologists, and other professionals who have led and continue to advance toward cures; this journey has been far longer than I realized.

 

Lastly (though I could go on and on about this book!), it humbled me. People talk of the cancer club, yet this title manifests how each cancer patient has their own brave battle, and that together each of our unique roads leads forward together, be it caregiver,  healthcare staff, or patients. Thank you to ALL of those who came before us on this journey.

Fellow blogger and cancer patient, Melanoma in Me, writes about this amazing book and an opportunity to meet the author. I’ve met many authors in my life and hearing Mukherjee discuss cancer and what’s next would be even more inspirational. I hope to have that opportunity knowing how quickly the knowledge-base about cancer has expanded in the last decade.

In reading The Emperor of All Maladies, I am reminded that knowledge breaks down fear. Fear is a detour, a roadblock, and this post, a small example of how to leave it behind before it leaves you behind. Try this book, and let me know what you think! Thanks for signing up for my blog, too! #nofear #readingrisk #cancer #mindfulness #melanomatheskin #melanoma

We Can-cer vive!

Janis

PS I just realized PBS made a documentary (Ken Burns) about this in 2015 so I will watch it perhaps someday!

Matters of Life and Death…and Books, Of Course!

Immortality is not something I seek. How about you? Life is so amazing, and so challenging, too. It’s that balance thing which we live with every day. Live beyond fear and just live!

Sudden Death

My grandfather was run over and died, a best friend died far too young and wrongfully, a child died in a terrible accident. Unexpected death is tragic, shocking, and contorts the mind to make sense of it. Emotions are exposed, raw and beyond painful. Pieces never quite fit together again. Trauma and tragedy envelope the unexpected loss.

The one thing we know is that there is only one way out of this life. Is death more palatable for those who know they have only so much time? Would my grandfather have played his hand differently if he knew when his last day was? Would you?

A Fate Worse Than Death

Cancer patients live with the fragility of it all; diagnosis, stages, treatments, and even, survival rates. With my melanoma biopsies, options in life changed: is this deadly?, what is the prognosis?, and projects like getting my “things in order” floated through my mind. Some days, meeting an untimely death might sound easier, but then, you still have today!

time travel.jpg

I recently read The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. My husband has loved this book for some time; I have at last read it. The beginning was a bit slow and confusing, but I always like to give a book 50-100 pages to develop. And develop it does as Niffenegger creates a story, both intricate and believable. This title offers deep possibilities for discussion.Would I want to know what is ahead?  Would you? Is it better that we don’t know?

In reading this book, it reminded me of Natalie Babbit’s  Tuck Everlasting, a riveting children’s book that explores the idea of living forever. A town wide read for our small Vermont community many years ago, concepts of eternal life, the benefits of NOT living forever, and avoiding the process of aging were exposed with prolific conversation for all ages.  Read it with your child or on your own; maybe it is okay that we have an end to this journey we call life!

“Now Is Eternity;

Now is The Immortal Life” (Richard Jefferies). Find courage in the day that you have; be present now!  Human nature seeks hope:  in life and in living, in treatments and cures, in one day or one year. Courage lies in the belief of a tomorrow. Find your inspiration to keep moving forward and balance that with what you have right now.  Cancer steals time-give yourself what quality you can through meditation, creating positive moments, and making the best of this day. Easier said than done, but make the most of this instant.

On  my reading list- The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. Yikes! Another book about living and dying. What if we did know what day we would die? Fascinating to consider, how would you live knowing your exact moment of passing?  This is one of the titles that made Jimmy Fallon’s summer reading list suggestions and subsequent vote. It’s had rave reviews and will offer another window on life/death debates.

Windows into our future may not be the best idea.  These 3 titles glimpse into what “might” be, given that crystal ball. For me, it’s intriguing to play with the possibilities, but I’m a realist. I’m definitely going to read The Immortalists but for now, I intend to pause from ideas of time travel, death, and immortality. It’s not about fear today, it’s just about today, this moment, and about what is. #whatareyoureading #melanomatheskin #melanoma #Tuesdaythoughts #cancer #reading

We can-cer vive!

Janis