I'm back home from Paris, healthy and overflowing with gratitude. It's a long way from The Lancaster Hotel on Rue de Barri to room 55 at MD Anderson's Mayes Clinic, but I'm fortunate to have access to both. Despite an ATM machine eating my bank card half-way through the trip, the experience exceeded my expectations - which … Continue reading Prescription: Paris
Except when you go to the airport a week early. Then, not so much. A month ago, my second cousin’s wife (aka Lauren Hudson) took me to lunch after hearing about my diagnosis. “You need to break some rules,” she said, reflecting on my tough 2016 and now cancer. “I don’t break rules,” I explained, to … Continue reading Paris Is Always a Good Idea
Twenty-nine years ago at Southern Methodist University, I moved into MacElvaney Dorm's third floor corner room, next to the RA and across from Susan Yaksick. Over the following three decades, Susan and I roomed together twice more and this week, we shared a room once again - at MD Anderson. Susan drove in from Austin and spent the night … Continue reading A Dogged Friendship
For almost a decade, my job at Fund for Teachers has allowed me to connect America's best prek-12 teachers with opportunities to design summer fellowships of their dreams. Last week I had the privilege of working alongside a particularly special grant recipient at the College Football Playoff's Extra Yard for Teachers Summit. With his FFT grant, Lavie … Continue reading She Persisted, I Persist
For sports fans, the "Holiday 6" college football bowl games dominated New Year's weekend. The Rose and Orange Bowls did not disappoint, nor did the (Pasadena) Rose Parade floats, including the one with surfing dogs. Crystal bowls, however, provided the highlight of my holiday. Rothko Chapel hosts a Crystal Bowl Sounding (co-sponsored by MD Anderson) on … Continue reading Bowl Games
Going through this experience, I try to follow the Hippocratic oath - "First, do no harm." On Friday, that meant removing myself to protect others from my foul mood. I found my tennis shoes, put on a "Toad the Wet Sprocket" baseball cap and walked out the door. As I walked, I started to cry. Not … Continue reading Art Brut in the Neighborhood
My new reality, combined with a shaved head and unexpected weight gain from IV steroids prior to each chemo treatment, dealt my vanity a debilitating blow last week, right about when I decided to watch Love Actually for the first time. Let's just say I experienced a cathartic cry. Walking into a plot rife with … Continue reading All We Need is Love
Much like Chris Farley's "That's going to leave a mark" clip from Tommy Boy, cancer is beginning to leave it's mark on me. Naiveté regarding my ability to keep things pretty much "normal" disappeared along with the remaining hair I still had. My pillow looked like the dog bed of an old schnauzer. At the same time, … Continue reading Leaving a Mark
After pulling my hair out by the fistfuls all week, I texted Sarah that it was time. She reached out to our hair stylist, Angelique Hoover, who, in spite of the fact that her grandmother was dying, agreed to come to Sarah's house on Saturday morning at 11:30 to shave my head. Sarah and I … Continue reading Non Sequiturs
Multiple people kind enough to read my blog have asked, "How did this happen?" And usually, they are referring to my love of art, not breast cancer. The breast cancer part is easy: I woke up one morning and decided it was time to end my two-year hiatus from MD Anderson's high risk clinic. I called … Continue reading How did I get here?
The Art of Cancer Blog 