Closing out a very hard week

A ‘chick flick’ (Linda’s description, not mine) shows (L to R) Linda (a lay eucharistic minister), the Rev. Frannie Hall-Kieschnick and the Rev. Beth Foote presiding at Sunday’s 10:30 service at Trinity. The sermon, which beautifully helped us walk through the stages of lamentation over rector Mike Spillane’s death, was delivered by Stanford’s Rev. […]

A Windy walk, a fond goobye

We walked an hour and twenty minutes at the base of Windy Hill today, scene of many cherished hikes with Linda and Cassie in years past. Good workout for me…
Mike Spillane’s public memorial service is today at 3:00 PM at Trinity. Saying goodbye to a great guy…

Hard day, good news

Today we attended the first memorial service for Mile Spillane, which was hard, despite his valiant widow Julie’s charm and gracious spirit. Earlier in the day I’d had a MRI and consult with my neuro-oncologists at UCSF - the news was good - which hadn’t been the case for Mike in weeks previous. I still […]

Sad news

The rector of our church, the Rev. Mike Spillane died this morning. Mike was 58 and leaves his wife, Julie and their school-age children Kim and Brendan. My deep sympathies go out to all three. Linda and I really feel a deep connection with Julie and the kids - we know some of what […]

Baylands

Palo Alto’s Baylands, in particular Byxbee Park, has become a weekend destination for Linda and I again. Linda can jog a loop trail while I walk from the parking lot to the dam that separates the marsh from the Bay.
Each of our efforts take about an hour, and we link back up in the parking […]

Boulanger, again

We’re back at Boulanger, treating myself to a vegetarian sandwich and a non-fat latte. It’s a reward for a hard workout at the Y, despite a wobbly left side (I fell getting out of bed this AM - not the best way to start the day). We’re all but surrounded by iPhones (though I may […]

A pretty good day

We finally got through all but one of a small mountain of insurance forms with attendant receipts, hospital invoices et al., replete with frequent calls to 800 numbers for help with confusing rules and forms. We also brought in the recycling bins and garbage can (we actually took them out yesterday, which is a real […]

Big Days, back-to-back

So today we spent the day in San Francisco: working with our physical rehab trainer, working out in the gym at UCSF, getting a chemo infusion and having lunch at Falafil King.
Tomorrow, we’re flying down to Los Angeles for a gathering of the L.A. Herald Examiner staff (it folded - gasp - almost 20 years […]

Birthdays

Birthdays have come to be a bit more precious given current circumstances, but nothing is quite as precious as the image above, that arrived this morning. Thank you, Julie, John and Grace! Yes, today is my birthday…

Today’s MRI

Linda says that once I tell everyone I’m going for a MRI, I should tell them the results. Well, today’s results are as good as a glioma patient could hope for: the tumor is quiescent, not growing and the flair - the area around the tumor and radiation therapy damage - is no more evident […]

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