First of all, you may ask “What is Wormtown?” To those involved in the Worcester Arts & Music Scene (yes, there really is a vibrant one) Wormtown is the alternative name for the city as designated by Brian Goslow, our Minister of Culture, music and arts reporter extraordinaire. In my radio DJ days and as a poet, I got to know Brian well and appreciate his contributions to drawing a spotlight to the largely underground heartbeat in the city. So, often I defer to our old mill town’s nickname. Without worms, we have no agriculture. Without Wormtown, we have no culture.
I got to bed around 11:30 pm last night and slept through until 9:30 am! Well, slept through does include a pee trip every 60-90 minutes, but I fell right back into deep sleep every time. Ah, hydration, so important as the chemo seeps through my body, wakes me but assures me that my fluid intake is more than adequate.
Today has been a lazy day. Did my usual morning and breakfast routine, then Ann & I watched “Sports Reporters” and some home renovation/staging shows on TV. Ann & Pam took Lacey Dog and Pam’s pups, Sam & Lily, for a long walk through Moore State Park in Paxton, just north of town. Rudy doesn’t enjoy the walk through the woods, so he hung out with me.
Most of the day, I’ve been listening to The Grateful Dead’s Dick’s Picks Volume 14: Boston Music Hall, 11/30/73 and 12/02/73 while watching the Women’s & Men’s NCAA Basketball Tourneys on mute. In many cases, TV is best enjoyed on mute, especially with fine music to fill the audio track. The 1973 lineup isn’t my favorite Dead period. I much prefer the 1966-1970 years when Pig Pen’s blues chops shaped much of the band’s direction. Jerry’s guitar playing was fiery in that era, less restrained but not undisciplined. I do love how over the decades he and the band constantly experimented with style, took artistic plunges, and grew their sound. But I will always have a soft spot the band’s early days when the boys were focused on raw energy, playing on young legs.
I’m feeling pretty chipper today. My big plans for the rest of the day are to catch a little nap, trim my fingernails, and finish the Jess Walter novel. I only have about 40 pages left in (and I’m loving the book), so I’m saving them for a moment of literary hunger. The next books I have queued to read are waiting in the Auburn MA (town just south) library but the libraries are all closed today.
I’m feeling pretty chipper, but the 5FU pump will complete its program tomorrow afternoon and soon after the primary chemo side effects, the working side effects, will kick in. I think that they may seem gentler than the first two times. First of all it will be the last intensive chemo cycle; staying in the day or even the hour will be easier. Plus, the knowledge of how to deal with the side effects picked up over the first two cycles will help. Lastly on Tuesday, Dr. H. has scheduled me for an injection that should prevent my white blood cell count from falling to zero as it has during the first two cycles. 12% of Cisplatin patients have the low white blood cell side effect and the injection, into the stomach roll, has proven to be effective. So maybe I’m being cavalier, but I expect an easier cycle. Check in next week!
Thanks for the cards and emails of support. I have the cards stacked up triple deep on the broad windowsill. It‘s a joyous and colorful view that reminds me of all of you. I walk along the windowsill and see friends and family, makes me smile and feel loved. Thanks also to the 7th and 3rd Grade classes at Temple Sinai who dropped off a Passover Basket for us today. More sunshine in my day!
Love…
Richard
I dreamed about you last night. I was with you at your house for a big chemo party. The house was full of family and friends who were all having a rollicking good time at this party that went on non-stop through all three intense cycles. Partiers would come and go, but you were the constant. You’d nap every once in a while on the couch as the party rolled along around you full of festive laughter and music. (I, too, napped every once in a while in this dream during the chemo party. I often dream that I’m sleeping. That probably says something weird about me, something that Ann could probably diagnose, but please ask her not to, because I don’t really want to know just how weird I am.) The best part about the dream was that I got to see you and spend time with you. It was one of those vivid dreams that seems real and lingers during the day like a recent memory instead of vaporizing as dreams often do.
ReplyDeleteWhile not quite as festive as in my dream, I’m so happy to hear that this cycle is riding more easily than the others, at least at the start. You’re really getting the hang of this intense chemo thing now that it’s nearly over.
Have you seen Festival Express? It’s a documentary of a rock festival that traveled from town to town by train through Canada in 1970. There were lots of notable acts, Buddy Guy, Janis Joplin, The Band and a bunch of others including the Grateful Dead. There’s footage of performers casually jamming on the train and in that footage it is so apparent what a great player Jerry Garcia was. You can also very clearly hear his folk and bluegrass roots in those casual jams. I was never much of a Dead fan, but it was so obvious in this film who could really play and who couldn’t. And Garcia could really play.
I love knowing what music you’re listening to as you ride the chemo cycle. And thanks so much for inviting me to the party.