Return

Last Tuesday, September 11^th, I returned from the hospital, where I had spent 17 days.  To make a long story short, my prostate cancer has metastasized to my lungs – an exceedingly rare occurrence – and a tumor traveled from a pulmonary vein into my heart.  For reasons I don’t understand, the tumor has collected blood clots, which have a chance of breaking off and causing a stroke or worse.  What are the chances?  A surgeon told me that it’s less than 50% but more than 1%.  He estimated it at 15%, but he has no firm data to support his guess.  In the meantime, my doctors are trying to dissolve the clots with anticoagulants and to retard the spread of the cancer with new medicines.  They sent me home to get strong enough for chemotherapy, which as I understand it would be given to me in the spring.  I’m considerably stronger now than I was when I left the hospital and I hope to recover sufficiently to walk in Prospect Park again.   Right now I’m doing my best to enjoy what there is to be enjoyed – and there is still much to be enjoyed.

I’ll try to return to posting three times a week.  I’ve several posts in mind about my hospital experience.  If I stop posting, don’t assume that a clot has found its mark. I expect a few more gaps in the months ahead.

To those who have sent me e-mails, I apologize for not having yet answered them.  I haven’t opened my e-mail for almost a month.  That’s next.