Good news, really bad news

While I was at the bus station waiting with my mother and sisters to leave, Carol called Dad. He was just leaving the hospital after his appointment. Dad has been having some pain in his spine and pelvis and his PSA (prostatic specific antigen) has been rising, a sure sign of cancer somewhere. The cancer has metastasized into his spine and pelvis. Dad has a bioprosthetic bovine heart valve and cannot take chemotherapy. He also cannot take radiation therapy because he had XRT when the prostate cancer was first diagnosed. The solution is to remove both his testicles. It's an outpatient procedure and will eliminate the source of the hormone feeding the cancer. The up side is that he will stop losing his hair, so my best guess is that the hormone they're eliminating is DHT.

A local ham, George, died earlier this year from cancer. His primary was prostate cancer and the cancer metastasized into his bones. He was dead within a year of treatment and he lost his testicles, too. The outlook isn't good for Dad. He may surprise us all. I surely hope so.

At least there is some good news. I have been asked to contribute photos to a book on Colorado and for covers of some other books. I will get credit and cash. I will be rephotographing some sites photographed several years ago on my high resolution digital. This may also lead to some other jobs photographing local wildlife and scenery. I wouldn't consider myself a professional photographer, but it is possible I'll get better with practice. I've been told I have a good eye for composition. That's half the battle?

Well, the landlady just brought up a food bag and I sent her back downstairs with a few pieces of Beanie's oatmeal cake. We're both really happy, especially with elk soon on the menu. One of the neighbors offered fresh killed elk to the landlady and she asked me if I know what to do with it. Boy, do I. Fresh elk meat and a lovely landlady for a neighbor. Add a new baby next door at the Lon Chaney house within the next day or so and there's quite a bit of good news coming down the pike.

I want my parents to live forever, or at least until I'm gone. I know that isn't possible or even probable at this point but it doesn't stop me wanting them to hang around, even when Mom is in one of her evil moods. As there is a cycle of seasons, so, too, there is a cycle of life--and death. I know this and I accept the inevitability of death. Like the baby being born right now who will soon come home next door, life goes on. The elk nourishes many people, giving its life for continued life and health. My father and mother will die and there will be new lives to take their places, new lives that might even touch mine in some way. I can live with that.