This Year

Above: Mikey and Bee, 2009. Below, Mikey and Bee with his son Jay, in 1982.

I’ll only say this once. I do not want to overwhelm, but yes, we were all miserable about Mikey’s cancer yesterday. I am feeling slightly more positive today.

Mikey was to have his PET scan yesterday. It showed that the lung cancer has Metastasized to the lymph nodes outside his lung. Stage 3. With surgery, chemo, and radiation, he has a 33% chance of survival. Perhaps five years. They will know today if surgery is even an option. Second opinions next week at several prestigious clinics.

After crying with Bee, G took teary and appititeless me to dinner, and as we watched the dance of the chefs in the kitchen, we mourned the friends lost this year while we thought of Mikey. Until recently, most of our friends cancers were defeated. Even my mother with multiple cancers of the breast, thyroid, colon, and breast again did not die of cancer. Only Jo died.

This year, Terry was first. Cancer. Jeannine was second just fading away into her new life. Janey third…from metastasized stage four breast cancer. Ellie’s mom, Minnie. Lee, bladder cancer, and Marion, lung cancer, both died on the same day. It’s not been a good year for our friends.

Yes, sometimes I’m so overwhelmed that I stop the Geezer for a hug. Other times my eyes water and I snivel like a little child. Life is no good if you don‘t love. Barren. I don’t have time for the heart of me to be a desert, and so I openly love my friends….and openly sorrow with their tragedy’s too.