Is there a chance that we could induct the Great One -- Abraham Lincoln himself -- into the "Brotherhood of the Beast", posthumously? I guess it's obvious that I have been trying to come up with something original to write about for Presidents Day. But I found it pretty darn hard to answer my own question, [...]
I want to give a shout-out to a remarkable blog I came across while reading about the Blagojevich scandals in the Chicago Sun Times a few weeks ago. It is called: " Conquering cancer and heart failure...with Jesus, doctors and common sense" http://blogs.suntimes.com/banks/2009/02/i_know_im_dying_children_but_i.html. This blog is written by a man named Lacy Banks, 65, who [...]
Wild horses couldn't drag me away from this blog. Or so I thought. I was right -- mostly. I haven't written in almost a month, but I have remained very much a part of Prostate Cancer World. I check my PC news pipeline every day and look in on the online PC communities. And of course, [...]
"Positive thinking is endemic to American culture — from weight loss programs to cancer support groups — and in the last two decades it has put down deep roots in the corporate world as well. Everyone knows that you won’t get a job paying more than $15 an hour unless you’re a 'positive person, and [...]
My husband reminded me that today is the first anniversary of the passing of HUGH RICHARD KEARNLEY (1951-2007) of Glasgow, Scotland, "Hughie" to his friends. As if I could forget. Hughie was my first Internet conversationalist and a soulmate of sorts. The most gifted person I *never* met. Ted and I came to really love [...]
On 9/11/01, 20 brave firefighters from my neighborhood went to work and never returned. The photo above is of a memorial plaque posted at a firehouse a few blocks from my home. Eleven men from that company were sent to the World Trade Center and only one came home. Went by there today to pay my respects. As [...]
Recently, I responded to a complaint from a PC patient who felt that many of his friends had abandoned him after he was diagnosed with cancer. (Read the last two postings.) But there are also patients who push others away, and in my opinion, add to the stigma of cancer in the process. Here is a story about [...]
For me the silver lining in my husband's illness and also in my father's year-long hospitalization for a stroke was discovering the kindness of strangers -- now that's something I can write a book about. We tried to keep a 24-hour vigil by by Dad's bedside because the care at the hospital was so bad. [...]
A man, Jerry P., wrote in one of the PC forums how, after he'd been diagnosed with prostate cancer, some of his friends suddenly vanished. This is a common complaint. So I wrote Jerry a letter I want to share with you. And it would nice to hear of your experiences. Sometimes friends and acquaintances do [...]
Everybody has wondered at some point where in the world there cancer came from. Sir Paul Nurse, a Nobel Prize winner and head of the prestigious Rockefeller University, opines that the vast majority of cancers are random events. The only behaviors that are known to correlate with cancer are smoking and exposure to sunlight. But [...]
