Booblog #10

March 10, 2023

Blog # 

Hello! I am realizing that I haven’t updated in quite a while, so I am sending out my blog, again. The efforts and the expense of the past couple of weeks have been worthwhile, it seems. I have been checking out all of my parts.

As I have whined to you before, the medical industry, at least where I live, is not holistic, not at all holistic. I digress, but the system seems less fruitful than it might be for the receiver of those services. Note that I don’t say, carefully do not say – if someone wanted to pay attention to the person the way they ought to consider that the person is a whole, entire, miraculous human being where everything is connected to everything else– no, I’d Not ever say that, it sounds too arrogant.

Each of my body parts has its own doctor, and each doctor has their own medical practice, and each medical practice has their own procedural paperwork, lawyered-up arrangement for their own corporate entity, and each has their own patient/medical portal, the security of which even my bank could envy. And- no one has a phone where you can reach them, but offers an automated system that does not connect with the esteemed personage you desire, but leave a message, because you really do matter. I wonder if my hand doctor could speak, offline, with my throat doctor if they each knew the other existed… probably not. My primary care doctor doesn’t have a clue about the past several months, and neither do any of the other 7 doctors – I even have two oncologists, because one can’t apparently have enough. Each does different oncology but under the same roofline.

It appears that one must be careful to make their own decisions, about each of these options that are presented, and learn to speak up and ask questions, read, and understand as much as possible. I’ve been fortunate to have Kelley and Lew attending informational meetings just in case I can’t hear through my own fears. Since all of my body parts regularly communicate with each other, I am the only one who knows what they all think, although it must be said that they enjoy complaining as a group to me — a lot.

Therefore I have had several specific tests to verify that I am not in danger of cancer or breakdown on the road. Each of the systems is checked, and although, one might say, my tires have some tread on them that shows wear, in total the vehicle I inhabit appears to be functional. It even still has a working radio. I will spare you the details. My decision, based on reports of good serviceable expectations of the Judymobile, is to forego ongoing hormone blockers. I would have agreed to them if I had any evidence of more global issues.

With that in mind, I am officially going to begin radiation today with my first official dress rehearsal – I am tattooed and ready to run through the sequence and will have active radiation next week, every day. I am getting off lucky, with only fatigue expected as the result.,

They will pinpoint the area in question (thusly the tattoos), and essentially burn out the parts that might still contain some random cells. This drops my odds of getting it back within a 5-10 year period by a few points.

It is nearly spring, the sun is beginning to shine regularly, and that is a lot of hope for us here in happy land. I celebrated my new-found awareness of a more limited future by getting a friend/editor/writer to begin to prepare one of my books for self-publishing. It is so far called Olivia, but I am notoriously bad at titles, and am seeking something a bit more creative. It takes place in WW1, in France, primarily, beginning in the US, and ending in Turkey with a stop in Italy, of course. I am seeking a cover designer for the book.

I am embarrassed that I am not a better writer, but I probably don’t have another 30 years to hone my craft. So, I am going to put out there what I’ve got, now, imperfect as it is. It is a milestone for me, and now I will begin to edit the other two I wrote before and see if I can improve them sufficiently enough that I might be able to publish them as well.  One doesn’t have all the time in the world, so I have to get busy.

Thank you for sharing this self-centered journey with me. You have made so much difference in my well-supported life and I am aware of how much “no man is an island” remains true. I am embarrassed to say how much I have written about myself here on this blog, but several folks have called asking for updates, so I am trying to be transparent about life, as it is today.

It’s good.

My appreciation and gratitude for your presence in my life and those around me.

Judith Lavezzi

Judy