So after a few weeks of good health for all, and the promise of a relaxing summer, it all started again. Michael had an appointment the first week of June with his breast surgeon for a 12-month check-up. The day before he went, he felt a teeny, tiny something in the area of his mastectomy. But there was no more breast tissue there. What could it be? Probably nothing, said Rachel, the breast specialist, but we’ll do a sonogram just to be sure. Humm, the sonogram looked a bit suspicious, so we should do a biopsy, just to rule out, you know, anything bad. Continue reading
The Cancer Summer – Again
Reply
I just got back from the cardiologist and passed my echo and stress test with flying colors. So this tale has a happy ending – now for the story itself: I had signed up for the April monastic retreat at IMS, but was on a long waiting list after the lottery. I also signed up for the May retreat with Kamala Masters, Debra Ratner and Mark Nunberg and figured if I got into the earlier one I could transfer my registration. 
It was shortly after the election last November when I was reading Buddha Dharma Magazine that I saw an add for a Meditation and Well Being Study at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. My initial intention was to do something positive that would be of help to others in the face of the devastation and helplessness everyone was feeling in reaction to the election. So I embarked on a very long process of application and vetting for the study. 
It was intercession and Michael was taking the orchestra on tour to Prague, Vienna and Budapest, again – all different students, so it is a new experience for them, and Michael never tires of showing them those beloved musical capitals. I chose to go in the opposite direction and have a vacation on a beach with my sister and treat myself to another Backroads bike trip. (The picture is taken up at Kilauea Volcano.) 
Just as I was taking a picture of Michael and me, standing on the top step at the Trenton War Memorial with 2000 folks inside and 4000 more spread out below us, a photographer from the Newark Star Ledger snapped this shot of us – a not-selfie! What a wonderful day it was to share all the outrage, heartbreak, frustration and desire for action that so many of us have been feeling since election day with a crowd of like minded souls. 
This was my last year singing High Holy Days in Wichita. An odd set of circumstances led to this outcome, but as usual, things seem to have worked out for the best. I’m very happy to have no future singing performances to look forward to at this point. In the photo I am standing in the entrance way of Congregation Emanu-El with my Kansas mom, Marcia Solomon, and Rabbi Michael Davis. 
It was Fathers’ Day back in June and tic season was in full swing. Michael was taking a tic off his chest and checking for others when he noticed a small hard lump near his right nipple. What is this!!!!???? The next day he went right to his Dr. who calmly said he should probably have it taken out, and recommended several surgeons – seemed straight-forward and simple enough. Well, it was far from that simple. 
After mom’s final months last winter and spring, I had volunteered as SAG support for the Philly Habitat for Humanity’s Ride For Homes. I enjoyed being with everyone, but I wished I could be on my bike instead of in the van. This year, I committed to do the ride myself, and raise money for the wonderful work that Habitat Philly does in the community. Emily would be riding again for the third time and I looked forward to sharing this experience with her once again. I actually started training last summer and fall, and since the weather had been mild, I road almost once a week all through the winter. 
It was spring break at Princeton and I arranged to spend 11 days at Forest Refuge. It had been a pretty mild winter so far and I had no weather trouble driving up to Barre where the ground was bare (no snow as in this picture). The temperature was moderate, with cold mornings, when I loved walking out on the beautiful deck after breakfast, and warmer afternoons for crunching through the dead leaves in the woods. 
Today is my sister’s birthday, and I just got home from a wild time we spent together in Las Vegas (well, not so wild really) and a fantastic bike trip in Death Valley. Ever since a meditation buddy told me about a transformational trip he took there, I have always wanted to go – to Death Valley, that is. It seemed fitting to use some of the money left in the joint bank account I had with my mom to finally go, now that she is gone.