a big gap

Today, someone mentioned that it's almost 3 months since I updated my cancer blog. Most people realise that this means good news. It means that instead of dealing with doctors and treatments, I'm getting along with my life. Whatever that means, which is certainly a topic unto itself and deserving of it's own blog.

I last wrote in the euphoria of the significance of our trip to Israel. How could anything live up to such anticipation? The truth is, that it did. Our trip to Israel was awesome in every way and beyond mere words. From the moment that we touched ground it was a major blast - meeting most beloved friends and family, a variety of known and unknown people. Places - from the non-stop action of Tel Aviv to the mystery and spirituality of Jerusalem and everything inbetween. All the senses were indulged: sights, sounds, tastes, smells. We saw a play about cancer; we toured and I stood on the Lebanese border in a grotto with enormous waves pounding and banging all around, in Templar and Crusader fortresses, history all around at every level. Nothing can convey Jerusalem. It is said that when the world was created, that city got 9/10ths of the world's beauty. It is true. Watching hundreds of thousands of people of every persuasion converge on the Wailing Wall past midnight takes you to a level of experience that can never be explained. There was the aggravation of dealing/failing to deal with Israeli bureaucracy - enough to bring us back down to earth with a bang.

Our trip to Israel has absolutely nothing to do with cancer except for one thing: en route, about to board the 'plane to Tel Aviv, a man bashed into my chest. The operated breast. I knew that something big happened, but in the chaos of boarding that was temporarilly the end of the topic. About 5 days later, an enormous lump appeared. No doctor that saw it has seen anything like this. Today is exactly two months since the 'accident' and the lump is still huge and black. I am told that it will take a very long time to disappear.

We did not have time to digest all of that because we got home on the day of Rosh HaShana and had a fabulous visit from my sister and brother in law. Rushing into a totally different reality.

A lot has happened since then and there is a lot to discuss, but I will leave some of that for next time.  Tomorrow, I go for my routine chemotherapy.  Rush in, rush out. I hope.