The last time I updated this was January 6, 2024. I mentioned then that I was having problems with my eyes tearing and itching and not draining properly due to the cancer surgeon having to remove one of my tear ducts, or multiple tear ducts, I’m not sure, and there was some hearing loss due …
I got this t-shirt at a PFLAG conference in Columbus, Ohio twenty-two years ago, Sept. 27, 2002. I didn’t remember the date but I know it because it’s printed on the shirt. Heading to the airport to fly to Columbus for the event, I pulled over to rest a moment. “What’s wrong?” Gabi asked. “It’s …
We’re closing in on a year now since I had cancer surgery. It was January 24. Then there were two plastic surgeries to reconstruct my nose with Dr. Sampson Lee, a cool guy with a well-deserved reputation for being one of the best. In a follow-up appointment, I told him that my eyes were burning, …
I’m sitting in the “Fish Room” at Radiant Care in Lacey waiting for a nurse to appear and call out, “Alec” or more likely”John.” There seem to be somewhere between six and a dozen nurses, and I haven’t learned any of their names. They know mine because it’s written down as John with a note …
I guess I live my life out loud, meaning I share personal information that many other people would not. Like these jottings about my bout with cancer. Shortly after my first surgery to remove the tumor, I told my friend Nikki—who has breast cancer and also lives her life out loud, who has shared on …
Yesterday was a momentous day in many ways. For starters, it was a big day because it marked a milestone in my treatment—my last visit with my plastic surgeon until June 28. He removed the staples from the top of my head and checked everything and said it all looked good — that I no …