"It's only a flesh wound"

   This blog has been with me through some difficult times — none lesser than a life and death struggle with multiple myeloma and the ensuing recovery period.
   Even before the word "cancer" fell out of my oncologist's mouth on May 5, 2010, I hadn't been feeling all that well for some time but couldn't put my finger on just what "it" was.

Cancer Council, Victoria, Australia

   Then in February of 2010, as I was pulling myself back up from crouching to help my daughter, I thought, "Holy Shiite, I feel like I'm 75!" So I found a doctor and the rest just sort of evolved from there: do what the doctors say, don't lift anything heavy and we'll see what happens.
   I gotta say (maybe sheepishly) that I could not discern the actual cancer itself, but I was simply saddled with this feeling of general lousiness for more that a year, the biggest battle being that of short term memory and fatigue.
   Chemotherapy will do that, apparently.
   But now the recovery is beginning to resemble stumbling out of the woods, gazing at the warm, welcoming vistas, but still tripping from time to time on old stumps and tall grasses. And the fatigue still sits on my shoulder, ready to yank me down every three days for a few hours at least.
  Partially why I am scribbling this now is to offer thanks to my fan base for sticking with me through some of the more tortured entries [this may be one of them], but I've been thinking lately, is the blog process an exercise or an exorcise, or both?
   Certainly pecking away at the keyboard has sharpened a phew of my "skills." And being allowed a bit of a leash [since it is the internet, after all] has freed me to unburden some of my fears and conspiratorial concerns {some silly, some sincere}.
   So I guess it's both.
   In either case, I'm so fortunate to be here — in this universe, on this planet, in this country, near this city, with my family, at this time.
   I'm looking forward to brighter, more productive days and encourage any of you who may be afflicted: just push through it, cancer is not the killer it used to be, don't give up hope.
* Title stolen from "Monty Python and The Holy Grail"