Dear friends, family, fellow travelers,
It felt like January flew by this year; by contrast February feels like it has stretched out into this strange liminal space sitting between winter and spring. Our daily temperatures here in Boston have been oscillating wildly between either well below freezing or springy weather in the fifties. Today it is in the twenties and I'm definitely enjoying my endless cups of warm tea (thanks to my brother Brian's Christmas gift of a tzuni self-heating mug! Luxury, 2022-style.
Image: Hanna entering the Arnold Arboretum on one of our snowy morning walks.
Living with cancer continues to be ... living with cancer. I am still on a bi-weekly chemotherapy regimen, though scaled back a great deal from the initial six months of treatment. I still go in every-other Tuesday for an infusion, followed by a deaccession appointment on those Thursdays, which makes the rhythms our lives still feel very governed by "hospital time." Most of the background hum of side effects from the chemotherapy drugs has waned now that I am only getting leucovorin and 5-FU (fluorouracil); the most frustrating persistent symptom right now is the neuropathy in my hands and feet. The numbness seems to be waning over all (yay!) but I tend to get flair-ups of pain following my infusion days, where I have 36-72 hours where my hands and feet feel like I have a bad sunburn. The oncology team has prescribed gabapentin for this and we're hoping that will be effective pain relief during the next cycle. It's a lot of trial and error!
Image: My "Fifth Element"-inspired vaccination card holder sitting on a local coffee shop table.
The pandemic continues to be a backdrop for my cancer experience, since I have some level of immunocompromise due to treatment and am therefore in a high risk category for Covid-19 infection even after being fully vaccinated and boosted. Thankfuly in our immediate context the Boston city government and the vast majority of Boston residents have taken Covid mitigation seriously, which means that in addition to wearing my own n95 mask, etc., I also benefit from indoor masking mandates, increasing vaccination rates, periods of vaccine mandates for certain indoor contexts (such as coffee shops), and general courtesy around Covid etiquette. But that doesn't end the evolving risk assessments necessary as I think about things like out-of-state travel (not yet) and return to onsite work (probably more possible as Omicron wanes). This past week an article on navigating Covid-19 while living with cancer, for which I was interviewed, came out at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center website: "Cancer, COVID-19, and proceeding with caution." If you are interested in the bigger picture.
Image: Knitting project in progress with pink/purple/yellow/green varigated yarn. Pattern.
My "reward" for chemo recently has been ordering yarn at the end of each cycle, which means lovely splashes of color in the midst of winter monotones. Yesterday, I got my first two skeins of yarn from Wild Atlantic Yarns and am looking forward to some bulky weight yarn from Passion Knits. The shawl pictured above uses yarn from Songbird Fibres and Cape May Fiber; I also have a couple of hat projects in mind using Wonderland Yarns.
Image: Composite of yarn skeins from Wonderland Yarns and two hat project patterns. Niefling hat pattern (Ravelry). Columbia River hat pattern.
I've been in a nonfiction mode recently which means I've been listening to a lot of podcasts. Here are a few I found particularly interesting and worth passing on:
It felt like January flew by this year; by contrast February feels like it has stretched out into this strange liminal space sitting between winter and spring. Our daily temperatures here in Boston have been oscillating wildly between either well below freezing or springy weather in the fifties. Today it is in the twenties and I'm definitely enjoying my endless cups of warm tea (thanks to my brother Brian's Christmas gift of a tzuni self-heating mug! Luxury, 2022-style.
Image: Hanna entering the Arnold Arboretum on one of our snowy morning walks.
Living with cancer continues to be ... living with cancer. I am still on a bi-weekly chemotherapy regimen, though scaled back a great deal from the initial six months of treatment. I still go in every-other Tuesday for an infusion, followed by a deaccession appointment on those Thursdays, which makes the rhythms our lives still feel very governed by "hospital time." Most of the background hum of side effects from the chemotherapy drugs has waned now that I am only getting leucovorin and 5-FU (fluorouracil); the most frustrating persistent symptom right now is the neuropathy in my hands and feet. The numbness seems to be waning over all (yay!) but I tend to get flair-ups of pain following my infusion days, where I have 36-72 hours where my hands and feet feel like I have a bad sunburn. The oncology team has prescribed gabapentin for this and we're hoping that will be effective pain relief during the next cycle. It's a lot of trial and error!
Image: My "Fifth Element"-inspired vaccination card holder sitting on a local coffee shop table.
The pandemic continues to be a backdrop for my cancer experience, since I have some level of immunocompromise due to treatment and am therefore in a high risk category for Covid-19 infection even after being fully vaccinated and boosted. Thankfuly in our immediate context the Boston city government and the vast majority of Boston residents have taken Covid mitigation seriously, which means that in addition to wearing my own n95 mask, etc., I also benefit from indoor masking mandates, increasing vaccination rates, periods of vaccine mandates for certain indoor contexts (such as coffee shops), and general courtesy around Covid etiquette. But that doesn't end the evolving risk assessments necessary as I think about things like out-of-state travel (not yet) and return to onsite work (probably more possible as Omicron wanes). This past week an article on navigating Covid-19 while living with cancer, for which I was interviewed, came out at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center website: "Cancer, COVID-19, and proceeding with caution." If you are interested in the bigger picture.
Image: Knitting project in progress with pink/purple/yellow/green varigated yarn. Pattern.
My "reward" for chemo recently has been ordering yarn at the end of each cycle, which means lovely splashes of color in the midst of winter monotones. Yesterday, I got my first two skeins of yarn from Wild Atlantic Yarns and am looking forward to some bulky weight yarn from Passion Knits. The shawl pictured above uses yarn from Songbird Fibres and Cape May Fiber; I also have a couple of hat projects in mind using Wonderland Yarns.
Image: Composite of yarn skeins from Wonderland Yarns and two hat project patterns. Niefling hat pattern (Ravelry). Columbia River hat pattern.
I've been in a nonfiction mode recently which means I've been listening to a lot of podcasts. Here are a few I found particularly interesting and worth passing on:
- Know Your Enemy - "Joan Didion, Conservative"
- The Feminist Present - "Moira Donegan on The Feminine Mystique"
- Ezra Klein Show - "Relationships Are Hard. This Unusual Parenting Theory Can Help"
- Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick - "Politics Masquarading As Law"
- Conspirituality - "The Convoy is an Occupation"
- Ed Yong, "The Millions of People Stuck in Pandemic Limbo" (The Atlantic)
- John F. Harris, "What AOC Learned From Trump" (Politico)
- Andrea Grimes, "When 'Cancel Culture' Means Letting Go" (Dame)
- Christopher Curtis, "Freedom Convoy: New Age Healers and Right Wing Militants Come Together in Ottawa" (The Rover)
- Sarah Marshall, "Remote Control: Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, and the Spectacles of Female Power and Pain" (The Believer) - older, but a timely read as Olympics figure skating is back in the news.
Image: HELLO from Teazle.
Take care of yourselves and one another,
Anna