Once More Unto The Breach
Tales of my second go-round with breast cancer before the age of 40, and everything since.
And the Winner Is . . .
There is an old medical aphorism that holds that if you hear hoofbeats, you should think horses, not zebras. In other words, when confronted with symptoms, the simplest explanation is usually the correct diagnosis. It’s now been three weeks since my joyful day in the ER, where the hoofbeats in question were some kind of [...]
This Time with Photo
I’ve discovered that the title of this post might have been a bit unclear. Hint: If I had planned things better, the post would have included three pictures. Does that help? Meanwhile, let me share Zach’s photo of my latest culinary experiment: Cauliflower and Kale Salad I had to leave out the garlic from the [...]
The Eagle Has Landed
When I was a young child, my parents co-founded a synagogue with four other couples in our town. My dad was an early president of the congregation, and we belonged to the temple until we moved back to New York about 15 years later. Forty years hence, that synagogue has grown to include almost 700 [...]
Ker-ching
Last Friday, Zach and I went to the fertility clinic we’re going to be using out here in order to undergo FDA-mandated screening for communicable diseases. (Not that there are any studies showing that such diseases, were we to have them, could be transmitted from an embryo to a gestational surrogate, but why quibble with [...]
And a Third
I hesitate to post this, since I fear that it will cause undue worry and possibly result in perfectly well intentioned yet amateur diagnoses (not to mention prescriptions), but here goes: I spent all of last Monday in the emergency room, for the first time in my life as the patient. I started having a [...]
And Another
So much ink has been spilled—well, it’s not ink anymore, is it? So many bits? bytes? have been published? posted? wasted? on the subject of being overwhelmed by technology that I can’t possibly add anything particularly helpful to the discussion. Let me just say that I am among the legions of people who are feeling [...]
One Reason I Haven’t Been Posting
A very close friend of mine recently received a really tough diagnosis, and it’s fair to say that she and it have been preoccupying my mind ever since. I’ve written before about what it’s like to be fearful and to feel helpless in circumstances like these, and re-reading those words has not made the experience [...]
This Will Not Be 3,000 Words Long
Unfortunately, I did not snap photos of my latest culinary creations, but here’s a brief recap: I’ve been a subscriber to Tasting Table for a few months now and really like their restaurant recommendations and their recipes (separate subscriptions). I finally tried their Crostini with Zucchini Pesto, mostly because I had planned to make a [...]
And Another One
The name Esalen didn’t mean much to me—it conjured vague notions of a retreat tucked away on the California coast, maybe someplace to study meditation or participate in a drum circle or explore mind-body connections. It turns out that it’s all of those things, and much more—the Esalen catalog is filled with hippie-dippy, earthy-crunchy, enlightened-human [...]
A Little Adventure
In researching our trip, I stumbled upon the website of Treebones Resort, an off-the-grid refuge in southern Big Sur. Treebones features ode-inspiring views of the ocean, but what drew me in was the fact that most guests stay in yurts. (The rest pitch their own tents, except for a brave and lucky pair who opt [...]
