Absent realities
Dear friends,
First and foremost, my apologies to all of you. I’ve been absent most of this year, for reasons I’ll share in a minute. I hope
the rest of this year will be better. The rebuild promised in my last post has not happened, nor have I managed a single update since January. The rebuild is on indefinite hold. The rest…we’ll see.
This has been a difficult 18 months for me…
As some of you know, one of my closest friends was diagnosed in April of 2016 with a brain tumor. Shortly after my last post, he had the first of four strokes/seizures that necessitated lengthy hospital stays in Boston followed by lengthy rehab stints more locally. In late April, he entered Hospice. He died July 1. I served as one of the pall bearers at his funeral.
An absent recovery
In early June, I had a biopsy done on a small red spot on my nose. The biopsy came back positive for basal cell skin cancer. That type of cancer is more annoying than dangerous, but the cancer needed to be removed. I had that surgery on August 8. Both the surgery and the recovery were supposed to be easy. They weren’t.
He died July 1.
Unfortunately, that small spot turned out to be the tip of a very large iceberg that extended across the right side of my nose and into the area just below the bone of my right cheek to a point about mid-way across my eye. It took four tries to get a clean margin and the wound required over 100 stitches to close. Those of you who follow my Facebook posts have seen the extent of the damage. The picture accompanying this post will bring the rest of you up-to-date.
Absent from training
My recovery time was—pre-surgery—measured in days. Yesterday marked five weeks since the surgery and I am still weak as the proverbial kitten, for all that the wound looks nearly healed. They tell me, given how extensive the surgery turned out to be, that I am doing very well and am somewhat ahead of schedule.
…the wound required over 100 stitches to close.
In a little more than a week, I am scheduled to walk in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk for the seventh time. I have no idea where I will be starting from, beyond that it won’t be in Hopkinton (26.2 miles). I’m hoping to start in Wellesley (13.1 miles), but even that has begun to look like a stretch. I do plan to be at the finish to greet as many of our team and group walkers as possible as they complete their walks.
Absent, but moving
Our fundraising efforts are making a substantial difference in creating the money for NET cancer research. We’ve helped persuade the powers that be at DFCI to make a greater investment in that research in the form of a new lab whose main focus is NET. And we are one of the cornerstones that created “3-in-3: The Campaign to Cure NET Cancer” whose aim is to raise $3 million in three years for NET research. You can learn more about that campaign at 3in3.org.
…even that has begun to look like a stretch.
In the months ahead, I hope to get back to doing the things that this site was designed to do. I have a piece that has waited months for me to edit on PRRT written by a patient that I hope to post relatively soon.
Absent friends
This has been a difficult 18 months for me on multiple levels. My friend’s slow decline and death took me back to Jane’s last days. My personal surgery has underlined that my own time is more limited than I would like. But it has also served to remind me that we all make a difference in the lives of others every day. It is up to each of us to make sure that difference is a positive one.
Pax et lux,
Harry Proudfoot
Oh, Harry! I have been wondering where you went. I’m so sorry to hear that the past 18 months have been so difficult for you! Please make taking care of yourself your first priority during these days of healing.
Life does get complicated now and again. Not sure how quickly this–or anything else–will get fully back to normal, but I’m hopeful.
Glad to hear you’re OK Harry. Get better soon
Thanks, Ronny.