Articles from The Journal of a Prizefighter

day +97
2007-11-26 20:00:00
First, I'd like to thank everyone again for their heartfelt, compassionate kindness in the wake of my grandmother's death. All of your thoughtful comments have meant a great deal. The viewing is planned for Thursday followed by the funeral service and burial on Friday. I plan to attend only the private family viewing of the body, so that I won't be exposed to so many people at the both the public viewing and funeral. In light of the occasion, I still must be careful.This morning Clare accompanied me to my scheduled appointment with Dr. Castro-Malaspina. My blood counts were just fine and there's still no evidence of either EBV or the Adenovirus. Everything continues to look very good as I approach day +100. With regards to the abdominal pressure, both Drs. Castro-Malaspina and Mayer don't believe it's anything that warrants concern. They said that my recent scans were clean and that it's very unlikely that the cancer returned in such a short period, but they acknowledged ...

new hodgkin's blog added
2007-11-26 19:30:00
Lord of the Hodge ...

in the news
2007-11-26 19:22:00
Below are some of the news stories that I read recently.Killing of Chicago Student Unsettles Campus Life I first learned about this via a mass e-mail to the university community and then, subsequently I read a few local Chicago news articles about it. I was aghast with shock and deep sadness about the senseless, barbaric murder of Amadou Cisse, a Ph.D candidate at The University of Chicago. He was preparing to receive his doctorate in chemistry on December 7th before this tragic event took place. It's just so, so difficult when one sees someone, such as Amadou Cisse, who had so much potential and promise killed for no reason other than the fact that some wacko wanted him dead. News like this is so depressing. I just feel for his family in Senegal as well as his friends and colleagues and more collectively, sadness about the darker parts of our society and our species.Taking Science on Faith Paul Davies rocks! I read his cerebral book, Are We Alone? several weeks ago.DNA Tests ...

day +94
2007-11-23 18:50:00
This afternoon I learned that my grandmother - my only surviving grandparent and my father's mother - died. Recently, the stomach cancer for which she was treated successfully back in 2005 returned and we were in the process of exploring her treatment options. So, her sudden death came as a surprise to us all today despite the deterioration in her health. She would have been 88 years old on December 23rd.But before I learned about this, I was out-and-about taking photos. I visited three bridges this morning: the Macombs Dam Bridge, University Heights Bridge, and the Henry Hudson Bridge.At the time that I took these photos of the Macombs Dam Bridge, clouds blanketed most of the sky. I realized that because this bridge is painted a shade similar to cream, a cloudy sky distracts attention from the bridge. Clear skies are definitely better with regards to highlighting the features of this bridge.I found a new but tiny park (if one could honestly call it that; it's more like a 15 f ...

on a day of thanksgiving
2007-11-22 19:16:00
Giving back at St. Jude’s Children's HospitalSt. Jude gave this family hope9-year-old chooses amputation ...

day +92
2007-11-21 15:00:00
Yesterday afternoon I called the Department of Transportation about my interest in obtaining a pass or permit and I was told that it wasn't necessary for photographing the Harlem River bridges.I rode the stationary bicycle for 40 minutes this morning before heading to Dr. Robert's office for my weekly psych session.For about the past two days, I've felt this strange pressure around the area of my stomach and lower left rib cage. Otherwise I feel just fine. No fatigue or nausea or loss of appetite. I haven't felt the previous pressure around my mediastinum for several days now, but this new pressure concerns me a bit. It could be anything. I have no clue. Maybe it's tension or perhaps GVHD. But I do worry that it's the cancer coming back. Honestly, I'm a bit scared. Of course, my concern is premature but after having dealt with this disease for four years my suspicion and concern is quite natural. I will call Dr. Castro-Malaspina's office on Friday, but I'm not sure if ...

in the news
2007-11-21 14:00:00
Here's a long list of some the news stories that I've checked out during the past few days:Stem Cell Discovery Hailed as MilestoneIn U.S. Name Count, Garcias Are Catching Up with JonesesBonds and Rose, Baseball's Modern VillainsForty Acres and a Gap in WealthBlacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle-ClassReading Tea Leaves and Campaign LogosEdward Hopper and the Rising Tide of WarBaghdad's Weary Start to Exhale as Security ImprovesFollowing Up: "Persistent Conflict"In Memoriam: Amadou Cisse, 1978-2007Decline of the Tenure Track Raises ConcernsJapan's Kaguya spacecraft, which was launched into space two months ago, took this image of the Earth as it orbited our lunar satellite.This is reminiscent of the famous Earthrise captured by the crew of Apollo 8 in 1968.A Hazy Future for a 'Jewel' of Space InstrumentsSouth Korea Eyes Moon Orbiter in 2020, Landing 2025'Terra' Paints Portrait of Earth Ecosystems in PerilNobody Home: Earth Without Man Would RecoverFossil of Worl ...

cancer news
2007-11-21 13:56:00
The U.S. Postal Service offers 41 cent stamps with the logos of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Team in Training, and Light the Night Walk. Check them out here. ...
Cancer

day +90
2007-11-19 18:49:00
Yesterday evening I e-mailed the New York City Department of Transportation inquiring about my interest in applying for a pass or permit that gives me clearance to photograph the Harlem River bridges. Following my experience on the GWB last week, I thought it would be really helpful if I had some kind of authorization. I imagine artists, photographers, and film makers do this all the time. In the text of the message, I also mentioned my interest in possibly publishing my work. So, we'll see what they say.I also finished watching the third season of 24. Man, I can't get enough of Jack Bauer! Looking forward for Netflix to send me the beginning of the fourth season. Today at Sloan I received my monthly treatment of Aerosolized Pentamidine and IVIG. It went well. No blood was drawn and I didn't see Dr. Castro-Malaspina. I'll see him next week.Finally, this afternoon I saw this new political ad for Mike Huckabee. Though I'm not voting for Mike Huckabee, I found this ad to ...

day +88
2007-11-17 20:00:00
This morning, I woke up again before dawn to pay a visit to my neighbor, the Harlem River. (And yes, Venus was there up above shining brightly yet again.) This time I went to photograph the 145th Street Bridge from the Manhattan side in the twilight morning. Below is the first photograph I snapped. It's unedited.I really like the effect of the morning twilight on the water, but unfortunately I wasn't able to stabilize the image very well so the bridge isn't very sharp. If the image of the bridge had been clearer and closer, I think this would have been my best one today. Another problem was timing. I needed to have been at the pedestrian walkway a few minutes earlier, because by the time I arrived there I had only a few brief moments with the twilight. Moreover, I failed to take full advantage of the "Switch Assist" option during that time and then, before I knew it twilight had passed, replaced by the faint yellow and orange hues of the encroaching dawn sky.From the pedestr ...

day +87
2007-11-16 15:09:00
This morning at 5:30 I woke up (as planned) in order to take photographs of the Macombs Dam Bridge from the Manhattan side in the morning twilight. Up until this point, all my photographs of the Harlem River bridges have been during the daytime and so, recently I've been a bit eager to experiment with different lighting. Since the Macombs Dam Bridge is only about a 20 minute walk away, I knew that I could get there easily before the expected sunrise at 6:43.Overhead, as I made my way towards the bridge, our sister planet, Venus, was clearly visible in the twilight sky. It was quite a thrill seeing "The Evening/Morning Star" shine so brightly above.I don't have a wide-angle lense for my digital camera, but the camera does have a very cool feature called "Switch Assist" that allows one to shoot overlapping images that can later be merged to create one panoramic image on the computer. I just figured this out last night when I reviewed the camera's manual. Here's the result.I snap ...

in the news
2007-11-16 14:58:00
Coming of Age in Vivaldi's Shadow I had no idea that the great Vivaldi was a priest. To me, this WNYC report was eye-opening about this musical genius's very interesting life.Yankees May Pay Rodriguez for Home Run Record Yes, I am big Yankee fan but the reported $300 million salary for A-Rod is just absurd. What does this say about A-Rod when he wants so much money? It's just crazy, but the reality is that's how A-Rod and the Yankees like to do business and it will be we - the fans - who will suffer with higher, more unreasonable ticket prices. Such a monstrous contract isn't good for Yankee fans alone but moreover, for the game of baseball as a whole.Bonds Charges Deepen Baseball's ShameExercise Advice Often Ignores the Jiggle Factor Quite interesting!Candidates in a Box Pretty witty!Challenges to Both Left and Right on Global WarmingAfter a Death, Use of Taser in Canada Is Debated ...

cancer news
2007-11-16 14:44:00
CancerCare has a number of upcoming telephone education workshops on blood cancers for patients and their families .Update on Lymphoma Treatment from the 2007 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting - December 18, 2007Marrow or Cord Blood Transplant as a Treatment Option - January 16, 2008Update on Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) from the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting - January 30, 2008And on December 6th, CNN Heroes will honor the most outstanding viewer-nominated CNN Heroes in a live global broadcast. One of the nominees is Pat Pedraja, a 12-year-old leukemia survivor who has made it his mission to get as many people, especially minorities, as possible on the NMDP registry. In just three months, he helped sign up more than 5,000 people to the registry. Amazing, isn't it? After learning about his remarkable undertaking on CNN on the morning of my discharge from Sloan, I blogged about it which you can read here.With no disrespect to the other n ...
Cancer

day +85
2007-11-14 20:49:00
After my weekly session with Dr. Roberts late this morning, I took a yellow cab uptown via the Harlem River Drive to W. 171st Street and Amsterdam Avenue where the High Bridge Water Tower is located. Though the park grounds surrounding this city landmark are open to the public, the Tower itself was closed. It's open for special events only and the next such event will take place on Sunday, November 25th. Despite the Tower's closure, I took a lot of photographs of the Tower itself, the park grounds, and the views offered from the site's elevated position above the Harlem River. Unfortunately, today wasn't a good day for outdoor photography as a thick, gray overcast persisted throughout the afternoon. In light of the cloudy skies, I was able to identify the the Macombs Dam Bridge, Alexander Hamilton Bridge, and even the more distant University Heights Bridge.View of the High Bridge and the BronxView of the Macombs Dam Bridge (foreground) and the 145th Street Bridge (background) ...

yue minjun
2007-11-13 11:09:00
I was very pleased to read An Artist's Famous Smile: What Lies Behind It? this morning, because I wasn't aware that the notable contemporary Chinese artist, Yue Minjun, has a number of his famous smiling self-portrait paintings and sculptures on exhibit at the Queens Museum of Art until January 6th.Some time last year, I first learned about his work when I watched one of the travel programs on cable that I catch from time to time. It so happened that this particular episode focused on China and the host of the program visited Yue Minjun's studio, where the artist talked a bit about his work and how it's reflective of certain aspects of Chinese society and culture. Naturally upon first observation, I was grabbed immediately by the humor of his works' exaggerated smiling faces not fully aware that some of them symbolized something that was more worrisome, more Janus-like. And then, later that year at Sotheby's I had the opportunity to see a few of his works that were being auctio ...

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