My condition is rare, possibly only one in a million people. It has been seen often enough to be characterized, but only by specialists. In the operating room, the team quickly classified the disease as appendiceal cancer, and gave it a low-grade. Grading tumors generally refers to morphology (how they look compared to normal cells) and may not be indicative of how aggressive the cancer is growing. A number of specimens were taken and forwarded to Johns Hopkins. I continued…
Cherry blossoms are symbolic in the lives of Japanese samurai. Samurai had a strict moral code to honor life – and death. They had a duty to simultaneously realize the inevitability of death and to release any fear of it. I realized I had to face this fear when I slowly woke up from my surgery on January 27, 2020. Besides from a whole lot of blur I remember two things – the first was a mans voice saying, “Here…
Eating frogs is a rather unusual activity for most people – and dogs – at least in my part of the world. My parents dog saw an opportunity for a quick snack when a frog jumped by her one day. Without much hesitation she decided to dive in. Frothing at the mouth, she regretted it instantly and never ate frog again. Contrary to her experience, the only frog I ate was well prepared and basted with a reasonably good sauce….