Month: September 2008

  • PITY THE NATION (After Khalil
    Gibran    )

      Pity the nation whose people are
    sheep,
      and whose shepherds mislead them.
      Pity the
    nation whose leaders are liars,
      whose sages are
    silenced,
      and whose bigots haunt the
    airwaves.
      Pity the nation that raises not its
    voice,
      except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as
    hero
      and aims to rule the world with force and by
    torture.
      Pity the nation that knows no other language but its
    own
      and no other culture but its own.
      Pity the
    nation whose breath is money
      and sleeps the sleep of the too well
    fed.
      Pity the nation--oh, pity the people who allow their rights
    to erode
      and their freedoms to be washed away.
      My
    country, tears of thee, sweet land of
    liberty.

                    --
    Lawrence Ferlinghetti

  • more

    my aunt definitely has leukemia.  so now we wait to find out what the genetics will say, as far as prognosis and what forms of treatment are available.  most treatments are forms of chemotherapy, although there is at least one monoclonal antibody, and bone marrow transplant, if we are lucky.  strange, to be talking about luck in the context of cancer.

    i am not ready for my aunt to die, in a selfish way.  i will support her in whatever decision she makes, but i remember that my mom never got the option of the transplant, so i hope that my aunt does reach that point.  i also wish that life was easier for her financially, but we play with the cards that we are dealt . . .

    tomorrow i also find out what the custody evaluator says about physical and legal custody of my daughter.  so stay tuned, or not . . .

  • friday

    not so good today . . . my aunt called and told me that her cbc (complete blood count) was abnormal, with at least two out of three cell lines not normal . . . this news should be taken in the context of my mom passing away six years ago from leukemia, and my aunt's cbc doesn't smell good . . . but i don't know what is high, and what is low . . . if all three lines are low, it still could be leukemia, or aplastic anemia . . . trying not to think about it, but she gets a bone marrow biopsy on sunday, which should give a diagnosis, especially after flow cytometry, if things are headed in that direction.

    also, my daughter's special ed teacher, who is great, announced in a letter today that she is going out on medical leave (maternity), and hasn't found a replacement.  hopefully, this won't affect the custody hearing in a couple of weeks.

    so things are a bit tense right now, but trying to work them out.

  • stuff

    another really long time between posts . . . much going on . . . i moved across the island, now in honolulu, closer to work, but no more riding across the pali to work, much hotter, ducks and football practice across the stream (no practice for me, there is a high school where football is in season, and ducks swim in the stream between the house and the high school) . . . high school students party on saturday nights on the field, so the dogs are loud.

    plenty busy at work, trying to get out the first issue of the hawaii journal of public health, and get our disparities conference and plan off the ground.  the governor has decided that she will micromanage even more than usual, which is rendering our efforts to improve health much more difficult.  more later.