willed to live

a little update on my friend...many many sincere thanks again for all the prayers and goodwill sent....it brightens many days i've had...
:)
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dear eddie

I'm back in Wellington now, after having left Jul reluctantly. His surgical wounds are continuing to heal really well. He's discovered that he can swallow apples, sushi and banana successfully, without diarrhoea, so now he's got a chance of building up his strength by eating more solidly. His spirits are pretty good. The arrival of the family on Sunday was good for him. His mother showed warmth and concern without fussing too much, and his father also showed warmth and concern, to the point of almost embracing me! Julian noticed the near-embrace and was impressed. Cecilia, needless to say, was totally on the ball.

Thoughts about the next five years cloud my mind, too, like you. They cloud me more than ever, to be honest. Really, it may only be a matter of one year. We need to be hopeful, but ready for everything. A lot will depend, I think, on what the surgeon and oncologist tell him when they meet him on 24 June and give him the results of the post-surgical biopsy. My fear is that they'll have found cancer in the lymph node.
www.healing.bc.ca/healing_pyramid.shtml

J and I talked a lot about the pros and cons of him coming back to Wellington for the chemotherapy. No decision yet. He's going to go into his workplace later in the week to talk to them about the possibility of doing at least a few hours, and with luck more, while waiting for chemo. His voice is still a throaty rasp.

Enjoy Japan!!

S

the naked north

we flew into hakodate on an enormous 747 ANA jet unabashly coated with blobs and turds of pokemon fluff. amazed that they deployed a jet of this size for a mere 1 hour 20min flight from narita. thank God the stewardess did not serve us dressed as one of the creatures shown on tv! they are delicate maidens...with million-dollar complexions... am off to hokkaido... a `japan-hour` fantasty come true...nothing but sashimi, onsen, summer fields and the promise of warm chill for the entire week. driving north... this other north island and none are armed with japanese. our first hour in japan made a permanent impression on us...an awefully firm conviction that we have arrived on an exceedingly polite society...where you receive bows on mostlanes and shop entrances... and the entire transportation network is structured on clockwork. even a one minute bus delay is almost unheard of. here, attention to self is frowned upon as strollers, hawkers, top-notch businesswomen and men alike find means and ways to help you to the hilt, with 0.1 command of the english language....i have yet to see anyone using a mobile phone on the streets...no one engages sms in public...it seems that civility is a national past-time here, deeply embedded in all.the route is rough and we have plenty of time on our hands...minimal shopping but plenty of exploratory drives and maximum reliance on earnest smiles, collins guide on japanese language and culture and an above-average EQ, i hope! it is a strange and unthreatening sense to be stranded here. so darn lost yet so assured to sense home in the warm manner and perplexed looks that meet us each time we pose a question of our whereabouts in this spankingly clean land of zero litter and quietly efficient recycling city...i have this simple faith that somehow, someone will come by and lead us to where we need to go.