The Oncologist, Part 2

It’s Sunday, June 15, 2008 – Father’s Day.

Last Monday morning, before my appointment with the oncologist, I made this image of what I believe to be a smokers’ break area behind a local “customer care center.”

So there was this thing that occurred as my wife and I spoke about taking care of myself with the oncologist, Dr. “O.” I want to get it right as a story, so bear with me.

At the outset, I must say my wife is being very kind about my being on a very low fat diet. We are meat-eaters, me more than she, but because I do much of the cooking, meat is on the table a lot. I am a bit surprised how easily I have taken to eating my new, nearly meatless diet. My wife dog-ears recipes that she has found. We’ve been together long enough to know flavors that we both like. I’ve been cutting lots of veggies. My back has been getting sore from standing over the kitchen sink.

We have had this question about what my new diet should be, as it has been made very clear that a large steak dinner is a very bad idea if I only have one kidney. So my wife asks Dr. “O” about what our new diet should be, “Are there things that Dean should be eating to be healthier?”

He says, I believe knowing that I do not smoke, “The damage done by smoking one cigarette is way more than the amount ‘good’ you can get out of some magic juice or herbal cancer preventive.”

And, I remembered this picture I had made earlier, on the morning of the appointment.

That’s the story. Dr. “O” went on with a tale of a patient that pulled out a bottle of juice that was going to keep him (her) healthy. His idea is that my diet should be sensible. Keeping in mind that this was from an oncologist’s point of view, what Dr. “O” said is that months of good antioxidants are not going to offset the damage done by one trip off the map.

So I need to be good, always – not great most of the time and rotten once in a while.

Yesterday, when I was supposed to post this tale, I slept late. For the first time, I went to the mall to walk – 5 laps at Paradise Valley Mall are 3 miles, I think. Afterwards, I ran an errand and did the grocery shopping, and then my daughter’s dance recital was in the evening. She danced beautifully.

I walked 3 1/4 miles this morning in the heat. While walking, I had this idea that my body is infrastructure. This is probably so obvious as to not warrant words, but this is the picture I made.