2017 Life Logs, Day 290: Great News from Nyack
Date: Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny and Cool; High 58, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
The highlight of my day was a text from Ed and Lynne Kirwin in Nyack, New York. If you have read this log over time, you know that Mark and I sailed across the Indian Ocean on Windbird with Ed and Lynne on their boat Constance. We didn’t know one another until then, but we spent six weeks in India together, two months in the Chagos, and four months in Madagascar. This gave us the chance to become very close friends. And again, if you have read this log over time, you are probably aware that Ed was diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2015 and was given only months to live. But today he was given another two months off chemo because the scans show that his body is holding its own for now. He has spent the past two months chemo-free and now he has the gift of another two months without having to deal with the terrible side effects of chemotherapy. After beginning the chemotherapy treatments in 2015, Ed had so many side effects that he it was difficult, if not impossible, for him to walk for any distance. He and Lynne researched and got linked up with the Pine Street Clinic near San Francisco. The Clinic works with Ed’s oncologist at Sloan-Kettering in New York City to provide appropriate supplements to his chemo treatment. The Pine Street Clinic provides the right mix of Chinese herbs along with high doses of Vitamin D and other vitamins. And Ed and Lynne’s research led them to change their diet. Ed eats almost no sugar, including natural sources of sugar in fruits and limits carbohydrates to a minimum. He starts every day, and I mean every day, with a green smoothie that includes kale, celery, cucumber, parsley, some nuts, and an apple to sweeten it up. The apple is his one exception to the no sugar rule. He eats organic and Lynne ferments cabbage that they include with other fermented vegetables with lunch every day to keep the gut working properly. The results have been miraculous. Ed knows he is buying time, but he has been playing golf four days a week and spending quality time with his sons and grandchildren. Ed and Lynne, congratulations! I know how much time you spend buying and preparing the ‘just right’ food, but I’m sure the news today makes it all worth it.
I spent my day getting packages ready to send to Puerto Rico and taking them to the Post Office. Then I picked Ollie and Jonah up from school and spent the afternoon and evening with them. Heather was in Boston and Jed and Sam had soccer practice. I worked with Jonah helping him with a book report that is due on Friday, fixed dinner, and then spent some time with Ollie after dinner while Jed helped Jonah finish up that book report. When I picked Jonah and Ollie up from school, they were both in such a good mood. They are both really enjoying school this year. Sam rides the bus home from his school and goes to his room to read and work on homework, so I don’t get to see his happy face coming out of school. But he seems to be enjoying his year as well. Happy boys make for a happy Oma!
