A New Side Effect

I woke up yesterday morning and looked in the mirror. This is the image that I saw. Needless to say, I was a little freaked out. The whites of my eyes were all red on my right eye. This is apparently called a subconjunctival hemmorage, which essentially means bleeding in the eye. It looks worse than it actually is and does not hurt. There is also nothing to be done about it, but wait. If you look at my picture, you can also see how puffy my eye is.

My major concern, however, was that I needed to see patients today. Eye contact is an important piece of therapy. However, scaring the patients, is not usually indicated. I bought a pair of sun glasses that allows the patients to see my eye, while covering the redness. So far, my first couple of patients cancelled. I wonder if they had a heads up about what to expect.

O' Canada

We just returned from a trip to Canada (Niagara Falls and Ontario) where we met our friends the Segalls. We had a wonderful time, not only touring and sightseeing, but also catching up with old friends. One of the highlights of the trip was that we were able to go to Sambo's Island on the Georgian Bay. This is a private island that has been in Caryn Segall's family for many generations. It was like a trip back in time to camp. No television or phone, but there was a beautiful swimming and boating area. We had a blast and felt completely disconnected from the rest of the world. It was a great feeling.

There has been a lot of catching recently. Today, we returned from a trip to the old camp where I used to work, Camp Tevya. I had not been back there since about 1992. It looked exactly the same. The difference was that we were looking to possibly send our daughter for next summer. It brought back a lot of good memories.

The other activity which has consumed a lot of time recently has been Facebook. This has become a bit addictive because I have been able to reconnect with so many people. A friend who I had not seen since 3rd grade contacted me.

While Facebook is a wonderful social networking tool, it does present an interesting dilemma. Most people I am connecting with do not know about my diagnosis. It is a bit awkward to bring this up, but seems important as well. I kind of feel bad, like I am dropping a bomb out of nowhere. I am a little more relieved when someone has heard about me already. I think the blog is helpful since I don't have to retell the whole story. What I realize is that there is no easy or tactful way to tell someone you have been diagnosed with leukemia. It is a real conversation stopper. Regardless, I love hearing from old friends and look forward to many reconnections.