Lately, I feel like the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz — I’m all skin and bones now, and can’t gain weight no matter how much I eat (hovering on either side of 160, but the trend is downward). And last week, we learned that my brain has a few problems. Twelve of them, to be exact.

Last Monday, I had a ‘high-res’ MRI of my head, which takes longer than a normal MRI and involves doubling the contrast juice they inject. Unfortunately, it revealed seven more small lesions in addition to the five they found on the ‘normal’ MRI. With five small spots, I was a candidate for the less-invasive Cyberknife procedure. Twelve tumors is too many for that route; hence, a regimen of whole brain radiation (WBR) is necessary.

Intellectually, I understand that this must be done — the tumors are time-bombs which could trigger strokes, seizures, vision loss, speech impediment, and who knows what else. Emotionally, I am not exactly thrilled by this turn of events, but will do what it takes: ten consecutive weekdays of radiation, beginning on Tuesday (I do get weekends off). We will be doing this treatment at the Kaiser facility in South San Francisco under the wise direction of Dr. William Wara, a 40-year veteran (Professor Emeritus at UCSF) of this stuff and a really nice person. He tells us to expect the usual side effects: fatigue, hair loss, and some memory loss six to twelve months down the road (too bad you can’t select which memories to erase). He also says to stop referring to the treatment as a ‘lobotomy’.

The good news, I suppose, is that this is a one-time deal — the brain ‘mets’ (medical slang for metastases) apparently only need to be fried once, and if any lesions are somehow left after this cranial holocaust, they can Cyberknife them. I also will finally get to wear all the hats I have collected over the years, as I expect to be bald as a cue ball in about two weeks.

On the lung/liver front, I have an all-important CT scan scheduled for Thursday, and will meet Dr. Liu the following Tuesday to hear the verdict. I am coughing less, and less reliant on the oxygen machine, which are hopefully signs that the criz is doing its biz. It worked for 4.5 months the first time I used it, but no one is sure how long — or if — it will work the second time around. Lung cancer is ‘smart’, as opposed to some other cancers, and eventually figures out how to get around criz or anything else you throw at it.

On a more pleasant subject, we just enjoyed a five-day visit from Steve Rubey, my ‘big brother’ from Lopez, and his girlfriend Kathryn. Steve and I have known each other since the Blade Runner days, and we saw each other  frequently over the last two years as our yurt is in his meadow… Speaking of yurts, we just got back from a nice picnic with John and Jo Ann at the picnic tables next to the yurt at Slide Ranch, overlooking the ocean. It was shorts and t-shirt weather (be jealous, you East Coasters!) — a beautiful day to be alive.