uptown pics

A couple of recent photographs from my treks in the Bronx:

Broadway Bridge from Marble Hill, Bronx, New York City

Gould Memorial Library, Bronx Community College, New York City

Gould Memorial Library, Bronx Community College, New York City

to my donor

My nurse reached me this morning informing me that Dr. C-M said I no longer need to take Voriconazole anymore. Used as an antifungal medication, I've been taking this ever since the end of my allo in 2007. Voriconazole, however, interferes with the metabolism of Tacrolimus so actually its dosage will need to be increased slightly from 0.5 to 0.8 mg daily. Tomorrow I will pick up the new prescription.

On a different note, I forgot to mention that when I saw Dr. C-M last week, I dropped off a card for my anonymous donor:

March 24, 2011

Dearest donor, friend, brother,

Well over a year has passed since we last communicated. I hope this finds you and your family very well.

I think often about you, your generosity, selflessness, and bravery. A little over three years have passed since you saved my life in 2007. I remain cancer-free and am doing well. Last year, I started a new career as a middle school social studies teacher hoping to inspire the lives of others just as you inspire me. None of this would have been possible without you. Thank you.

I still would like to have the privilege of meeting you. I want to thank you personally for all that you have given back to my family, friends, and me. If you're interested, please do let me know.

Again, thank you for everything . . . for giving me a second chance at life.

Wishing you happiness always,

Your grateful recipient, friend, brother

a few more harlem river artists

Since my last post, I've found other notable early 20th century artists who captured life in the Harlem River Valley.

Henry Ward Ranger
High Bridge, 1905

Preston Dickinson
Harlem River Bridge, 1922

George Luks
Knitting for the Soldiers: High Bridge Park, 1918

Edwin H. Gunn
Highbridge, The Harlem River, c. 1907

bridging rivers and time

I've been taking advantage of this break to work on my photography. I was out last night photographing the High, Washington, and Alexander Hamilton Bridges from the pedestrian walkway in Manhattan which runs parallel to the the Harlem River Drive. It was cold and windy. It was my first time attempting these shots at night. Even though they didn't come out as I had hoped, I see the potential with more practice.

This morning I had planned to take shots of the High and Washington Bridges from the Bronx side of the river, but I went to bed too late last night and so, was in no mood to wake up before sunrise. I'll try again tomorrow.

Last year, I believe, a dear friend gave me a copy of London's Bridges: Crossing the Royal River knowing that I had developed this passion for spans. I admit that I've only browsed it thus far. Looking for something on which to focus my attention one evening last week, I picked it up from the bookshelf and began skimming the text. The book starts with a history of the Thames and how artists in the past have represented it. This reminded me of something. Like the Thames, the Harlem River has a history of painters and photographers who have ventured uptown to capture the waterway itself as well as the bridges that cross it. This artistic tradition, I don't think, is very well-known but it's there.

In Impressionist New York, this artistic interest in the Harlem River Valley is examined to a refreshing degree. The early 20th century seems to have been when most of the best known images of this area were created. Famous American artists, such as Childe Hassam, participated.

High Bridge, 1922

A few decades later, Edward Hopper painted the Macombs Dam Bridge, one of city's oldest.

Macomb's Dam Bridge, 1935

However, by far, it appears that Ernest Lawson casts the largest shadow. So far, I've found about 8 paintings of this area attributed to him. It's clear that he really felt a strong, personal connection to this part of the city.

Harlem River, c. 1911

Washington Bridge

High Bridge at Noon

It's helpful knowing that past artists found this stretch of New York's arteries to be inspiring too. It always hasn't been as marginalized as one might think.

medical update

Last week was the first of two weeks in which I'm off for spring break. Consequently, all of my medical appointments were scheduled during this first week so that I can focus on lesson planning and other activities afterwards.

I saw one of Sloan-Kettering's dermatologists Monday afternoon. Overdue for a skin examination, my nurse practitioner recommended him when I last saw her back in December. The symptoms of GVHD remain stable. He gave me a prescription for a lotion to help alleviate dry feet. While there, he also took a biopsy of one of a few tiny bumps that are on small areas of my body notably my right arm. He said they resemble Molluscum Contagiosum, a non-threatening viral infection, but he would need to wait for the results of the biopsy to confirm their identity. I'd receive a phone call, the doctor said, only if there's a problem.

On Wednesday night, thanks to Club freeTime I paid only $5.00 to listen to the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra of Norway perform works by Vivaldi, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Johan Helmich Roman, a Swedish composer, at Carnegie Hall. Like most people outside of Scandanavia, I had never heard of Roman until this event. The selection, "Excerpts from Music for a Royal Wedding at Drottningholm in 1744," of Roman played by the orchestra was lovely and sprightly. The other greats have been long time favorites of mine.

Thursday afternoon, I had a follow-up appointment with my transplant doctor, Dr. C-M. I last saw him in early June, I believe. Moreover, it was time for my one-year PET scan, which was administered on Monday morning, so I was there for the results of this exam too. The scan was clean. N.E.D., thankfully. Everything continues to go well.

With regards to the prescribed medication which I continue to take, the immunosuppressive, Tacrolimus, has been reduced from 0.5 twice a day on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday to 0.5 once per day daily. The use of the other drugs (i.e. Magnesium, Voriconazole, Penicillin VK, and others) remains the same. Nevertheless, it is hoped that I should no longer need to take Tacrolimus by the end of this year. With this change in the Tacrolimus, Dr. C-M told me be watchful for any sudden changes in my skin's appearance notably the creation of white patches or tighting/reduced elasticity of the skin. These are symptoms of a GVHD flareup. Now, I already was diagnosed with a very mild case of GVHD about two years ago (the redding of my lower lip, for example), but the symptoms have remained the same or improved. Any new changes to my skin would be a worsening of the situation.

I am scheduled to see my nurse practitioner in June and him again in early July.

Trying to take care of all my medical appointments this past week, I also saw my cardiologist on Friday, who said everything looks great. I have to stop by his office next week for a quick cholesterol test, but my blood pressure remains very good.

watson reunion

On the Ides of March - March 15th - every year, the Thomas J. Watson Foundation reveals its new list of fellowship recipients for the year. During this same week, Watson alumni all over the world gather to celebrate and connect at soirees called "Ides of Watson."

I received my Watson Fellowship nine years ago as a college senior but attended my very first Ides of Watson on Friday night. It was a wonderful, fun evening meeting other past recipients, learning about their projects, and sharing in the spirit of inquisitiveness, possibility, and fearlessness that defined that special year abroad.

There was a gambit of recipient years represented last night. I met a gentleman, who received it in 1969 and was the very first singer to earn a Watson. There were a number of recipients from the mid-80s and some from the late 90s. I met a woman who received her fellowship in 2001. And there were what seemed to be a healthy contingent from 2007 to the present.

It was during the immediate months following my return home from the Watson that I learned I had cancer. I was 23. I am 31 now. During the intervening years, my interests were elsewhere: notably my health and then, graduate school. I had thought about attending last year's soiree but didn't in part out of an uneasiness of how, when asked, would I talk about my life since 2002. Yes, I was teaching this time last year but I had just started. Things still felt very uncertain. Doubt about where I myself was going after cancer made the experience of spending an evening conversing about accomplishments and five-year plans with people whose lives I imagined had progressed on flawlessly to be very unappetizing. Looking back, I recognize the narrowness and just sheer falsity of my thoughts. Watson or not I have so much to be proud of (and thankful for).

At least once during Friday's soiree, I found myself laughing inside at myself. While socializing with the youngest recipients, I was reminded of just how time has moved on since my senior year and how I've changed in various ways. It's amazing.... And yet at the same time, that same "itch" to seek, explore, question, and challenge oneself endures.


This is one of my favorite pictures from my Watson. I'm sitting in the niche of an ancient Roman capitol building in Dougga, Tunisia (January 7, 2003).

in the news

U.S. Urged to Raise Teachers' Status

Messenger Arrives: Humanity Returns to Mercury

of gods and men

This evening I and a friend watched Of Gods and Men, the deeply moving and thought provoking French film about a group of French Cistercian monks who when faced with the opportunity to leave their small Algerian community suffering from Islamic terrorist violence, decide to remain to help their Muslim neighbors.



Read this well-written review about the film in the UK's Guardian.

lymphoma news

Lymphoma Expert Calls for More Focus in Clinical Trials

spring issue of bridges newsletter

The spring issue of the MSKCC newsletter Bridges is available.

we are all a part of this motion

In Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, Sharon Salzberg quotes a lovely passage by Susan Griffin in Woman and Nature:

We say that you cannot divert the river from the riverbed. We say that everything is moving, and we are part of this motion, that the soil is moving, that the water is moving. We say that the earth draws water to her from the clouds. We say the rainfall parts on each side of the mountain like the parting of our hair, and that the shape of the mountain tells where the water has passed. We say this water washes the soil from the hillsides, that the rivers carry sediment; that rain, when it splashes, carries small particles. That soil itself flows with water and streams underground. We say that water is taken up into the roots of plants, into stems. That it washes down hills into rivers, that these rivers flow to the sea, that from the sea and the sunlight, this water rises to the sky. This water is carried into clouds and comes back as rain, comes back as fog, comes back as dew, as wetness in the air. We say everything comes back. You cannot divert the river from the riverbed. We say every act has its consequences. That this place has been shaped by the river, and the shape of this place tells the river where to go. We say look how the water flows from this place and returns as rainfall. Everything returns, we say, and one thing follows another. There are limits, we say, on what can be done, and everything moves. We are all a part of this motion, we say, and the way of the river is sacred, and this grove of trees is sacred, and we ourselves, we tell you, are sacred.

Susan Griffin made me think about the sacred relationship between the city's waterways and the countless communities around them.

karaoking it up

Yesterday evening I celebrated my 31st birthday with my sister and close friends. We karaoked it up in Times Square before enjoying fun, lively conversation and food in nearby Bryant Park. It was a really wonderful birthday.

I'm a relative newcomer to karaoke, but I'm beginning to feel that R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" is my go-to song. "Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi is a close second. I tried Katy Perry's "Firework" but totally botched it.

Adding to this celebratory news, this afternoon I learned that I was accepted by Columbia University's Teachers College into its MA Teaching of Social Studies Program. I received Fordham University's acceptance letter about two weeks ago. Two down, one to go. Hunter College remains.

Teachers College is my top choice, but I still need to work out the finances. It is by far the most expensive of my choices.

voices of hope and healing

nbmtLINK has a collection of inspirational stories, poems, and advice from bone marrow/stem cell transplant survivors and their family members. This mosaic is called Voices of Hope and Healing.