It was an auspicious day. The scan was in the afternoon, and we decided to go to the new Asian Art Museum that recently opened in the former public library building in downtown San Francisco. Using the insufficient time we had to the best of our advantage, we managed to take in a few transcendent exhibits of Chinese landscape painting, an installation by Thai artist Montien Boonma, and a large-scale retrospective of the influence of Buddha on the art of India, China, Tibet and Indonesia.
The Boonma installation was particularly memorable. After reading that he died of a brain tumor in 2000, his pieces took on extra meaning for us. Almost unique among museum installations that we had ever seen, we were encouraged to walk through some of the pieces. Boonma’s work was designed to engage both the sense of sight and smell, as he used medicinal herbs in many of his pigments. One of his pieces was a room in which hundreds of strings of prayer beads were hung from the ceiling, and one could walk through the beads. There was something powerful and meditative about it, and Ellen and I spent a few minutes inside the room after an elementary class had passed through. In the Buddha exhibit, we found much to look at in wonder, and to absorb about the spread of Buddhism throughout many of the world’s cultures. We encountered our friend Guanyin, the remover of obstacles, that we recognized from a reproduction that lives in our bedroom and accompanies my daily Chi Gung practice. We took in as many of the amazing treasures as our time permitted before a quick lunch before the MRI. True to the theme of the day, we wound up at an Indian buffet place in Hayes Valley that was quick, inexpensive, and delicious.
Then we met with our neurologist, where the news was much like three months earlier…the "abnormal tissue" area was not expanding from any angle from which it could be observed, and in a few instances, possibly shrinking a bit. Our efforts were continuing to keep the condition under control and we could begin thinking in more long-range terms. Our talk with the neurologist revealed a couple of things: first, that it is extremely rare for anyone with my tumor living beyond ten years (although I have heard of some) and second, that he had another patient with a similar tumor and scenario as myself, in that she "flared up" after chemo and decided to forego traditional therapy for awhile as her son was getting married and she wanted to feel better until the wedding was over. For some reason, her condition improved and she has been maintaining it in much the same way as I have ever since. She has not undertaken any sort of alternative therapy or nutritional supplements, just taking anti-convulsants to control seizures. And she’s doing really well. We also talked about how some people who seem to do everything right and have a great attitude don’t make it, and some who are negative and cranky, plug along for years. Life is a mystery but a wonderful mystery, and there are many clues to find. I’m nowhere near ready to put it down yet.
I’m happy to report that Ginger, my sidekick in the journey to recovery, is still doing well. She has a bump on her face that sometimes swells alarmingly, but she has kept all the manic energy and good will that we’ve always loved about her, and looks to be good for awhile. She is somewhere around 60 in human years, so her time will come, but it’s not yet. We both take pride in now having survived beyond our prognoses, and our thoughts and prayers are constantly with those in our lives who aren’t doing as well
I’m continuing to work on my music. I’m doing my best to share my CD with a larger audience (in other words, sell some) and I’m writing new material and frequenting the open mic nights in Mill Valley and Fairfax. My confidence as a performer seems to increase with every new outing, and it is gratifying to hear comments like "awesome song" from strangers sitting at the bar at Sweetwater as I leave the stage. I’ve even had an inquiry from a well-connected performer in the Chicago area interested in performing one of my songs. If you haven’t been to the website in awhile (www.danreichandfriends.com) check out the new pages for each song with lyrics and illustrative artwork. I’ve also got "Don’t Mess With My God" currently undergoing reviews on GarageBand.com. Some people get it and some don’t, but some of those who don’t manage to be quite amusing. My favorite so far has accused me of "incouraging ignorance" (their spelling).
I shall continue to enjoy my journey and hope it’s a long one. I also feel that, despite the neurologist’s patient who is sailing on blind faith, every one of your prayers and wishes have put air under my wings and enabled me to get this far. Ellen feels as though she’s "loved me so much it made me well" and I have no reason to doubt that. It might be that the Beatles were right when they sang "love is all you need."
Peace and love,
Dan
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