Hi. So this is another blog by and about someone you don't know and will almost certainly never meet. I am not as interested in gathering readers or advertisers (as if) than I am in telling a story. My story.

The next posts (I will try to keep those posts as short as possible, even in a blog they're not that interesting.)

I am aware in that I will alter or abbreviate events in the telling.  Many of the stories you'll read here have existed in oral stories that I have told, that my loved ones have told, and even that people who have no investment in me have told. Here, I will try to record the most accurate of those.

One of the problems with that goal, however, is that the very experiences I wish to narrate have led to me having a less than stellar memory.

From 1978 until 1987, I had surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation for an Osteogenic Sarcoma (and several recurrences) that was diagnosed when I was 19.  Though I remember these big dates and events, "Cancer Brain" or "Chemo Fog" is a real thing.  I have the kind of mental fog that many long-term survivors have reported.  In fact, researchers are finding that chemo/surgery/radiation patients suffer through many of the same symptoms as our brave soldiers who return from war with PTSD.  Even just knowing that there is a name for what is wrong with me makes me feel more hopeful.  The only problem with identifying it as somewhat similar to PTSD is that I certainly don't feel as worthy as those warriors who've done so much for our country.

My neurologist told me that he figured I have been battling these issues for a long time--probably since I was about 20--but that youth and mental energy allowed me to overcome them.  Recently, I have certainly noticed that I have "lost a step"--before I should've.