The image above is from one side of our house. You may not see any soil in that joint between the concrete and brick (I certainly don’t), but a seed found enough there to plant itself and go about the business of living.

It’s just a weed and I probably should have pulled it a long time ago, but – against all odds – it has established itself and it’s thriving and it’s growing toward the sun that nurtures it. So…I can’t pull it. I just can’t. I may have to trim it at some point before it reaches through a window and strangles us, but…I can’t kill it.

Life is opportunistic and tenacious. Give it the slightest chance and it will appear and survive and thrive.

Which brings me to…this quick update. I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted and that generally means that there’s not much to report – and that’s a good sign. Still, some recent developments:

• The tell-tale PSA blood test is still telling a welcome story. The latest stick came this past Monday and produced a PSA reading of 1.5 – a 50 percent decrease from late June and way down from the modern, what-the-hell-is-going-on record of 11.6 in April. Good news, there.

• After a ridiculous five-day, multi-call, multi-email, multi-text struggle, I also managed this week to secure a comprehensive blood test, the first – due to several medical dropped balls – in well over a year. Seemed like a good idea, given the chemicals river-ing through my system every day and an opportunity to review all of this next week with our urological oncology expert. Bottom line: Nothing much to worry about in there. Red and white blood cell counts have diminished, but remain (barely for red blood cells) within normal ranges. The usual elevations in blood sugar, triglycerides and cholesterol, but nothing in the red zone – and these may come back into line as a consequence of…

• Continuation of a slow but steady loss of weight. I really sort of like this (having battled weight issues most of my life), but we’re going to have to ask about this. I’m down 16 pounds since this crisis emerged about five months ago – and all without trying. The radiation oncologist made note of it a few weeks ago, and we’ll ask about it again next week. One of the chemos is known to have this effect, largely by depressing hunger (which it has done, to some degree), and all the chemos can reduce muscle mass (which we’re battling with steady exercise and I don’t think is the issue at the moment).

So, that’s the latest update, such as it is. Overall, I and we are doing pretty well. We’re back to being more cautious about socializing due to COVID’s rebound in Florida, but we’re pretty tenacious over here, so…ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on.

**

Pro tip: It’s the first Friday of the month, and that means it’s all Frank Sinatra all day long on Siriously Sinatra, XM Channel 71. As I write this, they’re playing his rendition of “This Nearly Was Mine” from “South Pacific,” which is just gorgeous. A few minutes ago, they played his “Moonlight Serenade.” I grabbed Marion and we slow danced around the kitchen. Then, she returned to cleaning the bathrooms and I came in here to write this ridiculously self-absorbed post.