LFS: The Storyteller

Sixteen days since surgery. Steady recovery but, as usual, not at my pace. Shoveled a few days of double canine defacation 💩 this morning, wiped me out for the day.  Dang! Reference book - an actual book - says recovery is about a month.   Ok, time to sleep off my nap.

©2017 by Lee Frederick Somerstein ( AUTHOR’S NOTE: Please take note of my surgery date referenced below. On that date please gather around your radio’s, TVs, mobile devices, places of worship or anywhere else and crank up The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations." I am grateful for all of you.)   A friend asked me today, “Do you still have that same attitude about your prostate cancer?” I said, “Read my Hat!” ----- The Dance is about to begin; the orchestra is tuning up. I feel my anxiety levels rising. I will stop to consider these feelings after the next few events. This week I met my surgeon. He is my urodoc’s [1] partner and an ace at robotic surgery, which is the first option.   Dr. Surgeon is in his early 50s, blondish hair, has a surfer’s suntan, is devilishly handsome and sports a build chiseled out of cinder blocks. I hate him! He studied at Johns Hopkins University and The Mayo Clinic – pretty decent creds. He’s performed more than 1,000 robotic surger...

©2017 by Lee Frederick Somerstein Am I crazy? I’m actually looking forward to April 25th, my prostate cancer surgery. Bring it! I’m in the best place I can be in a shitty situation. As far as we know the cancer is contained within the prostate and an earlier MRI shows nothing in the surrounding lymph nodes. They’ll check that under a microscope after they get that sucker out. But they have to get it out fast before it spreads and 4/25 is the soonest they can do it. I’ve reserved an extra room at the hospital for a prostate going away party. As you can tell, my energy and my attitude remain high and I am astounded by the wave of good vibes flowing in from all of you. My humblest thanks; you have no idea how powerful you are. Now, let’s move to the business at hand. ----- You’ve read in my earlier posts that I am eliminating whatever negativity remains in my life. Except for my closest friends/family, I've never written or spoken about the only major remaining source of ...

©2017 by Lee Frederick Somerstein (Author’s note: I hope you’ve noticed the changes – hard to miss. Yes, it’s aesthetic but it is so much more. The cancer diagnosis changes everything. My brain continues to download and digest my new facts of life. One of my major discoveries is that I’ve been hiding all my life, hiding behind booze and drugs, hiding behind nicknames like LeeZard, Lefty, Da Rev, Seaweed, Asshole and much worse. I’ve hid behind snappy patter, bad jokes, a wink and a nod, behind bravado and false confidence. Allow me to introduce the real me, Lee Frederick Somerstein. I hope you like the changes.) --------------- People often ask what I write about. Over the years the answer hasn’t changed. “Life.” I say. “It gives me a lot of LeeWay.” Writing about life also includes writing about death. That’s not what this blog is about. Nor is this blog about my cancer. Too depressing! This blog is about what I see, think, feel, touch, hear or smell going forward. It’s abou...