Memoir Progress Update

One rebuilt garden bed with new mulch!

The support I've received for this project so far has been wonderful. As of this writing, 43 individuals provided $1,184. This is enough money for me to pay expenses incurred during this campaign, to pay for an editor, and to pay for two days at a four-day poetry retreat in November with the Green River Writers to edit a few poems that are going into the memoir. I plan to get a lot done in those two days.

Next up -- paying for a month or two in seclusion to finish the memoir. Just to be perfectly clear, this time does not exclude regular work for clients. Instead, it is to finance travel to one of several writers' retreats (if I'm chosen), or to pay for a getaway from the chaos at home to have quiet time to finish my research and writing. My family WANTS me to leave to finish this project, so help them out! =)

In other news:

• This is my last week at dad's house. I've finished weeding and separating the flowers in mom's garden beds (all ten of them), weeded along the fence and around the trees, and had mulch delivered for the front beds. The mulch for the back beds is arriving after I leave. I used mom's new garden gloves that she purchased before she died and never used, and I poked holes in the ends of the fingers. Dad said, "I'm sure she won't mind." Despite my initial fears over tackling my mother's gardens, I think I did fine by her.
• Packing to return home includes items from around the house that dad wants me to sell. I have to put on my "impersonal" persona when conducting this work, because I feel as though I'm selling memories. On the other hand, it feels great to downsize, and I'm conducting this activity on the homefront as well so I can relieve my daughter from this task upon my death. I never realized I inherited my "hoarder gene" from mom. I've learned since mom's death how to hide that hoarding (in drawers, closets, and the attic!). I'll post more items to my Etsy shop (GoinOriginals) next week. Sending a "thank you" to my new customers at that venue!
• It appears no one has really taken me up on the contest challenge yet. Too bad! But, there's still time to compete (until November 24th!).
• It appears that folks are taking me up on my $1 birthday wish challenge at the Cancer, Caregiving, Contentious Love Indiegogo site! Wonderful! Those dollar bills add up! (hint for those who want to compete in the previously mentioned challenge -- I'm trying to help you!)
• Thanks again to Denise at Caregiving.com for offering a new space to blog about my caregiving adventures with dad. Latest post: My Fears About Leaving Dad Alone.

Since I'm busy packing and traveling over the next two days, I won't be posting anything here until Friday. Be good, take care, and be happy if you can. <3

Initial Referral Contest Leader Board

This is a screenshot of the leader board on the dashboard at 12:01 a.m. (yes, I was one minute late due to slow Internet issues). I'll post the leader board again on Friday, October 31 in the morning. You have plenty of time to sign up and gain interest -- view the referral contest information and follow the rules to win!

PS -- I'm not a contestant. =)

Some People Who Support the Arts

I'm also a fine artist; but my writing is, at the moment, far more important to me, because I feel I have a story to share that can help other caregivers. I created this oil pastel in 2007 after a visit to the Bahamas as a professor's assistant for an archaeology project on San Salvador.

It's time to catch up on all the thank you notes for folks who have supported my Indiegogo project since October 13th. I look at Indiegogo fundraisers that bring in thousands of dollars, and I realize that they're for tech products. Then, I look at Indiegogo fundraisers for the arts, and we all lag behind those tech products by thousands of dollars. Therefore, I'm so very grateful to the individuals listed below, because they see value in my ability to tell a story. They are investing in my art -- that art of memoir.

• I'm grateful to my film/documentary maker friend, Jacques Laurent. I met Jacques when he arrived in La Grange from France to film the trains that run through the town. We have been friends since, and I'm grateful that he's my first overseas supporter! (I have supporters in Canada, too -- not forgetting you! <3).
• I'm grateful to the anonymous donor who decided to support me in a huge way. Much love and many, many <3!
• I'm grateful for Amy Wellborn's support. This fine artist thanked me in person one day for my gratitude lists. I was overwhelmed, because it's rare that someone in this world will make time to thank someone in person. I'm guilty of that same lack of support for some of my friends. Love you, Amy!
• I'm so grateful to Kristi Weber, who will always be one of my favorite poets. We met in April this year during Robert Lee Brewer's Poem-A-Day challenge, and I remain sufficiently charmed by her attitude, perspective, and downright solidness in being herself. She supported me the day after she learned she finally had a job -- now, that's digging deep. <3 to you, Kristi.
• Gratitude to my long-time friend Sharon Jones -- an artist I met when living down south -- for her support. She could have bought me a rum and coke, but chose instead to support my art. Big thanks! =)
• So grateful to Ursula Powers for her support. We've known each other since the BP Gulf Oil disaster, where we tweeted against BP. Power to the people, especially through the family business, Al's Bees!
• Thanks to my buddy, Joe Davenport, for wanting so badly to push me to that $1K mark that he donated twice! You're a winner, Joe. Thanks for your support!

I also want to thank Denise at Caregiving.com for personally welcoming me into her space and offering a new channel to blog. This time, I'm blogging about the switch from being caregiver for my mother to realizing that I'm now my dad's caregiver (thanks to Denise's insight). Denise is a bright and energetic soul who is sincerely interested in all her Caregiving members. My blog, Linda's Blog, is located under "Caregiving for Parents."

Many thanks, too, to Mary Beth at Caregivers for Home. She approached me via Twitter to ask if she could write about my experience and memoir, and then asked if I would write a guest blog. Well, yes! Mary Beth's article is When Doctor’s RX is: No Hope, A Caregiver’s Journey. My article, which broaches a topic that I had to write about sooner or later. Yes, I shared this story with my husband before it was published -- Marriage and Caregiving: Letting Go, A Daughter’s Story.

So grateful to be meeting new friends and supporters in my quest to fund my art and I'm grateful to friends who have stepped up to share. If you want to fund my memoir as well, you can contribute as little as $1 or as much as you want at Cancer, Caregiving, and Contentious Love's Indiegogo campaign. A heads up on Friday -- YOU can win money by helping to spread my campaign through linkage. Learn more about my Referral Contest and, if you have questions, feel free to contact me through Twitter or Facebook. 

How Bile Duct Cancer Begins...

My mother's mother in 1954. She died from liver complications in 1969. Did my mother inherit mutated genes from her mother? Doubtful, but mom did inherit some issues that complicated her disease.

Now that my frantic caregiving chores for mom are over, I've been concentrating on how her cholangiocarcinoma occurred. My mother's age contributed to her risk factor. More than two out of three patients diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma are older than age 65, and my mother was 78 when she was diagnosed. But lately I've been viewing more news on younger deaths from this cancer.

Cancer usually results from gene mutation, and sometimes this proclivity to certain mutations is inherited. Gene mutations related to bile duct cancers, however, usually are acquired during a lifetime rather than inherited. What changes during a lifetime could contribute to bile duct cancer?

• Liver fluke (parasitic flatworm) infections that settle in the bile duct and cause irritation is a major cause of bile duct cancer in Asia, but very rare in the U.S. It can affect people who travel to Asia and who eat raw or poorly cooked fish in that region.
• Bile duct infections or inflammation (cholangitis) can lead to scar tissue (sclerosis), which can create a risk for cholangiocarcinoma. Many people who have this disease (Primary sclerosing cholangitis or PSC) also may have issues with ulcerative colitis. Risk factors for progression of any of the issues to bile duct cancer can be as high as 30 percent.
• Bile-filled sacs connected to the bile duct are called choledochal cysts. The cells in these cysts, as with cysts in other parts of the body, can contain areas of pre-cancerous changes.
• People who are born with, or who develop, abnormalities where the bile and pancreatic ducts meet can be at higher risk for bile duct cancer. This abnormality can prevent bile from exiting the ducts normally, and that condition can prove deadly.
• Cirrhosis of the liver, caused by alcohol excess or diseases such as hepatitis, can create scar tissue that can affect the bile duct and lead to #2. Liver diseases and subsequent scar tissues can contribute up to 15 percent of bile duct cancers.
• Exposure to certain industry chemicals and PCBs can also lead to possible bile duct cancer.
• Thorotrast, a contrast agent that radiologists no longer used in x-rays, is a huge culprit in cholangiocarcinoma cases in individuals who are old enough to have had x-rays through the mid-1950s. The connection between the ingestion of Thorotrast and bile duct cancer can be up to 100 percent.

Some medical facilities and cancer institutions list other causes, including obesity, exposure to asbestos, smoking, exposure to radon, and diabetes. All these factors often contribute to liver damage and then scarring and damage to bile ducts. Is there a way to determine if you are at risk for bile duct cancer? Yes -- if you know that you are subject to any of the conditions listed above.

Can this cancer be detected early? According to the American Cancer Society, the answer is no.

The bile duct is located deep inside the body, so early tumors cannot be seen or felt by health care providers during routine physical exams. There are currently no blood tests or other tests that can reliably detect bile duct cancers early enough to be useful as screening tests. Without effective screening tests, most bile duct cancers are found only when the cancer has grown enough to cause symptoms. The most common symptom is jaundice, a yellowing of the skin and eyes, which is caused by a blocked bile duct.

From experience, I can tell you that the jaundice is a symptom, but it's also an alarm. It's the alarm that starts the race to the end of the cancer patient's life. How much time will that patient have? Anywhere from three months to 18 months, depending upon a number of factors including new procedures that can extend that patient's life.

But, that's another story...