The Mechanics of Myeloma

     Interestingly enough, on the 2nd year anniversary of Susan's stem cell transplant, I finished a chapter in the Donkey book. To me this is one of the most important chapters because it breaks down the cancer into easily understood chunks. 

     I was surprised at the effect writing this chapter had on me. I found it to be quite calming. It helped to take the scariness out of the equation for a while. If I could retrace and recite the steps to her illness, perhaps it wouldn't be such a mystery.

    The difficult part for me in writing this chapter is remembering what actually happened and in which order. My sketchbook was a great help, but I hadn't recorded what myeloma is (because at the time, I didn't really know). So the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation website was invaluable.

     

     One very important thing I learned from that time, the days soon after my partner's diagnosis, is how awkward it is for health professionals to issue a prognosis. They're not good at issuing such news. And it seems that they are (thankfully) often wrong. Whenever the palliative team arrived, I associated them with death, so I kept wondering, 'Is she dying now?'

   The next chapter I'm working on now is about the steps taken to immobilize my partner's back. I documented this part pretty clearly, and my memory is sharp. I just can't seem to settle on a title page for this chapter. It'll just have to keep percolating, I guess.

Grateful

     It's been a while. The end of the school year is near, and you would think that things would be winding down, now that standardized testing is over. But no...there's the mad dash of field trips, more assessments, cocooning silkworms, and then of course one of my students swallows a foxtail.

     But none of this affects me today because today is my partner's rebirthday! Two years ago today she received the bone marrow transplant that has extended her life a year beyond the initial prognosis. I am so proud of her. She went through hell and now has a life that she is enjoying to the fullest. To celebrate, we went out to dinner at our favorite vegan restaurant, aptly named: Cafe Gratitude.

All Three Again

     This weekend my partner and I bought a small travel trailer. A cute little thing for hitting the road with without having to stay in a motel with our three dogs. After we towed it home, we needed some help pushing it into our driveway, so my partner called our son-in-law, and he and his dad came and within seconds, our adorable trailer was perfectly situated close to the house, right where we wanted it. 

I felt extremely grateful. Anyway, this son-in-law and dad are the main human characters in Stella. I realized that I want to continue working on this graphic novel for them.

Stella about to be captured

     As my partner and I plan our road trips with the travel trailer, it dawns on me that I don't want to work on Donkey and Stella since they are now on computer. Instead I guess I'll be working on St. Nicholas. Looks like I'll, once again, be working on all three! There's a reason I named this blog Restless Boots.

     Stella is a wordless graphic novel. As I began drawing it out from the beginning, I noticed how well the images told the story. One of my favorite wordless graphic novels is Robot Dreams by Sara Varon. With gorgeous line and subtle color, Sara tells the story of friendship and the struggle to keep it.

Hospital Detail

     I never paid attention to the furnishings of a hospital room until I had to draw them. It's amazing the amount of clutter there is in a hospital! Thankfully, by the time of my partner's second hospitalization I had begun to take photographs of the details that normally go unnoticed by patients and their families: the mechanisms underneath a hospital bed, how the iv tubing is strung, biohazard and sharps containers...

Aaaah...

     I love when I make some headway!  Just finished revising a whole chapter that explains what multiple myeloma is and what initial treatment my partner received to combat the disease. Oddly, this was one of my favorite chapters to work on. It was surprisingly calming to break down multiple myeloma into easy to understand, digestible parts. Maybe working on this chapter made me feel as if I had some kind of control. 

     I just scanned several sketchbook pages of the next chapter into Photoshop. Already, I can see how the final drawing style is beginning to seep into these sketches. I'm getting closer to easier revisions.

Impatience

     As I chip away at revising the first two sketchbook drawings of The Donkey in the Garden, I can't help but feel a bit impatient. I began drawing the third sketchbook around the time my partner came home from the hospital. This is after she came home from the hospital the first time and then within a week was readmitted with pneumonia. I'm still revising the part where she is bedridden after her diagnosis.

     Fortunately, when I'm drawing I can get completely lost in the present line, and I don't think any further than the cell in front of me. I have to just remember this.

Bone Tired

     It's Friday, and am I beat! It's been a very long week. First of all, the weather is absolutely gorgeous, plenty of sunshine and late morning warmth after a couple days of light rain. Unfortunately, this makes for a crazy high pollen count. Students and I are congested. Sneezing. Coughing. Asthmatics wheezing.   That by itself is tiring. 

     But also, I know a young man who is dying of colon cancer. He's in hospice, and us knowing that he will soon be leaving us, while we still hang on to every moment of life with him is intensely wearying. I wouldn't have it any other way. Yesterday, on the way home from visiting with his mother, there was so much beauty in the pollen-filled air, golden from sunset.

     Anyway, the strong combination of human tragedy with unmistakeable beauty reminds me of Eric Drooker's graphic novel Blood Song. A gorgeous wordless book.

     Look for his art on the cover of the latest New Yorker magazine.