5/25/2002
Subject: Hawaii!
From: Brian Bulkowski
To: Ann Cancer List

Folks,

Yes, we're going to Hawaii for the weekend.

It's therapeutic. It's simple. You buy a ticket, get a rental car, get a hotel, sit on a flight for 5 hours, then sit in the sun. Then everything in reverse coming back. We're leaving in the morning, a few hours from now, and coming back late on monday (9pm pacific). Thanks to John Gnassi for suggesting we go to Providence, RI for the weekend, which started the crazy thinking. Forgive us for choosing a warm beach over Almer Mater.

The UCSF radiation oncology department is closed on monday, so we've got an extra day off. What better way to spend a long weekend than laying on the beach? We're staying at the Royal Hawaiian.

If we like it (and why wouldn't we?), we've got a few extra frequent flyer miles stored up, and can plan a longer trip for when radiation is over and we don't feel so rushed. We'll be asking for reviews of your favorite islands and favorite haunts. Or we'll hate Hawaii and take off for Costa Rica next time. Not so likely!

Our cell phones will likely work, and we probably won't be answering them. So tough!

In other news, next week will be interesting. On Tuesday we'll have another scan, and Wednesday we'll talk to Dr. Larson and Dr. Prados about treatment options based on what they see. Dr. Larson is hoping to cut the field of the radiation down a bit, but it depends on what the scans show. We're hoping to talk to Prados about a bunch of different ideas we've run into about treatments (Celebrex, TM/Copper, hyperthermia, etc). Hopefully, he'll have some thoughts from ASCO (big yearly cancer conference) that he'll share. Ann will also do Transcendental Meditation, and we'll make more progress on diet.

Finally, tonight Ann's hair started falling out. Most of Rosin Coven ended up at our house on the way to a Dr. Abacus (shares 4 members with RC) show over in the mission. People were complaining about finding hair in different places, in my sauces. I was wearing a hat, and didn't think the problem was me. A few hours later we figured out it was really Ann, as I was running my fingers through her hair and coming up with clumps.

Ann's very excited about this! She sees it as the first step of transformation.

Enjoy your Memorial Day with those you love, and share a thought of us. We'll be thinking of you, and concentrating on those healing thoughts..

infinite love,
-brianb