A letter to K, who was upset with me about my visit last November, but hadn’t said anything about it to me since.
jesus, k.
i’m sorry. i had no idea. i’m sorry.
i’m really caught off guard by this. stunned. totally reeling, from the content, from the tone. trying hard not try cry.
your friendship means so much to me, that it hurts both that i hurt you, and also that you didn’t tell me. these are small things that have built up into serious anger. I don’t even know what ‘startlogic’ is?
and also, i felt so grateful for your patience with me. which makes it all the more painful to realize you were angry at me for it. i was a lot more tired and sick than i thought i would be by the time i got to LA last November. each month provides new difficulties, and that was the month I spent rolling around on the ground, ripping my clothes off to try to cool off on the concrete. I got back, got a name for it (dysesthesia), and a drug for it, which then killed my libido entirely, and dulled the dysesthesia so that I can leave the house without being afraid of a seizure like episode.
i hate not being able to be completely independent. i hate the fact that my fingers have so many lesions on them that I can’t do my own dishes, and it hurts too much to put gloves on and take them off, that I have to save up dishes for a ‘gloving’. i hate that i have no appetite, which makes me crash, which makes me cry. i hate that i have lost my libido, and what that has meant for my relationship O, someone i really care about, who rationally understands it is chemical, but who feels rejected nonetheless. i hate that i have lost half of my hair. and i hate that i have to ask people for their seat on the subway or i won’t make it through the ride, and i more than anything i hate being told to fuck off by my fellow subway riders. my vision is going (i’m seeing double a lot, for a while i was hallucinating), my memory left a long time ago (vis-a-vis startlogic), i am starting to experience real chemical depression, (as per all the prognoses of the drug treatment.)
yesterday was the one year mark from my diagnosis. there is no question this has been the hardest year of my life. the cruel irony is that it is something i have to endure myself (it is a very lonely affair, and only people who have been *really* sick get it) and yet, am completely dependent on everyone around me, for things i can’t do, for thinks i would normally be able to do, for understanding.
i have an intern who has been working with me for two months. she is dedicated, works remotely half of the time, and is doing a great job translating the book into Spanish. Today I realized I never told her about the cancer. It was a really awkward moment. I guess i thought that I was going to tell her, or that I already told her, or something. I don’t like to tell people immediately, both b/c of pride, trust, and a desire for them to realize that I am normal. or rather really trying hard to pretend like everything is normal. but when i told her, all of a sudden she realized why I kept coming in late, and somedays couldn’t even make it in at all. why I was getting my schedule all confused. And why i have so many drugs on my studio desk.
i’m trying so hard to act like i am normal, but i’m not. i’m on a “highly toxic” treatment. it is so hard to look normal from the outside, and be falling apart on the inside and the edges. and i’m not just talking about the way the drugs fuck with my emotions, and the ensuing chemical depression, but having my body fall apart from the inside. i have so many holes in my tongue i can’t eat anything without pain. i have a permanent gash in the back of my mouth near my jaw. when i eat, i leave bloodstains on my napkin at the edges of my mouth. half of the time i can’t wear in-ear earphones because the lesions in my ears keep getting re-infected. My eyes flake off scales of skin.
but i’m trying so hard to act like i am normal. maybe too hard
i’m really scared about this coming trip. maybe that is why i am reacting so emotionally to this. after the last travel, i cancelled all travel excepting this trip to CAA. i’ve turned down speaking gigs in berlin, croatia, argentina, los angeles, university of iowa, etc. b/c traveling is so hard. traveling is hard just getting to and from my studio and my apartment.
i had lunch with an artist friend last week. i knew he had been sick a few years back, but i didn’t know what. something thyroid related. turns out he had thyroid cancer. while they were removing the thyroid they found it had spread to all the lymph nodes in his neck — out those came. it was so comforting to meet someone who had been dealing with all of these things. I have found people here and there who had been diagnosed, but usually at such an early stage that it was just one minor surgery. It was nice to talk to someone who had something more advanced, like myself, but who is living his life. His condition requires a little bit more maintenance than mine will be at three years out, as I did not have any organs removed, but he gets it.
He was *really inspirational* for me to try to chill out, he has basically stopped traveling, or speaking publicly, keeps his studio in his apartment, and doesn’t go out for social events. And despite all of that, his career is soaring. he helped me think about trying to not pretend like i am normal. to sleep in all day because that is what my body needs. to say no to things. more often. and to rest. because it is my life on the line.
I’m sorry if this is a lot. A big response. i don’t want you angry at me. i don’t want you to hold a grudge against me for something i either don’t remember, or couldn’t control.
i want to stay with you because i want to spend time with you. i want you to meet O. i could stay at my aunts, or cousins, or CHP has even offered her couch. but i don’t get to see you very often, and these days, with travel so much harder for me, i see you even less.
if there is anything specific i can do to avoid impinging on you more than a normal visit would, please let me know. can i order groceries from a Fresh Direct style delivery service? I’ll take you out for dinner every night. i’ll rent a car, if you think that would help. i will bring lots of cliff bars.
http://www.pinkdot.com/
http://www.paradiseo.com/???
I love you dearly K, and I don’t want you upset with me,
m