Today was spent in the intimate surroundings of the chemotherapy day unit at the Rosebud Hospital, getting three units of blood, after Sharna, the nurse who looks after me, rang this morning. She said my haemoglobin level was only 70. No wonder I’ve been feeling a bit ordinary (understatement – I was feeling wretched yesterday).
The nurses in the unit were lovely, and looked after me very well.
I don’t feel terrifically better, but it usually takes a bit of time.
They once were important leaders in Exodus, a prominent ex-gay ministry movement. But yesterday, these three individuals publicly apologized yesterday “for the harm they said their efforts had caused many gays and lesbians who believed the group’s message that sexual orientation could be changed through prayer,” according to L.A. Times reporter Rebecca Trounson.
The apology was released as a written statement at a news conference outside an office of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, timed in conjunction with Exodus’ annual meeting being held in Irvine, Calif.
“Some who heard our message were compelled to try to change an integral part of themselves, bringing harm to themselves and their families,” the three, including former Exodus co-founder Michael Bussee, said in a joint written statement presented at the news conference. “Although we acted in good faith, we have since witnessed the isolation, shame, fear and loss of faith that this message creates.”
Now a licensed family therapist in Riverside, Bussee left Exodus in 1979 after he fell in love with a man who was a fellow ex-gay counselor with the group. He speaks out frequently against ex-gay therapies. “God’s love and forgiveness does indeed change people,” said Bussee, who remains an evangelical Christian. “It changed me. It just didn’t make me straight.”
Read the whole thing here.
(From Episcopal Cafe)
I’m still out of hospital, but I go back in on 5 July. I expect to be out on 9 July. My health is generally good, except I have some nausea, which is a bit unexpected. I had day 11 vincristine on Tuesday 26 June (which was actually day 13), and a review with my oncologist, David Ritchie. All seems to be going well. I have pre-admission rituximab on Tuesday 3 July.
Peter and I (well, more me) have been excitedly watching the last few episodes of this season (season 3) of Doctor Who. There are some terrific stories – Human Nature/Family of Blood is wonderful, as is the almost flawless Blink. The last three stories form an arc. We’ve seen the first, Utopia (the picture above is from that story), but are waiting until both of the final episodes are available. And don’t forget, Australian viewers, that Doctor Who returns tonight at 8.30 AEST, and then the season proper starts on Saturday 30 June.
All else seems to be progressing much as it should be. We went to Dandenong today so that Peter could have an exercise ECG. It showed all was normal, which is great. The funny thing was that the place where the clinic was located also hosted a certain well-known clinic specialising in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. I couldn’t help wondering, of the maybe six other men in the waiting room, which were there for heart check-ups and which for erectile dysfunction or similar problems (premature ejaculation and so on). Good on them for doing something about it.
We’ve recently made wholesale changes to the suppliers of our various information and communications technology products. We’ve changed our mobiles over to Virgin Mobile, our broadband supplier to Chilli, and our home and business phones to Southern Phone Company. As with anything, the changeover wasn’t hassle-free, but hopefully will result in lower costs.
Peter is about to get a new mobile EFTPOS machine for his practice, one which he can cart around with him to various locations. That will be good, and given the projected changes in the current arrangements at Leongatha, will also save money whilst keeping a better track on income and expenses. He’s been doing a lot of gardening lately – we have heaps of plants, but it is too cold to really do any in-the-ground gardening. However, when Spring comes we’ll have a lush paradise!
The dogs are good. We were out today for a while, and Biff (I presume, he’s usually the troublemaker) ate an entire 500g of butter. He will be very glossy if he manages not to die from hyperlipidaemia. Molly has taken, with the colder weather, to sleeping longer in the mornings, not generally getting up till well after 10am. The not-our cats are well. The younger one has become very friendly and pat-able as opposed to clawing at you when you try to pat it. So, as a reward, I made a cat bed for it.
Peter is currently listening to Barbie Girl by Aqua (remember that?) and watching videos on You Tube. You Tube is a splendid way to waste lots of time if you’re so inclined. It has lots of videos from lots of sources. Some of it is of dubious value, others are funny, some is uplifting. If you’re into nostalgia you can find no end of things to entertain. I’d say you’d need a broadband connection to enjoy it as dial up would be very painful. The videos are set to stream, and not to download, but a Firefox add-on such as Videodownloader will let you save them easily.
One of the enduring regrets in my life, one of the things I’m least proud of, comes from my time at high school (note to North American readers – in Australia there is an integrated high school system, from grade 7 to grade 12).
My high school was fairly typical of schools in country Victoria – it wasn’t very large, not more than 700 kids over all levels, and was pretty civilized in terms of behaviour and social norms. It was by no means a rough school, and for a public high school the standards of discipline were very high. I began year 7 in 1981, and of the around 80 kids in my year level, one of the was named Danny.
Danny was the eldest son of a largeish family of Southern European ancestry, and he’d attended one of the local religious primary schools. Danny wasn’t in my form group (home-room group), but he was in some of my classes, and I certainly saw him on the playground. What became clear very quickly was that Danny was at the very bottom of the social ladder – the very bottom. He had no friends, and spent his recess and lunch-times alone, or in the library. He was bullied – not physically, but teased and generally treated with disdain. He was either ignored, or things happened like taking his books and hiding them, which I think upset him more. Danny was not good at sport, not super-clever, socially awkward, shy and plain looking – not fat, not thin, just average. He wore an older-fashioned version of the school uniform, that was pretty obviously composed of handmedowns from his cousins (who were older and had attended our school).
I went to school with Danny from year 7 to year 11, when he left. During that time, around year 9, his father died suddenly and at a comparatively young age. This left his mother to raise the family alone, and fairly obviously she struggled to make ends meet.
I never got to know Danny particularly well. My place in the social order was somewhere in the lower middle half – nerdy clever kids not too good at sport, and into things like science fiction and Dungeons and Dragons. I didn’t ever bully Danny, but nor did I ever help him, defend him or befriend him. I could see that he was alone and lonely (I think), and I didn’t reach out to him, and I’m sorry for that. It makes me very sad to think that, for lack of integrity and courage on my part, Danny had a rotten time at school. From the few interactions I did have with him, because he reached out to me, I know he was a gentle, sensitive and interesting person. I’m sorry I missed out on that friendship, and sorry I chose instead to sacrifice parts of my own integrity to be friends with some people who turned out to want to be friends for what I could give, rather than who I was. Don’t get me wrong – being friends with me would not have been a ticket to social success for Danny. I experienced my own share of being bullied, and I was far from the most popular kid in my year level. But it would have given him one person at school he could have talked to and had some things in common with, and possibly made the rest the more bearable.
I think Danny went on to become an apprentice mechanic and tradesman. I hope he was successful and found more happiness there than in school. I think of him often, and when I do, many of the other failings of my life over which I sometimes agonise fall into perspective.
My life seems to have become compressed into tiny categories – in hospital, out of hospital, waiting to go back into hospital…
Anyway. At present I’m out of hospital. Not feeling too bad, as I don’t have too much nausea. I got an OK sleep last night, so have caught up on being sleep deprived.
It is very cold here – only about 6 or 7 degrees celsius. There is rain, hail, wind, all sorts of inclement weather!
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