A couple of days ago I gave my friend Tiit Raid a call as I hadn't heard how he is doing with his ongoing battle with leukemia. He sounded really strong and upbeat and we talked about the wonderful remodeling work he and Ann are accomplishing in their already lovely kitchen.
They live in a beautiful old house with lots of character and I have spent many warm and lovely evenings there with friends. hee are some excerpts from an e mail he sent to Matt Capell in Italy:
Matt and Dianne:
Thank you for the kind thoughts! We have always enjoyed your sendings and appreciate you keeping in touch with us.
Stepped outside this morning to get the Sunday paper...is seemed very cold since my jacket started 'krinkling'...later to find that it is -13 with a windchill of -37...the wind is still blowing as it has been all night...good day to stay indoors and keep warm.
With the constantly blowing wind the farm field across the railroad track from our place...which was flat yesterday...has drifts of snow across it that resemble large waves on water.
We have been well. Ann has been a great nurse to me...keeping me in line with taking my meds due to the chemo and flushing the Hickman port I have through which they administer the chemo and blood when I need it. I have one more chemo session in early March and then we hope that it will be the last. I'm still leukemia free and responding well to treatments...so the signs are good that I will beat this Leukemia Beast.
Though the early prognosis was not very positive...1 to 3 years to live and a 3.5% chance of surviving for a guy my age (67)... my 'feeling' from day one has been that it is not my time to leave this planet anytime soon...so far so good.
When I get my blood checked at Luther three times a week I've bumped into Andrea and Penny a couple of times...though he's had his battles and appears a bit fragile it seems like he is doing better. It is always nice to see them...and they also feel optimistic that Andrea is going to get through this 'bump-in-the-road'.
As you may have known...we were scheduled to visit Robert and Marge in China last year and then fly to Bali with them for Christmas and New Years. Well...that didn't exactly work out...but due to this trip coming up I put in a lot of time in the studio last winter, spring and summer...because I knew I needed to get the paintings finished for my next show before we flew off to China. Interesting how the timing of things work out sometimes...as I was finishing the paintings...I started feeling sour in my shoulders and back and a bit fatigued...I thought is was from all of the hours at the easle (like 8 to 9 hours a day)...but it turned out to be Mr. Acute Leukemia knocked on the door...and in two days I was down in Mayo being plugged in for my first chemo. If I hadn't done all of that work in the studio at the time I did it I probably would have had to cancel the show.
I've experienced timing like this before in other situations...and things always seem to work out...and this (in part) is why I feel that I will survive this luekemia thing...it just doesn't 'feel' right that I'd kick-the-bucket before age 70...I still have things I want to do yet.
So...the above leukemia business has been the all consuming thing in our lives...but onward...and we continue as if this is just something in passing...we are now in the midst of re-doing our back room...the last room in the 'living' area of the house to be finished after 33+ years of being in Fall Creek. 'The Boys' are installing four larger windows on the northwall...which opens up the view of the back yard toward the creek...the walls will be re-insulated and covered with bead-board and the maple floor will be finshed...plus new doors in three locations and eventually (when spring comes) we'll have new steps going out from the back room. This room is just off the kitchen and will become a breakfest area and some place to hang out and read and relax and listen to music and look out over our beautiful back yard.
When you get back to this area of the country you'll have to come visit us...bring the Heagle/Wilsons and maybe the Johnson's and we'll have a cook-out or whatever. Last summer we also redid the back outside area of the house...there is a three leveled patio back there and another by the creek...now we can better enjoy the great location we have...there is Fall Creek in our back yard and a dam which used to help run a mill in the 'olden days'...the mill is gone but the dam creates a 15 foot waterfalls...oh boy! Paradise comes to mind...life is good.
Warmest regards,
Tiit
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I ha a chance to meet with my brother Fr. John Heagle for brunch this morning at Perkins in Menomonie where he is conducting a mission at St. Joseph's until this coming Wednesday. For the first time we seriously discussed the possibility of resurrecting the show we did together years ago, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". and we have vowed to start laying the ground work for doing a mini-tour with it in 2009, hopefully at the Mabel Tainter theatre, Menomonie, The Heyde Center, Chippewa Falls, and maybe even the Grand Theatre in Wausau, Wisconsin (or the Mead Inn in Wisconsin Rapids.)
If the publicity is handled aggressively, I think it would really be a highight!
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