Dear Friends and Family,

I am now 60 hours into the 96-hour infusion. So far, so good. I call it, "Extreme Makeover, Chemotherapy Edition," or “Restructuring From Cells to Spirit,” spirit being that essence in us that creates consciousness. It turns out that the two titles are connected. I can feel the spirits of my little cells, each with their intentions and efforts, working inside my body.

I was in the sunroom at our house on Betsy Lane in Houston. Our family had moved in at the first of the summer, but my parents had shipped my brother John and me out of town, first to friends in Kentucky, then to cousins in Virginia, so they could pull up the orange shag carpeting to reveal hardwood floors, and cover dark paint in the kitchen with bright green wallpaper adorned with big yellow and white flowers. It was 1970...