Update & Poem from Ken

Today, Monday Dec. 13, was a surprising anticlimax. I had somehow come to believe a radiation procedure would take place today. Instead, today was an interview with a radiation/oncology specialist and a rundown on a highly specialized radiation procedure that will take place Dec. 22. In the interim, another MRI will be performed Dec. 15. Both of these will take place in Los Angeles at Kaiser's facility there, a very impressive place. I feel I'm in good hands. We won't drive up those days. We'll take the train. In a very nice gesture, Kaiser has apartments across the street from the radiation facility for use by out of town patients free of charge. We'll take advantage of their generosity. More when I know it.

Ken

(Last Wednesday at 3:00 a.m. Ken wrote this poem in cowboy jargon. Phee)

Nuff!

by Ken Graydon, December, 2010

Now we’ve all heard the word that the almighty Lord
Doesn’t send you a thing you can’t take.
Just reach down inside and you’ll find he’ll provide
What you need to succeed some bad break.
If you sit there and whine you’ll be sure to resign
And that will be no use at all
And I’ve often heard said that what don’t make you dead
Makes you stronger when your back’s ‘gainst the wall
For each tribulation there’s a grand explanation.
That it’s left up to you to discern
And sooner or later in the depths of each crater
There’s some wonderful secret to learn.
No use in cryin’. You’ve got to keep tryin’.
The answer just lies deeper down.
When He hands you a big’un if you keep on diggin’
There’s some treasure deep down to be found.
I know men of faith say whatever he sayeth
Comes true when you’ve shelled to the cob
And he’s give me this task for which I did not ask
‘Cause he figures I’m up to the job.
Considerin’ this matter I guess I should be flattered.
I s’pose most men more pious would be.
But, sisters and brothers, if I had my druthers
I wish he’d quit braggin’ on me!

Email from Phee Sherline:

As you may know, Ken Graydon has been diagnosed with cancer which isn't good news at all. Treatment starts Monday, December 13th with high beam radiation focused on a brain tumor. That's the first step. We don't know what's next.

editors note: Please feel free to leave well wishes and comments here in these posts. I will make sure that Ken & Phee know about them. Thanks.

Message from Ken Graydon

Tuesday, Nov. 30.

Well, folks, now we know. The Dust Bunny’s got fangs. Turns out it’s not old valley fever scars but something a bit more insistent. Treatment of one or two methods will start soon, which one is yet to be determined. In any case, we go forward. There is a lot of music to be made. It will be. There is much enjoyment to be enjoyed. It will be.

Let’s face a truth. We are all terminal. We just don’t know when. In my case, I’ve already had seventy-seven good years run and I am looking forward to the rest of it.

I am forever overwhelmed and grateful for the outpouring of support from all of you. If I do not acknowledge each of you personally, please forgive me. It will be simply because there are so many of you that I may not be able to keep up.

I particularly want to thank everyone who stepped into my spots in Death Valley ‘49ers Encampment. All reports are that you people absolutely glowed. I am forever in your debt.

All of you in Songmakers and in San Diego Folk Song Society and all the rest of you, your caring means so much more than I can find words for. I am left with a very inadequate “Thank You” which does not begin to discharge my obligations.

I pledge to you, we are not finished. We will be back . As the old song says, “All things shall perish from under the sky. Music alone shall live never to die.”