Blog Sabbatical

I have taken a "Raise..." Sabbatical to create and publish "Manley...with horns!"

In December of 2007 my Editor, Judy Bozarth, suggested:"...write something from experience, something you totally believe in."

"...I've been through brain surgery. Hell, I believe I'm lucky, in a sense." I had whispered.

For a brief moment, she and I looked at each other. We exchanged the silent familiar heartaches.

"WRITE about IT." Judy said. "You may have to start over. But write it."

Here is the Prologue to my story, about a 7-year old boy who awakes one day with antlers. It's a story for anybody who is still a kid, and on the inside fears the old game, OPERATION.

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PROLOGUE (Atlanta) Under a birch tree during a freak rainstorm I looked-up from my winter cap to see two protruding branches going forward about seventeen feet!

It looked like I had antlers.I wondered what it would be like to wake up and have a pair of horns---like antlers?

I moved my head from side-to-side as if the tree branch antlers above would move with me! Ridiculous.

As I stood there in the rain, under the trunk's protective branches I thought about how one morning I had awaken to antlers, of sort.

That October 2005 morning during a normal visit to my doctor, I learned that I had a brain tumor.

Lucky---mine was the most common non-cancerous tumor, a Pituitary Adenoma. The doctor said it was a mass on my pituitary gland, inhibiting it from producing (important body hormones such as, in my case), testosterone.

As a Blanket Statement my mother always said "...men never go the doctor unless it's about their You-Know-Whats" and in my case, well...that was part of the reason.

I felt like my energy level was very low, and I rarely wanted to work-out at the gym. I just needed testosterone--- yet had a tumor that "wasn't life threatening but WAS libido & vision threatening,".

It was scary.I worked my way through that problem, with the help of many people, including Ron Leathers. THANKS to everyone for that.

So under the limb of that tree I began to create a synopsis for a children's book: Manley---with Horns! ...which would be a metaphor about the entire tumor experience.

Imagine:
Something is identified as being there, and needing to be removed. Surgery would await and all the scary micro seconds that entailed including hours of laying in a hospital bed. Dealing with crying relatives and others who seemed to think the surgery meant certain death!

Recovery, and all the strange dreams that went along with being drugged so one can heal. Actually learning to walk again, and hold your head up without feeling so dizzy your head might fall and burst like an melon on the floor! Reflection, and whether that was even done, or done properly.

The story sounds heavy,but it is told with humor and a light tone.

However unique the experience was to me, the event is not mine to own. ---RR
For a Preview, visit: http://www.raymacon.blogspot.com