16 Comments
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Soma Arthur's avatar

Appreciate you Ed ❤️‍🔥

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Ed Frauenheim's avatar

Thx, Soma! So glad I sat next to you at lunch!

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Stefanie Weiss's avatar

You two gorgeous writers capture love and fear in the most beautiful way. I'm so sorry to hear the news, sorry for the journey you are both on. But if anyone can make some sense, some laughs, some beauty, and tons of love from this, you can.

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Ed Frauenheim's avatar

Thanks so much for this generous, sweet comment, Stefanie. We're trying! 😀

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Sheila Hahn's avatar

Wow. That poem was powerful and beautiful. And I could really relate to the filthy linoleum ;).

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Ed Frauenheim's avatar

Funniest response, Sheila. Not surprisingly. Thanks so much for your friendship and support!

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Kari Hulac's avatar

I am here if you want to ever talk life changing diagnoses. Much love — Hulac

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Ed Frauenheim's avatar

So appreciate that offer, Hulac. Let's have a diagnosis dinner!

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Ben's avatar

You and Rowena sharing so openly, so vulnerably is inspiring, Ed. I'm here if either of you need me. Your writing about mucin reminds me both of coral that secrets mucus when under stress and of parrotfish that sleep inside a mucus bubble they secrete to protect them from predators at night while they sleep. 🪸🐟❤️

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Ed Frauenheim's avatar

Omg, Ben. Maybe I'm actually a parrotfish at heart! Thx my dear friend for the cool facts and kind words!

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Lynn Duncan's avatar

Sending Big Love to you and family, to you and friends 💜❤️🩷

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Ed Frauenheim's avatar

Receiving the Big Love, Lynn. Thx so much!!!

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Mark Hurwich's avatar

I love you guys so much. Parts of me wish you were on an easier journey. And I know your shared genius will triumph. It’s here already. Blueberry Zamboni next? :)

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Ed Frauenheim's avatar

Love you back, Mark! Nice to have wise, caring friends like you on this journey.

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Jennifer L.W. Fink's avatar

Thank you for honestly, vulnerably sharing. This isn't easy to say or admit: "One of the things that scares me most is that I won’t have the stamina to survive. That I will 'choke' in the cancer 'clutch.' That I will fail to fight hard enough." And it's also bullshit, lingering, pervasive remnants of the masculinity scripts you (and the rest of us) were taught so well. I share that with love. And I know that it's bullshit, even without the masculinity stuff, because look at what you, what all of us have survived already. How many times, already, in your own life have you seriously doubted your ability to keep going and persisting? But we do it anyway. We get up and keep persisting and keep trying b/c the human survival instinct is strong and b/c we care and b/c we love and are loved.

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Ed Frauenheim's avatar

Jennifer, I'm so grateful for your thoughtful, generous comment. Yes on the BS and I appreciate the love. I hope to explore and rewrite some of those unhealthy masculinity scripts as they relate to cancer in pt. 2 of this blog. Please keep up your great work to cultivate more counsciously caring fellas!

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