Shared from the 1/23/2019 The Providence Journal eEdition

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

A toast to good health for us all

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There are moments in life when you feel everything shift.

For me, it was early one evening when I was working on my laptop. I checked my hospital’s patient site for the results of a Veteran’s Day CT scan of my abdomen.

My doctor had ordered the CT after a chest scan for a prolonged cough revealed something in my pancreas. She called it an incidental finding and said they’ve become routine with all the imaging done today. Nothing to worry about, she said.

But when I read the report that night, it described a mass and suggested further analysis to evaluate for malignancy.

There it was. I didn’t understand all the words I was reading, but I understood the big one. And I was afraid.

My maternal grandfather died at age 67 of pancreatic cancer after being sick for one week. I am 60 years old. Was it my turn, now?

While I went through tests, I thought about Jonathan Gold. He was the Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant critic in Los Angeles. He died of pancreatic cancer at 57 in July. A month later, Aretha Franklin succumbed to the disease. It was seven years ago that Apple’s Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer at age 56.

If they couldn’t save him, how could they save me?

But, dear readers, I will not die of pancreatic cancer this year. I am among the very, very lucky. My tumor is pre-cancerous, and removal of it is my cure. I will Ruth Bader Ginsburg it through some serious surgery next week. My body will recover.

In the meantime, you will be in the most capable hands of my friend and colleague Jenna Pelletier. We worked together here at The Journal for six years. She’s fresh off two busy years as food editor at Boston Magazine. She’s a Rhode Island native and moved back south from Boston during the fall. How fortunate for us she couldn’t stay away any longer.

Jenna will keep you up on all the restaurant news and other food happenings in Rhode Island. Who knows how many new places will open in the next three months. You can try them all. Don’t wait for me.

While I’m gone, I want you to eat and drink, cook and bake, and be merry.

I’ll be back by Memorial Day to eat al fresco along our gorgeous coastline and to toast to all our good health.

See this article in the e-Edition Here