Jay Gallagher, who covered state government for The Ithaca Journal and other Gannett newspapers for 25 years, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer June 17, 2009.

After some rapid weight loss, jaundice and low energy, he went to the ER where a cancerous mass was found on his pancreas. On June 25th, Jay had bypass surgery. Jay is determined to beat the odds.

You can follow his journey on his blog at http://www.jaygallagher.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, Nov. 4 entry

I got invited to a party to watch the returns in our town's elections last night -- the first time I have ever attended such an event other than as a reporter.

At first, it showed all the excitement of a wake. These were Republicans in a town with 9,300 enrolled Democrats, 6,500 unenrolled and only 6,000 members of the the GOP. The Dems held every town office, to say nothing of control of our county, state and federal governments.

Thirty or 40 people gathered at a pizza joint to watch as the results were called in from polling places.

Shortly after the polls closed, the GOP candidate for the top town job of supervisor, Sam Messina, was talking about how the election wasn't the most important thing in his life, how it had been a great experience meeting people, etc., and all of the other things candidates expecting to lose say.

But from the beginning, something peculiar was happening. While all of the other local GOP candidates were taking their expected drubbing, Sam was hanging close to his Democratic incumbent opponent in early returns.

"We're at least going to give him a race," he said about 45 minutes after the polls closed and he was only slightly behind.

At the end, he pulled narrowly ahead, by about 130 votes out of about 9,000 cast. The final tally will be decided after about 400 absentees are counted, but typically absentees break about the same way votes cast on Election day do, making it likely that Messina will be the next supervisor.

As the crowd erupted at the news, Messina climbed up on a chair, urging caution about the final results and thanking those who had helped him and pledging to work with his (apparently) vanquished foe. It was good he had something planned to say in case he won as well as the expected concession speech.

What happened? There were no exit polls to provide a clue. Maybe it's a tiny signal that the bloom is off the Barack Obama rose, as the results of the New Jersey and Virginia governor's races also seemed to indicate last night? Or did people pay enough attention so that his calls for lower spending and less partisanship actually resonated with enough voters to make the difference?

The unpredictability of politics is part of the fun. Sometimes voters are smarter than the pros give them credit for.

Tuesday, Nov. 3 entry

Those who read this blog closely will recall the fiasco when Emily and I cared for Charlie, Janice's English sheepdog, a few weeks ago. We don't seem to have the patience or aptitude to be pet owners.

That experience would seem to have bolted the already closed door on the chances of us ever having a pet. But a crack has appeared.

While at Ellen's this week, her cat, Maya, jumped up on my lap and then purred contently while I stroked her back. I liked that. I'm home a lot. Anyone would like to have an affectionate critter around, especially one who doesn't demand much.

I used to be allergic to cats but that is one aspect of my health that seems to have improved over the years. No more itchy eyes, sniffling and sneezing when a cat is around.

The big advantage cats have over dogs is there is no need to walk them or pick up after them. The only chores appear to be buying and putting out food and cleaning out the litter box.

We had a dog only briefly when I was a kid I remember my mother complaining a lot about the care it took (my sister had sprung it on them without warning one summer when a couple she knew split up.) But we all loved him for the few years he was around.

As parents we favored goldfish and other low-maintenance creatures for our kids. Janice demanded a dog when we moved here from Rochester in exchange for her acquiescence -- she was 7) but we bargained her down to a gerbil. The animal bit her a few weeks after we moved here, ending that experiment.

The odds are still against any change, but we plan to spend three nights with Ellen and Allyson next week during my cyberknife treatments. Maybe Maya will be cute and cuddly enough to open the crack a little wider.

Monday, Nov. 2 entry

I was injected with dye, had a body mold made of myself, had a CT scan and received a couple of pep talks in Boston today in preparation for my cyberknife treatments next week.

All were to make sure they know exactly where the tumor is and therefore zap the right place in a series of three, two-hour treatments of hyper concentrated radiation. The task is made easier by the operation I had back in June which, among other things, placed markers in the tumor to help guide the radiation. Both the doc and the nurses assured me that the procedure is painless and mostly comfortable even though I have to remain relatively still the whole time. Drugs will help.

Also the procedure will be in an open room with nothing over my head and therefore none of the dread of an MRI exam for me. Our biggest task this week would seem to be to find a good book on tape to listen to during the procedure.

Our doc said the results won't be obvious for a month or so since it takes that long for the effects of the radiation to show up on the tumor. It would be a lie to say I'm still not anxious about undergoing the procedure. But I do feel better about it than I did yesterday. This will be the first time we've really directly attacked the tumor.

The big outstanding issue of course is getting the insurance company to pay for it. So far they're taking the unreasonable position that this is an experimental procedure. But it's been used successfully hundreds of times. We have to figure out a way to make Empire Blue Cross see the light.