Life after cancer

I sometimes walk along the canal in Herberger Park in Sunnyslope. The Ironwood trees offer some shade and this time of year there are few people walking and only the occasional bike. There are often feathers and bird parts long the sidewalk. This past week I spotted the head and tail of a tabby. Only the head and tail. I wondered how this came to be. Then I realized that it must have been a coyote (or several). A portion of the Phoenix Mountain preserve is just to the north of the canal at this point and coyotes often use the canal as a highway.

I have seen coyotes in my neighborhood, and I live several miles south of the canal. Once I even saw a cat clamped in one’s mouth. It’s no surprise to me that lost cat and dog notices are often tacked to the power poles in my neighborhood.

But back to Herberger Park and the canal. Several years ago (before my close encounter with death) the canal harbored many ducks. But lately I see only an occasional duck. I wonder if coyotes have increased in the area and are the reason. Dunno. Just another change I have noted after my recovery.

What hasn’t changed are the numbers of homeless people I see while driving down 15th Avenue to the Justa Center. The numbers vary day by day. I have a friend who is more knowledgeable about such matters, and he tells me that on some days the police push them off 15th Avenue and on to the side streets. That does seem to fit the pattern that I see. Some days hardly anyone is sleeping on the bus stop benches or even along the roadway under the I-10 underpasses (one for each direction of I-10). Then slowly the numbers build as the days pass by and people are pushing wheelchairs with belongings stacked, riding bicycles with trailers stacked high. Then there are the various carts (mostly shopping) piled with plastic bags. There are sometimes even mattresses piled on top.

It is hard for me to remember that this is just a few miles from the park where coyotes roam. It is even more difficult to accept the fact that the homeless I see are most present close to the state capitol buildings. Many will walk past Wesley Bolin Plaza in front of the capitol building. While many are using wheelchairs to ease moving belongings, many are also in use by people that cannot walk. I know that even those able to walk are often afflicted with sickness and disease. I met one woman that told me she was having radiation treatment while homeless. I had a feeding tube for more than six months and remember the warnings about keeping it clean. How the hell would I have managed that if I had been on the street? Would I have pushed my formula in my walker?