wind

The remnants of hurricane Ike came through last night. Lots of warm humid air, lots of it moving very quickly ( as in wind) but no rain. It was blowing so hard it was difficult to sleep through the noise of the trees blowing. And we have a few leaves down this morning, not a good sign for those of us who don't like fall.

I don't feel real bad today- not back to good yet, but on the way. I felt good before getting up, then kinda bad until I ate my gross eggs, now I feel better. I did make it out to Wal-Mart and Lowes yesterday. I needed new nylon rope for the canoe. My plan is to get the canoe in the water. It only weighs 18 lbs, so I should be able to handle it alone. I'm a little nervous with it in big water, but it'll be fine on the smaller lakes and on the river in Lock Haven. Since I lost about 100 lbs since I used it last, I should have more freeboard. I stole the bow and stern lines from the canoe and put them on the kayak, thus need new lines. The canoe has it's own straps, so that's OK and I have the paddle and PFD so I should be good to go. As usual, the limiting piece is my health.

Cubs won last night; Carlos Zambrano pitched a "no-no"! (That's a no hitter with no runs for those of you who don't follow baseball.) Outstanding! When I turned on the TV in the family room this AM it was set for ESPN and they had the highlights, so I actually got to see some of it. Starting to look like they really can do it; they're lucky as well as good, which is what you need to be to win it all. Most meaningless stat: First pitcher whose name starts with Z to pitch a no hitter in the majors. Baseball is funny with their stats.

bed

I spent most of yesterday in or on the bed. No energy, lots of discomfort. Bleeh! Fortunately there were ball games to watch, even though the Cubs got hurricaned out in Houston. Sounds like they are going to play those two games in Milwaukee tomorrow. We can hope for TV!

This morning I felt pretty good, before I got up. Now I feel rotten again. I may go back to bed again. My head is not working too clearly either, so if I appear to be getting off on tangents, blame it on the drugs. I am determined to get out to Wal-Mart and Lowes this AM to pick up a few things.

Ugh

Side effects are bad this time. Not that they're ever good, but they seem worse this time. The cold sensitivity is really bad- so bad I can't crack and egg without pain. And I feel generally crappy, lethargic, discomfort in the gut, etc. Beats the alternative, I guess. This will pass; it always has done in the past.

forgot

Sorry, you guys, I got confused yesterday and totally forgot to post. We were really tired Wednesday evening, and then the dog slept through 7:00 AM which he never does except when we depend on him to get us up. It's not the dog's fault- nothing is ever the dog's fault! In any case we scrambled around eating breakfasts and showering in time to get out to get to Geisinger by 10 for my once every 3 weeks visit. We made it, but not by much. Anyway, the visit was uneventful, as we hope they all are. Weight is 153, down 4 lbs from 3 weeks ago. I've found my weight goes down when I get a chemo treatment, and then gradually works it's way back up into the 150s. So the only meaningful weight is the one they take every 3 weeks right before the treatment. We saw J the PA again, one of our favs. Everything else was fine- good counts, etc. The blood work for my toe taken in Bangor didn't make it- no surprise there. J was in Maine 3 weeks ago, in Bar Harbor as a matter of fact. I asked her if they did any fun stuff and she said, "yeah, got married!" I guess that qualifies. She says they did it right on the coast of the bay. Then they did a lot of kayaking, some pretty far out on the bay where they needed spray skirts and the like. She said the spray was flying around pretty good. Sounds like fun! Back to my health- she is having the head nurse call Bangor for the blood work. If they can't get it they can take some more. She wasn't sure if they could use the blood they took yesterday; it may all be spoken for. I don't know if they take spares or not. Back in the day, I always took two samples of plant batches and left one in the lab "just in case". In any case, the cancer remains "stable" which is the best we can hope for at this time. Remission, the other 800 lbs gorilla in the room nobody ever mentions, remains a possibility, but with long odds. I do feel better, though. Each cycle I feel better than the last, but the side effects are getting more serious. The cold sensitivity is especially bad today; it really hurt to cut up some onion and stuff for my gross eggs. Just holding the egg in my hand long enough to crack it was painful. J was concerned about my ankles swelling too, so she sent me over to the main hospital for an ultrasound on my legs to see if I have any clots. None. But that slowed things down some more. WE picked up some salads from the large snack bar in the main building, since it was lunch time by now, and took them back with us. One can eat or whatever while the iv is going in, which takes at least 2 hours, plus a flush and some other stuff. So I got the cell phone out and called daughter M in LA. She didn't answer so I left a voice message which she responded to by calling back. My ring tone is ravens calling- loud! Woke up everybody, including me. We had a nice chat about health and trailers and stuff.

Finally got out of there and went home in time to make dinner and go to bed. So I never posted.

home

We're home. Internet connection was wonky in St. Johnsbury. First I couldn't get any connection at all, so I went to the front desk where the gal called in the computer guru who also seems to be her bf. Whatever- he rebooted my machine and then we got a connection. However, it was raining hard and they said they have problems when it rains. It kept dropping the connection on me. I lost the whole blog once, and half of it the second time. Then I just posted the half I had left which is why it's all spaced funny and seems incomplete. I didn't even try this AM in Oneonta. WE jut wanted to get on the road and get home. So we are. More later.

Vermont

Today we're in St. Johnsbury, VT, and it's cold and rainy. Forecast is for more of the same, all day.



Nice motel, much nicer than the dump in Oneonta where we stayed and will stay again tonight. This one is nicely landscaped, flowers growing everywhere, etc.



State of the wrestling match with the gorilla is the same. Subjectivly, I think I'm winning, but there is no objective evidence for that. WE go on.

Birthday

Here's a photo of baby granddaughter at her first birthday celebration. It's not her first until Tuesday, but we won't be here then so we did it today. She's about to throw a piece of homemade birthday cake. I made the orange frosting- it's really good, if I do say so myself, and I do.

We went for a walk on the Bangor Waterfront yesterday. Nice park, water, all the good stuff. Lots of people too!

Today we're on the road again, off to St. Johnsbury VT. Then Oneonta NY again and then home on Wednesday.