visit

So, we had a nice visit with niece W et al. We had a slight communication issue, which we worked out. We had a nice lunch and visit- we decided we hadn't seen each other for 35 or 40 years!

Today is supposed to be Tropical Storm Hanna here in Bangor. Actually, it rained all night, but now it's cloudy with the sun peeking through. I think it came a little earlier than they thought it would, which means it's travelling faster than expected, the laws of motion being what they are.

The gorilla remains quiet. I had a wrap in a corn tortilla for lunch, and pasta salad, and the remains of the pasta salad and some potato salad for dinner without incident. Nice being in the 3rd week of the chemo cycle. My admittedly subjective opinion is that the 3rd week is better this time than the last, and that one was better than the one before it. So I think I'm getting somewhat better.

Think I'm going to get the canoe out when we get home. It only weighs 18 lbs, so I'll be able to handle it. And part of the issue with it was the low freeboard, but that was when I weighed 100 lbs more than I do now, so that issue should be reduced too.

Tomorrow we head out for home, so the usual waning about not being able to post applies.

wet

Finally got the kayak wet, as you can see. Yeah, that's me in it. It works really well- nice and stable, splashes at the bow in a little chop stay outside. There was no chop in the picture; it's sheltered cove, but out on the open lake there was some. As I say, feels really stable. I never felt like it might tip or anything. Very manoeuvrable too; it'll pivot in place if you do the front paddle on one side and rear paddle on the other.

Another system I designed which works well. The car fits the kayak too. And of course the EF is now to the place where it works well too. In fact, everything works except what I have no control of, namely my health. Stupid gorilla sees to that! Bummer.

The doctor in the ER here yesterday thinks I have gout. He gave me a script for antibiotic for cellulitis, since it knocked it down the last few times. That'll get me back to PA to see the oncologist on Thursday. He also took a lot of blood which he will have analyzed and send the results to Dr W at Geisinger. He said it's either gout or cellulitis; the antibiotic is for the cellulitis and the blood work is to confirm or deny the gout, so we're covered either way. Nice people.

Today our niece W is coming for lunch, which should be fun since we haven't seen her since we lived in Michigan.


Tomorrow tropical storm Hanna is coming. They have a flash flood watch for tonight and tomorrow. Probably not going to be as much fun as seeing W again.

Glenburn

Picture above is from Oneonta when the kayak took one bed and we had the other. Fun, huh?

Now we're in Glenburn, Maine, which is actually part of the Bangor area, and home to the baby granddaughter, who is almost one. Wow! Seems like she was just born yesterday. Now she's crawling around the house. Very nice house, by the way. Everything is clean and neat without being nasty neat. Very comfortable.

Today I need to see a local doctor about the cellulitis in my toe which has come back. The resident MD suggests that would be in order. I called the Tele-Nurse at Geisinger and she told me to see an urgent care place or an ER. So the system is fed and I won't have to pay for it.

Then we'll put the 'yak in the water. Weather here is kinda cloudy, forecast high to be in the 70's so that should be OK.

That old gorilla is being kinda quiet. Not that I'm complaining, of course. This is the third week of the three week chemo cycle and when I'm at my best, which is why we're here now.

Windham

Here we are in Windham NH. Had a nice dinner last evening to celebrate the grandson's 23rd birthday. I had a margarita and fajitas, probably predictably. Travel yesterday was pretty uneventful. Most was on the Mass pike, then 495, both of which are very low on my list of favs to drive. Too much fast traffic, cutting in and out, etc. It's a pain to cope with.

We're off to Maine today to celebrate the granddaughter's first on Sunday. Kinda handy the birthdays came so close together.

The gorilla remains more of less quiet, I'm staying on the 20 mg oxy, and life goes on. Catch ya later!

Oneonta

We're in Oneonta, NY, about halfway between Binghampton and Albany. Motel is a dump, for $100. Only saving grace is they will accept the dog. There is a nice Italian restaurant across the street, with outside seating on the sidewalk. Dog was welcome there too, so all three of us went out to dinner. I had a killer lasagna which was just full of really good cheese. And there was red wine, too. They have to serve it in paper cups outside, so it came in Coke cups. Tastes fine anyway.

Trip yesterday was uneventful. This four hour travelling time is kinda nice and relaxed. WE stopped at the Starbucks near Scranton and had lunch- we brought lunch with, and just bought coffee and tea. Even the gorilla is being quiet, so far. I'm back on the 20 mg oxy with no discomfort. Hey, dummy, when it ain't broke, don't fix it!

north!

North it is today. I've been promised internet access all the way, so I should be able to post every day, but if I run into some sort of glitch and can't post y'all are not to panic.

Had some discomfort again at bedtime, so I've switched back to the 20 mg oxycontin. I did sleep better last night, so I'm wake for the trip today. Being awake while driving is a good thing.

Later, gotta go load the car!

insomnia

Insomnia is not fun. I notice that my daughter M had a case yesterday; last night was my turn. First I fell asleep again while watching Sunday night baseball on ESPN, They (Jon & Joe) really do a good job. Some week I'll have to stay awake and watch the whole show. Anyway, I fell asleep sort of in bed, propped up on a bunch of pillows. I woke up about 10:30, turned the TV off, brushed teeth etc, and went to bed. Pain. Severe discomfort in the gut. I tossed and turned for about 20 minutes, trying to find a comfortable position to no avail. Dr W told me I should take a oxycodone (5 mg) if I got a pain breakthrough, so I declared a breakthrough and took one. Went back to bed waited for things to ease. While waiting, I got to thinking about the kinetics of what was going on. I take a 10 mg time-release oxy every 12 hours. Rounding for clarity, that comes out to 1 mg per hour. So at the end of hour 1, I have 1 mg, 2 at the end of hour 2, etc until hour 5. Now I infer that the body metabolizes oxy in 5 hours. The directions for oxycodone say take every 4-6 hours. When I was taking it, before taking the time-release, the pain would wake me at night every 5 hours, more or less, to take more. So at the end of hour 6, 1 mg is gone and I have 5 in my system. As long as I take a 10 mg time-release every 12 hours, the concentration should stay at 5. When I take a 5 mg non time release, it doubles the concentration to 10, which is what I did.

So I'm thinking through this while waiting for the pain to subside. It does, no pain, I'm comfortable- but wide awake! All that thinking left the old brain spinning! (I also thought through the possible effect if the decrease follows first-order kinetics, as one would predict- no effect since first order implies the rate is inversely proportional to the concentration. Since the time release is keeping the concentration constant, the rate is constant too and does not effect the rest of the analysis.)

So I'm wide awake- and remain wide awake until 4 AM. Then I get up and watch CNN and compute some stuff for an hour or so, then go back to bed. I do finally get some sleep; the dog lets me sleep until 8. But I'm a little rocky right now. I foresee a nap later.

OK- query for the group- is it possible that the lack of sleep was caused by the extra oxy? Was I high on the oxy? Can it act as a stimulant under those conditions? There is nothing in the data sheets about that, and it never happened to me before when I took one at bedtime. I know this drug is the drug of choice for abuse, but I don't know what they get out of it.