Certified Survivor!!

I passed my first post-treatment screening with flying colors. Everything on the CT scan was “unremarkable” which is just what you want to be as a cancer survivor. Today’s physical exam by my radiation oncologist also showed that I am healing well from the effects of the radiation. So I’ve been sent away from radiation oncology to be followed by a gynecologist with a specialty in oncology. Got that? Just part of all the confusing specialties you get to learn about as you make your way through treatment.

Phil’s taking me out to dinner to celebrate. My psyche feels many pounds lighter, I’ll say that for it! On to planning for Australia (we leave on March 2, and will be gone through April 30). I’m really looking forward to the sunshine and warmth, as well as the time to play.

My next treatment venture is to have the infusion port removed on Thursday. That’s the port that was installed in my upper right chest to facilitate my chemo treatments, so they wouldn’t have to mutilate the veins in my arms. It will be nice to have that little bump gone—it has been a sort of constant reminder that I’m not “normal.” After that I can focus on healing my body from the blows it has been dealt. Truly getting back to normal.

I won’t post that often on my health anymore. If you want news, email me directly. I’ll turn the blog into a means for posting our life adventures. So I’ll come up with some new categories to entertain you all, and let the “health” postings fade away.

Thank you for your wonderful support, encouragement, prayers and good wishes. It takes a “village” to sustain you through a journey like this, and you have each been there at just the right time to be part of my village.

Cheers!!

Holiday changes & New Year Travels

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted. I'm sharing a couple pictures from our New Year's celebration with Joahnna Rivera's family (Guy's fiancee). The first is Joahnna's mother Carmelita (known to most as Millet-accent on the second syllable). The second is Guy and me.

Our Christmas plans for a nice family time in Morro Bay were upended when my stepmother had a stroke the Monday before Christmas. She was in the hospital four days, released on Christmas morning, so we managed to get everyone together at my parents house in Carpinteria for a nice Christmas dinner. The drive back and forth from Morro Bay was over two hours each way, however, so I only got down to see them twice, and the rest of the group just on Christmas day. Needless to say, we had a few anxious days, but she is recovering well, with the primary damage some trouble in retrieving the words she wants. Around the edges, we had a nice family time in Morro Bay, with Phil’s brother Howard joining us, along with Shana (in from North Carolina) and Guy, together with Joahnna and her son Zach. Fun having a teenager around again! (that would be Zach, who is 16)

After Christmas Phil and I drove to Long Beach to visit our friends Ken & Jean Frost, greatly enjoying their charming home on the Naples community canals. Then we drove back up the highway to Santa Clara to celebrate New Year’s with Joahnna’s family. We met lots of aunts and uncles and are working to get names fastened to faces so we can recognize them at the wedding. We have now been inducted into how one extended Filipino family celebrates New Year’s—with lots of family fun.

After three days in Santa Clara, we then spent three days driving home, arriving in Seattle on Sunday January 4. On Monday I turned around and flew back to Santa Barbara in order to participate in some workshops at Fielding Graduate University (where I did my doctorate). They continue to hold workshops that alumni can attend, and I enjoy dipping into that intellectual atmosphere once a year. I’m staying at my parents and going back to Seattle nest Monday, so it’s nice to have a bit more time with them too.

I continue to shed side effects a bit at a time. My appetite and taste buds seem to be back to normal, though I may have to reacquire a taste for red wines, I’m finding. My hair is very gradually beginning to thicken up a little. I reacquired the swelling in my legs that I experienced while on the boat this summer (I think for the same reason—a lack of activity), and am working dutifully to increase my exercise by walking and doing yoga, hoping that that combination will diminish it. That’s my primary issue right now.

I have my first followup CT scan scheduled for January 26th, with a debriefing by my radiation oncologist on February 3. That’s the date I’m looking to to be certified to celebrate. So hang on with me as I patiently wait to get there.

Relief!

My nausea finally began to ease last Saturday, and each day since then I’ve felt a little more normal. We’ve not stopped the diarrhea yet, but it definitely has a crimp in its style, and by the weekend I expect I’ll be back pretty close to normal. So Christmas dinner tomorrow will even taste good! I’m not ready for wine yet—that is still tasting a bit sour. But I’m close.

Off to complete the rest of this holiday vacation. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas day and lovely restful days to follow.

Exit with a Whimper, not a Bang!

I had expected to have a grand celebration following my last infusion. I did get a small one, as the infusion center staff sent me out the door with a clever song about the end of treatment, sung to “Hit the Road, Jack.” But the patient was not feeling celebratory. My struggle with nausea and diarrhea continued through Monday, and has stayed with me so far this week. In fact, I learned that the vaguely “off” feeling I’d been experiencing, with no appetite for food or much of anything else, is also termed nausea.

The hospital staff gave me a new medication to take for the nausea, which I can’t say appeared to do much, though I dutifully took it for most of the three-day course I was given. It was treatment designed by a masochist…bitter pills that had to be dissolved on the tongue, and took 15 minutes to dissolve. What a nice treat for someone experiencing nausea!

Somehow I got myself and our trip goodies packed, and we bundled ourselves into the car on Tuesday morning to head south. After some bad weather Monday that had tied the Portland freeway in knots, on Tuesday we were fortunate to get a sunny day and good roads most of the way to Eugene, our first stop. From there we stayed on I5, rather than going to the coast, because we had a snow storm about 12 hours behind us and figured the quicker way was better. On Wednesday we got over the Siskiyou’s with dry pavement and sun most of the way, and on Thursday we landed safely with friends in Tiburon, so one more trip south made safely!

I shared in some of the driving, but mostly just nursed my poor body along, trying to doze when I could and stuff a bit of food into it periodically. Everything tastes a bit like straw, so that’s much easier said than done. Not feeling well is unfortunately a very self-centered activity—and I’m quite tired of focusing on me. I haven’t exercised or done much of anything for the past week. I’m more than ready for this to pass. I also don’t know if it’s related, but the onset of these current symptoms occurred just after I ran out of my Chinese medicines—and unfortunately the replacement batch did not arrive before I left for California (the herbs are ordered out of San Francisco). If it’s more than a coincidence, I certainly have a lot more appreciation for what they’ve done for me!

So knowing that it will pass is the only thing that pulls me forward. No more nasty chemicals will be dumped into me, so sometime in the next week this should begin to let up. I’ll post again when I can see the light emerging.

I Had to Have One Last Adventure!

Just as I was about to sail through the week following infusion #5, my body decided to give me one last adventure—with a new twist!

All was well this week up to Friday, looking like the pattern was going to follow last week, with no real side effects. I’d been feeling a tad “off” but other than that, had energy (I took our club single out to row on Wednesday morning, getting it in and out of the water by myself), and was focused on getting everything ready both for our annual egg nog party tomorrow and our departure for California on Tuesday.

I still don’t know what happened to trigger it, but yesterday afternoon my system fell apart. It started off by having me upchuck my lunch, and then anything else that might have been hiding in my stomach, and then expanded with rounds of diarrhea—so I was loosing liquids at both ends, with no means to stop it! I couldn’t keep any medication down to halt the vomiting or the diarrhea. The nausea and vomiting were new to me in terms of dealing with it--I've had very little of it and nothing this serious. I figured the only solution was to get to the urgent care center so they could stabilize me intravenously—which the consulting nurse confirmed. So Phil took me there about 6:30, completing the opportunities for each member of the family to accompany me to urgent care over the course of my treatment.

Three hours later we left urgent care with me hydrated by saline, my stomach calmed down with medication to stop the nausea, and the doctor puzzled by just what had instigated my symptoms. He wasn’t sure it was the infusion (he thought it was a bit late in the week). They also did blood work to check me out, and he said my blood count was actually pretty good, and I hadn’t lost much in the way of electrolytes (I think I avoided that by getting to them fairly early in the game). So perhaps it was something I ate that triggered the whole thing (I ate out for lunch), and then my system simply couldn’t put itself back together. Wouldn’t it be nice to know so I could try to avoid repeating it!

Today’s task is to gradually put some nourishment back in my system (back to broth, rice, and maybe later even bananas and applesauce!). Phil’s a little anxious about the idea of taking off in the car next week with the potential for me to “go south” somewhere along the way—but I figure there are emergency rooms along the way and we can handle it. It will all pass (I do seem to come back pretty quickly) and my system should start getting into recovery mode somewhere around Christmas.

Overall a good week

I’ve now completed infusion #4, and managed to get through the week just about the same as the week before. I got the infusion on Monday, and on Thursday experienced another round of “profound” tiredness—that is, nearly any exertion does me in. We were hosting Thanksgiving, so I had anticipated this possibility, and had my cranberry sauce and pecan pies done ahead. Others were bringing side dishes and my only task for the day was to make stuffing and get the turkey in the oven. This I did with a lot of sitting down in between rounds of preparation. A little nap just before our guests arrived, and I got through the day just fine.

I have also not had diarrhea this week either. I am puzzled, and obviously quite pleased. Haven’t really any great thoughts about why I should be responding differently now, except that I’m back on a complete fiber diet, so perhaps am giving my system a bit more to help “plug it up.” I also had a cancer sore develop this week, and my memory of last summer’s round of this was refreshed. That too has gone better than before. I’ve attacked it with multiple rounds of Oribase dental paste and frequent visualizations of vigorous little healing blood cells smoothing out the tissue and cleaning up the bad stuff. They’re inside me stitching everything back together—and what do you know, it looks like it’s turning around!

We’re off to Lopez to spend a few days there with our friends Nancy Taylor and Fritz Levy. We’ll be back just in time for a flurry of activities before the holidays, including my last two infusions, and our annual eggnog party on the 14th. Fortunately, Guy & Joahnna have decided to take the time to join us for our party—so I know everyone will enjoy celebrating with them. We’ll leave for our Christmas trip south on Tuesday, December 16.

Surprises can still happen!

I’m coming to the end of the week following infusion #3 in the current series of 6—this one was the double infusion with a cocktail of two chemicals. I’ll have infusion #4 with just one of those chemicals on Monday. And the surprise? I’ve made it through the week without any diarrhea! I’ve been waiting all week for it to happen, and it looks like I’ll get a pass this week. I don’t expect to be that lucky next week. For some reason my single infusion shot causes me more problems than the double one.

Not that I’ve gotten away without consequences. The double infusion is where I get to take steroids to help counteract nausea. And that they seem to do pretty well—but they also make me hyper. Which I counteract at night by taking sleeping pills—it’s a never-ending circle. Apparently you also often feel a let-down when coming off the steroids, and that I’ve felt since Thursday. I’ve been quite tired, finding it difficult to do my usual physical activities. It’s not “I need a nap” tired, but exhaustion on exertion. So when I need to make the trip from the basement to our second story, I sometimes need to pause on the main level before tackling the second set of stairs. Yesterday I had to truncate my walk, staying on flat ground and eliminating the hills and stairs that I usually include. The tiredness is still with me today, so I’m beginning to think it’s not only coming off the steroids, but a low blood count. I’ll let the nurses know that on Monday when I go in and see if they want to do anything about it, or just let me slug on through. After Monday, only two to go!!

The picture I’ve posted is from last Sunday’s Memorial Row celebration for my rowing coach, Charley McIntyre. I’m waiting on the dock for my rowing partner, wearing one of the bright orange shirts we had made for the occasion. You’ll note a couple boat-loads of orange shirts in the background. We had over 40 boats and close to 100 people come out—a very nice celebration.

Birthday trip for my Dad

After my second infusion last Monday, I boarded a plane Tuesday morning to go to Carpinteria to celebrate my dad’s 93rd birthday. I had some concerns that I wasn’t going to know how my system would be doing, but based on the hope that I’d be doing better this second time around, wasn’t unduly concerned when I made the reservations a month ago. And indeed, my first week into chemo seemed to go reasonably well. My travel plans included four days with my parents, and then stopping in Santa Clara over the weekend to spend a couple days with son Guy and his fiancée, Joahnna.

Well, my body had a few surprises for me. The flight down went fine. And the birthday party was enhanced by the fact that Guy flew his plane down with Joahnna along, to join the birthday celebration. As part of that celebration, Guy was to take my dad up for a birthday flight. All went well for that part. Guy & Joahnna arrived shortly after I did, at which point he took my dad up for a 30 minute tour of the area. After they returned, we all went out to my parents’ house.

During the afternoon I began to feel a little unsettled, and while running an errand with Guy, ended up loosing the banana I had just eaten (after which I actually felt much better). We returned home, but then my body gifted me with earlier onset of diarrhea than I’d yet experienced—just one day after the infusion! So dinner was out for me—I didn’t feel like eating and didn’t want to be dealing with my body’s needs in a restaurant. So Guy & Joahnna went off with Alton & Dene to celebrate, while I curled up to try to stay awake through enough of the election returns to see what was happening. I made it to 7:15 (by which time the trends were clear, at least), and then was off to bed.

I spent the next two days being a somewhat miserable guest, putting myself back on the BRAT diet to try to tamp my system down. It finally took a dose of the most powerful stuff I’ve used yet, Paragoric, to pull my system back onto the “sort of normal” path, finally achieved Friday, in time for my flight to Santa Clara.

The flight itself turned into an adventure, after the commercial flight I was scheduled to take on USAir ended up delayed, without any explanation provided, and no agent to talk to, for a good 25 minutes past its scheduled departure time. I was flying to San Jose via a connecting flight in Las Vegas with 25 minutes between flights, so it was obvious at that point I would not make the connection. I had no way to gauge what might happen to me if I went to Vegas—how long it might take me to find another flight to get to San Jose or even if I would be able to do it that night. So I called Guy, who was delighted to take off work and fly down (again) to retrieve me. My treat ended up being a night flight back to San Jose in his Piper Commanche, which was really fun. Nice to have a pilot in the family when an airline decides to through that kind of mess at you!

I had a wonderful weekend in Santa Clara, and arrived home Sunday evening. I’m now feeling pretty much back to my current normal, able to eat the low-fiber diet I’ve been maintaining, which is MUCH nicer than Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast. Back into my normal exercise routine, and energy feeling good. So I can gather myself up and get ready for the 3rd infusion coming up next Monday. Hair’s still with me—hasn’t started to drop out yet, but I’m expecting that shortly.

The somber events of the week are two celebrations of my rowing coach, Charley McIntyre, who passed away on October 29th. Though he was 85, it wasn’t his age (he was very active, and still rowing a couple months ago, as well as coxing our quad about a month ago). It was my good friend cancer (in his case, lung cancer). In addition to a service and reception on Friday, the more meaningful part of our celebration will be a memorial row we are doing around Lake Union, Portage Bay and the Montlake Cut—all areas with facilities and rowing lanes where Charley was active in his long-time support of the rowing community in Seattle. He taught me to row eight years ago, and through that helped me find a wonderful new way to be on the water, as well as a great group of people to row with. I will miss his running narratives and even his bad jokes, as well as being amused by the unsolicited advice he tended to give to passing rowers. Here’s to Charley, the most graceful rower I’ve ever seen!!

Back in the Chemo Saddle!

I took this picture last Monday to show what’s happened to my hair since my chemo treatment on July 22. This represents roughly 3 ½ months’ worth of growth, so once I lose it again in the next couple months, I’ll be back to here about mid-March. I must admit I’m getting a little tired of the sheared rabbit look, but it’s also true that having some hair is better than having none. In a few weeks it’s back to hats and scarves for me!

On Monday I started on the last half of my chemo journey, and am now definitely in “count-down” mode. One chemo session down, five to go. So far it looks like my ride will be a repeat of episodes from last time. I did fine for the first four days, and then yesterday had a meltdown, first with lots of tiredness (coming off the steroids that I take for one of the two chemicals I got) and then with my good old friend diarrhea. I was up most of the night, but have now stemmed the flow and am focusing on drinking lots of water and electrolyte liquids to hopefully avoid the full-fledged collapse that I got into before. I feel a bit like I’ve gotten on a bucking bronco and am just hoping to hang on til the end. I’m not looking for style points here (well, maybe not for too many), but mostly just to get to the end of the ride without falling off.

I do have some nice things to look forward to – I fly down Tuesday to Carpinteria to help celebrate my dad’s 93rd birthday. Guy & Joahnna are also flying in in his plane and Guy will take my dad and stepmom up for a birthday flight. Friday I’ll fly back through San Jose, stopping to see Guy & Joahnna for a couple days and get back home next Sunday. All I have to do is keep my system together so I can do it!

Graduation!

Here's a nice example of the cheerful care the radiation department takes of their patients. I received this certificate yesterday after finishing my last session. You'll notice how much success I had at getting them to use "Kae."! Actually, they called me Kae, but Karen still printed out on all the paperwork, which is what they looked at to fill out the certificate, I'm sure.

So I'm done with radiation and about to enjoy my month off. I won't know what to do with myself without appearing at their door at 1:30 every weekday!

Actually, my radiation oncologist warned me that I could feel a bit at loose ends after treatment, because I've lost that organizing principle in my life. I rather doubt it, but we'll see. My medical oncologist warned me of the same possible feeling after I'm through with all my treatment in December--that after being focused for so long on organizing and getting through my cancer treatment, my life could feel empty. Some people apparently get a little depressed. Interesting, no? I can see that it could happen. I figure the best antedote is to fill your life up with some happy things to do! And that's what I plan to do.

A Gentle Rollercoaster

The picture is from our hike to Snoqualmie Falls weekend before last (I'm having trouble getting the picture to load so will add it later)

Since my recovery on the BRAT diet, much water has gone under the bridge (only “so to speak,” not literally!) That following Monday, I took another one-day nosedive, after adding just two small changes to my diet—my Chinese herbs and a teaspoon of honey. Since I was terribly unscientific and added two things, I have no idea which thing caused the dive, but I experienced the worse day of diarrhea I’ve had. However with Lomotil and some Imodium, my system finally quieted down about 11 pm, and since then (that’s the rest of week 5 and now most of week 6) I have experienced only a couple of minor episodes. I have also been able to add several things back into my diet, so I’m not quite as constrained in my options. I am actually astonished that I have been able to do so well in this final phase of radiation. I have only one day of radiation to go! Unfortunately, the side effects stick with you for a week or so after you’re through, but I’m looking forward to a gradual lessening of that impact and a return to more normal eating in about a week and a half.

I have also kept up my exercise routine. In addition, on the weekend before last Phil and I went to Snoqualmie Falls and hiked down to the river (and back up from it, more tellingly). I include a picture from that venture. Last weekend we spent visiting our friends Bob Morrow and Judy Morrow, who own a ranch in Goldendale, just north of the Columbia Gorge. They raise an Italian beef called chianina, a tall animal with blond hide and delicious, very lean meat. I was reminded of how wonderful it tastes when we had one of their superb steaks during our visit. They sell all their beef privately, with a minimum purchase of half a cow. Now I really want to find 1 or 2 friends who might join me in purchasing this meat, which is raised much more carefully and healthfully than much of what I can find in the market.

We’re finishing up the plans for our trip back east. We leave on Monday October 6. I’ll probably get one more update posted before we leave. So for now, know that I am doing just great!

Over the Precipice!

As expected, during week 4 of radiation I moved from the potential 10% of people who escape symptoms in radiation to the 90% who do. On Tuesday afternoon, I went over the precipice as the diarrhea struck—not a gradual change but a sudden one. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights I was up every 2 to 2 ½ hours. Somewhat interestingly, during the day my system would settle down a bit until late afternoon or early evening, then resume the pattern. I swallowed a couple of Lomotil several times each (maximum of eight per day, mind you), with seeming little effect in stemming the tide. I did drink bounteous amounts of liquids and the energy drink, Recharge, keeping in mind my earlier episode of dehydration that landed me in the emergency room. I also managed to keep up my exercise routines, rowing Wednesday morning, yoga and a gym workout Thursday, and my 45 minute walk on Friday. I did, however, slip in a nap on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons.

During my Friday consultation with the nurse practitioner, my focus was on what I could do reverse my nighttime performances, or whether I would simply have to live like this the next three weeks (not a pretty prospect for either me or for Phil, who was a little disturbed by all the traffic during the night). She suggested immediately going on a BRAT diet—a VERY limited fiber diet (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast) to see if we could give my system a break. If that were successful I could then slowly reintroduce other foods to see what I can tolerate without kicking myself over the edge again.

Would you know, it has worked! Since yesterday’s lunch, I have eaten (or drunk) just those foods, along with clear broth. And last night there was no diarrhea. What a relief! Somewhat to my surprise, the relief is so great that I’d be willing to eat this limited diet alone for the next couple weeks—if I can just get enough of it to fill me up. I plan to stay on this basic diet through the weekend, reintroducing first my vitamins and then my Chinese meds, which I also decided to go off. Then I’ll experiment with different foods to see what I can add. This also means I am able to reduce the amount of Lomotil I’m taking to a minimum.

We’ll have to see if I can maintain this as we add more radiation to my body next week. The effect of radiation is cumulative, which is why you experience worse symptoms as you near the end of treatment. So it could get tougher. I have nine sessions to go, plus I understand the symptoms will continue for another week or two after stopping treatment, as my irritated system works to repair itself.

A very interesting lesson in the power of diet!

Halfway There!

Friday I finished up radiation session 14, which puts me both halfway through my radiation, and halfway through my entire treatment plan (since after radiation I’ll be repeating the same number and type of chemotherapy treatments I had before). I’m feeling good about being halfway through radiation and doing well so far. It’s a little discouraging to think about the rest of what’s behind the radiation, so I’m focusing on other things, like a trip back east in October on my break between radiation and resuming chemo, our Christmas plans to be in California with the family in late December, and all the other wonderful travel we’re thinking about next year.

I managed to get through last week with not much impact on my system. I had a couple of days where I took the over-the-counter Imodium after a touch of diarrhea, but in each case it resolved itself by the next day. I treated periodic episodes of gassiness with Gas-X (it works, by the way). Over the weekend, my system seemed a bit more queasy than it’s been, but I still managed to get in all my activities—rowing both Saturday and Sunday mornings, and joining our book group on Sunday evening. Plus a healthy round of yard work on Saturday. So far fatigue has not been an issue—just the somewhat unsettled bowels, and that’s still more a background than a foreground issue. I think the exercise both helps me both to focus on other things and to build reserve energy capacity for my body to deal with the impact of the radiation.

I rather expect the bowels to become more of an issue in the next couple weeks, so we’ll see how it goes. I have one of the radiation staff encouraging me to think that I might be one of the 10% of people who go through radiation without symptoms. However the same person has also encouraged me to be prepared for a sudden lurch of my system. The odds for escaping symptoms don’t seem that great to me, so I’m definitely coming down on the “be prepared” side. My hope is that the “down” time can be minimized, so I’m taking it one day at a time. At this point I am thankful for each day that I can get through without feeling miserable or being held back on what I’d like to do.

Radiation Week One

During this last week I became acquainted with the radiation routine. This is a daily (weekdays) routine, wherein I show up at the desk, am given my admittance sheet, walk down the hall to the radiation room, and climb on to the table to lie face down with my head cradled in a spongy horseshoe open in the middle, much like a massage therapist’s table. Down come the pants to my thighs to bare my backside, then the technicians scrunch me around a bit to line up my tiny tattoo marks with the laser beams, and we’re off. The technicians disappear to the next room to get out of the path of stray beams, while the table elevates me so the radiation machine can deliver four short bursts (ranging from about 5 seconds to 9 seconds long), one each from the front and back (the two short bursts) and one from each side (the two longer bursts). Bingo – session’s over. The table lowers, I pull up my pants and hop off and I’m done for the day. This whole routine takes about 10-15 minutes. Since I live less than 15 minutes from Group Health, the whole round trip takes less than an hour, which is great.

How does that machine get all around me? By circling around me as I lie there elevated, including sending its beams from underneath through a little glass window in the table. It’s pretty amazing – I don’t get to see anything during treatment so have had them show me approximately how it works once I was through. I have now completed 5 out of 28 sessions. Radiation patients count the days, keeping focused on how much is left to go. For those in the know, I am getting 180 centigrays each day, which will add up to 5400 by the time I’m through.

For most people there are no side effects in the first week or two. I did notice an immediate impact on my bowels—not severe but noticeable and progressive over the week. On Friday I checked in with the nurse practitioner, which, after hearing about these bowel symptoms, reminded me of the low fiber diet she had recommended I go on during treatment. I had not bothered to do that, figuring I would control my symptoms with the medicine. However she got through to me when she reminded me that medications have side effects too, and I would be much kinder to my body if I did what I could to control it first with diet. Sigh.

I am now trying to convert to eating all those things we have weaned ourselves from-refined and processed foods. I am trying to avoid fresh vegetables and fruits (the latter is the one thing I’m not giving up at the height of fruit season, but I’m chewing them up really good), beans, nuts, seeds---all the things you normally want to have to help your digestive system. I regretfully drove past all the berry stands as we returned from working on the boat in Anacortes today. I also bought the first loaf of white bread I’ve had in some time—fortunately we do have some good white breads around here.

Otherwise I am feeling quite good. I have enjoyed getting back into my physical routines of rowing, yoga, workouts and walking. Collectively these have had a positive impact on my left leg, which is now nearly normal in size. My energy is good—a bit depleted by getting myself back up to speed on my exercise routines. I want to get them going as good as I can before the radiation fatigue that I’ve been advised will appear actually hits me. My hair is starting to grow longer, but is so sparse that I look like a newborn. Scarves and caps are my daily companions—it will be several weeks before I’ll want my skull to make a public appearance.

So I’m off to week two, with the radiation routine now pretty well known, anxious to see how much my diet change will help me out this week. Now pretty much caught up on things let go during the trip, I’m beginning to cast my eyes about my desk and the house for projects that I’ve been waiting to take on. And looking forward to hopefully having son Guy and his girlfriend Joahnna make another flight north next weekend to Seattle and then take us over to Port Townsend.

We're off to the San Juans

I was "sized up" at Group Health today, including having tiny tattoo's placed in 3 spots on my lower back (only Phil will know) to guide the radiologist. My next appearance with Group Health is on the 18th of August, for my first radiation session. So Phil and I are cleared to take off north.

We are rendezvousing in West Seattle tonight for a drink with Phil's pals, returning by ferry to Winslow this evening. We plan to stop in Kingston tomorrow, and visit Sandy & Marty Godsil for the evening. We'll stop in Everett, then Coupeville (on Whidbey Island), then on to the San Juans. So for the next couple weeks I am free of treatment. I am also going north of all the Group Health clinics, so need to stay symptom-free (at least no new ones that I don't know how to manage).

I'm feeling pretty good, actually. Day by day I get a little more energy back, and climbing those Seattle hills gets easier. I've been getting out and walking, and my left ankle is now just a little swollen, so looking much better than it did.

Probably won't have a chance to check in until much later in the week, so you all enjoy yourselves, while we make the best of the nice weather that's predicted for this week! In the 80's today!

Olympia - our lovely state capitol

We’ve been in Olympia since Friday, where we met up with son Guy and his girlfriend Joahnna, after Guy flew up in his plane from San Jose. They had a good flight, and we’ve had a nice time walking around Olympia, locating good bookstores and restaurants. We also took a tour of the capitol yesterday – and lovely building with one of the largest collections of Tiffany lamps in the country. Some very impressive fixtures, indeed.

The round of diarrhea from this last infusion I seem to have dealt with pretty successfully, so I think I have now learned to manage the impact reasonably well with the medications that I have. What threw me for a loop was a mouthsore that came on Wednesday and was one of the worst I’ve ever had. The pain was so bad it kept me awake at night and my tongue was swollen enough to make it difficult for me both to swallow and to talk. After trying to manage it for 3 days with Extra-Strength Tylenol, I check in with my trusty consulting nurse service, who suggested getting it checked at Urgent Care here in Olympia. Guy and I had an adventure figuring out how to get there by bus, but managed it, and with a more powerful painkiller on hand, I am now back in the land of the living. It’s absolutely amazing how thoroughly pain can wipe you out.

Now we need to get going to get Guy and Joahnna back in the air, and us on our way. We’ll ride out to the airfield with them to get a look at his plane, and then stock up on a few groceries when we return, because we plan to hang off our anchor for a couple days. Docks are handy, but being quietly by yourself at anchor is even better. So probably won’t check in for several days. Perhaps you can each find your “at anchor” spot somewhere for yourself.

Seattle from the Water Side!

I'm sitting in the Seattle Public Library, which I made my way to from the boat via climbing SLOWLY up several steep hills, and using a bus, catching up on email and using their internet. We got in to the marina about 12:30 today, after a too-quick passage up from Tacoma which got us to Seattle sooner than we wanted to be, so we had to dawdle a bit to be able to check in to the marina.

We finished up two great days in Tacoma, including a very interesting exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum that we saw yesterday--a modern day project to create a hand-written version of the Bible in English, in the format that was originally created by the monks (BIG pages - like 2' wide x 3' tall), and also using the traditional calligraphic methods, writing with hand-cut quills and inks as they were made. However, the illustrations are all contemporary, and quite spectacular. I would not have expected to enjoy it so much, but it was a tremendously intriguing and stunningly executed project. There was also a very interesting vocal installation that was playing a Thomas Tallis 40-voice motet composed for 8 choirs, with individual speakers feeding in the four voices in each of the eight choirs. It was a thrilling experience to stand in the middle of those speakers and hear the entire chorus come in.

This morning we had a nice breakfast chat with Nina Rook, and then got underway. This evening we will meet Phil's usual Monday-night drinking crew down at the waterfront, and tomorrow our house-sitters, Charles & Valerie Reynolds are coming down to see us. Meantime, I'm exploring how to get places and find the things I need. It's quite fun to come at your home town from a brand new perspective.

Wednesday we will head south again, stopping that night at Quartermaster Harbor on the south end of Vashon Island, and Thursday night at a little bay Phil found, somewhat nearer Olympia. Friday we will make our way into Olympia to see how our capitol city looks from the water.

We'll see how tomorrow's Group Health experience goes coming at it from the water side too. I'll post more when I can get to another internet site--probably Olympia.

Tucked away in Gig Harbor

We found our way into cozy Gig Harbor yesterday, on the westward side of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. We are tied up at yet another reciprocal dock, so have handy access to shore and all we can find by foot and bus. It's a pretty good hike to the "maritime" downtown section of Gig Harbor - about a mile, but interesting stores in older buildings. Today we took the bus up to the "new" part of town, located by the freeway, in order to get to the library and some internet access.

We have met two other Cape George boats in this marina, exchanging ideas and admiring glances. We're always amazed at the different number of ways people have finished them, so it's fun to see them. Back in Port Orchard we had a very unremarkable dinner out on Wednesday night, so tonight we are looking forward to a nicer meal at Brix, which recently won "2008 restaurant of the year" from the Washington Wine Commission. It's a nice stiff walk from the boat, so we make sure we get our exercise this way.

I'm doing pretty well following this last infusion, following the extra shot they gave me--have had a slight queasiness a couple of times, and my body finally restarted its functions this morning, so it looks like this combination may be the best we've tried yet. We'll see how the next couple days go.

Tomorrow we move to Tacoma, where we again have reciprocal moorage, this time reserved for two days (most places are first come, first served). We'll be catching up with two of our Tacoma-based friends while there. We'll see Pat Alley, a BCC teaching colleague who now splits her time between Tacoma and mostly Ajijic, Mexico, where I have visited her. The other friend Nina Rook, from our book group. We'll catch breakfast with her Monday morning. We're looking forward to exploring a bit of downtown Tacoma as well.

Monday we'll make our way up to Seattle to book in to the downtown Bell Harbor Marina, where I'll take care of my last infusion on Tuesday, and also meet with the radiation oncologist to get an idea of what's ahead. This coming weekend, we may end up hooking up with Guy and Joahnna in Olympia. They've been itching to fly up this way, and it looks like Olympia will be a good place to try catching up with them. That's as far as we have our lives mapped out right now.

The boat is being just the therapy I looked forward to. I'm gradually getting it put back together from "work on it" to "use it" status, stowing and cleaning things so that by the time she goes back in the yard, she'll have had the interior maintenance she needs. Our solar panels are working just fine keeping our refrigerator and freezer going, though with all our dock time, we've actually not had to use them much so far. With moorage for free, it's hard to balk at paying $3-4/night for electricity!

I'll check in again when I'm near a place I can.

I'm away on the boat!

After a great weekend spent with my WELA leadership group, with gorgeous weather outlining the Olympic mountains as we looked west across Hood Canal from our lovely retreat, I came back home on Monday to spent a couple frantic days getting myself ready to leave for the boat for the next month. The WELA group was wonderful, having a great time themselves, with inspiring sessions and late night chats, along with good food (and ample wine & beer, I must say--thanks to all in the group who generously provided it).

Monday afternoon I dropped by the hospital to have them draw blood, the precursor test to be sure I'm ready to start another round of chemo. And indeed I was. Good results on my hematocrit too, which has come enough up to normal that after yesterday I can discontinue the extra EPO shots I've been getting to counteract anaemia. That's good news because it means I won't have to hunt up places to get me to clinics on land where I can get the shots, so more freedom in our comings and goings.

Yesterday's infusion went well. My friend Lili accompanied me and kept me company, doing a great job of assembling my food and hand ice packs. I even discovered I could be somewhat mobile with them on, as I went next door to visit with a friend who was also getting an infusion. Chatted with him for awhile--he's newer to the process than I am, so had a chance to share a few tips on using Group Health and making it through chemo. They also gave me an extra shot of something that may counteract the diarrhea that I expect to hit tomorrow. We shall see.

After my infusion, I ran a couple errands, then had a session with my Chinese medicine/acupuncturist at 4. Home to try to catch up on "afterwork" from WELA and other tasks like balancing a check book that I hadn't balanced for a couple months. Had a late dinner, and got to bed at about 12:40, after printing out some more material about the yacht clubs we hope to explore as we go through the south Sound. A short night's sleep since my body popped me out of bed at 5:30, but I filled all the time getting ready, and with the help of my friend Dusty running me to the ferry, just made it as the last walkon.
Now I'm in the library in Port Orchard using their public internet, where Phil has discovered he can come and play with the internet. Here's where the fun adventures start, discovering the resources you need in each different place. And here's where I get to start relaxing, at last.

Our rough itinerary will be to head from here to Quartermaster Harbor on the south end of Vashon Island, maybe spend a couple days there and perhaps check out Tacoma and visit with friends there. We are due back up in Seattle at the Bell Harbor Marina on Monday and Tuesday, so I can get my last infusion on Tuesday. After that, we'll have to post again, because we haven't planned where we'll go, but I'm sure we'll head further south to explore the territory south of Tacoma.

The weather's been gorgeous - warm and sunny, so we'll hope for a little more of that over the next week. I'm SOOOOO glad to be here!!

I am still here!

My apologies to all of you who have checked my blog and worried because nothing was there, and to those of you who have sent emails and not gotten a response. The time since I returned from Arizona has been incredibly hectic, with as much time spent away from Seattle as here, first in Anacortes getting the boat prepped to go, and then the last two days en route by water from Anacortes to Everett.

So let’s catch up. After I fell off the cliff described in my last blog, I did recover, slowly. I was able to put in two fruitful days on the boat from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday. Then Thursday afternoon I experienced a new bout of diarrhea—are you beginning to see the pattern I finally see? About 2-3 days after each infusion, on it comes. It took me an afternoon to figure out that’s what it was, and then I hopped on it with the heavy-duty meds. I had to stay pretty close to a bathroom on Friday, but woke up Saturday morning feeling like my “fever had broken.” I was just fine. Which was fortunate, because that night we had Phil’s birthday party, a dinner for 9 at the house.

All went well, but it was a bit of a scramble to wrap up the party and then get myself out the door Sunday morning, “permanently” on the way to the boat. With some helpful patience from Phil and my friends, Charles and Valerie, we finally got underway late morning. They dropped us in Anacortes in the early afternoon, and we spent from then until Tuesday morning frantically working to get done what needed to be done prior to launch. I put in quite a long day on Monday, so fell into bed quite exhausted—not a good idea in my current condition, but so far don’t seem to have suffered any damage.

Since Tuesday, Phil and I have been enjoying the boat in its intended environment, and having a wonderful time. I was reminded why I had been pushing so hard to get this time—somehow the movement of the boat in the water and the pace of life on board is very soothing to me. We spent the first night in Oak Harbor (where Phil managed to run us aground on a sandbar on the way in, fortunately on a rising tide so we got off within an hour). We walked into town Wednesday morning, for groceries and a haircut for Phil. The woman who gave Phil his haircut volunteered to let me borrow her car to run the groceries back to the boat—only in a small town would someone make an offer like that to a total stranger! Yesterday we went into guest dock at the Everett Yacht Club, in the Port of Everett. Everett has done a surprising amount of work on its waterfront, and it has lots of promise, plus some nice amenities even now. We happened to arrive on potluck night at the club, so joined the local yachties for drinks ($2/drink, mind you!) and dinner. Today our loyal transit drives, Charles and Valerie, picked me up in Everett and returned me home, so I can drive to Hood Canal tomorrow to conduct the last session of my leadership program.

So there you have it. I’ve just been swamped, and when I wasn’t swamped, away from any internet connections. My health is generally pretty good – I’m not quite whole, and I don’t have the energy I usually do, but I’m able to get the tasks done that I need to.

I will be with my leadership group until Monday afternoon. Then I’ll come back to Seattle for another infusion Tuesday morning, and an acupuncture treatment Tuesday afternoon. I will post another message Tuesday evening before I return to the boat on Wednesday morning. After that the postings may be a bit sparse, as they’ll depend on my ability to find a place where I can connect to the net.