Year: 2006

Another Day Late

Sat down in front of the computer last night to listen to the ballgame only to find out the FRS had the night off for a travel day. They must be riding their bicycles to need a day to get from Baltimore to Phillidelphia… So I thought I might listen to the Rangers and Yankees game and root for Texas, but that was an afternoon game, so it was long over. So I left the computer and picked up a book. Forgot all about blogging until just as we were climbing into bed my wife asked, “How come you didn’t blog tonight?” (She reads nightly to see if anything interesting happened to me when she wasn’t looking.)

For Thurday:

Started down, went up, back down, up again, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 146

A Day Late

Forgot to mention that we went for a small bike ride yesterday. We took the tandem out, cruised some neighborhoods and ended up going about 8-1/2 miles at about 3/4 speed. Donna was feeling pretty good when I got home from work and we didn’t want to burn up all her energy. The tandem is perfect for her right now, she can get in some needed exercise and not have to worry about that whole steering, shifting, braking stuff.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 142

Why Is The Rum Gone?

Standing Jack

Captain Jack Sparrow came to work with me on Monday. Posing is limited and standing on its own is hampered by the built-in sword slashing action mechanism, but this doll action figure is not too bad for eight bucks. Definitely not McFarlane caliber, but he wasn’t making them…

Jack couldn’t stand up too well on his own to begin with, but with the angle of the monitor top it became near impossible. I decided to get him some help, a little double stick tape to plant his feet on and everything was just fine.

Passed Out Jack

When I came in this morning Jack was flat on his back. Apparently drank too much rum on Monday night. Or I need some better double stick tape.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 140

I Feel Naked Without It

I have kept my hair very short for maybe 8 or 9 years. I would have no trouble passing the haircut regulations of any military service. This is done for two reasons, one it is easy to take care of and two it diminishes the noticeability of the thinning hair. Consequentially I haven’t needed a comb for nearly a decade, but I have continued to carry one. I carried it for my wife. We drive in a convertible so every time we’d stop she would ask for the comb to realign her tousled locks. Somewhere along the line she stopped asking to borrow my comb and started to ask for “her” comb.

Now that Donna doesn’t have any hair I felt safe stopping carrying a comb. It does feels weird though because I’ve had a little black comb in the same pocket as my wallet since I was probably 12 or so. Now every time I pull out my wallet I notice there is no comb and start looking for it on the floor near me to see if I dropped it.

2-1/2 Weeks

Last Friday, May12th, the body shop guy said he needs a couple of hours to fix my laundry list of complaints. I told him that the Miata is my only car, so I would need a loaner. He said he’d call me back and let me know when he could arrange for a car. When he called me back he asked if the 29th was OK. With my always nearly empty social calendar, I instantly agreed. Later when I went to mark it on my calendar I realized that that day was the Monday of Memorial Day Weekend. It was too late to call back then and change it, so I waited until to today. When I told him of the conflict, he replied, “Well just bring it in the next day.”

Why did it take so long to reserve a loaner? Why was it 17 days in the future? If in the end he just goes bring it in one day later?

Were they hoping I would just give up?

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 138

Please Hit The Damn Home Run Already

I’m not a fan of Barry Bonds, but I sure hope he hits #714 soon, so they will stop interupting baseball games on ESPN to watch him bat.

The Other Shoe

We kind of thought the first session of chemo went too smoothly.

Started out emotionally bad on Friday when there was a chance of not getting the scheduled second session. We were so excited by how high Donna’s white blood cell count was last week after the neupogn shots, but as it turns out now they are saying it was some sort of anomaly and it was probably only 1/2 of the 11.9 the test showed. This Friday it was 3.5 (4.1-10 is the normal range) and her total blood count was 1500 (the low border for administering chemo.) I’m not sure how long this doctor has been practicing, but he seemed genuinely flustered by Donna’s tears, at the possibility of not getting the chemo. You see she has geared herself up for doing this in a certain time frame and does not want to have to extend it for any reason. Eventually, she got her poisons.

Saturday morning we went back to to the cancer center to get a shot of neulasta (the long lasting version of neupogen) and in the early afternoon we made a grocery shopping trip which were just about all the excitement that Donna could stand. Most of the rest of the day consisted of laying around on the couch with a heating pad on her midsection to soothe the painful stomach and a wet washcloth on her head to ease the headache. By late evening she could not stay comfortable in any position on the couch or bed, but did seem to feel better when standing. So we took a slow walk around our mile long block and then we went for a nice little 25 mile top down drive. Both were nice, but temporary relief from the discomfort, so when we got home, Donna showered, took a compazine and we went to bed.

Sunday morning started early and badly. Donna felt horrible and couldn’t get comfortable at all. I think if we had a gun in the house she might have asked to be put out of her misery. Finally around 8 o’clock she felt good enough to have a craving for a pecan waffle and some scattered and smothered hash browns from Waffle house. While I was gone she tried to vomit, but had nothing to throw up. By the time I got back she told me to stay away as just the smell of the food was making her sick. I got her to take one of the Zofran samples and in about 15 minutes she sat down at the table and managed to eat a quarter of the waffle and about the same of the potatoes. By lunch the stomach issues had been quieted to a dull roar, but then the bone aches from the neulasta kicked in. Poor girl. I think because her blood count was low to begin with for this chemo, she got hit with the side effects a little harder.

Because of that too, instead of trying to be a hero, Donna is going to only work 5 hour days this week instead of putting in a whole eight, hopefully this will help dealing with the upsets and aches of cancer treatment. Let’s all see if she can do it.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 137