It's Friday! What Fun Do You Have Planned?

Yesterday's appointments went VERY well. After radiation, I asked if I could just leave my car in their lot and walk over to my physical therapy appointment. The response was "Of course. When you're in our care, we take care of all parts of you." Great people in radiology, I'm going to miss them. 

The Doctors Professional Building is only a block East 
of Radiology, so an easy brisk walk. This new clinic is run 
by Sister Kenny instead of Allina, and I could tell. The 
people were lovely, but the actual amenities were lacking. 
There was water available, but no hot water and no teabags. 
The best waiting room is the Breast Center room. They even 
have herbal tea - perfect for me. 

So I walked over the block to the Physician's Building, checked in, and had a rather boring 90-minute  wait until my physical therapist was available for our appointment. The purpose of this was to make sure I was healing properly, getting my full range of motion back, had no edema or swelling, etc. I passed with flying colors. Apparently my range of motion (which is quite back to pre-surgery levels) was in the upper 5th percentile. So I might have a little bit I can still push for, but I'm one step closer to being able to return to the pool. I'll keep working at it. 

I am really hoping to get into the pool before the outdoor 
pool opens once again. I know I'm out of swimming shape, 
and would rather get used to the exercise again when I'm 
not dealing with Olympic lengths. But, I'll do whatever is 
necessary when I can finally get back into the water. 
Hopefully it won't be too much longer. 

I might take a quick drop-in to the breast center today, just to check about whether my oncologist will want a follow-up appointment and if/when that is set. I don't think I have anything in "My Chart", but I'll be sure to double-check that just in case. I'm almost feeling neglected because I am healthy once again - what an odd feeling to have - LOL. 

I haven't been in the Breast Center for quite a while, and 
I'm curious about when I'll have a wrap-up with my 
team head and be free to re-learn how to live my life. I'd 
also like to leave a note for my Chemo doctor. I had a 
couple of questions for him. 

I'm in good shape in the kitchen, so really don't need to cook anything, but I have a house that needs a serious cleaning, and I might get a start on some of that. More than that though, I'd like to download the audio books I purchased last week, and keep working on my new tablet, to get it all set up properly and figure out how best to use it. Did I tell you I purchased a tablet computer? Amazon was doing their annual deep discounts sale, and I couldn't resist. I've wanted one for years - the one DH uses is ancient although I've borrowed it from time to time. Now I have my own, and I'm just getting it set up and starting to get used to it. I suspect it will be quite the handy thing to have. 

It's Friday! The end of the work week 
for many of you. It's a "Day Off" for me, 
and even though I have radiation therapy 
this morning, the rest of the day is open. 
How wonderful! 

So I'm wrapping this up. I was lazy today and decided to skip the treadmill. I might use it later today, but I might skip it altogether. It's not like I don't get a lot of exercise, I'm pretty darned focused on keeping up with my physical movements and condition these days. Have a great Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Slava Ukraini. 

I'm Seeing Light at the End of the Tunnel

I'm getting down to the end of my radiation therapy. Tuesday is my final treatment, and on Wednesday I meet with Doc for a final exam. I'm thinking that I'm going to miss my team of people - from the receptionists to the technicians and Doc, I'm going to miss them all. I'll also miss the various other patients with whom I share the reception/waiting area. We don't really interact, but we do see who is there and who is missing. But I'm down to four days of radiation remaining in my original 15, and I'm seeing the end of that road ahead of me. 

The road ahead is always uncertain. You can plan and plan, but 
life has a way of throwing challenges and events - both good 
and bad - at you just to throw you off your balance. It doesn't 
do to become too complacent. 

Today, after radiation, I get to walk a block East to a building they call the "Physician's Building" or the "Doctor's Professional Building". Yeah - that's the official name of it. Rather silly, but I suppose it's descriptive. I have an "Initial PT Lymphedema Edema Visit" with a doctor Thomas G. I've never met the guy. I'm supposed to wear comfortable clothing and athletic/tennis shoes. Well, I only wear my athletic shoes on the treadmill, not to walk outdoor sidewalks, so I'll carry them along in a bag. This is for an "initial assessment" and the doctor "may not be able to begin treatment on this visit". Considering that my lymphedema issues are pretty much taken care of by now, this appointment may be moot, but I'll keep it anyway. It may be a simple in and out, but I might also learn something valuable. 

The "Doctor's Professional Building" is directly across 
the street from the hospital, a block East from radiology, 
and a block West from my Breast Cancer Clinic. I'm hoping 
to just keep Minion parked in the radiology parking lot 
instead of moving her to the parking ramp and paying 
$3 for parking. It's an easy walk back and forth, the 
weather's just fine today. 

The dual appointments of Radiology and Lymphedema assessment will keep me out of the shop until noon or shortly afterward. It is what it is, however - I have no real choice. Tomorrow I'll be back to my normal schedule of an early morning radiation and a regular "day off". I'm already looking forward to it. 

I have three containers of my roasted/blended tomato 
soup in the refrigerator waiting for me to heat it up. 
So yummy! It's one of my favorite recipes, it's very easy 
to cook up, and tastes absolutely lovely. 

I did make my roasted tomato and red pepper soup yesterday. I'm very much looking forward to my dinners for the next few days - LOL. It requires a high powered blender and my Wolf is more than up to the task. I also received a new tablet computer I had ordered on sale from Amazon. I'm looking forward to getting to know it in more depth today, if I have any time to play. I've been wanting a tablet for quite a while, and it was on an excellent sale - more than $100 off - making it a very affordable treat. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow morning to greet the sun and all of you. Slava Ukraini. 

Today is a "Normal" Wednesday in My Life of "New Normal"

Today is a "normal" Wednesday, and I'm glad for it. I need to get cooking in the kitchen - I need food for dinners for the next week. I'm just about out of all leftovers, and my shelving only has my baked fruit for breakfast filling it. I think I might make a favorite of mine - Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup. It's a bit finicky to make - you have to broil the veggies to be able to easily skin them and to get a wonderful undertone of charcoal in the soup base. But once you've done that, everything goes into the blender (you need an excellent blender, and mine is top-shelf) and the rest of it basically makes itself on high speed. 

I really love this soup. It's a bit fussy to make (only 
because you're broiling the veggies in the oven, so 
need to keep an eye on them), but it's really easy to 
make if you've got a good blender. I've got an excellent 
blender and it hasn't been used for a couple of weeks 
while I've been "busy" with other things - LOL. Time 
to return to my kitchen. 

It's also a laundry day. Load #1 is already in the washer, with loads #2 and #3 to follow. I might also make my Roast Pork with Maple and Mustard Glaze, and I should make a new batch of my Bar-B-Que sauce, I noticed I'm almost out. That requires not only making the barbecue sauce, but also my Worcester sauce, since I make both of them from scratch and one is needed for the other. I might hold off on these until Friday, though. I'm not out of them yet, and I don't use them constantly. 

I'm tempted to make a roast pork, or buy a couple of pork 
chops for my pork chop recipe which is super easy to make. 
I'll probably wait on this decision until Friday, though. 
It's going to be busy enough today. 

I figure if I can get the soup made, plus the chicken tenders for tonight's dinner (which basically make themselves), I'll have a successful day. I might do pork too, either tenderloin or chops, but it's not necessary - I won't starve if I have soup and chicken. And it's also a Wednesday, so that means a nice long chat with Aearwen in the late afternoon. Something I look forward to every week, and something we've been doing for years and years now. I'll be busy today, but busier tomorrow and Friday, so I'll enjoy my "day off" as a "normal" day off and be grateful for the experience. 

Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

It's A Tuesday and I've Finally Get an Earlier Radiation Time!

Starting today I shift my radiology appointments from the 9:00 am slots to the 8:00 am slots (until my final appointment next Tuesday which is at the 7:45 am slot). That means I'm writing shorter blogs and catching up with all of you, my online friends, a bit less frequently because even though I'm waking up at 3:00 am instead of 4:00 am, I still have to get my run/walk in, shower, eat breakfast, and do the other things required in my normal mornings before leaving the house. But I am happy to be at the 8:00 am slot now because it makes getting to the shop on time to open properly MUCH easier. 

My radiation team is excellent - thorough and quick now
that we've got this down to a fine routine. I'm usually 
in and out of there in 10 minutes or so. A total WIN. 

I find myself at a lack of words today - I'm tired of writing about cancer, cancer, cancer, and I can imagine you're getting tired of reading about it just about as much as I am. But it's the life I'm living in right now, so it's prominent in my thoughts and actions. We're experiencing an unusually early Spring, which I'm certainly enjoying. But I suspect many of you are already thinking seriously about your gardens and the growing season ahead. I'm looking forward to warmer weather, happy birds, and green grass, but I still have a lot on my plate before that's going to happen. 

Billy Connolly, Scottish humorist, has it totally right 
in this paragraph. He has it totally right in a lot 
of different paragraphs. Not familiar with him? Just 
look him up on Google. Lots of good stuff there to 
lift your spirits and make you think. 

So I'm going to cut this short today. I don't have much to say .... at least not much that's new, but I wanted to check in with everyone because that's what I do and have done for more than a decade. I post in my blog six days a week, and my long-time readers worry if I miss a day when I haven't warned them about a time conflict in advance. Have an excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow for my "day off". Slava Ukraini. 

Mountains and Water and a River - Moving Along with Radiation Too

Starting today, I am shifting into earlier scheduling for my Radiation Therapy. Today will be 9:00 am, so not much different than the 9:15 am I've been on. But tomorrow, I'll drop down to 8:00 am and I even have one 7:45 am before I've completed the therapy. That means you might be getting very truncated posts on those earlier days because I still want to exercise on the treadmill and shower before I sit down in front of the computer. I'm just warning you - there may be a day or two there where I might be unable to post, or might post quite a bit later than usual. 

The Canadian Rockies are stunning. I recall my parents 
having taken a train trip through Canada to Banff. Mom 
was singularly unimpressed. When she took a trip, she 
wanted to meet new people and go shopping, not look at a 
lot of scenery - much of which looked like mountains 
she already knew in Colorado. But I adore the mountains, 
and think I'd really enjoy a train trip through Canada 
and the Banff Rockies. 

Today's treadmill was awesome. I spent 30 minutes in the Canadian Rockies - one of my favorite places to be. It was stunning scenery and lots of mountains with snow on the top and glacial waters gathering at the bottom. I might enjoy the desert vistas of New Mexico and Arizona, but my heart always belongs in the mountains - those deep, deep roots and high, high peaks that have snow on them year-'round. I suppose that's what comes from being a Colorado girl, but I live in an area where a 600 foot incline is considered worthy of having a ski lift and slopes for downhill. What a joke! 

You can walk across the Mississippi River at its' 
birthplace at Lake Itasca, Minnesota. It grows - a 
LOT - before it pours into the Gulf of Mexico (or 
Gulf of America if you want to be "woke"). 

Where I live was scoured flat by the great glaciers of the Ice Age back long, long ago. I have the great rivers and what seems like a million lakes (only 10,000 or so, according to the state slogan - LOL). I live in the state that gives birth to the mighty Mississippi. You can go to Lake Itasca and actually walk across where the great river is born. By the time the river hits the Twin Cities, it's already wide and deep enough to handle barge traffic, and it only continues to grow and grow as it moves south towards it's mouth at the great city of New Orleans. 

If you look carefully at the map above, you'll see 
Baton Rouge below the word River in the title. 
That's where the various Mississippi River Deltas 
begin. The river currently moves along south of New 
Orleans to the Port of New Orleans, but it keeps 
depositing soil as it goes, and changing the 
landscape it passes through. It's a huge river and it 
moves a lot of dirt downstream. 

It's the great rivers of the world that have allowed people to gather, join together, build settlements, towns, cities and nations, and pull together within national identities. Water is life, and human beings always gathered around dependable water sources first, then looked for the other things that would make long-term settlement possible. That's when things like climate, available food sources, and other people who might be allies or enemies all came into play. But water was the first thing, because without water, there is no life on this blue planet that is primarily liquid. Have an excellent day, I'm off to grab a quick breakfast and head over to Radiology. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

It's Friday! Yippee!!

Happy Friday to everyone. I actually get a "day off" today although I still have to start my day out with radiation therapy. That's fine, though. We've got this routine down pat. I get called into the room and asked if I would like a warm blanket ... well duh! Of COURSE I want a warm blanket - it's the best thing about clinic visits all around! LOL 

I totally agree with Linus. Happiness is indeed a warm 
blanket, and whenever a clinic offers me one, I'm totally 
on top of it! 

I pull off my clothing from the waist up and climb onto the very unyielding table (made that way for the sake of sanitizing the furniture between each client). Sometimes I think they hire the radiation techs for two purposes - people who can be precise enough to aim the radiation exactly where it is supposed to hit, and people who are willing to clean everything between patients. 

This is very similar to the position I have to take 
when I'm getting my radiation therapy. I hold upright 
posts with my hands above my head, and my knees are 
bent over a triangular form. I also have a head cavity, 
where I'm supposed to rest with my head facing one 
direction or the other, not straight upward. That 
folds my ear a bit and can get uncomfortable after 
a while. But, the sacrifices are minimal when 
compared to the benefits, and the staff is wonderful. 

I am worried about one of the patients I share the waiting room with, though. She is a small, slight, older woman who has had several people take her to her appointments. I think it's been a few friends, but also the free shuttle service that can be scheduled when needed. The past two days she's been there with her husband. Yesterday she wasn't doing well. She looked VERY tired and in pain, and was moving very slowly. When they called her name, she got up and shuffled toward the tech, who quickly asked if she would prefer a wheel chair. When she nodded, he quickly went and grabbed one (they keep several on hand for that purpose) and wheeled her into the left chamber (I usually am in the right chamber). 

After a short time, the tech came back out and said something quietly to her husband, who looked very concerned and quickly arose from his seat, accompanying the tech into the back rooms. I didn't see either of them again, and had my own session shortly afterward. I wonder if I will see her today. I've certainly been holding her in my thoughts and prayers. 

I love the produce section of my local grocery store, it's 
kept very well stocked, the veggies (and the fruits) are 
beautifully fresh, and I always feel pretty confident about 
the quality I'm purchasing. The variety is also excellent. 

So today is a day off, as I stated above, and I'll do some grocery shopping, but I don't actually need a lot. I'm starting to miss my alkagizers, and I might start making and drinking them again next week. I'll  give myself the remainder of this week without. I also need to call my treadmill people - I have a rail that has left its footing and needs to be reseated properly. I'll also remind them that they should have a new ON/OFF switch with cables for me. It seems that their repair service, although efficient when they are actually in the home, are a bit slow on the actual scheduling. They have a branch close to my home. I might just pay an in-store visit and see if things might go a bit faster. LOL Have a great Friday, I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week (and enjoy the first of two days without hospital visits - LOL). Slava Ukraini. 

Thoughts of People in our Past

We were good and went to the "Celebration of Life" (or whatever mortuaries are calling their get-togethers these days). It was good to see Gary, as always. He's our landlord (took over after his Dad died), and he's a great guy. It was also nice to see Hugh again - I haven't seen him for several years although he lives rather close to me. Dean, the brother who died (apparently of a massive heart attack) was the youngest of the three brothers. Their Mom is still living and was there. It was lovely to see her again and give her a hug and chat for a little bit. She's in her 90's now, but looks quite good. 

It was quite the nice location, and an easy drive from the house. 
It's right on the way to my orthodontist, so I was very 
familiar with the road and the best way to get there quickly. 
The funeral chapel was quite large with several different 
rooms available for people to gather in. Instead of a 
photo story-board as I'm used to (I haven't been to a wake 
in more than a decade), they had a nice large screen 
with photos rotating through virtually. That was a nice touch. 

DH filled me in a little bit on how we actually knew the family. Apparently, the father, Iver Carlson, had built an enclosed porch for DH's Dad way back when, and he also re-roofed our first home - the very small 1920's house that we first moved into (DH's Grandmother's house). Later on, the company did the gutters, siding and roof for the house we currently live in. The business closed a few years ago, but they still own a lot of property in the area around the store, so they are landlords now, rather than actively doing maintenance and building. 

Our neighborhood is basically owned by two families 
and a college. One of those families is the Carlson 
family, who have owned much of the property on our 
main street and rental housing west of us for decades. 
The actual business closed about five years ago, but 
they are still very active landlords in the area. 

We didn't stay long, I wasn't expecting to. I just felt we needed to make an appearance and make sure we saw all of the major people at least once. I knew Hugh the least of all of the boys. He was the only one who wasn't involved in the family business at one time or another. I know Gary the best - as our landlord he's been in and out, helping to fix, maintain and rebuild parts of our shop for many years now. 

Radiation therapy is going really well, and it's 
smooth and efficient. I'm generally out within 
10 minutes of being called back. We're getting 
into a routine, here - LOL. 

Radiation therapy is in its' second week now and I'm not really having any physical repercussions that I can tell, although I'm sure it's doing something. But I'm feeling pretty darned good, and just make sure that I stay on the schedule they've assigned me. Today is one of those days that I might be late to work, so I'll make sure the alarm is off so that Chickie can get in on time if I'm running slightly late. You can never tell what traffic will be like on the streets, and I don't want to open late. So I'll leave a bit early to make sure I have things ready to go for her before heading to the clinic. 

Have an excellent Thursday. I'm already looking forward to the end of the week. It's been quite the week so far - LOL. Enjoy your day and please, be kind. Kindness can be infectious, and we all need some kindness in our lives these days. Slava Ukraini.