A very Fine Friday

This morning Aaron, Tami and the girls came over for a while for a visit. It had been a long time since I had seen the girls other than a couple weeks ago at their doctor's office when they were not feeling well. So it was good to see them, both, the girls, had drawn me a couple pictures and wanted to give them to me.

Andrea came over after her doctor's appointment this morning as well. Unfortunately I had to leave for my radiation appointment so everyone left and Kathleen and I took off at the same time as everyone else left.

My treatment went fine; one of the interns who has been there during my treatments was there for her last day. Next week she has her finals and then off for a break. She thinks that she will go to Philadelphia to visit her best friend. Then back to school for a while, she will graduate this summer and looking for a place to find a job.

After my appointment, Kathleen and I sat around and talked to the other two couples until 1400, and then we all took off. Both the other couples finish up of Friday, so for my last couple appointments, there will not be there for Kathleen to chat with while I am getting my radiation.

This afternoon when I got home I made myself a Boca burger and put it on a couple heals of dark rye bread. I think that I would just as soon have a Boca burger than a regular hamburger. I usually keep a pack in the freezer for lunches when we do not have any leftovers in the refrigerator for a quick meal.

Alyssa called this afternoon, I had been calling her for a couple days and have not been able to get through, and so it was good to talk to her. She said that she was going to have pizza for dinner tonight, and that sounded pretty good to Kathleen and me.

Kathleen left to get the pizza shortly after we finished talking to Alyssa. She was only gone a short time and then put it into the convection oven and before I knew it, it was done. I like the "delight" variety of pizzas from Papa Murphy's, they are lower in fat and calories and the taste is not bad either.

Well, that is all that I can think about for today. Just two more radiation appointments to go. I will probably miss Monday's, because of the arrival of Andrea and John's peanut, so Tuesday and Wednesday will be my last...I hope.

Of course I still might be able to go to my radiation treatment on Monday, depending on what happens with Andrea. I let the folks know that I probably would not be there, and if I did I could just wait until they could fit me in.

Well, good night!

Another Thankful Thursday

Forty-four years ago today the high school I went to caught on fire; I was in a study hall in the new building with mostly seniors and thought that it was just another fire drill. It was not until I actually got outside that I noticed the smoke coming from the old building.

My first reaction was, "boy they are really making this look real, I wonder how they got it to smoke like that" Then the fire trucks arrived, as they were only about a half a mile away.

I went to look for Sue, my little sister; little did I realize that she was on the second floor of the building that was actually on fire. Luckily she was able to jump to safety.

I remember walking to church, where Mom was working and than that night all the relatives from Ohio and New York City calling to hear what had happened. Quite the excitement.

Well, that was then, this is now! I got a pretty good night sleep and feel almost awake. Last night I spent some time putting new line, (backing, fly line and leader) on my fly reels, and that took most of the evening.

Between not being able to concentrate very much and my arthritis, not being able to move my fingers the way I wanted to, it just took forever to accomplish. But at least I got it done and it keeps both my mind and my fingers busy.

Now for today! Today when I woke up the sun was shining and it looked like it might be a nice day, nice at least for Oregon. I went back to oatmeal for breakfast, I thought about having something else, but oatmeal has so many benefits that it is hard to not want to eat it.


I did not do much other than empty the dishwasher an put the dishes in from last night and breakfast. Before I realized it, it was noon and that meant that I needed to start thinking about getting ready for my radiation appointment.

There are two other couples that are usually in the waiting room after I have my radiation and Kathleen and I have developed somewhat of a relationship with. One of the couples the wife is having treatment and the other the husband. Anyway we usually sit and talk until everyone has finished their treatments and then sometimes keep talking, sometimes for half an hour or so.

After my appointment Kathleen wanted to stop at Montivilla Sewing Center to pick up her monthly CD. When I go in I spent most of my time over at the Stark's Vacuum side of the store looking at the vacuum cleaners.

There is one that I have been looking at for a couple years, in fact the salesman almost know me by name. Anyway, the one that I have talked to the most made me an offer on the vacuum that I had been wanting, that I could not refuse. I got an employee discount and he threw in a couple boxes of bags. Besides the vacuum, I also bought the attachment kit; I got everything for about fifty dollars less than the normal cost of just the vacuum alone.

So when we got home I made myself something to eat, I put some cottage cheese in a bowl and then added a half of a can of beets on top of it. It was interesting to look at, but it tasted okay.

After eating I had to try out the new vacuum, I think that I will like it. It weighs about the same as our old one, but it is much quieter and it has a 35 foot electric cord, so that I do not have to change plugs when I am vacuuming.

The attachment kit that I bought has a long hose so that I can do the stairs with the vacuum still on the main floor. With the old one I had to unplug and move the vacuum upstairs and finish the top stairs that way.

Well, all that vacuuming wore me out and I fell asleep for a while, while Kathleen was out running an errand.

Tonight for dinner Kathleen made some beef tips mashed potatoes, gravy and asparagus. Kathleen thought that I had eaten quite a lot, but I did not think go. Oh well, it tasted good.

Well, for some reason I seem to be more tired that usual, so I think that I will just say good night.

Wet again Wednesday

This morning when I got up I noticed that everything was wet outside; I am not sure when it happened, but it did. It continued to drizzle off and on all morning, so our few days of nice weather is over for a while. I am glad that I was able to get the little bit of yard work done that I did over the last couple of days.

This morning I heated up the mashed potatoes from a couple nights ago, in the pan that Kathleen made the spaghetti sauce in last night, so that it gave the mashed potatoes a sort of Italian flavor.
Then I added a couple spoons of Cheese Wiz and sprinkled on some Italian seasoning and heated it up a little more in the micro wave to melt the Cheese Wiz into the potatoes a little.

I also fried up a couple of Morningstar sausages to go along with the Italian fried mashed potatoes. Have I made you ill yet? Actually it tasted pretty good. I am sure that Alyssa will want to include this recipe in her Fabulous Food Friday one of these days.

It is a recipe made out of desperation, I am trying to find foods that I can eat without making my intestines rebel and that still something that is somewhat healthy and does not taste too bad either. The tasting part is probably the least important to me at this point; I just need things that will not cause my intestines/bowels to behave more normally.

Anyway after eating and putting my dishes into the dishwasher, I went into the living room to read the paper and then the mail. Then I decided to take the kitchen recycling out to the compostor as it had stopped raining for a while. While I was out there I noticed that some of the moss was looking a little worse than it had, so maybe I was somewhat successful in hindering that growth of the moss.

Well, it was now time for me to get ready for my radiation appointment; Kathleen had just gotten back from her doctor visit, so I suggested that she should stay home and relax a little. So I took my Wrangler so that she could drive herself to the memorial service for one of our friends who died last week of cancer; he had a brain tumor.

I wore dress pants and a button down shirt, so that I would not have to rush home to change, but go right to the church after my appointment. The radiation therapist was not sure what to think, as even on the coldest days I was always in my shorts.

I got to the church about a half hour before the service started, so I visited a little. I sat out in the vestibule so that if I needed I could make a quick exit. The church filled up and people were starting to stand in the vestibule, so I gave my seat up to a couple of elderly ladies and stood.

Well, since I am not in great shape any longer, about half way through the service, I started to get really tired and my legs were getting sore, so I left and headed home. I probably have felt as good today as I have in a couple months, but I have been really tired and fell asleep a couple of times in my chair.

Finally when I woke up a little I decided to vacuum the downstairs and then loaded up the dishwasher and turned it on. Then I washed the hand wash and dried the pots and pans.

Kathleen is sitting with Aaron and Tami's girls tonight, so I heated up the rest of the spaghetti from last night for my dinner.

Well, that is about all for tonight, there is not much to write about as I have been sitting and dozing most of the day. I am hoping that I will be a little more wide awake tomorrow, well, good night.

Teriffic Tuesday

I am not sure how much more of this nice weather I can take. It has been in the 60's all week and I do not have the energy to do what I need to be doing outside.

This morning after reading the paper and mail I went outside and pulled weeds and trimmed the blueberries and hydrangea. Then we left for my radiation appointment, just six more to go...I think!

After my appointment we stopped by Bi-Mart, to check our lucky numbers and I also wanted to get some stuff to put on the lawn and roof to get rid of the moss. So when we got home, I changed my clothes and went outside and got the spreader out and did the front and back lawns. Then I put the spray stuff into the hose and wet the lawn down. I figure that giving it a double dose would not hurt and maybe it would kill the moss.

By the time I got done I was not only tired, but it was about 1600 and too late for lunch. So I made myself a protein whey shake. Then I sat down in my chair and tried to stay awake.

Kathleen ground up the hamburgers from last night and made some spaghetti for dinner. I probably ate more than I should have, but I figured that I missed lunch. I have been loosing weight since I have been on the radiation treatments, but I could stand to loose some.

Well, I can not think of anything else to write home about, so I will say good night!

Marvelous Monday

This morning after eating my oatmeal, reading the paper and then the mail, I showered and got ready for my radiation appointment. After my shower, I loaded the white clothes into the washer and turned it on. Then I got dressed and came back downstairs and gathered up the trash and put it into the garbage can and took it up front.

Then I unloaded the dishwasher and put the dishes that had gathered in the sink into it. The washer went off so I loaded the clothes into the dryer and turned it on and then when Kathleen came downstairs we took off for my appointment, later than we normally do, but I got there just in time for my appointment.

After we got home and I changed my clothes again, I took the laundry upstairs and folded and put it away. Then I went back downstairs and put a couple of the throw rugs from the kitchen into the washer. While they were being washed, I mopped the kitchen and the mud room floors, and by the time I finished the rugs were ready for the dryer.

While the rugs were in the dryer, I made myself some lunch, I heated up the leftover blueberry pancakes from yesterday’s lunch and micro waved a couple sausages. After finishing lunch I loaded the dishwasher with the lunch dishes and then took the rugs out of the dryer and put them back down where they belonged.


I have been meaning to clean out my beta's vase for a week or so, so I went ahead and did that as well. The water at the bottom was getting pretty green, some of that was from the vegetation in the vase, but some was from just needing cleaning.

Kathleen made some hamburgers and mashed potatoes for dinner and after dinner I soaked the pots and loaded the dishes into the dishwasher. Kathleen had a meeting at 1900 so she took off for that, so I vacuumed the downstairs carpets and now I am blogging.

I think that is about it for tonight, so good night!

Sunday Sunshine

Well, I finally decided to get up around 0800 this morning, after spending most of the night getting up and going to the bathroom. I quit counting how often I got up, but I think that after 0500 in the morning I finally got to sleep for three hours before getting up. I think that the longest that I had slept before that was maybe twenty minutes.

Once up and dressed, I made myself some toast and emptied the dishwasher that I did not get to do last night. Then I sat down and enjoyed my English muffin bread toast with peanut butter and Smacker’s all fruit. Then I loaded the dishwasher up with the dishes from last night's dinner and my plate from this morning.

After reading the paper, I decided to take the garbage out; while I was outside I thought that I would enjoy some fresh air, so I stayed out for a while. I moved the fence around the large rose bed in the back of the house because it would make it easier when I mow.

Then I dug out a couple blackberry bushes that had started to spring up under my Japanese maple. While I was walking around the yard, I noticed that the lawn was starting to grow more in some spots than in others, so I thought that I would get the old lawnmower out and even everything up.

When I finished the mowing, I could feel that I was really tired, as you can tell, I am not in the best of shape, mostly from inactivity, but I also have lost a lot of my stomach muscles from my surgery.

Once inside and cleaned up, I sat down in my chair; Kathleen asked if I would like some pancakes for lunch. I sounded okay to me, and since I did not have a lot of energy at this point it was a good idea as far as I was concerned.

After eating I went back to my chair, but after twenty minutes or so I decided that I would be better off going to bed and actually going to sleep. So even though I am not much of a formal nap person, I went to bed and slept from about 1500 until about 1700.

Once up I decided that the clothes that I had worn outside probably should be washed, so I got some clean shorts and tee shirt out and sorted the clothes for the washing machine. I left it upstairs and told Kathleen to add her cloths to the bags.

Kathleen finally came downstairs dressed, so I went upstairs and brought the laundry downstairs. Kathleen made some tomato soup and melted cheese sandwiches for dinner, so after eating I put the dishes into the dishwasher and started it up. Then I loaded the dark clothes into the washer and that is where they are now.

Well, the washer just went off, so I think that I will say good night and transfer the clothes to the dryer. I am hoping that I can get a little more sleep tonight than I did last night.

Some Sunshine on Saturday

The creamed chipped beef and toast was even better than last nights because the toast had gotten soggy. It tasted almost like a breakfast dish that someone we know makes with eggs, toast, sausages or bacon and creamed sauce. I really liked it.

This morning after reading the paper and the mail, I went into my office and tried to find the files from this years taxes that I had started before my computer hard drive started acting up. I finally found most of it, and only had to re-input a little bit of what I had done before.

Now I just need to review it and e-file. I did not feel like doing it today as I am not sure that I am alert enough to really do a good job of it.

Well, that pretty much took care of my afternoon. I did go outside for a while and dug in the dirt, but it was still pretty wet. For lunch I reheated the chicken, rice asparagus and carrots from the other night.

I loaded up the dishwasher and turned it on, it was not quite full, but full enough that it needed to be run. It has finished, but I do not have the energy to unload it tonight. It will give me something to do tomorrow morning.

For dinner tonight Kathleen was at a loss for what to fix, so I suggested corn beef hash and tater tots. Not what I would consider a very nutritious meal, but bland enough as to not bother my intestines.

Well, again, not a very productive day, but I did get the taxes pretty much finished. I guess it is time to say good night.

Festive Friday

Well not really, but it is Friday and I do not have radiation treatments for two whole days, yeah! Kathleen had her sleep apnea study done last night so I sleep in until 0800 this morning. She got home about 0930 this morning; I was surprised to see her back that early.

Andrea came over this morning after her doctor's visit and left when we left for my radiation treatment. I only have about seven more to go, so I am hoping that in less than a month I will start to feel more "normal".

We stopped by the library so that I could drop off a couple books; Kathleen was too tired so we did not stay to look around. For me that is a good thing, because usually around 1500 is when I start not to feeling too well.

Today was a little different, I am still feeling pretty good, relatively speaking, and I have not had to make as many trips to the bathroom as I have been...I hope that this is a good sign.

I heated up some leftover macaroni and Velveeta for my lunch and then had a couple pizza sandwiches. It does not sound like something that most people would choose, but for me it has the tomato, processed cheese, which I can have, and English muffin bread all which seem to not upset my bowels too much.

This afternoon I spent most of the time reading a book and updating my "want" shopping list of books I want to read in the future. I also did a little research on the internet on a couple items I am interested in.

Then tonight Kathleen made some creamed chipped beef on toast for dinner. Here again it is a meal that I can eat without too many repercussions. Kathleen has gone upstairs to take a shower and get the goop off her from the electrodes that they stuck on her last night.

Well, I cannot think of anything else to write about, I live such a boring life! Well, good night!

Tired Thursday

I actually felt pretty good when I got up this morning; I had only gotten up twice last night compared to eight times the night before. After eating my oatmeal, I read the paper and then the mail, and since it was wet outside, I vacuumed the downstairs. Being really bored, I took the vacuum upstairs and vacuumed it as well.

It had been quite a while since I had vacuumed the upstairs, so I was not really too surprised at the amount of dirt that I picked up. After vacuuming I thought about doing the stairs, but I just did not have the energy, so I emptied the dishwasher.

Next it was off to my radiation appointment, which went well. Since we did not have any place that we had to go to or even wanted to go, we went home. It was nice getting home earlier because I had some time before I would start my afternoon bathroom pilgrimage.

I heated up the leftover salmon, pea and noodle casserole for lunch, and then toasted a couple pieces of English muffin bread and made some toast pizza, one of my staples.

Starting my treks to the bathroom an hour late was another surprise, because normally I had been starting my treks about 1500, but today for some reason it did not start until 1600. I am not complaining, I was just surprised when it did not start when I expected it to.

This afternoon, I finished another of the books that I had checked out of the library, so tomorrow we will probably stop by the library to take them back. The rest of the afternoon, I spent dozing in my chair. I am not sure why, but I have been extremely tired this afternoon.

Tonight for dinner, Kathleen made some chicken, carrots and asparagus stir fried along with some rice. It tasted really good, but then I really like fresh asparagus and baby carrots. Because I can only have a coupe of servings of vegetables each day, so it is nice to have something that I really like.

Well, tonight Kathleen goes across town to do her sleep apnea study, with her gone tonight and as tired as I feel, I think that it will be a really early night, so I will say good night for now and talk to you again tomorrow.

What a Wednesday

This morning for breakfast I made myself a couple eggs that I put on a bed of dark rye toast covered with the onion, mushroom and salmon cream sauce. Yes it was very good, I could have eaten a whole lot more, but luckily for me there was no more of the sauce left.

The rest of the morning was pretty normal the radiation treatment went well and we even stopped off at Bi-Mart, the post office and got gas for Kathleen's SUV. We got home just a little before 1500 and it was none too soon as I just had enough time to change clothes and then made my way to the bathroom.

This afternoon I had half of the leftover macaroni, salmon and pea casserole from the other night. Then the rest of this afternoon I pretty much just sat around and read a couple magazines and dozed.

For dinner tonight Kathleen made one of her famous "yellow" meals, macaroni and cheese with peaches for dessert. I think it was good; I was/am too tired to know for sure.

One of the things that I was reading today gave me some encouraging information; I thought that I would share that with you as it is not too long. So here goes:

Surgery and Radiation Seen as Best for Localized Prostate Cancer
Compared with less definitive approaches, radical prostatectomy and radiation therapy result in significantly higher survival rates in men with prostate cancer that hasn't spread beyond the gland

TUESDAY, January 23 (Reuters Health) - Both surgery (radical prostatectomy) and radiation therapy result in significantly higher survival rates in men with prostate cancer that hasn't spread beyond the gland, compared with less definitive approaches, according to the results of a large study conducted at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

Dr. Ashutosh Tewari, of New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City, and colleagues studied 3,159 men, 75 years of age or younger, with biopsy-confirmed, localized prostate cancer, treated between 1980 and 1997.

"A patient was considered to have undergone radiotherapy or prostatectomy if he received that treatment within 6 months of diagnosis; otherwise, he was assigned to 'conservative management'," the researchers explain in the medical journal Urology.

The overall survival rate at 15 years after treatment was 35 percent with conservative management, 50 percent with radiation treatment and 65 percent with radical prostatectomy, the team reports.

When deaths due specifically to prostate cancer were considered, survival rates were 79 percent, 87 percent and 92 percent with conservative management, radiation and surgery, respectively.

Looked at another way, men who had radiation treatment lived an average of 4.6 years longer with radiotherapy, and 8.6 years longer with radical prostatectomy, than those managed conservatively.

Because this was a look-back study, Tewari and colleagues caution that forward-looking clinical trials are still needed to compare the survival benefits of each of these three treatment approaches.

SOURCE: Urology, December 2006.

Have a good night!

A Tiring Tuesday

This morning while my oatmeal was cooking I emptied the dishwasher that I ran last night, and then I sat down to enjoy the oatmeal. It is not the same without the raisins, but the raisins seemed to be doing a number on my intestines, so I will give them up for a while. I can not wait until the radiation treatments are over so that I can start eating nuts, grains, fruit and vegetables again.

After finishing breakfast I went into the living room to read the paper and the mail, when it arrived. After the obligatory reading, I recycled the junk and the paper, and then I went onto my computer to pay a couple bills that had arrived in today’s mail.

Once that was done I decided to vacuum the downstairs carpeting, it is funny as I was doing it I realized that I vacuum more often when the weather is nasty outside. It seems like when it is nice out, I am outside doing things, but when the weather is not so nice I spend a lot more time inside and I notice the dog fur a lot more.

Well, my appointment was pretty normal, today the doctor took a look at the skin to see what kind of burning has been taking place, she said it looked pretty normal. I really have not had much of a problem with burning, just a little bit, my bowels are what have been giving me most of the problem, and that is one of the side effects I was told to expect.

After the appointment Kathleen needed to pick up a couple prescriptions for Fred Meyer, so on the way we stopped by the credit union to deposit a couple refund checks. Kathleen also had a couple prescriptions to drop off, so we had to wait about a half hour before they all would be ready.

We got home just in time for me to start my afternoon bathroom voyages, usually around 1500 they start and are pretty regular until about 1730 or so. Then I have a couple hours relief and then it starts all over again, usually until around midnight.

I had some of the leftover tofu, onion, mushroom and tomato sauce over macaroni for lunch again today. I finished it off, it was good while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end.

This afternoon, when I was not in the bathroom, I pretty much spent in my chair reading a book on what to expect after cancer treatments are over. It was a pretty short read, only about a hundred and twenty-five pages or so.

Tonight for dinner Kathleen made some salmon, cream of chicken soup and peas over pasta, Kathleen did not care for it too much, as the salmon was packaged and not fresh, but I like salmon even when it is not fresh. I do prefer fresh, but I like to eat salmon whenever I can.

There was enough leftover so that I will be able to have it for lunch some day. Well, I think that is about it for tonight, I am tired, so have a good night.

A Mixed Monday

Weather wise today had something for everyone. Early this morning it was rainy, then as I was going to my radiation appointment, the rain got really thick and probably at a little higher elevation it was actual snow, then when I came out of the hospital, the sun was so bright that it hurt the eyes. Now it has been rain showering since mid afternoon.

After my shower this morning I loaded up the washer with the light clothes and turned it on. It finished just before we left for my appointment so I loaded the clothes into the dryer and turned it on. After my appointment we stopped at Winco to do our grocery shopping, something we had not gotten done in a couple weeks.

By the time we got home I started my usual after appointment not feeling well, but I unloaded the groceries out of the car and then helped Kathleen put away the groceries. Then I heated up some of the left over macaroni and sauce from last night, I saved enough so that I can have the rest of it tomorrow. Then I made a couple English muffin toast pizza.

After eating I went into the living room to read a magazine that I got today and tried to stay awake. I caught myself dozing on a couple occasions, but never really got to sleep. After a while I realized that I still had not taken the clothes out of the dryer, so I did that. I then took them upstairs to fold and put away.

Kathleen made some onion, mushroom, and salmon in a cream sauce for dinner tonight. She also baked a couple potatoes, I used the sauce over my potatoes, and Kathleen just put butter on hers. Mushrooms and onions are not some of her favorite things. She also cut up an avocado on the side.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up my day, nothing very exciting, but that is how my life is nowadays. Well, good night!

Swampy Sunday

Well, after a couple days of mostly rain, the ground around here is getting rather swampy. I went outside this afternoon for a little while in between showers and it is a good thing that I have different footwear for outside and inside, because the rubberized sandals that I wore outside got pretty muddy.

Anyway, about today, I had my usual Sunday toast for breakfast, but like most Sundays for the last month or so, I did not go to church. Even though I am feeling much better, the amount of time that I need to spend in the bathroom makes it difficult to really go anywhere.

Anyway, since I slept in, I did not eat breakfast until about 0930. After breakfast I loaded up the washer and did a load of towels. While they were washing I read the paper and then vacuumed the downstairs carpeting.

By this time the wash was done, so I loaded it into the dryer and unloaded the dishwasher and put the dishes away. When the towels were dry, I took them out and folded them and put them away.

For lunch I made some toasted bread pizza and had the leftover cake from Andrea's shower. Kathleen came downstairs and made some scones for herself and started to make a tofu, tomato, onion and mushroom sauce for me. She does not like tofu, but I rather enjoy it, so I will eat it and she will have something else tonight.

I told her that if she got her clothes into the laundry, I would do the laundry this afternoon. So finally around 1600 I went upstairs and brought the dark clothes down, loaded them into the washer and started it up. They are in the dryer now, so I will have to stop in a bit to take them out to fold and put away.

Around 1800, I asked Kathleen about dinner and she said that I could have the sauce and leftover macaroni from last night. So I filled up a bowl with macaroni and put some of the sauce that Kathleen made this afternoon and heated it up in the micro wave. It was really good, I think that there is enough left over for lunch tomorrow.

Kathleen tried a little of the sauce and she said that the texture just did not sit with her very well, so she would not be eating any more of it. Oh well, her loss, it is one of the things that I can eat and not have problems with it later on.

Well, the dryer just went off, so I think I will close this and say good night for today.

Soggy Saturday

I woke up this morning to rain on the sky light in the bedroom and it has rained most of the day. It has rained hard at time and other times it was more of a drizzle, but late afternoon if finally let up at least for a little while.

I made myself a couple eggs and sausages for breakfast and than washed the dishes and whipped down the counters in the kitchen. Then I went into the living room and read the mail and paper. I cannot think of what else I did other than run to the bathroom a few times, but before I knew it Andrea was here to take Kathleen to the shower that Andrea's friends from the hotel were throwing for her.

I heated up the leftover chicken and mandarin sauce from the other night and then made a couple toasted bread pizza for my lunch. It seems like I have that almost every day, but it is something that I can eat without any problems and I have not grown tired of it yet.

They left here about 1315 and did not get home until after 1800. They seemed to have a good time and Kathleen was tired when she got into the house. Kathleen heated up the leftover salmon for dinner and also cooked some macaroni for dinner tonight. For dessert we had some leftover shower chocolate cake.

Well, it has been another rather unproductive day and I cannot think of anything else to say, so I guess that I will just say, good night.

Friendly Friday

Well, today was a little different as I had my radiation appointment at 1100 instead of at 1300. So I got up a little earlier and eat breakfast before getting on my computer to have my devotions and read my e-mail.

While my appointment was at 1100, I did not get into the radiation room until about 1145. They had to take new x-rays of my "target" zone, and then they started the new treatments. In doing a more narrowed down zone, they also use six positions where before there were only four.

We had thought that we would stop by the grocery store after the treatments, so after we left the hospital Kathleen stopped by fabric depot to pick up some thread. I stayed in the car and waited for her, but by the time she got back I was starting to feel not so good, so I asked if we could just go home.

After changing clothes I wound up having to sit on the toilet three times in the next half hour, so it was a good thing we did not try to do the grocery shopping after all. Kathleen heated up the left over soup from the other night and I made a couple pieces of bread pizza for my lunch.

Andrea came over for a little while this afternoon and left around 1630 to try to avoid some of the freeway traffic. I have felt pretty good since about 1500, so hopefully this will last through most of the weekend.

Tonight Kathleen cooked a couple salmon steaks, heated up the left over rice and squash for dinner tonight. I think that I could eat salmon every day of the week.

Well, I cannot think of anything else to write about tonight, so I will just say good night.

Thankful Thursday

Well, today is about a week since I started to feel better. I still do not feel great, but soooo much better than I had been feeling.

This morning was pretty typical, I got a pretty decent night sleep, and it makes a lot of difference when one does not have to get up a half dozen times a night. I had oatmeal for breakfast, only now I am not adding raisins. I never would have thought that a few raisins would cause so many bowel problems.

I guess that for now I just have to eat an unhealthy diet. It seems like just about everything I really enjoy, I can not eat. I am limited to white bread, no or as little fiber as possible, no raw fruit, limited milk products and no spicy foods.

I have been reading and updating some of my computer files this afternoon, I went outside a couple times, but the weather has been rather unstable. On minute the sun is shining and the next it is raining.

Kathleen made some Mandarin orange chicken and rice for dinner tonight. It was pretty good and there was a little left over for a lunch or snack. Well, I can not think of anything else to write about, as my life is not all that exciting at this point. So I will just say my good nights!

A Wow of a Wednesday

This morning started off where yesterday ended. By that I mean, I felt so much better than I had in over three weeks, it was hard to believe. Kathleen made "Granny Smith" pancakes this morning, only this time she peeled the skins on the apples and that seemed to make some difference as I did not have any problem with my bowels this morning.

When I went in for my radiation treatment today, the nurse that talked to me last week was there, she only works on Wednesdays and she asked me how I was doing. I was happy to report to her that I have felt better over the last week than I have since this whole radiation procedure started.

Kathleen and I stopped by the library after my radiation appointment today, we each had some things to drop off and we both wound up checking out a couple more books. I finished one, over 400, pages this afternoon and have started on the other one.

This afternoon has been really good as well; I have been feeling a little tired, but that kind of goes with the radiation. I have not had any problem with the cramping for going on three days and my stomach is feeling much better.

Tonight we had some of the leftover hamburger and rice soup that Kathleen made last night. It was very thick when I put it into the refrigerator containers last night so we just added some water to thin it down just a little.

Today the weather has gone from very sunny early this morning to overcast this afternoon. They are predicting rain off and on for the next few days, so this is just the precursor to the change in the weather.

I enjoyed getting outside for a little bit each day for the last couple days, but they are saying that the rain will not be all day affairs, but rather scattered showers with the possibility of some thunder and lightning a couple times.

Well, I am feeling much better, but I still am not getting much done around the house. Well, that was my day; I hope you all had a good day as well. I guess I will just say good night for now. If anything else exciting happens later tonight, I will either write an other blog tonight or write about it tomorrow.

Tempting Tuesday

This morning was normal by my radiation standards. Radiation went normally, but this afternoon has been quite pleasant. That is I have spent very little time in the bathroom, very different from my normal afternoons.

Monday was much better than my typical afternoons, but today was much better than yesterday. I would like to hope that this is a new trend, but by the same token, I do not want to get my hopes up too much.

I wish that the day had been a little nicer, it would have liked to have tried to gotten some yard work done. I did go out a couple of times, but the weather was just to changeable. Maybe it was a good thing as I probably did not need to get too worn out.

Besides not needing to use the bathroom a often, I have not had the cramps that I normal have in the afternoons and evenings, so that has been another very good thing. So what this means to me right now is that I am not as tired as I have been for the last month or so.

If the next month or so goes as well as the last couple days have, I think I can handle it. The way it had been going, I was not sure if I made the correct decision as far as the radiation goes. Next to the time I ate some bad oysters, I think that this is the worst I have felt for an extended period of time.

Well, I cannot think of anything else to write about so I think that I will just say good night.

Monday Madness

This morning seemed like a normal morning, at least since the radiation treatments started. I did my normal 8 - 10 trips to the bathroom and other than a sore bottom I felt pretty good.

Alyssa stopped by for a few minutes and brought over a couple tee shirts for me, she knows how I wear tee shirts all the time. Then a few minutes after she left, my little brother called, and we talked for about forty-five minutes.

We talked about how much things had changed since we were younger and how even then people did not believe how much our family was like Ozzie and Harriet, the Donna Reed Show, or father knows best. I guess we were a pretty unique family even back then, although more families were like that then, then there are now.

Anyway, after talking to Brad, I took my shower and got ready for my radiation appointment. Kathleen came home about 1230 and we left a few minutes after that.

After my appointment, as we were walking down the hallway to leave, we ran into Tami and the two girls. Alexis had been throwing up and Tami was taking her to see the doctor. Both girls had been sick off and on for several weeks. In fact the whole family has been not feeling well for at least a month.

After leaving the hospital, we stopped by the library to drop of some of the books Kathleen and I had checked out. The library was closed, due to it being president's day, so I just dropped the books off at the outside book drop.

We had just gotten home and I changed my clothes when I had to make a mad dash to the bathroom. I had two runny bowel movements in the period of about a half hour and since then I have not had to go.

For me that is pretty good, normally I go about a dozen time between 1500 and midnight, but here it is almost 2230 and I still have only gone those two times. I could live with this.

Anyway that has been my day. Friday I have to go in at 1100 so that they can line me up for my new procedure. This is where they give me the same dose but they do it in a smaller area. I am hoping that when they narrow down the field of radiation that I may not have some of the effects that I have been experiencing for the last several weeks.

Well, that is about it for today, so good night, sleep tight.

Sunny Sunday Continued

Well, I went outside to take the recycling out to the garage and while it was not quite as nice a day as yesterday was, it was still an okay day for Portland in the winter. So I decided to do a little more weeding.

I had been noticing some weeds growing right around the back door, so I got out my mat and started to pick the weeds that I found. There were more than I thought there were, but I got them all done.

Then as I was getting ready to put the mat back into the garage, I decided that I would get the weeds growing by the tree rose that is by one of the back gates. There were not too many weeds there so it only took a few minutes.

Once back in the house I decided to make myself some lunch, so I heated up the left-over spaghetti from last night. Having satisfied my hunger, I thought that I would vacuum the downstairs since I had not done that in a couple days.

I am still amazed at the amount of fur that Reggie deposits every day. Oh well, it gives me something to do a couple times a week.

Kathleen made something out of bacon, rice and Velveeta, it was not too bad. Kathleen did not care for it, but I did not think that it tasted too badly.

Well, I think that is all for tonight, so I will close and say good night.

Sunny Sunday

Well, I thought that I would try to do a quick blog, as I am feeling almost normal right now. I know that if I wait until later today, I will be too tired to think or write anything.

Yesterday was a pretty normal morning for me, normal that is since I started the radiation treatments. I did sleep in until almost 0900 and felt pretty good when I got up. Now if you consider that I went to bed a little less then 12 hours before that you could understand. I do not remember the last time I had that much rest.

Anyway, after reading the paper and the mail, I was noticing how really nice it was outside, so I decided to go out and sit in the sun for a little while and get some vitamin D. So I went into the garage and got one of our canvas deck chairs and set it up in a sunny spot in the back yard.

Well, it was not long before I started looking around and though that I really should take advantage of the nice weather and do something. So I got out my edger and started to edge the big rose garden in the back of the property and then followed the garden around past the back side of the berry patch.

After I had everything edged, I got out my little garden fork and started to loosen up the soil in the area that I just edged, pulling weeds out as I went. While doing that I also dug up a couple butterfly bushes that had started to grow near the stomp of one of our old apple trees. So I dug them up and put them into a couple pots. Did anyone want them, I know that I gave some to Alyssa and Tami last summer, but I do not think that I will be using them and they will just be tossed if no one wants them.

I finally could feel myself getting tired and thirsty, so I gathered up the tools and the chair and put them away in the garage and then went into the house to clean up. Once cleaned up, I realized that I was also getting hungry, so I made myself some English muffin bread pizza.

I am not suppose to be having cheese, so I used Velveeta instead and tomato products are suppose to be good for me, so I have been having that quite frequently lately.

After eating, I filled my weekly vitamin pill tray downstairs and then went upstairs to fill my morning and evening medicine pill tray, when I came back downstairs, Kathleen had called my Mom. She whispered that she was talking to her and so I got on one of the other phones. It was good to talk to her and she sounded like she was feeling good as well.

Kathleen had been watching a cam of Syracuse and saw that it was sunny out so she though that it would be a good time to call. Syracuse and most of the upstate New York near the lakes is been having quite a spell this last week and a half or so.

I made it past 1500, which is the time during the week that I start to feel not so hot. It is two hours after my radiation, and about the time that they tell me is when the radiation starts to do its thing.

In fact it was almost 1700 before I started to feel kind of yucky. The good thing, one of many, about weekends is that, I do not feel quite as bad as during the week, and I go longer in between the cramping.

The children and grandchildren all went bowling and than on to Alyssa and Dan's for a barbecue and cake to celebrate Chucky's birthday. I would have liked to have gone, at least to Alyssa and Dan's, but I am not very good company at the moment. From Alyssa's blog, it sounds like they all had a good time, especially Hayden. By the way, Alyssa, I liked his shirt!

Well, I think that I will close for now; I wrote more than I thought that I would, and probably more than I would have if I had tried to do this last night. I hope that you all have a good day, we missed church again today. It has been a month since I have been there, just a little while after I started my therapy.

Tuesday's Trials

Today really started last night about 2330 when I started to get chilled and shivering uncontrollably. To make matters worse, I still had to use the toilet three or four times during the process. Not much of anything came out, but I needed to go just to be safe.

Somewhere around 0100, I started to warm up and the shivering stopped. By this time I was really exhausted and flat out did not feel good at all. I was finally able to get to sleep and with the exception of getting up about three or four times I slept until about 0700.

When I got up, I was still pretty tired, but I needed to get my day started. Kathleen got up shortly after I did and made eggs and hash browns for breakfast. She had the yokes and I had the whites, with cheese.

Reggie has not been doing too well for a couple months, and Kathleen was finally able to take him to the vet, so now we have a couple different pills to give him each day and some drops to put in his ears. Unfortunately, Reggie does not fall under the classification of dependent so he is not covered under my medical plan.

Kathleen dropped off the valentine goodies to Becca and Alexis; they were both taking a nap when she got there. I did not go as I really was still not feeling really very good.

I finally started to feel better around noon and then it was off for my radiation appointment. We had talked about going out again later in the day, but I started feeling poorly again around 1500, so I sat around most of the afternoon, I even dozed off for a while.

I guess that we will have to take the goodies to Natalie, Zander and Hayden some other time.

Well, that is about all for today, not much here, but then again I am not doing too much either. Well, good night

Feeling better Friday

Well, since it has been almost a week since I blogged and since I am feeling better today I thought that I would do a quick blog.

I had my final radiation treatment for the week today; next week I will be half way through my treatments. I have really been feeling poorly for the last week or so, and just have not had any energy.

For the last couple of days I have spent about an hour out in the yard working, but I have gotten so tired that I just sat around for the rest of the day. Most of the time it was a struggle to just stay awake.

Today, I was feeling bad because it has been relatively nice out the whole week, nice for Oregon in the winter, it has not been raining and the temperature has been in the fifties and low sixties. So I went out side and did some weeding, in the blueberry patch, I also dug up some irises and set them aside.

These are a different variety than the ones that I dug up last fall, so I want to find a place to place them in another area. They were getting too close to the blueberries and making it difficult to keep the area weeded.

We had some left over chicken soup tonight, Kathleen made some for dinner last night and put the bones into the oven to roast them with the intention to make some more soup, but when she took it out of the oven and placed the pan on the stove, it was not on enough and wound up on the floor. So I helped her clean it up and then washed the area rugs and a couple towels that we used to mop the floor with.

Well, I am tired again, so I will say good night and hope to have this much energy again tomorrow.

Sitting Saturday

Well, I think that I am over the hump as I have not had to sit on the toilet for at least four hours now. I just about wore it out yesterday, I think I went almost two dozen times, today was only about half that amount.

I was so worn out yesterday evening that I did not get to do my blog. I almost did not do it tonight, but I feel a little better and almost awake.

Kathleen made some Granny Smith pancakes for breakfast and I think that helped plug things up a little. Then I made myself some peanut butter toast for lunch. Kathleen went to the grocery store and picked up a loaf of English muffin bread, so I made myself a couple pieces of pizza toast mid afternoon.

Tonight Kathleen heated up the roast that she made last night, I did not have any because nothing appealed to me. So far I have been able to keep the dinner down and it has been two and a half hours since I ate.

I have been sitting or laying down most of yesterday and today, except for a little time when I was installing some of the programs back on my computer. We, that is mostly Kathleen, finally got the new hard drive installed, so now it is just the tedious task of installing the programs again.

Well, I do not have a lot of energy, so I think that I will say good night.

Thursday Timings

Pretty normal morning, up through my radiation appointment. After I finished Kathleen wanted to stop off at the Dollar Tree store so we did and then after that we stopped by Office Max as Kathleen wanted to try to find some origami paper. I think that she found a couple pads of it.

Shortly after we got home Alyssa called and wanted to stop by with the grandchildren. So they got her a little after 1600 and we had a good time playing with them. Kathleen feed them some graham cracker "bugs" and Bugles and when they were done with that Natalie came over to me and whispered in my ear asking if they could have some licorice . I did not have any licorice left so I gave them the rest of my "Swedish" fish.

They left around 1730 and were still hungry, Alyssa says that they are always hungry. I remember when we had little one's, it seems that they were always wanting to eat. Those were the days when we could go the grocery store two or three times a week and still never have any food in the house.

Luckily we had picked up a Papa Murphy's pizza on the way home from the store this afternoon, so I put it into the oven and cooked it up. It was done just in time for Kathleen and I to eat a couple pieces and then Kathleen went off to a shower and I took off for the accountability group.

I got home a little after 2200 and here I am writing this. Well, I am tired and it is late, so good night.

Wandering around on Wednesday

Normal morning, after breakfast, paper and mail, I went outside and raked up the rows of raspberries to get rid of the small pieces of raspberry canes that were left over from yesterdays trimming and also moss that seems to grow around the plants.

I did not make the same mistake I made yesterday by not coming in early enough and came inside by noon time. I made myself a protein drink to tide me over until I got home to make some lunch.

My appointment was pretty normal, and afterwards Kathleen stopped by the library to return some books and videos. While we were there I picked up a couple videos that I had on hold and found a couple books I wanted to look at. Kathleen found another bag of books and videos to check out, so we have our reading lined up for the next couple weeks.

After the library, Kathleen had a prescription that she needed to pick up at Fred Meyer's, so we swung by there afterwards. She wanted to walk around after she picked up her prescription, so we did that for another half hour. Then home by 1500.

Tonight I think Kathleen is going to cook the rest of that turkey sausage and some noodles for dinner, we will have to leave for an annual church business meeting tonight so I am doing this a little early. I think that this will be a long meeting, and I am sure that I will not feel like doing it after we get back. So I will just say my good nights now.

Tuesday's Timimg

Well, I thought that I would have a quiet night last night after I did my blog, but after I did the load of towels, I also did the rest of the laundry. As I was folding the towels, I realized that I was feeling better than I had since early in the day, so I decided to go upstairs and bring down the dark clothes and put them into the washer. Then when I was putting them into the dryer, I thought that I could do the light clothes as well.

So even though I felt tired earlier, I must have gotten a second wind, because I seemed to get almost as much done after dinner as I had done the rest of the day. I took the dried light clothes upstairs around 2130 and decided that I would just go to bed after I folded and put the clothes away.

Anyway so much for yesterday! This morning was pretty much the same as yesterday, except this morning around 1130 I decided to go outside and work on cutting the dead wood from the raspberries and tying them up.

When I finished doing two rows, I was going to rake the broken stalks that did not get into the bin. But I thought that I would go inside to see what time it was, I was surprised to find out that it was 1240 already.

I have been leaving for my radiation appointment around 1230, so I rushed upstairs and changed my clothes. Luckily it was cool enough that I had not worked up a sweat and my deodorant was still holding up. I got changed and still beat Kathleen downstairs.

I was only in for my radiation treatment for ten minutes, but we did not get out of the office for about another twenty minutes. Kathleen had been talking to an other couple when I got back to the waiting room and we continued talking to the husband while the wife went in for her treatment.

Well, she finished her treatment and then we talked a while longer and then left together. We wanted to stop by BiMart on the way home because they had a couple toaster ovens on sale. The one was really big, it was actually a counter top convection oven, it was about twice the size of our old one.

The other one is the one we bought it was a little bigger than our old one and had a warming tray on the top of it for keeping some things warm, like buns or rolls. We also picked up a web cam that they had on sale for &15.00.

Kathleen said that we needed to stop by Winco as we needed to pick up some oranges. I also knew that we needed some bread and molasses, so we stopped there and got those things plus some other items that we thought that we would need. We have only been going to the grocery store every other week or so.

When we got home Kathleen opened up the toaster oven and plugged it in. Of course we needed to try it out so we made some toast, of course. That did not really fill me up so I heated up some of the left over jambalaya from last night.

Then I crashed about 1630 again, it was just like yesterday. I dozed a little and I started to feel a little better after dinner. Kathleen had made some shrimp stir fried and I cut up a tomato and had the left over avocado from the other day.

Well that was my day, now it is time to say good night.

Monday Minutes

I got up about the same time today as I did yesterday, so I must be a little tired. I made oatmeal for myself for breakfast, I added some Go-Lean-Crunch wheat germ, raisins, a banana and some Grandmas black strap molasses. Good and healthy as well.

After breakfast I put the dishes into the dishwasher, watered the plants in the kitchen, and changed the water in the betas vase. After that I picked up the throw rugs from the kitchen, shook them out, swept the floor and then mopped it. While the floor was drying I washed down the sink in the downstairs bathroom.

The mail came while I was reading the paper, not much there, either in the paper or the mail, it is a good thing that I recycle, otherwise I would feel really guilty about the waste of all that paper.

By this time it was getting close to the time that I needed to start getting ready for my radiation appointment. so I got cleaned up and changed my clothes. The appointment was a little longer today as they had to take more x-rays to make sure that everything was still in the position that it needed to be in.

They told me that they have to do that once a week just to be safe and sure. I was there about an hour, which is about an half hour longer than I am there most of the time.

When we got home I made myself a sardine sandwich on New York rye bread. The sardines came packed in hot sauce, so I had to sop it up with a little rye bread, just to be sure that I got it all.

This afternoon I was feeling a little tired and even took a couple cat-naps. I am not sure why I was tired this afternoon, I felt good this morning, but this afternoon has been a different story.

I got a little more energy late this afternoon, so I gathered up the towels and washed and dried them. I think I might even start the rest of the laundry, as I sorted them out already, now it is only a matter of bringing them downstairs and loading them into the washer and dryer.

Kathleen made some Zatarain's New Orleans style Jambalaya for dinner tonight, she added half of a turkey sausage to it. We also had a glass of wine with it, strictly for medicinal purposes of course.

Well, I think that is the jest of my day, so I think that I will say good night.

Sleepy Sunday

I got up later than I normally do on a Sunday, I was tired and my throat was bothering me. I knew that before I got up that I would not be going to church or Sunday School, so I was in no rush to get up. Kathleen came downstairs about fifteen minutes after I got there and when I told her that I did not think I would be going to church this morning, she went back upstairs and went to bed.

The spring on our toaster oven door is broken, so I made my toast in the frying pan. It really turned out pretty much like regular toast and only took a littler bit longer to make. I also made a fresh pot of coffee, and shortly after that Kathleen must have smelled the coffee and came downstairs.

I unloaded the dishwasher, took out the kitchen compost and the trash and vacuumed the downstairs carpet. Then I turned off my computer and started to prepare for the new hard drive.

Toni and Chucky came over about 1500 with some lunch that they had made for us, we were going to go over there, but their landlord was doing something there, so they came over here with the food that they had made.

They had barbecued chicken and pork and some fried rice. It was really good, unfortunately it had gotten cool on the trip over here, so I heated it up in the micro wave. Toni was really tired, so they left around 1700.

We are in the process of cloning my new hard drive to my old one. It will probably take most of the night, so I am using our new laptop/notebook. It is really nice, it has a full size keyboard and even a ten key pad. It feels as close to a regular keyboard as any laptop/notebook that I have ever used.

Well, I think that it will be a relatively quiet night tonight, it had been really windy yesterday and this morning, but it seems to have quieted down now. So I will enjoy the rest of tonight and then tomorrow I get to go back on my weekday radiation routine.

I is so nice on the weekends not to have to go there everyday, but it is something that I have to do for now. It does beat the other alternative though. Well, I guess that I will just say good night.

Slow Saturday

Slept in a little longer than usual this morning, probably because I stayed up a little later. Once I did get up I put the hash browns in the frying pan and then put the egg whites that Kathleen had left over from her eggs yesterday, into the pan and added a whole egg and fried it all up.

Then I micro waved a couple sausage links and added some hot salsa to the hash browns. Needless to say I had a plate full, not too much, but enough to satisfy me. After finishing breakfast I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up.

The mail had come so I went out and got it, a couple of bills, but mostly the usual junk. I finally got around to reading the paper after a while, not much there either.

We got a new hard drive and a USB 2.0 card for my old computer so I decided to open up my computer and get everything ready for Kathleen to help me add the hard drive. Once I had it opened and saw how dusty it was, I decided that I had better vacuum it out.

Once I did that I decided to change out the old USB 1.0 port with the new USB 2.0 card. Then I got Kathleen involved, as she has had some experience with changing or adding hard drives. Kathleen did some reading up on it and right now it has gotten too late to start it, so maybe tomorrow.

So right now my computer is blue screening every time I try to boot it up. I think that I will take out the USB 2.0 card and see it that is it or if my hard drive has finally crashed.

That is about all for me tonight, I did not get a lot done today, but I have been a little more tired today. I guess that I will have to get to bed a little earlier tonight. With that said, I think that I will just say good night.

Friday is Five days of Fair Weather

Today is the fifth day of rather nice weather, it has been dry for about a week now and the weather has been in the fifties just about all week. Today was my breakfast day with the accountability group, so this morning I headed to the place where we were going to have breakfast.

I got there a little before 0830, so I went in and took a seat in one of the empty booths, the next guy got there about ten minutes later. We talked for a while and about ten minutes later the other two showed up. We had a good time of fellowship and the breakfast was good as well.

About 1000 the place was full and someone else came, so I suggested that we get up and let someone else sit down. So we went behind my Wrangler, prayed for a bit, and then went our separate ways.

I got home, read the paper and mail, and then waited for Kathleen to get dressed so that we could go to my radiation appointment. WE got there a little later than we normally do, but still before my appointment. I was in and out, and then back in the waiting room we spent about a half hour talking with another couple where the wife was undergoing radiation.

After leaving the doctor's office, we went to CompUSA to pick up our laptop. Kathleen also needed to pick up a couple more items, so we did that first. The computer was not quite ready yet, so we looked around for a little more time.

Kathleen was not feeling too well, so she reheated the steak, microwaved a potato and toasted a slice of Texas toast apiece. Kathleen has gone upstairs now, maybe to work on some of her new printer stuff. I was playing with the new laptop before dinner and probably will play some more on it after I publish this.

I cannot think of anything else to write home about so I will just say good night.

Is it still Thursday?

This morning started out pretty normal. This morning Kathleen decided to make granny Smith pancakes for breakfast. They were good, she also fried up a couple strips of bacon, so we were both full after them.

Then I went into the living room and read the paper and then the mail when it got here. By this time, it was time to start getting ready for my radiation treatment. We got to the office about 1250 and were leaving by 1310, so it does not take too long; it is just going there every day.

I wanted to stop by Circuit City to check on some computer stuff, did not find anything there, so we went to CompUSA and looked. We got there about 1430 and left about 2000. Kathleen found a new printer that she has been wanting to get for a while and the person who had helped us when we were there the last time is a business sales person, so he helped us set up a business account.

Before he came over, we had spent about an hour and a half talking to the Cannon representative about the different printers. Then the sales person came over and was able to get us a discount price and a matching price so that helped us decide to buy it at this time.

Well, he also was able to get us a good price on a 17" HP laptop that I had been looking at. I did not get to bring us home as I was getting a memory upgrade put in and also the techs are going to update all the software for me. I do get to pick it up tomorrow though. It is just as well as I am really too tired to do much with it tonight.

We were able to put it on a six months same as cash account, so that will enable us to spread the payments out over a few months. I also get two years of service, where they will replace the screen or battery if there is a problem in the next couple of years. I can also upgrade the software and hardware for just the price of the product, at a discounted price.

Anyway, we got home about 2045, we made a stop at Burger King, as Kathleen was too tired to do anything at home and I was too hungry to not stop. Anyway, we both had Jr. Whoppers, which more than filled me up and Kathleen could not finish the last bit or two.

Like I said it has been a long day, I am tired and Kathleen has gone upstairs to play with her new printer. Now seems like a good time to say good night!

Wet less Wednesday!

Aside from the fact that it was a little foggy this morning, this has been another really nice day, exceptionally nice when one realizes that this is January in Oregon!

Anyway, this morning after finishing the paper and the mail, I decided that I needed to take myself for a walk. I have not walked by myself in several weeks. When I walk with Reggie, he tends to stop often and I do not really get a good walk in. When I walk with Kathleen, I have to keep catching myself and slow down so that she can keep up.

I enjoy walking with Kathleen and even Reggie for that matter, but I do not do myself as much good as I need to. If I could do both, that would be great, but most of the time that just does not happen.

I got home from my walk in time to clean up, change into dressier shorts, and drink a glass of orange juice. I think that we spend more time in the waiting room than I actually do getting my radiation treatments. Part of that is because I am the first appointment after lunch, which is one reason that I chose that time. The wait probably would be even longer if it were at any other time.

Another motivation for choosing that time was that finding a place to park is a lot easier, because it is the lunch hour, there are not a lot of other patients there ahead of me. That plus the fact that they are doing some construction at the hospital and half the parking lot that use to be for patients is being used by the doctors.

Kathleen did not have any place to go after my appointment, so we just headed home. After changing my clothes again, I made myself a meatloaf sandwich on New York rye bread and had an orange for desert.

Well, we both have a meeting to go to at church tonight so I am doing this early, I just do not think that I will be much in the mood to do this after the meeting. Even if the meeting goes well, it is liable to be getting over late and my mind probably will not be as clear as it is now.

Well, so far this week I have not been feeling as fatigued as I had been, whether it has to do with the weather being nicer than it has been or whatever, I do not know. I am just glad to feel more like my normal self and not being so tired all the time.

I think I will check with Kathleen to see what she is planning for dinner, maybe the steak we bought yesterday. So I will sign off now with a good night!

Terrific Tuesday

Since we got another dozen eggs yesterday, I decided to make myself a couple of them along with some hash brown potatoes and sausages. I try to limit myself to eggs maybe once or twice a week, the rest of the time I usually have oatmeal and once a week or so I have raisin toast.

After finishing eating I did the hand washing, loaded up the dishwasher, and started it up. It is somewhat funny, as I had to wash the frying pan before I cooked my eggs and hash browns, then I washed it after I was done with it, and then since Kathleen made herself some eggs, hash browns and ham, I had to wash it again when she was finished with it.

Anyway, after finishing in the kitchen I went into the living room and read the paper. The mail came just after I finished the paper, so I brought it in and opened it up. I think that I had four catalogs and all but my interest statement from the bank the rest was junk. Luckily today was the recycling day so I took it out and put it with the rest of the recycling.

After looking at a couple magazines, I went outside and cut some wood to size for my son, Aaron, so that they will have some real firewood to burn. After finishing what I had on the side of the house, I dug up a laurel bush that Kathleen had pointed out as being too close to the climbing roses that are along the west fence. While I was doing that I also noticed a holy bush that was about three feet tall that was growing in with another rose bush.

Since I had worked up a bit of a sweat, I decided that I had better go inside and get cleaned up for my radiation appointment. It makes it hard when the weather is so nice, to stop and clean up and change clothes in the middle of the day.

My appointment went well; I was only there about fifteen minutes today, which will probably be the norm. I even got to see the doctor. She asked if I was experiencing any problem with diarrhea and if I had to get up more in the middle of the night. Luckily I was able to say no to both of these.

She also asked how I was feeling in general, and I was glad to say that the last two days I have had more energy than I have had in the last couple of weeks. We left the doctor's office by 1311 and on our way home.

Once home, I stayed in my clothes as Kathleen has a doctor's appointment at 1545, so thought that I would just do some inside the house stuff. First I emptied the dishwasher and put things away, and then I made myself some lunch. I made some open-faced melted cheese and ham sandwiches. I used sharp cheddar on one and medium cheddar on the other.

I also had a couple oranges, to round the meal off. I did not want to do what I did yesterday and go too long before I had something to eat.

After Kathleen's doctor's appointment, we stopped by Fred Meyer's to pick up her prescriptions and picked up some grocery items. Kathleen bought a couple steaks; both together weighed less than a pound, which is more than we need for a meal. However, by the time we got home it was 1745, just in time for the "State of the Union" address.

Since Kathleen did not feel cooking like the steaks tonight, she put a couple Mexican frozen dinners, not quite steak, but okay occasionally. Kathleen headed upstairs right after dinner, so here I am listening to the president's speech and blogging.

Well, I know that I will not be doing anything too terribly exciting for the rest of the evening so I will just say good night.

Marvelous Monday

This morning was a pretty typical morning and after reading the paper, I did a load of towels. Then when Kathleen got up, I did a couple loads of laundry. While they were in the washer and dryer, I went outside and worked at pulling up some more of that annoying ivy.

The temperature was in the fifties today, quite a change from last week. Just about all the snow is gone, except for a little bit in some of the really shady areas. So with the nice weather and my feeling pretty good for a change, I though that I would take advantage of something that probably will not be happening too frequently over the next few months.

Anyway, I finished up about noon, so I went inside so that I could get cleaned up for my 1300 radiation appointment. I was only there for about a half hour again, so it does not take up a lot of time; it is just having to do it every day.

After my appointment, Kathleen and I stopped by the credit union to make another deposit. The credit union is only about a half mile from where I have my radiation, so it is pretty convenient.

We also stopped by Winco to do some grocery shopping. We were not out of much of anything, but we were getting low on a few items. I think it took about two hours to get through the store, but about twenty minutes or so of that time was visiting with another couple who happened to be shopping as well.

Since we did not get home until about 1600, I missed lunch, so I grabbed a few baby carrots and cut up some celery and put peanut butter on it. I knew that we would be eating around 1800, so I did not want to eat too much. Maybe if I do this every day I will be able to drop a few pounds.

Kathleen made some "hamburger" soup tonight; she thinks that I need to eat more protein. We did by several containers of soy tofu today, she does not like it, but I do, so maybe we will be adding some new items to our diets.

Well, I still do not feel as tired as I did last Friday or Saturday, which is a good thing. I just hope that I continue to feel as good as I did today, but I am not counting on it. Well, I think I will just say good night, as I do not envision anything exciting happening for the rest of the night.

Sleepy-time Sunday

This was pretty much like any other Sunday morning, church, Sunday School and then back home. I felt really tired by the time we got back home. Kathleen suggested that I take a nap, but I determined to read the paper before taking a nap.

Kathleen went upstairs and took a nap for a couple hours. Not only did I read the paper, but also I took the kitchen recycling out to the tumbler, vacuumed the downstairs, emptied the dishwasher, loaded it back up again and did the hand washing.

I thought about taking a nap, but I decided to read one of the books I checked out of the library the other day. I almost put it down a couple times, but kept at it and even finished reading it.

Then about 1700 I heated up some of the hash browns and ham that I brought home from the men's breakfast yesterday morning. I added about a half of a cup of hot salsa to the potatoes and reheated it.

Well, my mind is not as sharp as I would like it to be, and I cannot think of anything else to write about, so I will just say good night.

Slumbering Saturday

I was up early this morning, as I needed to get to church early to make breakfast for the men this morning. I certainly did not feel life getting up, but I had agreed to do the breakfast before I started this last round of treatment.

Breakfast attendance was down as the snow that had been melting yesterday had turned to black ice and the roads and the parking lot were just one big skating ring. I had not realized that the roads were slick as I had no trouble in the Wrangler, but once I stopped and got out of it in the parking lot, I soon discovered how slippery it was.

When I left the house, my driveway was pretty clear as I pushed the snow off it last Thursday, so that there was not any moisture to freeze. I also did not notice the roads being slick getting to church, but I did notice it in the parking lot, but was too tired to connect it with black ice.

After breakfast, I went home, read the mail and eventually got around to reading the paper. My little brother called and we talked for about an hour, and then I went into the kitchen and cut a piece of the apple crisp that Toni made for us last night and that was my lunch.

After that, I went outside to clean up after Reggie, about five days of not getting out there because of the snow. The back yard was mostly muddy and only a few spots of any snow left. The only place that there was much snow was the sled run that I had added extra snow for the granddaughters to sled down.

When I came back inside, I went back to my chair and sat down, but I could tell that I was struggling to stay awake, so I went upstairs and went to bed for a nap. Kathleen finally woke me up a little after 1800 and it took me about fifteen minutes to wake up and get myself out of bed.

Once awake enough, I made my way downstairs and decided that if I did not writ this now, it probably would not get written, so here I am. When I first got up, Kathleen asked if I wanted to eat anything, at the time, it did not appeal to me, but I must be waking up some more as I am starting to feel hungry.

I am not surprised, as I really only had breakfast today. Well, I think that last nights "orange chicken" that Toni made last night has been heated up and I feel like eating, so I will just say good night.

Friday Fun

Again, I thought that I would copy my CarePage to this so that I do not have to do it twice.

This morning started out pretty normally, although I put on my jeans on instead of shorts. I did it because I was going to my radiation appointment this morning and Kathleen does not like to see me going out in my shorts this time of year.

My appointment was for 1045 and we left the house at 1020 and got there about 1035. I cot called into the office about 1040 and was all finished by 1115.

They took more x-rays, drew more body art on my pelvic area, gave me my tattoos and did the first series or radiation.

They told me that I will start feeling fatigued, which should be interesting as I have felt more fatigued in the last few months than I can ever remember.

So far, this was much easier than what I went through Monday, but from what I understand, the process itself is relatively painless. The problem comes from the accumulation of the radiation.

I guess I can only live one day at a time and deal with whatever comes when it comes.

After my appointment, we stopped by the credit union to deposit a check and then we stopped by the Cingular office so that we could change our phone service. We went from a contract plan to a pay-as-you-go plan where we pay $.10 a minute and a dollar a day for the days that we use the phones. I calculated it out and it looks like we could save over $600.00 a year doing it this way.

We thought that we would give it a try; we can change to something else or another carrier at any time, as we do not have a contract that we have to wait until it expires to change if it does not work out for us.

After we finished up there we went to the library as both Kathleen and I had books on hold, and since the snow hit we had not had a chance to go out and get them. I had planned on going out to eat afterwards, but Kathleen was too tired, so we just went home.

I heated up the rest of the spaghetti from last night for lunch and then went into the living room and read the mail. Toni and Chucky came over tonight and brought us dinner. I am being called for desert, so I think that I will say good night.

Thawing Thursday

Well last night when I went to bed we still had about three inches of snow on the ground, this morning when I got up it was about 33 degrees out and only about two inches of snow. They even got around to putting gravel on the road either late last night or early this morning.

This morning was a pretty typical morning, except that Aaron called a little after 1000 and asked about bringing the girls over so that they could use our sled run, (something I made when our children were young).

I told him that the run was pretty devoid of snow, as Reggie uses it as a way up into the back part of the back yard, but that they were welcome to come on over. They got here about 1045 and the girls played with our "big doll house" for a while and then They both climbed up on my lap and wanted me to read to them, I think it was four books before I got up to stretch my legs, and they still wanted more.

Kathleen took the girls upstairs and they made some things on the sewing machine. Aaron and I talked for a while and went outside to look at some of the wood, (small trees and large branches) that I told him that they could have to burn in their fireplace.

I usually have more lying around than I know what to do with. In fact, most of the apple wood that I had pilled up several years about when I cut down one of our apple trees was pretty soft; the stuff on the bottom was pretty rotten.

Well, when the girls came back downstairs Aaron said that it was time to leave and get something to eat, but they still wanted to try to go sledding. So he got them dressed in their bibs, ski jackets, and got their sled out of their SUV. Just as I expected the snow was pretty thin on the run so I groomed the slop a little.

Actually, I just used the broom to move snow from one area that still had quite a bit of snow. After I did that they were each able to make several successful runs and seemed to enjoy themselves. It saved Aaron from going up to Mt Hood and letting them sled there. They probably go enough sledding in to satisfy their desire for a while.

After they left, I heated up some of the hash that I made for dinner last night and added a half cup of hot salsa to it for my lunch. After eating, I asked Kathleen if she still wanted to go to Costco, remember we were going to do that the other day, and she said that she did. So we took off.

We spent more time there than I had planned on, and spent over $200.00, but that is really easy to do. When we got home, Kathleen made some spaghetti for dinner, something hot and with tomato base is always a "good thing".

Well, Kathleen has gone upstairs and I will probably try to get to bed a little early tonight, as I have a radiation appointment tomorrow morning. With that said, I will say good night.

Wednesday's Winter Wonderland

This morning was pretty much like most mornings, a little colder than most and snow still on the ground, but pretty normal otherwise.

After doing the hand washing posts and pans, I cleaned the stove and made my winter standby oatmeal. Then went into the living room to read the paper, but the mail got here about the time I got into the living room, so I got it and opened it up. Most of it was junk mail, except for one of my Visa bills.

After taking care of the mail, I read the paper. Upon finishing the paper, I loaded the dishwasher and started it up. While working on my computer, it suddenly, went black and had shut itself off. I checked the surge protector and the power strip to make sure that they were functioning okay, and just to be sure I turned each one off and then back on again. Still nothing, so I turned the computer off and went upstairs to bring something to Kathleen.

Then went back downstairs and started to make dinner. Kathleen came downstairs and returned my computer on and it came up, although it did not come up properly, so I restarted it and it came back up the way it is suppose to. Computers...!?!?

Anyway, it seems to be working now, but who knows for how long. Anyway, for dinner I took the leftover ribs and de-boned them, shredded four potatoes, added some onion and garlic and fried everything in olive oil.

Kathleen had originally made the ribs with oregano and she did not like the flavor very much, so I thought that by mixing them with potatoes, onions and garlic, it would take away the strong oregano taste. I liked it, but Kathleen still was not wild about it.

Maybe because I added some hot salsa to mine to give it some extra piazza. Kathleen also heated up some organic roasted red pepper and tomato soup, again I liked it, but she did not. At least I got my daily quota of lycopene.

Kathleen and I went out side for a while today, she got all bundled up and I was in my shorts, tee shirt and garden clogs, she was cold and I was not. I could not have done that yesterday as I had a chill and could not seem to get rid of it.

Well, that is about all for today, so good night!

Tuesday Tundra

I finally got up about 0745, I had been laying there watching the snowfall on the skylight for about forty-five minutes and decided to get up. Once downstairs, I let Reggie out and went out myself. I still had my slippers on and was only dressed in my shorts and a tee shirt. Needless to say, I did not stay out too long.

Upon coming inside, I did my morning computer bonding and by the time I was finished it was about 0915. Kathleen had made it downstairs and asked if I wanted an omelet for breakfast, it sounded good, so that is what she made. I also toasted a couple slices of raisin toast and made a pot of fresh coffee.

Before I had a chance to sit down to eat, the garbage truck came, so I went out to pick up the can and bring it to the back. When I was outside the first time there was only about an inch of snow, but by now, it was closer to two inches. This for a day where on the 5:00 news on Monday night they were predicting a trace to at most a half an inch of snow we sure got a lot of snow, I think that the news tonight they said almost four inches.

After breakfast, I sat down to read the paper, Tuesday is not normally a very large paper, and today was no exception, so it did not take too long to page through it. The mail came shortly after I finished the paper, Kathleen got several things and I got my pension1099-R form and an LL Bean fishing catalog and some junk mail.

I went outside a couple other times this afternoon, again in shorts and a tee shirt, but this time I put on my rubberized garden clogs, as the snow was about three inches deep by now. I really did not do much of anything outside, just kind of walked around in the snow.

I gave some thought to getting either my cross-country skis or my snowshoes out and hiking around the neighborhood, but I really did not feel very good. I think I was still reeling from yesterday. So I wound up sitting most of the rest of the day, spending time between the TV and my computer. I also watched the kids, (twenty or thirty year olds), racing their ATV up and down the street all afternoon and into the night. Also the guy across the street was pulling kids, (teen and twenty year olds), down the road on an old car or truck hood.

Finally, around 1830 I asked Kathleen if she planned to eat tonight, she said yes, so I heated up the scalloped potatoes from last night, another comfort food night. Well, I am sure that I will not be doing much of anything else tonight, so I will just say good night!

Miserable Monday

Well, I think that I will include my CarePage here, just so that I do not have to rethink about it. I will probably add a little as I tried to keep the CarePage a little less personal.

Well, I made it through this morning! I got up a little early, as I knew that I needed to get to my 0900 appointment a little early to finish some paperwork.

When I went upstairs about 0815 to change clothes, Kathleen was still asleep, so I changed clothes and let Reggie out and then took off in my Wrangler. That way if Kathleen did wake up and wanted to she could meet me at the hospital.

Anyway, I got there early and started filling out my paperwork when they bought me my first of three complementary barium shakes. Shortly after I finished my first one and finished my paperwork, they brought me my second, yummy!

Kathleen had called a little after 0900 and said that she would be joining me when she got dressed and ready to go out. Before she arrived, I had the first of the many procedures that they were to perform this morning.

I got to change into a sporty hospital gown and then the doctor, a radiation therapy technologist and an inter from OSHU (all females) got me up on a table and then placed a catheter up into my bladder and then injected a fluid into it as the doctor pulled the tube out and then clamped me to keep the fluid in. Lots of fun!

Next I got to get some x-rays taken, but before I was finished there, they marked three spots on my body, which next Friday they will tattoo, so that they can align the radiation to the same spot each time.

Then I got to slip out of my hospital gown and put on my clothes once again. I got to sit in the inside waiting room and even got another complementary barium shake as a reward for...well, I am not sure what, but when I find out I will do my best not to do it again!

Kathleen arrived shortly after I got back and just before I got my third shake that is 1350ml's. After another wait, they called me to go to get my CT scan. After I arrived, I got to get an IV, no problem, except it took three tries and two people to do it, I felt a little like a pincushion.

Once up on the table and into position, the injected some more fluid into the IV and then proceeded to do the scan. Not nearly as bad as the other things that I had been through this morning. Other than the trouble that they had getting the IV in, the rest was a piece of cake.

They did mention that diarrhea is a side effect of some of what I went through this morning, boy that was an understatement...I am in double digits and it is only 1700, I just barely made it a couple times. I get really bad cramps and then I better start making tracks to the bathroom. This has really been a fun filled day!

I go back Friday for the start of my radiation treatments, and I hope to have a little more information at that time. I got home about noon and Kathleen went to Joann's to do some shopping and got home about 1530. We were going to go to Costco, but I do not think that would have been a wise thing for me to go, there is always tomorrow.

I made myself a meatloaf sandwich and had a can of beets for lunch, which was before all the bathroom fun began. I think I have made a bathroom trip at least once every half hour since about 1400, including a couple times just in the time it took to write this, and it is not from drinking all the water that I have been drinking this afternoon.

Well, Kathleen made some scalloped potatoes tonight, kind of a comfort food, I am not hungry yet, but I will be in a little while. I doubt if I will feel like sitting here after dinner, I have been doing a lot of sitting this afternoon and it actually feels better to stand. I think I will be going to bed really early tonight, today seemed to take quite a bit out of me in more ways than one, so I will say my good nights now.

Sleepy Sunday

This started out to be a rather normal Sunday morning. Although when I went upstairs after eating breakfast, Kathleen was still in bed. When I asked her if she were planning to go this morning, she did not look like she would and she even said that she was still tired.

I changed clothes, interpretation... I put on long pants and a sweater, and went downstairs, loaded the dishwasher and started it up. Then I took off for church, since Kathleen did not look like she would even make it to Sunday School this morning I took her SUV. I was too lazy to go through the hassle of getting my Wrangler out of the garage.

Since the Acura was just about out of gas, after church and Sunday School, I went to the gas station and filled it up. I did not think that it was that long, but it was almost a month since I bought gas for it. The Wrangler, I only get gas about every other month or so.

When I finally got home, Kathleen was still upstairs, so I changed clothes again...shorts and a tee shirt, and came back downstairs and heated up the leftover rice and chili for my lunch. Then I read the paper.

I had forgotten that I had washed the dishes, so when I realized it I emptied the dishwasher and cleaned up the sink. Then I noticed that the kitchen recycling was getting pretty full again, so I took it out and put it into the compost tumbler.

I was feeling tired, but I decided that I needed to go through the coupons and cut out what I thought we might use. Then I just kind of vegetated and watched a couple football games.

About mid afternoon, Kathleen asked if I wanted some soup, I was still a little hungry, so I said yes. She made some chicken noodle soup and on a cool day like this, it hit the spot. Well, it is getting close to time for supper, I think grilled cheese sandwiches and some more soup sounds good.

Well, I am too tired to think about anything else to write, so I think that I will end this. Oh, one last thing, I do have that appointment tomorrow to be scanned. That is supposed to take a couple three hours, so I probably will not feel like doing too much after that.

I was hoping to go to the credit union to deposit an insurance check and to the library to pick up a fly tying video, but tomorrow being Martin Luther King Day, I think that those places will be closed. Well, good night!

Saturday Soaps

Well, this morning I got off to a rather slow start. When I finally drug myself out of bed and went downstairs to do my morning computer time, I found out that the computer and phone were not working. The cable TV was working but not the cable broadband or computer phone.

I called the cable company on my cell phone around 0845 and after playing the push the buttons game, I finally got to talk to a real live person. They finally were able to let me know that there was a problem in the area and they had no estimated time of completion. So I decided to make myself some breakfast.

I took some of the ribs and took the meat off it, added some chopped onions, added some chopped garlic, shredded a potato and fried them up. When they were done, I fried a couple eggs. It must have smelled pretty good as Kathleen came down shortly afterwards and asked what I had made. I think it was the onion and garlic combination that produced the good aroma. I like using a lot of onion and garlic when I cook.

Kathleen made herself some hash browns and eggs as well. Since we could not do anything on the computer I decided to strip the bed and wash the bed linen, after that I did four loads of regular laundry, washed, dried, folded and put away.

I was getting tired of picking up the phone to see if it was working yet or not, so I called Comcast and took the option to get called when the system was back up. About 1500 I got a phone call from Dan's father so I knew that the lines must be working. I finally got a chance to check my e-mail.

I quartered an orange, an apple and peeled a banana for lunch. I just vacuumed yesterday, but I could see a lot of Reggie fur on the burgundy rug, so I decided that I had better vacuum again. It seems sometimes he just sheds like crazy and other days not so much.

Luckily, it was Saturday, so there was not a lot of e-mail, but since I do my devotions online and also my Bible reading, I could get that done as well. Of course, if worse came to worse, I could always do it the old fashion way and use my Bible and do my devotions with my computer Bible program, but I have gotten so spoiled.

Anyway, for dinner it just felt like a chili night, so we used some of the left over rice and put chili on top. I had one bowl and started to eat another one, but I decided that I was full enough and did not need to stuff myself.

Well, Kathleen has gone upstairs and I will probably finish this up, watch a little TV, then go upstairs, take a shower, and enjoy those nice crisp sheets. So good night!