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.