Chondrosarcoma – ah shit, bob's sick

Another wonderful day here in Boston/Nahant, I just can’t believe the weather. It was so nice today that after treatments I went to view the rock lined beaches here … just gorgeous views. Here’s a pic I took this morning at about 9:30am

Here’s another picture of the little seafood shack I eat lunch at sometimes, not fancy, not cheap either … but darn good and fresh fish! Tides, sits right on the shore.

The increased IMRT doses of therapy I’m receiving this week is making me incredibly sleepy. I have never wanted and needed to sleep so much in my life … no kidding. My afternoon naps (yes, for most of life I’ve taken a quick catnap in the afternoons), which have always been  at most an hour, are now 3-4+ hours, and I still wake up exhausted. What a strange thing, to need so much sleep.

I don’t seem to really get going until 3-4pm. these days, so I’ve been working mostly at night, which is OK really … just different.

Tomorrow I meet with Doc Delaney as we do every Thursday after treatment for a discussion on how things are going. I suspect the report will be OK … I hope so. Besides being sleepy, I think everything else is going well. I mean, I don’t feel any worse and I don’t seem to be getting worse, so I have to assume that’s a good thing. After-all, that’s the entire idea of these special treatments … not to get worse. I don’t expect to get better, just not worse. So in that sense, I think I’m doing fine at the moment.

One of the things I observed in the cancer center today was, that after I got treated and came out, there were a lot of other patients waiting for whatever treatments they’re receiving, but as a I walked by them,  I could feel their eyes on me for some reason. So strongly that I looked down at my shoes to see if I had toilet paper or something stuck to them :, or that I had my shirt on backwards, or something crazy. But I found nothing … so I kept on moving. No one smiled, no one spoke, no eye contact … weird, just weird.

The parking attendant seemed happy and normal … so I have to assume it was all them and not me. Maybe I was too happy looking or something, I don’t know … just an observation.

It kind of made me a bit paranoid, because everyone of us in there, is in the same boat sort of speak and I couldn’t find anything wrong … so why look at me? Maybe there was a ghost following me! … whoa! Halloween is coming! … watch out.  It may be time to bring that glow stick under my shirt into therapy!

There’s a new rock and roll band called the Broccoli Heads and I was lucky enough to get a picture of the lead guitar player!

I love you little man … keep eating that broc!

See you Friday!

Today was another great day, well … great in the sense that nothing bad or negative happened. First off, the weather here in Boston and Nahant was absolutely perfect and the forecast for tomorrow is more of the same but even warmer! Possibly reaching as high as 70 degrees. Wow … finally it feels like those aches and pains that damp cold weather has been putting in my back are starting to lighten up.

This morning I arrived a tad early at MGH (light traffic), so I went to the coffee shop before hitting treatment to grab a fast decaf while I was waiting. Yeah, you read correctly, decaf … I’ve said many a time “what in the world is the sense of decaffeinated coffee, who would ever drink that!” … well, now I know. Decaf is for folks that have to sit still for ½ hour every moring :.

As I’m fixing my coffee, sugar in the cup first, then the hot coffee, stir it, then add the milk, and stir it again … it’s got to be in that order or it just doesn’t taste right. I hear from behind me “Good morning Mr. Skold”. The first thought that ran through my mind was … “who the heck knows me out here? I don’t know anyone here”. I turned around and to my surprise it was Doc Delaney getting his morning decaf!

“Hi Doc! … how are you this fine morning?” Doc looked over with a grin and said “I think I’m still running on three cylinders”. We stepped outside the shop, grabbed a table, and chatted for about 10 mins before I had to go to treatment and he had to actually show up for work! It was wonderful to see the human side of Doc again. In general you only see your doctor when you’re in for a visit or something is wrong … this was a welcome change. Doctors do have a human side … at least mine does.

Speaking of Mr. Skold, my last name is of Swedish descent. From what I understand, and this comes direct from my dear friend Rose in Sweden, the name Skold means shield, like a warriors shield.  So, I come from a family of shield makers, important people way back when. Ok … where am I going with this?

It got me to thinking, and suggested by Rose, that if I were going to get a tattoo of a design that I was creating … it would be a good starting place for the design. Hence, a shield for the basic shape. So this is where I began. This is by no means finished … but it is a start.

Here’s a light explanation of the symbolic meaning of the items in the tattoo. Colors are not decided upon yet.

1.) Shield shape is for Skold
2.) The green mountains represent Vermont, the Green Mountain State. There are seven mountains.
3.) The sun coming up in the mountains, has seven rays coming out from it also
4.)Proton Power (thanks to Howard for those words), pretty self explanatory.
5.) The blue moon … Sher’s nickname
6.) 5 stars represent, Monday thru Friday treatments
7.) Swirl is the energy that I have received, from having such a huge friendship base (in otherwords, all of YOU)
8.) City skyline represents Boston, a city on the water.
9.) H and the +(plus sign), are the proton symbols.
10.) The blue on the bottom represents Nahant, Massachusetts, where I’m staying … I need to add a smal fishing or sail boat. Maybe a Viking ship shape.

Now remember, this is a first pass, a trial, it’s likely to change and change a lot. Hopefully the right-hand side will be about extending life, buying more time, and family. We’ll see what comes out of that.

Your thoughts and ideas on this are welcome, email or comment!

I also have to figure out where I’m going to put it … maybe right over the tumor? … lower, right side,  back!

I may make the shield a lot more pronounced, stronger … like what you’d think of as a Viking’s Shield.

I just got news from Vermont that my young man, Alberic,  has eaten a large piece of cooked broccoli! Now that’s the best news I’ve heard all day, no, all week … no, make that all month! I spoke with him on the telephone and he told me he really “did it”!

I know it may not sound so exciting, but for some kids this is a huge step. Instead of eating just white and beige colored foods, a little green is a welcome change. Broccoli contains calcium, and that’s what seems to have gotten Alberic  interested in it. He wants to be able to climb and jump, further and higher.

That’s great Alby … keep it up!

That makes Dad very happy to hear that news … and it was a lot of fun talking to you on the telephone tonight!

I’m probably going to cook broccoli with every dinner now <ha ha ha>.

Well done young man, I’ll pick you up Friday afternoon at school!
Love you

What a day! I packed up this morning and left for Nahant about 11:30 am. The drive was unexpected beautiful. The weather forecast was for rain and snow … but it was sunny and wonderfully 60+ degrees. Nahant was a bit breezy as is most of the Boston area considering it’s all on the coast.

Another fine surprise was I spoke with Ollie today, he called while I was driving and that really made the trip go quickly … that was great. I enjoyed our weekly conversations :.

I showed up for treatments (double doses) around 4pm. And they took me almost immediately, didn’t even have the time to check out the news on my iphone. Wam-bam, I was out of there in a 25 mins. and on my way to the house. Traffic was heavy at that time (rush hour) heading north, but I was in the house and had the car unpacked by 5:30 – 6pm.

Then I decided I was hungry, I hadn’t eaten all day and decided to hit the local sea shack on the island for some Caesar salad and fried calamari. Perfect end to the day!

I also want to mention that this past weekend Harry M. stopped by the house on Sunday and got my work laptop working just perfectly … and that’s good news. I’ve been bringing two laptops with me each trip and not that I really mind, but it’s a pan in the butt to have to bring two … just simply more stuff to carry and I have enough to bring along for the week. So that will make the rest of the trips that much easier … thanks Harry, it works perfectly.

So everything appears to be calm, the sever that blew the hard drive last weekend is running well, I have a full supply of goods here on Nahant, and plenty of work to do while I’m not at MGH … what more could one ask for? Good food, lot’s of work and hopefully moving towards a healthier body. My goodness, sometimes life is just amazing :.

No … I’m not stoned, just glad to see things are finally settling down a bit and all this stuff in Beantown is becoming routine and handle-able. Actually, before I left Vermont today I managed to get the storms windows put up for winter. Well, almost finished it, Sher completed the job after I left by securing the screen doors with wind blocking materials.

Tomorrow at 7am I head off for another super dose of Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (yep, that’s the one that make you glow I the dark), and the hopefully settle in for a good days work.

I do have an appointment later this week in Danvers, MA. (about ½ hr from Nahant), with a company called VaultLogix. They provide data backup systems online and offline, we’re going to talk about what we may be able to do for each other business wise.

I have so many more things I want to write about … but not enough time at the moment … maybe that’ll change too some day. One of those things is to write about, is this little community called Nahant. This really is a beautiful place on the Atlantic coast just north of Boston.

So it’ll be a busy week! … I like that, helps keep my spirits high.