Life’s Stuff: Friday, July 09, 2010
I simply can’t believe it’s been over two weeks since I last posted here! Somehow with summer being finally here, it seems time is slipping by faster and faster. Where I thought I’d have lots of free time to write, program and draw, it just seems that the season has absorbed all that time in a different way than I expected. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but more of an unexpected thing. It’s just crazy the way time is flying by and somehow more of it is being used up on things like lawn mowing!
Over the last week or two I’ve several emails, phone calls and what-nots, asking how I was doing and just general chat … so I figured it’s time to write a little something and let my world know that I’m not only alive, but doing pretty well lately.
In general, I’ve been feeling pretty good, not much of a change, which in my case is a good thing. I can’t say that I’m living a pain-free energetic life, but I am doing what I consider reasonably well. The meds continue to rob me of energy, but allow me more motion then I’d have other-wise. I consider that a fair trade. Now and then, especially when I don’t get enough sleep, I’ll spend a day or two “down in the dumps”, but it seems to pass by as soon as I catch up … so that’s understandable too.
I’ve been swimming quite a bit, trying to wheel chair at least a mile every night after dinner (except the past few days because of the heat), and continuing to work around the house every chance I get. That’s the extent of my exercise which isn’t bad for me. My daily diet hasn’t changed much except during the heat-wave, which I’ve experienced my whole life … when it’s hot, I eat less. I think most people do that so I don’t find that surprising.
This past week I went to our local Blood Lab, and got all my blood tests out of the way, next week on the sixteenth I have an appointment with my primary care physician, Dr. G. Clay for a general checkup and discussion about pain management. As I stated before I am considering medical marijuana for boosting my appetite, pain control and sounder sleep.
On the twenty-second of July, I return to Boston for MRI and PET scans to see if there has been any changes in the tumor or cancer.
I don’t feel like there has been any change for the better or worse. I’m pretty much “in tune” to what I’m feeling these days and intuitively I don’t feel anything is happening. But I agreed to continue to be watched … and so, away I go.
Currently, it seems that the grip that chondrosarcoma has on me, has not continued to worsen. What I mean is that the pains and discomfort that were there last year when I went for treatment are still there but, they are not worsening and that’s important for me. I already have a hard time walking and maintaining any reasonable level of energy. I consider myself very lucky in the fact that I didn’t totally lose mobility or any of the other functions that were in jeopardy of being lost. I pulled out of what could’ve been a total disaster pretty well. I didn’t take that huge hit that often brings people to a state of not being able to care for themselves … and for that I’m thankful.
Will I be so lucky next time? … who knows? but hopefully it’ll be a few more years before I have to deal with it. So in a nutshell, I have to say that for the moment, the proton therapy that I received seems to have bought me some of that “time” I was looking for.
So what else has been absorbing my time?
Well, last week Alberic and I hooked up a little irrigation pump for our garden! For those that don’t live on the east coast of the US, we’ve been experiencing not only drought like conditions, but a tremendous heat-wave to boot! So last week we set up a water pump in one of our ponds and pumped water through a series of hoses, uphill to our vegetable garden.
