Chondrosarcoma – ah shit, bob's sick

Happy Father’s Day my friends …. stay healthy and happy. Looks like today will be a beautiful day weather wise here in Vermont … so fire up that Bar-B-Q, put a few steaks , lobsters or whatever, and enjoy the day.
That’s what we’re doing … enjoying the day.

Of course any day that involves enjoyment must involve a little humor too.
So Happy Father’s Day to all.

Happy Fathers Day

Where did Spring go? Seems to have gone from 30 degrees to 90 degrees within a week … and no relief in sight. Feels like we’re already deep into summer temperatures and it’s just starting. Spring consisted of 2 weeks of heavy rain, snow melt and flooding, and now it’s as hot as can be.

I remember spring actually being a season, like when I was a kid. Where it lasted for five or six weeks, flowers bloomed, and grasses went from winter browns to a lovely spring green and oh yes, those beautiful, gentle spring rains … but no more. Times are a changin’ … and it’s a damn good thing there’s no global warming … can you imagine?!

I’ve been feeling reasonably well, you know the routine, good days and bad days and that’s to be expected. I do find the hot weather equally as bothersome as the extreme cold of winter. It tends to drain my energy at an uncontrollable rate … it’s difficult to explain. Draining might be the word, but then again … just the simple act of getting older, is draining in itself.

Dealing with cancer on a day to day basis does have it’s challenges, and just like everyday life, we have to rise above them and push forward and onward. No different then anyone or anything else that you wish to move above.

This past weekend, to my total surprise, I heard Alberic playing a tune on his guitar that I hadn’t practiced with him or taught him. I listened, and recognized the melody but couldn’t bring the name of the song to mind. He saw me listening and asked if I knew the tune. I replied yes, but that I couldn’t remember the name. He played several riffs again, I listened again.

You know how it is when you know what something is, and just can’t remember exactly what it is you knew. Yet another sign of getting older? … gee, could it be?

After listening again I finally asked what the name of the song was. My twelve year old Alberic casually replied “it’s ‘The Drunken Sailor’ Dad, ever hear it?”. At first I thought to myself “why the hell is a twelve year old playing songs about drunken sailors” … and then I started to think about the tunes I played when I was learning to play and realized that it (The Drunken Sailor) wasn’t really that bad. I played lot’s of old crazy songs when I was young, and to be honest … I still do!

The Drunken Sailor is a traditional sea shanty … a folk song, and like most old folks songs there are dozens, if not hundreds of verses. I mean that’s what makes it a folk song … folks adding their own lyrics and passing it down. Hey, someday I’ll write about folk songs … it’s a great topic.

I smiled and acknowledged his skill at playing it, asked him to show me the chord structure … in which he immediately got up and walked over to the keyboard (even though he was playing guitar), and proceeded to explain the chords and structure to the song.

Then we sang a few verses:
Chorus:
What’ll we do with a drunken sailor,
What’ll we do with a drunken sailor,
What’ll we do with a drunken sailor,
Earl-aye in the morning?

Put him in the long boat till he’s sober,
Put him in the long boat till he’s sober,
Put him in the long boat till he’s sober,
Earl-aye in the morning?

Shave his belly with a rusty razor,
Shave his belly with a rusty razor,
Shave his belly with a rusty razor,
Earl-aye in the morning?

Put him in bed with the captain’s daughter,
Put him in bed with the captain’s daughter,
Put him in bed with the captain’s daughter,
Earl-aye in the morning?

Hmmm … I think he’s getting a real handle on this music stuff … amazing how fast kids can learn. Keyboard, drums and guitars, our house is starting to look like a music store! …. but you know, that’s just fine with me

It’s been awhile, a long while … since I’ve posted anything on the blog and folks have been emailing and asking what’s up. In fact, it’s been almost two months since the last post … so I thought I’d write a short piece about what I’ve been doing.

First the health stuff though. I’ve been getting by reasonably well. The tiredness still plagues me most the time and there seems to be no relief what-so-ever … and so be it. There seem to be not a lot I can do about it, so why complain … things are what they are and I’m happy for the time being.

I am trying to hold off returning to Boston until the Fall season so I can get through the winter without having to make the trip. So far, so good … although I feel myself wearing down as time goes by, I’m reasonably confident that I’ll make it … at least that’s what I’m feeling now. For the time being, I have to say that after all these trips to Boston, and all the things both Sher and I have been through, I finally feel like it was all worth it.

I don’t feel that the cancer is moving, spreading, growing any longer, and if it is, it sure seems to be taking it’s time … and by the way, that’s a good thing! No more impending doom feeling. In August it’ll be two years since all this began so I’m feeling good about this and while things may not be perfect … they are indeed, far better then before.

With the summer season just about underway here in Vermont, I’ve been trying to spread the outside work that needs to be done. Mainly by trying to do a little each day, or at least every couple days. Adding outdoors work to my already busy schedule isn’t exactly what I was after, but we all know that a lot of life’s things just can’t wait … and maybe that’s a good thing. It certainly keeps me focused and busy, and for me that’s important.

I’ve always enjoyed the “I’m too damn busy” thing, and now-a-days it’s become an important factor in my plan to get as much done as possible, and continue on, as long as I can … and so far, I consider myself successfully plowing forward and I’m not looking back any longer.

So what’ve I been doing that’s keeping me so busy? Well, for one I’ve been working full just about time and of course that takes up a good part of the day. I’ve also been keeping our server services up, and supporting several pieces of software that I’ve written in the past up … and if that’s not enough, I’ve been actively getting Alberic up to speed on guitar, which also means I have to be up to speed too.

So yes, I’ve been busy working!

Alberic went on a school trip to Washington DC this past month, which was really exciting for him. I had bought him a new camera to take, and installed an extra card so that it would hold enough pictures. Good thing I did too! I wasn’t sure how much he was going to use the camera … but to my surprise 758 photographs and 31 videos later he nearly filled it up! I hope to be posting some of those pics in the upcoming months.

The weather here in Vermont has taken yet another odd turn. We seem to have gone from sub-zero temperatures and feet of snow to nearly ninety degrees and extremely humid conditions in the matter of a few short weeks … and in those weeks we’ve serious flooding across the state.

I am planning on buying a new guitar this year … which is something I haven’t done in many, many years. Yes, new and I can’t wait! Maybe I’ll even go play a few gigs next year if time and life allow, and if an old fogey like me can remember the words and music to enough songs! … and yes, it’ll be a new Hagstrom HJ- 500 in black. If I can get Alby up to speed before then, (which he’s getting there quickly as kids do) he’ll be playing with me.

A dear friend of mine in Vermont has been working on her blog and there’s lots of good recipes and photographs. It’s called Tea Time at the Old Hotel (cogitations from a small Vermont kitchen) … check it out!

Over the Memorial Day weekend friends came and helped till the garden (thank you Norm) and prepare it for planting. We’re keeping it small this year with just a few tomato plants, assorted herbs, pumpkins and a few other items.

Ok, that’s it for now and hopefully I’ll start finding the time to post more often. My best to all who read this … see you again soon.

You, like I, have probably been wondering what happened with all these tests. What were the results? What are planning next?

Well, from what I understand, all the tests came back just fine. My arteries are healthy, my heart and all it’s parts are healthy … so what the heck?

 What the heck is going on and what’s coming next? Well the answer seems to be a big fat resounding “Nothing!”
I’ve basically done all I can do at the moment and so have the docs …. and so we wait and see.

 
If it happens again, then it’ll be dealt with in a much more aggressive way. Since the incidences that occurred a few weeks ago, not one more has occurred. A few times it felt like it might be starting up, but in the end was nothing. I really do question what has caused this and the only two things I can seem to come with are:

 
1.) an over dose of radiation at some point:  It’s well known that large doses of radiation can effect the optic nerve, and over the last year or so I’ve certainly been exposed to enough radiation. Certainly more then any typical patient may have been.  I’m not blaming anyone for this, I’m simply saying that it’s a possibility. If that was part of the” cost” of treatment to stop the cancer … well then so be it. A more then fair trade off.

2.) Stress: Is it possible that stress caused this? The docs say most probably not, they are like ninety-nine percent sure that stress couldn’t do this,  but I tend to think differently. Look at what stress can do to people. It can cause all kinds of havoc on the mind and body. I’m have a hard time removing the stress equation out of any medical situation that’s not of the “run of the mill” type. When you’re stressed over a situation all kinds of things can happen, and who knows … maybe your eyes playing tricks on you could be one of them.

Do I feel stressed? No, not really … no more then the stresses that are brought on by daily life. Ones that are sort of forever present. Which can be a lot at times in today’s life … think about it for an average person’s point of view.

Any time the economy, war, disasters (both man-made and natural) and other worldwide events are pushed in your face or down your throat, life becomes more stressful and not just for those that are directly effected, but for everyone.
Speaking of which, this is a cool map of the effects of radiation from the  Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, along with a lot of other mapping on many other topics. Not just Japan, but there are also geo-political maps and many others. Worth looking at.

Anyways, my current plan, which has been accepted by the docs, is to wait. Wait and see what happens and that’s just fine with me. Besides the always “being tired” thing, I seem to be feeling better then I have in the last two years. But who knows, maybe it’s just too stressful to look at.

Well,  the tests went off without a hitch. A little difficulty in finding a comfortable position, but besides that, the tests were a breeze. They stuck the electrodes on my chest and did their thing.

Hopefully, by day’s end tomorrow I should have some kind of reading on this and possibly a direction to begin finding out why I’ve had these vision episodes … hopefully.

Very simple, very easy … now if we can just get some useful information.

More to come!