Author: Peg

Nothing new on the Mr C’s health. The radiology folks took pictures of his head this morning. Maybe they will see some positive difference.

I had nothing to do at work today, so I left after two hours. By the time I walked home it was chilly and windy. I extended my walk and logged almost 5 miles. Then I did yoga. And made soup out of scraps that I found in the freezer. That was lunch.

Sandwiches were cancelled today. Right now I am roasting a chicken. Will have chicken with sweet potato and broccoli. I seem to be trying to make Mr C’s favorite foods. That is OK. It is the least I can do.

Sort of feel like we are marking time. Waiting on something that we don’t want to happen to happen.

 

 

Well, five treatments down. Twenty to go. Don’t see much change. For sure Merkel creature hasn’t gotten bigger. It may be a tiny bit smaller. I need to see some progress. But, he still feels fine enough.

He went to see the dentist today. The dentist told him to just ignore his broken tooth since it didn’t hurt. And, if his prognosis improves then it will be time to do something. But, no need for dental work if you aren’t looking past December.

No more photos of Merkel creature until next Tuesday, unless something dramatic happens.

Enjoy Every Sandwich: Turkey, Swiss, Cole Slaw on Rye.

 

Today was all about exercise. Well, after volunteering. I was in the office all morning – so I couldn’t log any miles on my Fitbit running stuff from here to there in the hospital.

Even after walking home, I still had a lot of walking to do to hit my 5 miles. Also did yoga. But the FitBit ignores yoga. I do yoga for the strength part of my program. Also for balance. As you may have noticed old people tend to tip over with disastrous results.

 

Mr C and the Merkel creature continue unchanged. 4 treatments down, 26 to go.

Enjoy Every Sandwich: Quesadilla, with salsa, sour cream and guacamole. Cinco de Mayo you know.

When you a medical problems – the weekend can be good. Because, you don’t have to have procedures or see doctors on Saturday or Sunday. So, it is easy to slip into denial.

Having little fantasies about getting an expensive new camera, going to Paris, or Tokyo… But, I am not leaving Mr C home alone. Not for one day. Now, a new camera – that’s doable.

Enjoy Every Sandwich: Cheese Burgers!

Carlton and the Merkel creature take lots of naps. I don’t think he is depressed. I think he is just tired. The creature appears to be unchanged. No nukes on Saturday or Sunday.

Today I walked and did yoga. Bought a pair of Levi’s at the flea market. They are in the washing machine. Don’t want to get fleas. Jeans cost more at the flea market than at the Goodwill. But, the flea market jeans dude has all his jeans sorted by size and brand. Could spend an hour with a tape measure looking for 30×30 505 Levi’s at Goodwill and not find any. Time is worth something, even to an old lady.

And why do I need “new” Levi’s? My beloved old Levi’s – the ones that I fit so nicely into again – are a little too ragged. My panties peak out of the holes in the butt. Not a good look for an old lady.

Enjoy Every Sandwich: Sandwich cancelled today. I made Mr C’s favorite liver and onions for lunch. Messing up the entire kitchen. I have since policed the kitchen. Blitzed the stove. Etc… Dinner is going to be Trader Joe’s Mac and Cheese from the microwave. Not messing up the kitchen enough to make a sandwich. The kitchen will be clean for at least 12 hours.

Nothing much going on. Mr C feels about 80% of his normal hyper perky self. He never completely recovered from the attack of “whatever” that felled him as we were leaving Kona. Three days of radiation and the Merkel creature looks the same to us.

I have no idea what we are “supposed” to be doing… There should be an app for this. An “enjoy every sandwich” app. But, other than play Werewolves of London, what would the app do?

Maybe the app could spit out sandwich ideas. I was uninspired today.

Enjoy Every Sandwich: turkey and swiss on whole wheat, lettuce, tomato, mustard. I’ll do better tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
Born on May 1, 1964 at Dartmouth College.

This is a fine tribute to a fine old programming language for the non-programmer.

http://time.com/84049/a-short-history-of-basic-as-told-in-animated-gifs/

Enjoy Every Sandwich: Tuna (real tuna not from a can) and pineapple (real not from a can) stuffed in whole wheat pita bread. What’s not to love about that?

Today was day one of radiation. 29 to go.

Enjoy Every Sandwich: Grilled cheese and tomato with a side of chicken soup.

But, we have: Merkel Creature

Carlton goes in the Nuker tomorrow. Most people, when they are having their cancers zapped, just wonder “What the fuck is going on in there?” But, Mr C is “lucky”. He will be able to watch. And, so will you.

And yes, this is deadly serious.

Poor prognostic factors include the stage of disease at presentation, which is influenced by presence of nodal and/or distant disease. …

The location of the primary tumor also appears to be a poor prognostic factor. Within the head and neck, lip tumors have a high rate of invasion into bone, cartilage, and muscle and are associated with decreased survival. ^… Other poor prognostic factors are age older than 60 years, male sex, a primary lesion >2 cm, ….

Tumor thickness is a significant risk factor for 5-year mortality. Patients with tumors thicker than 10 mm have 18% survival over 5 years compared with 69% in patients with tumors thinner than 10 mm. Merkel Cell Tumors of the Head and Neck

But, we continue to
Enjoy every sandwich: Turkey, swiss, coleslaw on crusty roll.

It started raining late this afternoon. The weather guy told us to start building our ark. I told Mr C to start building. Ark building is surely “men’s work”.

Radiation still scheduled for Wednesday. Hope Carlton doesn’t bail on this option. Because, there is no Plan C.

Enjoy Every Sandwich: Plain Old BLT.

 

Nothing to report. A nice day.

Took all I could carry to the Goodwill. Brought two belts and one tank top back. An OK trade. So, what did I get rid of? An old digital camera, with all of its accouterments. And a purse, that I don’t really use. Never really used much. I was just keeping it around because it had fancy label. A skirt that didn’t fit with my new view of my wardrobe. A couple of silk knit shirts. Think I was keeping them because they were silk. I sure don’t wear them very often. And, I ditched my white shirt. As in “everyone needs a white shirt”. Exactly why do I need a white shirt? If I do need one, I can get one in a couple of hours from Macy’s or in 48hours from Amazon. Or from the Goodwill Store!

Mr C is still napping a lot and operating at about 80%. I think, that in addition to his major cancer problem, he still has some infection wandering around the area of his October surgery. But, we are not talking about any health matters.

Enjoy every sandwich: Turkey, provolone, guacamole – with tomatoes.

Is it only a month since I last admired the moon and venus?

March 27

It has been one hell of a month. Things are still really grim. But, we made it through another month. Or, maybe, I should say we had another month together.

Another month to:

Enjoy every sandwich: Buffalo chicken with crunchy iceburg lettuce in a flour tortilla. I might make cheese burgers for dinner. A double sandwich day?

As for my person fitness craze. Knocked out 5 miles today. And did a little yoga too.