life in the old lane

At OH-Dark-Hundred hours this morning the cell chirps. It is the Hospital. Their positron accelerator isn’t accelerating so no nuking today. But, it got fixed. So Mr C went over later and still got his daily blast of positrons. Don’t know if I would have wanted to be one of the first folk to use the newly repaired machine.

“They” are predicting an ice “event” for Sunday. So, I will do my Sunday grocery shopping on Saturday. We are only having a rain “event” on Saturday.

By work friends continue to take care of me. I was given I nice fuzzy gray shirt. Which will come in handy – as soon as Sunday.

Today’s Good Thing: Good Friends.

It always seems impossible until its done.
Nelson Mandela – RIP Mr Mandela

A lovely unseasonable warm day today. I walked home from work and took a walk this afternoon. Wearing my shorts, with camera in hand.

Mr C did day ten – 33% done – of radiation today. And, he went to see the Little Cancer Doc. Little Cancer Doc plans on cutting a chunk of cancer out of his left hand next Thursday. And, he got generally scolded for letting the cancer on his chest get out of hand. Little Cancer Doc said “don’t do that again”.

Today’s Good Thing: The weather. I enjoyed it. Thank you, Mother Nature.

I should say something. But what? It is just one chilly gray day after another. I should force myself out to make pictures of the grayness. Or get back with the scanning old photos project. I should do something.

Maybe tomorrow.

Today’s Good Thing – 2 weeks after the bike wreck – Mr C looks almost all healed. His left thumb still isn’t opposable. He has a big old scab on his knee. But his face is pretty near returned to its pre-crash condition. A very good thing indeed.

Today’s Good Thing: It was warm enough to lounge outside for a bit. With a blanket. I was on my terrace. I wonder if Amazon will be able to make roof top deliveries? Or is this the exclusive purview of Santa Claus?

Mr C went to radiation. I went to volunteer. I came back from volunteer. Mr C went to volunteer. We had a little holiday from too much togetherness.

Everyday I find something new to love about the iPad. Today, I realized that the Safari browser on the iPad was able to handle 95% of the routine tasks that we perform at our office using our expensive web based system. That means our nurses can have all the information they need in the pocket of their lab coats. This is sort of “off label use”. But, it works. Our hospital has “secure” in-house wifi.

We still don’t know exactly how many days of nuking that Mr C supposed to get. He has 21 days scheduled. And 30 days was mentioned as what he would be getting. But, today, someone said that he would be coming in until “late January”. On Thursday he sees “The Nurse”. Maybe he will ask her. I think he is starting to feel some adverse reactions to the radiation.

Liking the iPod. Mr C is liking Siri.

Spent way too much time playing with the new toy. It is easy enough for me to thumb type. Much easier than the iPhone or iPod size. Skype works fine. As does google voice. I have not tried talking to Siri yet. Carlton will be gone tomorrow morning. I can try it then.

I did fire up the cellular option. That sucker kills my old Cisco router. It is wifi death ray. I wonder if I can kill some of my neighbors routers as well?

Today’s good thing: made killer good pasta for lunch today. Carlton is watching all The Godfather films. Pasta seemed like the right thing to cook.

The iPad arrived this afternoon. Still getting it set up. I thought I could stick a photo in. I know I could do it using the iPod app. This is the iPad app.

Found the photo thingies. Took this picture with the iPad. You can see that his face is looking lots better.

TurkeyDay – and the only thing being nuked today are leftovers in my microwave.  Mr C is just starting to show some “adverse side effects” of the radiation. He is getting some noticeable fluid buildup on his nuked body parts. It is not a problem – but something is surely happening to his insides. Cellular destruction, I guess. Just hope his lungs and/or heart aren’t too close to the field of fire.

We had a simple meal at 1:30… I took a nap and when I woke up – Carlton was gone. Methinks he is out caging desserts somewhere. Because, I didn’t have any pie.

We live right on top of a Metro stop – but there is no shopping nearby – unless you consider Starsbucks and the Korean Store shopping. So, we’ll have no Black Friday drama that we can watch from the comfort of our living room. The Black Friday thing is a mystery to me. How dumb are Americans anyhow? Don’t answer that!

Today’s Good Thing: The cold rain stopped. And the cold sun returned.

Ok – I am over my funk of yesterday.

It is still cold and wet with assorted ice pellets, rain drops and snow flakes happening all day.

One of my co-workers surprised me with Thanksgiving Dinner – all done. Big fat chicken breasts with wild rice. Nobody is promised tomorrow – so we ate half of it today! Augmented with broccoli and lots of cranberry sauce for Mr C and mango chutney for me. Grateful for friends. Thankful for food already to eat.

Carlton got #6 dose of death rays today – he thinks he is 20% thru the treatment. He has the next 4 days off. And, he got the stitches out.

The iPad is still careening around Asia.

Today’s Good Thing: The unexpected dinner care package.

And, it has been in the low 30’s and rainy all day. Totally unsatisfactory. My tooth bailed out before 6AM – guess a PB&J sandwich was too much for it. By 8AM, it was repaired and I was back home. My dentist is 8 blocks away and they open at 7AM. That is good. While I am there, I get an appointment to get my teeth cleaned at 10AM. “My” hygienist had a cancellation – someone didn’t want to come out in the weather. So, I go back to the dentist at 10AM. And, that was the highlight of my day. I am just completely tired of everything. Especially tromping up and down the sidewalk to the dentist in the cold rain. Oh yes, and my sinuses are unhappy.

Enough already. Get a grip. It could be worse.  And it will be worse. I know that.

Mr C had his 5th day of radiation. And, tomorrow – he gets the stitches from his bike wreck taken out. Since it got cold and rainy he has been using the bikes in the gym. And, he hasn’t fallen off.

Today’s Good Thing – Getting my tooth patched up so quickly this morning.

And, the iPad got released from the factory and is now wandering around Hong Kong like a drunken sailor. Soon, it will find it’s way to the airport and Chinese customs…

Mr C says that he is “10% finished” with his radiation. So far, no side effects. Doc Nukem says adverse effects don’t kick in until after treatment #10.

It was really cold this morning – as in 20° this morning. “They” are predicting something frozen for tomorrow. By after lunch – it was up to the low 30’s with no wind – so I went for a nice long walk. And, while I was at it – I picked up a couple of pounds of stuffing/dressing at Whole Foods. We both think that stuffing is the best part of the Thanksgiving meal.We will be well stuffed. Over stuffed even.

The oldest grand is 21 today. She is turning out just fine.

Today’s Good Thing: Grandchildren – one of the few advantages of old age.

‘Tis 1550 and Mr C just left for his “bonus” round of radiation. I offered to go with him – but he didn’t want me to ride along. If he doesn’t have to wait and if everything goes as planned, he should be back here in less than an hour. And, 16 hours from now he’ll get another shot.

Ok Apple… I ordered that iPad last Sunday – and it is still lounging around somewhere in China. Get that bad boy over to FedEx soonest!

It didn’t make it up to freezing today.

Today’s Good Thing: Central Heating.