Category Archives: Health

Family, Health, Politics, Shadow Mountain

Mary. Dopy.

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Shadow has had her breakfast. Mary’s awake. Shadow Mountain coming into the morning.

Mary got a lift with a car service. Arrived around 5:30, looking fancy. She came bearing a delicious meal with prosciutto, cheese, and crackers. We ate as we discussed her trip so far. She has an open ticket, can stay as long she wants. She’s come to help in any way she can.

Carol, my physical therapist from Mt. Evans, talked me into trying a cervical collar. It will provide support, help me with the strain on my back from the head drop. Not sure about it, but the soft collar was not working.

Weather continues cool and rainy. Good sleeping last night.

I think eating regular meals has begun to help. I can walk a bit further, don’t feel as tired. Stopping the abiraterone and the prednisone helped, too. Feeling confident.

Meanwhile in Dopyland. The war. Iran. Over so fast. Not. Cease fire? Not so much. Dopy hits them. They hit back. Federal Housing Finance Director makes next logical career move to acting director of National Intelligence. More pics of Trump vanity project, the Triumphal Arch. Oh, boy.

Best headline about Trump. Ever. Goes to Brett Stephens for: President Ozymandias.

 

Cooking, GeekWorld, Health, Mountains, Shadow Mountain

Door

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New microwave. A compact that fits on top of my dorm fridge. First use. Heated macaroni. Then. The door wouldn’t open. The LED read, unhelpfully, door. Had to unplug it, plug it back in to retrieve my macaroni. A call today to the Sharp’s folks. I need a working unit.

P.t. starts tomorrow. Glad. My situation is not dire, but it could go there with another illness or an injury. Regular meals have not, so far, increased my weight. I know from experience with Kate that gaining weight can be as hard as losing it.

More imaging. Later this month. Oh, boy.

Weather, though often sunny, remains unseasonably cool. 44 this morning. Warmer starting tomorrow.

Luke and Leo, Gabe and Levi coming today. Gabe for his graduation gift. Luke and Leo for a visit.

Another day viewing the world from the top of Shadow Mountain. Across the way Black Mountain greens up:  lodgepole needles darker, aspen colonies fluttering new green leaves. Two mountains among the many that stretch over three thousand miles from British Columbia to New Mexico.

Friends, Health

Some Assembly…

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Whoo, boy. Dodged a bullet. When Ginny and Janice came over, they found my new walker in a box. Ginny offered to look at it, see if it needed assembly. Never occurred to me. It did.

Had I waited to open the box before an appointment, I would have been very unhappy. Ginny, with Janice’s help, got my red menace together. My very own walker. Welcome to frailty.

Another great visit with those two. What a joy to have them in my life. They’re kind, loving. Feel like sisters.

Weight down to 111. Ginny told CBE folks who asked after me that I’d lost a lot of weight. I look like it, too.

Reading a mystery Tom mentioned. A Beautiful Blue Death. Charles Finch. An homage to Holmes. Excellent.

Mentally preparing for a hard push with p.t. Need to be up on my feet by June 17th. Carol will guide me.

Oh my. Spurs win. Trump double dealing questioned. Iran wobbles on.

Friends, Health

P.T.

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Two notable events. Mt. Evans p.t. called. I’ll see Carol next Tuesday at 10. Glad to have this underway. I need it. Christina told me on telehealth yesterday that I could not get my second infusion in the shape I’m in. A major incentive.

Compact microwave on dorm fridge. Melissa-made meals in the fridge. Three meals a day. Putting on weight is the goal. No longer necessary to go upstairs.

Both push me toward regaining strength and stamina. A good day.

Ginny and Janice, Annie and Luna, coming for a visit later today. Luke on Monday.

 

 

 

Greenhouse, Health, Plants, Shadow Mountain, Weather +Climate

This and that

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Heirloom tomato plants ok! The cold, I guess, would prevent them from producing, but I’ll have the heater working and that won’t be a problem. Relieved. So looking forward to a whole Black Krim or Brandywine. No taste like heirlooms off the plant. Will spoil you. No grocery store tomatoes again except for sauces.

My new goal. Walk to Artemis and back. Maybe get my hands in the soil. Turns out Mt. Evans p.t./o.t. lost two staff to emergency medical leave. No new patients until at least early June. Up to me. I’ve pushed myself so often over the past couple of years. Tired of it.

Didn’t make it to my oncology appointment. Realized I couldn’t walk unaided. Need a walker. Ordered one. May do telehealth. Bupathi took me off the trial pills, abriteraone. Prednisone, too. Hopes to help my fatigue. Get me back on my feet faster. May it be so.

Gabe graduates today. Two years after Ruth. He’s headed to the local Jesuit University, Regis, this fall. He’s leaving public school with momentum. Writing awards. A special girl. Go, Gabe. I will not be attending. See note about oncology appointment.

Rainy and chilly. 44 degrees. Memorial day in the past; Beltane a month underway. Only 24 days till the summer solstice. A real twist after our long, hot winter.

So. Is the war over? We strike. Iran retaliates. Peace negotiations stalled. Where is the great dealmaker? Probably at Mar-a-Lago adding pounds and playing rounds.

 

Greenhouse, Health

Short

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Summer, eh? We’re still logging temps in the high thirties. Fine with me. But not my too early planted tomatoes. Afraid they’re goners. I can’t walk the short distance to Artemis to find out. Melissa will tell me today.

I’m eating more. Trying to regain some weight, have more energy. My head drop has worsened. When I walk, my head strains against my neck. Debilitating. As long as I’m seated, head supported, I feel like my old self. When I get up? Not so much.

Tomorrow Bupathi, my medical oncologist.

 

Dogs, Fourth Phase, Friends, Garden, Greenhouse, Health, Politics, Shadow Mountain

Heirloom

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Today is a red vegetable day. I get my heirloom tomato plants from the Heirloom Tomato Farm. Rather, Melissa will get them for me. Still not up to an outing.

Gotta plug in the heater, warm up the greenhouse. 39 degrees, this morning’s temp, is way too cold for tomatoes. Ginny and Janice will get them planted today. Still pretty chilly through the next week though not this cool.

My Minnesota preference for cold weather now gives way to my gardener’s sensibility. Bring on the Beltane heat. Well, at least Beltane warmth. My mini-splits stand ready to cool the house if need be.

Tara came yesterday with Eleanor. Even though Eleanor’s twice plus her size Shadow initiates most of the rough and tumble, jumping up toward Eleanor’s front, paws out, all let’s play, let’s play, let’s play! They wear each other out.

Tara has worked hard between benai mitzvah classes on Zoom on the complicated logistics of their move to Costa Rica. Dog crates. Getting the house ready to rent. Selling, donating, throwing away decades of accumulated stuff. A lot.

The new microwave is here, ready to go on top of the small fridge. I’ll be able to retrieve my meals and warm them up without having to go upstairs. My recovery depends on two pillars: more and regular meals, a return to some level of exercise. Calories and protein, movement.

My recovery is in stasis right now. Not regressing, but not much forward movement either. There is this. As my body has healed, my mood and attitude have followed. I’m wanting to live, not just exist. Adjusting to my new reality requires challenging myself physically. Not there yet.

Hey, anybody heard about the Straits of Hormuz? How about that slush fund for insurrectionists? What? You’re focused on that “triumphal” arch? Me, I’m wondering if Wemby’s Spurs can takeout the Thunder.

 

Dogs, Family, Fourth Phase, Friends, Health, Shadow Mountain

Profound Weariness

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Ruth in Vegas. A friend of hers got tickets to K-Pop sensation BTS. Took Ruth along. Nice. Got a text from Ruth last night, Good night from Vegas!

Shadow’s winter coat blew out a month ago. But in this peculiar May it’s 31 degrees this morning. She doesn’t stay outside long until the day heats up.

Friend Scott says he and his wife, Yin, protest every Friday afternoon in Minneapolis. He joins a group of drummers. Yin, he says, “smiles down” each passing car. Yin’s in her eighties.

Meanwhile, here on Shadow Mountain, the aftermath of my five sick weeks continues. Now my O2 sats run consistently in the low eighties without oxygen. Means I’ll need to dig out Kate’s Inogen, a portable O2 concentrator, for trips outside the house.

Picture me with my neck brace and the Inogen slung over my shoulder, nasal canula in. Such a fine sight to see. I mean, geez.

My big challenge lies in my weakened muscles. Still no joy on the p.t. or o.t. I need to get working. Diane, my cousin, says I gotta move. She’s right. Too easy to sit it out. And, too damaging.

Deep funk, which I experienced starting in week 2 of my illness, has passed. A good thing. In it I found each new symptom a prelude to my death. I didn’t care. Just let it go, let it have its way.

Mostly came from a profound weariness with being a patient, a man of disease and pills. All ends. We know that. Why not now?

Because friends. Family. Shadow. Reading. Writing. The Mountains. CBE. Because life is already short enough.

Health, Politics, Shadow Mountain, Weather +Climate

A Good Day

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Yesterday. Felt like my old self. Agency, interest. Made calls. Ordered a new pillow and dog treats for Shadow. First time for a few weeks I’ve had some zip. Didn’t change, of course, my weakened physical condition, but I felt clear, my whole person awake and alert.

That does mean, too, that I’ve not felt that way for over five weeks. Tough to remain resilient when I can’t summon the mental energy to make phone calls.

Today I’ve reverted to the clouded, weary headspace. Writing this feels difficult, takes energy to type. Even so, a good day means I have that in me, still. As I eat more, get back to p.t., more will come.

Sent an e-mail to Jeffco courts. Sorry, I’m not able to be a juror. Confirmed by letter from Sue Bradshaw. I like jury duty. An important aspect of our democracy. Which I hold dear.

Three more cool nights then spring will break out on Shadow Mountain. We’ve had a saving round of precipitation in May. Unexpected and delightful. Also, a bit of winter in the year with no winter.

 

Meanwhile back in Dopy Don’s alternate universe $1.8 billion dollars awaits deserving applicants like those who suffered the federal governments successful prosecution over participation in the January 6th insurrection. Makes my head spin. Even the fund itself is shady. Everything Dopy Don touches has an immediate stench.

 

Cooking, Fourth Phase, Health, Politics, Shadow Mountain, Weather +Climate

A Permanent Hall Pass

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Our winter in spring continues with a white blanket of snow and freezing temps. Weird. But nice. Warming toward the end of the week.

Melissa came. I took a two hour nap so she cooked and did laundry. We’ll get to the decluttering on Friday. Pleased with her. Her food makes life better for me.

I continue to coast on a plateau, feeling much better than the last four weeks, yet not seeing gains beyond that. My referrals for in-home p.t. and o.t. have not been acted  on. Eventually. That’s when I expect further progress.

Included now among Dopy Don’s presidential perks: a permanent hall pass from the I.R.S. Allows the holder to have no peaking at their returns. Why would an honest taxpayer need this? Exactly.

The fleecing of the USA. Courtesy of, your President.