Light at the End of the Tunnel -- 91.666...% Done!

The 11th of my chemo infusions is now complete. Only one more to go on August 10th! I'll have some follow-up appointments the second week of September, which will include a full CT scan and blood tests. Given the indications up to this point, I anticipate that those results will continue to show a positive outlook. Back in February, when the chemotherapy plan was presented, the expected 24 weeks seemed like a long haul (will have actually turned out to be 27 weeks due to a couple of midterm setbacks). Now, as with so many things in my life when I wonder where the time went, I am nearly finished with the treatment. Thank goodness for modern medicine and the excellent care I have available here at The University of Iowa.

We are looking forward to spending more time at our cabin in Wisconsin. We'll be there this next week, and after the last infusion on the 10th, we intend to spend even more and longer periods of time there.

I haven't had any major woodworking projects underway recently, but I did complete making a small box which incorporates a 4" tile in its lid. I have made some of these before as gifts and have had three extra tiles around, so decided to make the last three of these before turning to other things. I'm going to use different wood for each one. This one is quarter-sawn white oak and presents a frog in its lid. The others will incorporate a butterfly and a lady bug. The boxes are nice for keepsakes or other ideas.

For my next project, I want to make one of these Civil War era folding chairs. Kathie has agreed to make the fabric seat for me. I don't have any particular plans for using the chair or for using it as a gift, but it is a project that will give me some new challenges and techniques to explore.

These chairs were popular prior to the Civil War, since they fold up nearly flat and were thus probably useful in homes for gatherings of various kinds. When the war began, officers started taking them along for use in camps, and this resulted in thousands more of them being made for such use.

That's it for now.

83.333...% of the Way!

This past Wednesday I received the 10th chemotherapy infusion of the planned twelve. This means I am 83.33% of the way to the end of this phase of my cancer treatment. Although my platelet level was down once again, no delays in the plan were introduced. This time, I did not have the Oxaliplatin infusion at the hospital. My oncologist has determined that the eight prior infusions of this drug will be enough. I did complete the 10th infusion via pump at home of the companion drug, Fluorouracil, and will have the planned remaining two of those at two and four weeks from now. Oxaliplatin is the drug that hit me with the most uncomfortable side effects and also was the probable cause of the platelet problems, so I'm really pleased to put that behind me. No more dealing with the strange sensitivity to cold and cold things, and the neuropathy that has caused some discomfort in my feet can now start to diminish, I hope. Some fatigue and sleepiness still hits me at about three and four days after each infusion, but as at least one of my grandkids has said, "Grandpa is the king of naps."

We talked with my oncologist about next steps this time as well. Following the twelfth and final infusion, I'll be free of those every other week appointments. At about one month out, a CT scan and some other tests will be done for reassessment. Assuming that this examination yields the same type of results as the tests and scans done back in February and March, the expectation is for a low probability of reoccurrence of the cancer. At that point, the medical port I currently have may also be removed. Furthermore, we will be able to return to our usual pattern of longer stays at our cabin in Wisconsin, something we have been looking forward to for quite some time.

On to other news! When we moved to our new home, we naturally wanted to personalize it and attend to a few things that needed repair or updating. We learned that furniture which worked perfectly well in one home may not work quite as well in another. Just yesterday (7/15), we reached closure on most of the changes we have been wanting to make. A new ensemble of furniture was ordered back in February for our living room. And though we did not expect to get it until this fall, it arrived just yesterday! Consisting of a sectional, new tables, and a swivel chair, the living room now looks like this:

The living room furniture we brought from our prior home was then relocated to our home theater area:

We hired a local painter to clean our back deck and screened-in porch, including some sanding and repair work, and then had him stain all of it as well as replacing the screens, which were damaged and showing age. The new color looks much nicer, we think, and the two Adirondack chairs I built for the deck now have a home. Kathie picked the "Real Teal" color for the chairs. I love the bright contrast they bring to the space.

The porch furniture we were temporarily using in the home theater now properly occupies the screened-in porch area of our back deck:

Finally, I finished a bench I made for the foot of our bed using some cherry harvested from a friend's woods.

That's all for now!

75.000...% Complete (Plus Activity Updates)

Today (7/1) at about 10:30, I'll disconnect myself from the pump and bag of Fluorouracil, and that will represent my completion of round nine (of twelve) chemotherapy treatments. The good news from this visit was that my platelet count had improved considerably, so this time I also had the Oxaliplatin at the Infusion Center. That one carries more side effect issues for me, those being the reaction to ingested cold items and some continued neuropathy. However, this may have been the last of the infusions of that drug (seven in all), leaving only three more rounds of the take-home drug. Then I'll shift into a surveillance mode with far fewer regular trips to the hospital and no more chemotherapy. Instead I'll have periodic CT scans, blood tests, and annual colonoscopies. I continue to lead a nearly normal life, enjoying my personal interests, our new home, and the occasional week at our cabin. As usual after each infusion round, I go through a couple of days of fatigue, leading me to nap quite a bit, but overall things are good and the prognosis continues to be very positive. On to more interesting things...

We traveled up to our cabin in Wisconsin to spend a week relaxing there. Not having been there for nearly a month to mow, the half of our lawn nearest the woods had turned to a meadow. Covered with hawk weed, a bit of purple clover, and white or yellow daisies, the lawn was quite pretty and we didn't have the heart to mow it right away. However, one of the easiest ways to pick up ticks is to walk in tall grass, something Tighe, our dog, is most likely to do. So after a couple days admiring the view, I did mow it all down. Got a picture or two first, though.

I spent some time trimming and weeding around the base of some of our trees too. While working there, a doe came walking by and seemed to care little that I was there. She stood still while I stood and reached in my pocket for a camera, and a few moments later, when I walked to my right to put some things away, she just slowly walked parallel to me. Only when Tighe spotted her and began to bark did she high tail it (literally) down the driveway and into the woods.

Right at the shore line with our lake, pretty purple iris grow and bloom this time of year.

Our good friends Richard and Rina came to spend about three days with us as well. I had decided late last year to disassemble the large electric train layout I had built in our garage up there. Everyone chipped in one day to help unscrew all the sections of track that made up the layout. Later, I spent time removing the electronics and wiring and began to disassemble the tables. The train items will go into storage, but I'll reuse lots of the table structure to make a couple of work benches in the garage, and then I can reclaim the space for easier storage of our boats, vehicles (when staying up there), and other equipment.

 

We all did a little fishing too, but the weather had been so hot up there (first two days we arrived in the middle 90s), that the surface temperature of the lake was at 76º. Fish were deeper and in unusual places, and so we worked pretty hard to find them. We did finally catch a few bass, though, and their tenacious fighting always makes that fun. Strictly catch and release with us! The last night we were there before returning to our home in Iowa, Kathie and I enjoyed one last cruise on the pretty lake.

Grandson Anders was participating in five days of cycling in the Milwaukee area while we were at our cabin. This was the Kwik Trip Tour of America's Dairyland event. He succeeded in winning first place overall in his age group, finishing 1st, 2nd, 1st, 4th, and 1st in the five days of racing. The 4th finish on the 4th day was called "traumatic" by his father, who said that one of Anders' teammates was ahead of him and attempting to help Anders get positioned for a sprint to the finish line when the teammate crashed. Anders had to slow considerably to avoid crashing himself and couldn't get back up to speed to overtake the others. His teammate got a pretty bad scrape, I guess. We couldn't attend any of these events, but at the rate Anders is progressing in his many races this summer, we're going to have to plan ahead so that we can watch him in person sometime.

 

Meanwhile, being back home again finds me in the shop working on various projects. I have those two Adirondack chairs to paint in the next few days (Kathie chose a color called Real Teal). I also finished up making a game called Kubb. This is a Swedish lawn game about which you can read more here. My son, Rob, first brought the game to my attention and asked me to make a set for him, which I did. He has played that one quite a bit and recently asked if I'd make another set for a friend of his. This one is fancier, and he may wish to keep it and give the first set to the friend?? This one comes with a carrying box, is made of hardwoods (oak and cherry), has a hammer for pounding in the boundary markers, and has a more ornate king and fancier playing pieces (batons and Kubbs).

That's it for now. I'll refrain from commenting (or maybe I won't) on the distressing news coming from our Supreme Court and our various elected officials, all of whom seem bent on creating public policy intended to endanger us, restrict our personal choices and rights, further harm minority groups and diverse interests, ignore the destruction of our planet and environment, and who govern by saying no instead of collaborating on solutions. I worked in information technology areas for much of my professional life, and I can't help but be disturbed by all of the unintended consequences of the use of that technology, especially for the wild and hateful spreading of disinformation.

I said I was going to refrain from commenting, but now I guess I have commented to some extent. Let me just conclude by saying that I wish the political parties, and mostly the Republican party, could return to being the kinds of parties I believe them to have been during my parents' lifetime--parties that meant to be deliberative, constructive, and collaborative. Some in the Republican party, including a certain Senator in my state, once represented that kind of thinking. Today, as he grows too old, in my opinion, to run yet again, he has become one of those who generally just says no to anything important and who seems to do just what he is told by other party leadership. Among other things, I hope you are paying attention to the hearings on the January 6th events! Be well. Do what you can to protect our failing planet Earth. Love each other and help each other. Embrace diversity. Elect individuals who want to make a true and positive difference and who are not corrupt, autocratic and interested in theocratic government.