Archive for September, 2013

Bushy-Tailed Tree Rats

Friday, September 20th, 2013

We only have a single-car garage, which typically doesn’t have room for even a single car, so parking a car or three on the street is pretty much normal at our house. Just down the street from our property there is a walnut tree between the curb and the sidewalk, not far from where the 528e is usually parked.

A couple of days ago I saw a squirrel run out from under that car, and something made me think that he hopped down from the underside of it… I didn’t give it much thought it at the time, but this morning, while driving that car to work, I heard a little ‘thump’ as I was slowing for a stoplight, then saw a green walnut go rolling along the curb into the intersection. Great.

Looks like I need to do some inspecting and see how many more nuts that bushy-tailed tree rat has squirreled away in my car. And how much damage he’s caused in the process.

The In-Between Time

Thursday, September 12th, 2013

It’s been a while since my last update, so I suppose I’m way overdue for another. Actually, this post was started weeks ago, but it never seems quite finished, and instead of just finishing it, I find myself going back to it again & again and revising big chunks of it. Even the post title has probably changed a half-dozen times… Probably not the most efficient way to get the job done, but… It may have ended up a little on the wordy side too; just a warning. Good thing I don’t charge by the hour or by the word.

My last post ended with the results of my second PET scan in late June. While the procedure was a little rough, it yielded some good news; we had gained some serious ground on the cancer in my jaw, and we were ready to roll into the next phase of treatment, radiation therapy. Those treatments weren’t much more fun than the last PET scan, and even now, seven weeks out from my last treatment, I’m still feeling the lingering side-effects. The positive side of this in between time is that I haven’t even seen the inside of a hospital, clinic or infusion center since July 25 (happy dance!) My next appointment is for blood work and a third PET scan on September 18, followed by a visit with my oncologist to go over the results. It’s been really good to not be picked on for a while after about 17 weeks of being poked, prodded, gouged, scanned, pumped full of toxins and and being irradiated by a linear accelerator. Recovery from the radiation seems to be much slower, but I’m finally starting to feel closer to normal (whatever that is; I think I forgot.)

To recap what has happened since that last scan…
(more…)