September 13, 2011

Pretty much packed and ready to boogie outta here. Just shopping for victuals tomorrow as my sojourn will take place first on a houseboat out of Halls Crossing Marina on Lake Powell. At this time I don't know where, if anywhere, our destination on the lake will be. Hopefully up-lake (NE) because that is where the good fishing has been. I have to prepare one evening meal. It will be spaghetti with my home-made (last week!) bolognese sauce and a lettuce-wedge salad for four. After spending several days on the houseboat I will meet my usual fishing partner at the turnoff to Lake Powell (Bullfrog) and he will hook up my boat and we will spend another several days at the far NE end of the lake (Hite). Since we will be staying in the so called family units at Hite--actually double-wide trailers--we will be cooking there as well. What we eat will be determined by shopping tomorrow.

All that aside, I had a nice return call from AbJ today. Seems we may be getting on a first-name basis, which is the way I like to be treated. I had a couple specific questions for him. Should I get a flu shot? Answer yes, but not necessary to do so before chemo starts. The R-CHOP is apparently focused enough that it will not kill the antibodies eventually produced by the shot. I also wanted to find out a bit more about what to expect about chemo. This is where the news isn't so good. By agreement we will commence the chemotherapy on Monday Oct. 3. This permits me to have a birthday celebration with my daughter--mine is
Sept. 25, hers is Sept. 27 as was her maternal grandmother's. And 21 years ago this Sept. 27 her sister died (was killed!) in an automobile accident. So the last week of Sept. is a huge family time. It also permits me to get in the first fall rehearsal (Sept. 27) (and more) for the Jazz Kicks Band. Our fearless leader, Larry Smith, has spent all summer dredging up Horace Silver tunes from the university's band library for us to play and has come up with some of his own arrangements as well. I don't know what kind of physical shape I will be in come concert time (usually first week of Dec.) but I am going to play it like I will be there. Apparently there is some solo work for me, heightening interest. Horace Silver wrote some real post bop classics as will as some dynamite funk tunes, so it will a blast to play that music and the band will roar.

Now the not so-good stuff: first chemo session will be all of six hours! And the effects are delayed. Another good friend who has suffered through this same ordeal hipped me to the long infusion times and this latter event as well. Apparently the bod doesn't know right away that it is being poisoned, so the effects of the infusion are often not felt for about 48 hours, and then one of the side effects can be nausea and vomiting as well as the tiredness. On the bright side, that will mean that I definitely will be able to make the Oct 4 rehearsal of the band as well. Fun will be taken where possible! However, the Valcade administration is faster, as are subsequent R-CHOP administrations, maybe only 90 minutes or so. What I forgot to ask was whether we do CAT scans to determine progress after 3 cycles or not.


Well, off to catch the wily striped bass, the wilier small-mouthed bass, the even wilier large mouthed bass, and the most wily walleye pike. Back at this stand in a week or so.