Dennis is now half way to completing his chemo and radiation! Yahoo! It is Friday and the end of the week is marked by great anticipation- we are escaping into the southwestern Washington countryside with a friend who has flown in from Alaska and rented a car.
The trip south from the city took several hours and we were stunned by the traffic-wow! It was a veritable parking lot. It was so nice and cool in the air-conditioned car I fell asleep. The skies were gray and it sprinkled a little. Finally we arrive to a lovely spot overlooking the Cowlitz River Valley. The gardens were in full bloom, the blackberries and other berries were hanging off the vines and we all relaxed. It felt wonderful... and we are ready to enjoy the night outside the city and our new hosts are great people, we really enjoy them.
Thanks again to all those that have visited this week-we appreciate you! Talk with you tomorrow, Faith and Dennis
Friday, August 7, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Fine Friends
Today the cooler weather ushered in friends. One set was here from Ketchikan and visiting Virginia Mason for medical reasons. Thank goodness their surgery went well. We were treated to a lift to the bank and some shopping and then back. Phew, that was fun! In the afternoon a friend from Juneau stopped by to spend the afternoon before going on to visit family in Michigan and parts east. It was nice to see everyone, and the weather held the entire day, keeping the treks uphill more tolerable.
Tomorrow is a milestone in Dennis's treatment-it marks 15 days have passed, and there are 15 days to go!! He is doing well, and pacing himself, with lots of naps, and time to get exercise and to be with friends. I think he is doing great, considering everything that is happening. The last seven days of his treatment will involve radiation of the same dose in a smaller, pinpointed area.
This weekend we are escaping to rural Washington with a friend from Thorne Bay, and are both looking forward to the quiet of being outside the city.
Hope your weather is great too...
Faith & Dennis
Tomorrow is a milestone in Dennis's treatment-it marks 15 days have passed, and there are 15 days to go!! He is doing well, and pacing himself, with lots of naps, and time to get exercise and to be with friends. I think he is doing great, considering everything that is happening. The last seven days of his treatment will involve radiation of the same dose in a smaller, pinpointed area.
This weekend we are escaping to rural Washington with a friend from Thorne Bay, and are both looking forward to the quiet of being outside the city.
Hope your weather is great too...
Faith & Dennis
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Cool weather here for sure...
It's sometimes amazing what a week can do for the weather...in this case, very much in our favor. The temperature here when I went over for my radiation was a solid 62 degrees -- a mere 43 degrees lower than the high last Wednesday! It was so cool today that Faith went from shorts in the morning to jeans in the afternoon when we walked down to the library. Did I mention how much better we like this weather than hot summer days?
On the wi-fi customer service front, we continue our mission to get the system in our hotel fixed. Right now, we typically get our computers kicked off the wi-fi Internet about every 15 to 30 minutes. Then we have to remember the special code and reregister into the ysstem. It's such a difficulty, to say nothing of nuisance, that I emailed the department in the hospital that provides services to patients about the issue. Since they also run both of the hotels next to the hospital, they seemed like the right ones to talk with. I got a response fairly quickly, but when nothing happend in a few days, I sent them another email. This time I got a phone call from a higher-level official there, who promised stronger effort. He has called several times, keeping me informed on their effort and progress. And while it may not happen in our time, it does look like future residents of this hotel will have good wi-fi service available to them. Seems pretty important in the 21st Century to me, so I'm glad they're trying to fix it.
Here's hoping you had a good day too...
Dennis & Faith
On the wi-fi customer service front, we continue our mission to get the system in our hotel fixed. Right now, we typically get our computers kicked off the wi-fi Internet about every 15 to 30 minutes. Then we have to remember the special code and reregister into the ysstem. It's such a difficulty, to say nothing of nuisance, that I emailed the department in the hospital that provides services to patients about the issue. Since they also run both of the hotels next to the hospital, they seemed like the right ones to talk with. I got a response fairly quickly, but when nothing happend in a few days, I sent them another email. This time I got a phone call from a higher-level official there, who promised stronger effort. He has called several times, keeping me informed on their effort and progress. And while it may not happen in our time, it does look like future residents of this hotel will have good wi-fi service available to them. Seems pretty important in the 21st Century to me, so I'm glad they're trying to fix it.
Here's hoping you had a good day too...
Dennis & Faith
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
An Afternoon of Meetings
Besides being my first full day back in Seattle, it was a day of meetings and a new schedule for Dennis. The clinical trial begins next week, with the first infusion of avastin or the placebo.
Dennis received his third haircut as well, now called the "No. 1", which means that there's about one fourth of an inch of hair on his head and beard. This allows the radiation mask to fit better and more accurately, an extremely important fact. Lan, who is a wonderful female barber, now knows us and smiles when he walks in the door.
I decided to spoil him so I am making him tapioca. The hottest it got today was 70 degrees, so I figured I should go for it. It is nice to see sunset with clouds out the window, and it is a great blessing to laugh together and be together again. Talk with you tomorrow, F and D
Dennis received his third haircut as well, now called the "No. 1", which means that there's about one fourth of an inch of hair on his head and beard. This allows the radiation mask to fit better and more accurately, an extremely important fact. Lan, who is a wonderful female barber, now knows us and smiles when he walks in the door.
I decided to spoil him so I am making him tapioca. The hottest it got today was 70 degrees, so I figured I should go for it. It is nice to see sunset with clouds out the window, and it is a great blessing to laugh together and be together again. Talk with you tomorrow, F and D
Monday, August 3, 2009
Gary leaves; Faith returns...
Today was a big change in my company. Gary flew back to Colorado early this afternoon, after two weeks of staying here and helping me out. He got well-acquainted with staff at the hospital, and I'm pretty sure they will miss him now that he's gone home. I don't think he's going to miss the heat much, but he did like some of the technicians giving treatments to me quite a lot. And rightly so...they are several steps above most that you encounter, even if the others are pretty good. Then Faith arrived in the early evening, after two weeks at our home taking care of lots of things that needed caring and attention. It's great to have her back; we celebrated with Montana mule deer steaks for dinner! Yum-oh was that good; it was also good that it has finally cooled off enough here that I could actually cook dinner without heating the whole apartment up.
Today is also the start of week three of my treatments, and the start of week five of our stay in Seattle. So, while I am only a third of the way through my radiation and chemotherapy -- we are half way through our two months here. The notion that our time is starting to slide downhill toward our trip home is a really good one. I do appreciate what all the medical folks here are doing for me, and I am certain that it is necessary, but I will be very happy to return to Alaska after the second phase is finished on August 28th.
Thanks for all the comments and support you have been giving us...
Dennis & Faith
Today is also the start of week three of my treatments, and the start of week five of our stay in Seattle. So, while I am only a third of the way through my radiation and chemotherapy -- we are half way through our two months here. The notion that our time is starting to slide downhill toward our trip home is a really good one. I do appreciate what all the medical folks here are doing for me, and I am certain that it is necessary, but I will be very happy to return to Alaska after the second phase is finished on August 28th.
Thanks for all the comments and support you have been giving us...
Dennis & Faith
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Another nice Sunday...
Today is Gary's last day; he leaves tomorrow to return to Colorado. Faith returns from Ketchikan a few hours after he leaves, so I won't have much time "alone" here. While things have gone well for me so far and I am fully capable of functioning by myself -- at this point -- it has been comforting to have people here to take care of "things" for me. Throughout my life, I have mostly thought of helping my friends, and seldom thought of my friends helping me. Now that situation has been reversed, though hopefully not for long, and it is staggering to me how many people care about me. I am fortunate indeed, to have a grand wife and a great measure of friends helping me in one way or another. It has all been somewhat humbling, in a positive and valuable way. Gary's support and help has been wonderful, and I deeply appreciate it. It's way different from going hunting with him, but I'll be back to doing that by next year.
Gary and I left the apartment shortly after 11:00 am, headed for an early lunch at a restaurant we had been to before. On the way we passed a nice-looking pizza place, and decided to have lunch there. Then we saw that on Sunday, they didn't open until 12:00 noon. Hmmm...what to do? Since it was a pleasant and relatively cool morning, with lots of shade on the streets, we decided to take a wandering walk around the neighborhood. We walked by a giant, cathedral-looking church, only to discover that it's a Baptist Church. I've been around a lot of Baptist Churches in the Midwest, and have never seen anything that looks like this one, so I assumed that the current occupant had bought it from someone else when they moved to another site. So we walked all the way around it, and found two interesting, though totally unrelated, facts. One is that, in fact, this church was built by the Baptists in 1869. The other is that the building on the other side of the street is the Polyclinic, and there is easy parking and an entrance. Faith and I have been going to a doctor there for several years, but have been entering from Broadway. This will be a much easier way to get in, I think. And oh by the way -- the pizza was really good.
Here's hoping all of you had a great weekend.
Dennis & Faith, with Gary one more night...
Gary and I left the apartment shortly after 11:00 am, headed for an early lunch at a restaurant we had been to before. On the way we passed a nice-looking pizza place, and decided to have lunch there. Then we saw that on Sunday, they didn't open until 12:00 noon. Hmmm...what to do? Since it was a pleasant and relatively cool morning, with lots of shade on the streets, we decided to take a wandering walk around the neighborhood. We walked by a giant, cathedral-looking church, only to discover that it's a Baptist Church. I've been around a lot of Baptist Churches in the Midwest, and have never seen anything that looks like this one, so I assumed that the current occupant had bought it from someone else when they moved to another site. So we walked all the way around it, and found two interesting, though totally unrelated, facts. One is that, in fact, this church was built by the Baptists in 1869. The other is that the building on the other side of the street is the Polyclinic, and there is easy parking and an entrance. Faith and I have been going to a doctor there for several years, but have been entering from Broadway. This will be a much easier way to get in, I think. And oh by the way -- the pizza was really good.
Here's hoping all of you had a great weekend.
Dennis & Faith, with Gary one more night...
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Walkin' to REI...
What a great change from Wednesday and Thursday today was! The temperature at noon was at least 20 degres cooler; but the temperature at night was even lower by comparison. When I woke up at 6:15 this morning, after sleeping very well, I fired up my laptop to find the temperature was a mild 61 degrees. With a small fan blowing the cool night air into my bedroom, I slept better than I had in days.
About 8:30 this morning, Gary and I launched our walk to REI. (For anyone who doesn't know, it's a great recreation/outdoor gear store, originally established in 1938.) According to my Mapquest map, it was 1.15 miles from my apartment. This seemed like a good walking distance on a cool morning, and so it was. We made no particular effort to move fast; instead we enjoyed the walk and the views, and arrived a bit after they opened at 9:00 am. The staff was friendly, and the store was fun to wander around in. I even bought a small, multi-functional tripod to use with my camera and small version spotting scope; and a bottle of "multilevel protection sun block" to help protect my skin. Happily, not only were both items relatively inexpensive -- they were both made in the State of Washington. A grand visit, and a nice walk.
No radiation today or tomorrow, but I took the Temodar on the same schedule for the weekdays with radiation, since it's been moved to the afternoon. That fit nicely with our "hike" to REI, as we arrived back at my apartment at the right time to meet that need.
All in all, a really nice day. Hope you had one too.
Dennis & Faith, with Gary
About 8:30 this morning, Gary and I launched our walk to REI. (For anyone who doesn't know, it's a great recreation/outdoor gear store, originally established in 1938.) According to my Mapquest map, it was 1.15 miles from my apartment. This seemed like a good walking distance on a cool morning, and so it was. We made no particular effort to move fast; instead we enjoyed the walk and the views, and arrived a bit after they opened at 9:00 am. The staff was friendly, and the store was fun to wander around in. I even bought a small, multi-functional tripod to use with my camera and small version spotting scope; and a bottle of "multilevel protection sun block" to help protect my skin. Happily, not only were both items relatively inexpensive -- they were both made in the State of Washington. A grand visit, and a nice walk.
No radiation today or tomorrow, but I took the Temodar on the same schedule for the weekdays with radiation, since it's been moved to the afternoon. That fit nicely with our "hike" to REI, as we arrived back at my apartment at the right time to meet that need.
All in all, a really nice day. Hope you had one too.
Dennis & Faith, with Gary
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