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| Author |
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| 25 new of 480 responses total. |
keesan
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response 266 of 480:
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Nov 15 11:39 UTC 2003 |
Now I know why I have not had anything on this list for a few years - I had
an excess of B-cells to fight off all the bacteria! I think infections of
the mucus membrane of the mouth are bacterial and I was getting sores in my
mouth the first three cycles when my B-cells were killed off by the chemo.
Yesterday evening grapes tasted normal (slightly more sour) but before some
grapes at a reception tasted awful. I tried an orange and it tasted more
awful. Jim tried it and pointed out that it was spoiled. Spoiled oranges
don't normally taste this awful to me. More bitter than sour. Is this just
due to losing some taste buds, or might I have become more sensitive to the
byproducts of whatever organism spoils fruit (some fungus? - there was no
blue fuzz on the skin, just that taste). People with less resistance would
benefit from avoiding spoiled foods.
This seems to be one of these mornings when I don't get back to sleep.
Maybe if I climbed lots of stairs (three times up and down?) I would get more
tired and sleep better?
Scrapie/BSE/kuru/Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (caused by prions, a type of protein
that folds wrong and causes other proteins it encounters to do the same)
somehow affects its victims by causing them to lose appetite and waste away.
I wonder how it does this. Cancer does the same. Appetite suppressant.
If you are a sheep, you are likely to get scrapie if you eat the placenta from
a ewe with scrapie that has given birth. It is not destroyed by normal
sterilization techniques or by the formaldehyde used to make vaccines from
attenuated viruses so a bunch of sheep got scrapie from a vaccine against
something else. I am glad not to be a sheep.
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rcurl
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response 267 of 480:
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Nov 15 18:29 UTC 2003 |
Prions destroy neurons, and the symptoms (and death) follow from that.
There has just been a report of an experiment in which mice were made
"immune" to prions by genomically changing them so neurons expressed an
enzyme that destroyed the *normal* prion protein. Without the normal
protein, the prions can't misfold anything, so neurons were not destroyed.
However at the same time the prions in other cells created the misfolded
protein, but that created no symptoms: other cell types were unaffected by
misfolded prion proteins. A rather ingenious experiment. This doesn't
provide directly a practical vaccine, much less cure, of course, but tells
a lot about the process of this disease.
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keesan
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response 268 of 480:
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Nov 15 20:23 UTC 2003 |
Apparently the normal prion protein is not essential, as someone was also able
to breed mice without the gene to produce it and they seem okay. If you don't
have that protein, it cannot be converted to prions. The protein resides in
the cell membrane until it is converted to the misfolded prion form, then the
cells die and the protein gets loose and converts proteins in other cell
membranes. The prion form of the protein has a section converted from
irregular to flat-sheet, which renders it inaccessible to the enzymes that
normally break it down, so it accumulates.
About 100 people (as of 2002) had died of BSE. About 100 people a year die
of salmonella poisoning in Germany, frequently from eating factory eggs.
Genetic engineering is saving people from this disease because it is no longer
necessary to process pituitary glands from dead people. One in 10,000 people
die of Creutzfeld-Jacob disease and companies used to process 20,000
pituitaries at a time to make human growth hormone. I think genetically
engineered bacteria now make it instead. They also make the drug which is
killing my B-cells (Rituxan). (Someone wants to chat now).
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keesan
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response 269 of 480:
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Nov 16 02:44 UTC 2003 |
This cycle I have only four fingers with only a little bit of shredded skin
and only one was bleeding at all. Last time I had 7 total that were more
infected. I still don't know what causes this.
This evening I timed the hot flashes. Every 45 minutes exactly. I could
almost set a clock by them. At night I wake every hour feeling hot so perhaps
they slow down then.
I put together a list of side effects for the doctor and was surprised to find
at least 15 side effects other than blood counts going down. Some of them
are no longer recurring this cycle. Some occur only the first week (with
prednisone) and some only the last week (pain in the spleen and ribs). The
laryngitis gets worse around the second week then a bit better each time.
The odd taste gets worse a few days after therapy, then somewhat better by
the end of each cycle, but overall is getting worse, along with numb hands.
The 15 side effects do not include those of prednisone.
Non-Hodgkins lymphoma is more common after age 50 and may be caused by Epstein
Barr virus but they tested and I don't have that. They tested for lots of
viruses and I don't have any of them. I wonder why they tested.
One more 'normal' day before chemo on Monday. Last time they said they did
not have a free slot for me but would notify when they found one. I have a
12 pm doctor's appointment and presumably a blood draw before that and they
will have to find a spot for me after those.
Today we did computers instead of walking. Jim is fixing polygon's Windows
problem by reinstalling Win95, using the serial number from the original
installation which he found in one of the files. The monitor that had
some problem or other looked like it was going to explode (and sounded that
way too) so Jim unplugged it. Larry picked up a computer we put together for
Sarah to play games and learn to write on, and when she learns to write we
will add a modem and Kermit.
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keesan
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response 270 of 480:
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Nov 17 00:31 UTC 2003 |
An eventful day. Got polygon's coputer working after downloading the video
driver, and got it up to normal speed by restoring CMOS to default values.
It had been running at about the speed of a 386 and it was a P200.
Jim has been struggling all day with a winmodem that gets put onto Com1, which
is the only serial port available on the computer. It works in another
computer on Com4 if you fiddle with things a lot.
We have an order for a grex laptop from a friend who would like to read about
cell biology online and has no computers. We have a lovely little 286 for
her to dial grex with and use lynx. Due on Tuesday.
On Wednesday (busy social schedule) we plan to go walking with the older
neighbor down the block who does a double block every dry day but is afraid
of falling. She had several strokes and some surgery.
Some time after that we promised (again) to show our 81 year old friend how
to use the printer we set up for him. His wife called to check on me and
called back to tell me it was Ostromeria she had brought me in a vase from
her garden. These flowers last several weeks.
This leaves us five weeks (before I stop being retired) to put together a few
computers for ourselves. I am still using a 486 here. Being retired is time
consuming. Tomorrow is another chemotherapy day and since they told me three
weeks ago that there was no free slot, I expect to be there until closing
time. Last time we did not pay for parking because the cashier had turned
off her cash register at 9 pm. I will try to think of other things so as to
get some sleep tonight. I hate needles.
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twenex
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response 271 of 480:
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Nov 17 04:58 UTC 2003 |
Good luck, Sindi.
Hmm, never heard o Ostromeria. American native?
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gelinas
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response 272 of 480:
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Nov 17 11:48 UTC 2003 |
Perhaps its alstromeria, also known as Peruvian Lily. See
http://www.freshroses.com/alstro.html
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keesan
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response 273 of 480:
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Nov 17 15:28 UTC 2003 |
Yes, alstromeria sounds right. Leslie already told me the name of this flower
after it came in a bouquet from someone I translated for and I keep
forgetting. It does look like a lily.
Jim made flat bread in the breadmaker last night so he suggests we buy some
that rose on the way to the hospital. We are supposed to be there at 11 and
I have not eaten breakfast yet. Got to remember to take CDs along to drown
out the TV noise, and a few books that I can read with one hand.
I printed out for the doctor two pages describing all my side effects.
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tod
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response 274 of 480:
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Nov 17 19:54 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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keesan
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response 275 of 480:
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Nov 18 02:52 UTC 2003 |
What sort of luck do you mean?
We just got to my apartment after finishing chemotherapy at 9:15. They close
at 9:00 so we were not required to pay for parking. Five hours in the
infusion area after waiting five hours in the waiting area (a small amount
of this being blood draw, talking to a nurse, and 2 minutes with the doctor,
who read my two page summary of events and had no questions.) After the sixth
infusion Dec. 8 I get another CT scan and possibly a PET scan as well. Has
anyone reading this ever had a PET (positron emission tomography) scan and
does it require an IV. The CT scan won't show the difference between scar
tissue and tumor. Today I had lower than usual blood pressure and my
neutrophil count is still 2.7. It was over 4 on the day of the last infusion,
perhaps because I had some virus.
We had time to talk to lots of people in the waiting room. A retired man who
has a very slow leukemia being treated just with pills, indefinitely. He says
they only make him nauseous in the morning. He feels sorry for the young kids
who come in. I talked to a girl who needs to come in every day from 2 hours
away and has a port. To the parents of a 2 year old who had a bone marrow
transplant for neuroblastoma, diagnosed at age 1. She is two months ahead
of predicted progress and could be done with the three times a week visits
by Christmas. Her parents found an apartment here for the duration and cannot
go anywhere as she must not be exposed to any microbes. The boy we met the
first time, skinnier than me, has gained more weight and can walk 2 miles.
He has to keep going to school (night school in his case) in order to receive
insurance benefits. Someone showed me the afghan she knit during her frequent
long waits. Someone in with her husband (who has blood problems) told me all
about her breast cancer, which has returned twice with puzzling symptoms and
caused fluid around the lungs and a cough that they thought was pneumonia.
Someone else was looking unhappy at the results of a CT scan - she had been
in remission. Most of these eople have to drive 1-3 hours to get here and
half of them have to come 3-5 times a week (and wait around all day). A girl
from Chelsea was there with her mother and I asked her what fourth grade was
like. She has asthma and needs to be especially careful during chemotherapy.
My roommate during chemo was there with his girlfriend (hoth in their 70s)
who told us about her knee replacement and heart surgery and latex allergy
- she is also allergic to formalehyde (plywood) and curtains and acrylic and
acetate. Her boyfriend was getting 5 hours of blood transfusion for low
hemoglobin. He could not hear well and was playing the TV loudly. Finally
they moved him to a bed as he was not feeling well.
This time they are letting me cut the prednisone dose from 100 to 70 mg but
they infused the higher amount today of something similar (decadron). The
vincristine is staying at half dosage - this is letting my numb hands recover,
and also it is what caused sore jaws the previous times. The brought me 2
Benadrysl but let me take just one (patient right of refusal) and will throw
out the other and not charge me $4.19 for it. I had three nurses on different
shifts, including the one that we gave the pawpaw to. She told us how she
brews beer - tried using tap water and bottled water and gypsum added to the
water to remove calcium.
We were the second to last to finish and were not charged for parking at 9:15.
The ENT exam for the laryngitis could not be scheduled until February, which
the cancer doctor agrees is pretty pointless in case it is caused by a drug
reaction, since I will be done with drugs by then. He wondered whether to
reduce the dosage of whatever caused it. I told him it keeps getting worse
after therapy and then better again. The pharmacist commented that my voice
sounds a lot stronger today. The mother of the boy who lost more weight than
me and is a bone marrow candidate told me my hair was looking nice (short and
rather skimpy) and her son showed me his head without any hair to explain why
she liked my hair.
The blood draw was nearly painless - I hope I get her again - and the IV was
as good as they get, worked first time and did not hurt too much for 5 hours.
My blood pressure was fairly stahle but low - 102/80 and then 102/64.
I can now look forward to maybe 6 instead of 4-5 hours per night sleep for
the next week.
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klg
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response 276 of 480:
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Nov 18 03:30 UTC 2003 |
re: "Has anyone reading this ever had a PET (positron emission
tomography) scan and does it require an IV."
Had one, I believe, after final chemo tx. Pretty sure an IV was
involved, but they don't bother me. Nice thing was that there was no
massive piece of eqpt, such as for a CT or MRI.
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scg
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response 277 of 480:
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Nov 18 04:46 UTC 2003 |
I just caught up on this item after not being on Grex for more than a month.
I'm glad to hear things are going well, Sindi.
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keesan
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response 278 of 480:
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Nov 18 05:13 UTC 2003 |
[26]Lymphomas
Contents:
* [27]Introduction
* [28]Diagnosis
* Treatment
* [29]Follow up
* [30]Example Study
* [31]More Information
___________________________________
Treatment
The doctors diagnose the cancer and determine what kind it is by
looking at a sample of the tumor under a microscope. This alone does
not determine what treatment you should have. Before treatment, your
doctors must determine how much lymphoma you have. This is called
staging the cancer.
Treatment options as well as the outlook for your recovery depend on
both the exact type and the stage of the lymphoma.
Once identified, a suspected lesion is biopsied. If it is found to be
melanoma, it will be surgically removed-often with surrounding lymph
nodes. A number of diagnostic tests may be performed, including a PET
scan and a sentinel node biopsy.
Tests used to gather information for staging may include:
* A physical examination
* Blood tests
* A bone marrow aspiration and biopsy
* A lumbar puncture (spinal tap)
* Imaging tests including a PET scan
PET is the most useful test that you can have when doctors are staging
or re-staging lymphoma because it accurately shows the extent of the
spread of the cancer.
How PET works: In cancer, cells begin to grow at a much faster rate,
feeding on sugars like glucose. PET works by using a small amount of a
radioactive drug called a tracer in combination with a compound such
as glucose. Once you are injected with the tracer and glucose, the
tracer travels through your body. It emits signals as it travels and
eventually collects in the organs targeted for examination. If an area
in an organ is cancerous, the signals will be stronger since more
glucose will be absorbed in those areas.
In tissues or organs affected by lymphoma, more of the radioactive
glucose will be taken up as compared to normal lymph nodes and
tissues. This helps the doctors understand exactly where the lymphoma
is. Proper staging of the location and extent of the tumor is the
first step in appropriate treatment. Moreover, once treated, patients
are often re-staged to determine the effectiveness of the treatment.
In addition to providing basic staging information, the initial PET
scan provides a baseline for subsequent evaluation of whether the
therapy was effective or not. Whole Body PET may be particularly
useful in detecting extra nodal sites of disease such as bone marrow,
liver and spleen.
The treatment of lymphoma has been one of the true cancer success
stories of the last 20-30 years. Continued improvements in
chemotherapy and radiotherapy have resulted in better survival rates.
After first showing the doctors where the cancer cells are, PET can
also see if the therapy has been effective at killing them.
Call the doctors at the [32]PET center nearest you if you have
lymphoma and would like to discuss your treatment options or whether
PET would be useful in your care.
References
1. http://www.petscaninfo.com/zportal/portals/pat
PET scans can be used to distinguish between dead and live abnormal lymph
cells, unlike other methods. So if my spleen masses do not shrink to
nothing but continue to be 1/4 their original size, they need to find out
if they contain live tumor cells this way. I think they would do a CT
scan first and then a PET scan only if the CT scan is ambiguous.
I looked at blood count numbers. As predicted, my bone marrow is starting
to wear out a bit.
Hemoglobin is 13.6 this cycle, 12.9 mid cycle, and 14.3 last cycle. At
this rate it could drop to 12.4 before I finish chemo but 12 is
acceptable.
Platelets were 568, 428, 351 and now 312. At this rate they could drop to
about 249 but 150 is acceptable.
Neutrophils (fight off infections) remain low all cycle. Last three
cycles they were 8.3, 4.2, and 3.9, and they are now down to 2.7 (up from
2.6 in mid cycle). Not so good if they keep dropping. Normal is 1.4-7.5
Lymphocytes have been 1.5, 1.1, 1.6 and now 1.0. Lower than 0.8 is bad.
They are being specifically attacked.
Perhaps the drugs are killing the cells in my bone marrow which make all
of the above and they also need time to regrow.
.
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tsty
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response 279 of 480:
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Nov 18 07:06 UTC 2003 |
kep up the good medicine ...
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keesan
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response 280 of 480:
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Nov 18 13:53 UTC 2003 |
I looked up the decadron that they give me the second part of the cycle
(along with two antinause drugs in pill form and three traditional cancer
drugs intravenously). It prevents nausea and is antiinflammatory. It is used
against certain cancers as well, and for arthritis and lupus and asthma and
psoriasis. It suppresses the pituitary. Sometimes it keeps people awake but
it does not affect me that way. Or if it did, the Benadryl counteracted it
(but the Benadryl was given much earlier and did not make me sleepy).
I just took my Prilosec (prevents stomach acidity) and we will walk to the
pharmacy for my prednisone that I can take with breakfast. Got to remember
to drink lots of liquids for a few days, and lots of fiber all week.
My right hand is definitely regaining sensation now. I suspect both hands
will be worse again in two weeks and then start to get better again.
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keesan
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response 281 of 480:
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Nov 19 16:53 UTC 2003 |
After decadron at 8 pm and prednisone at 9 am I got one hour sleep the next
night (2:30 to 3:30) and lost four pounds of fluid between morning and 3:30,
then got up and ate breakfast at 4:30 and slept part of the time from 7 to
11 am. Good thing I don't need to go to work this year. Even tho the
prednisone dose was cut from 100 to 70 mg it is additive to the decadron.
Next dose coming up.
My numb hands continue to get less numb, including the right hand now.
Our Chinese guest arrives tomorrow. Good thing I still am not in the middle
of the cycle where things taste worse - I may just risk exposing myself to
her imported (from Chicago) viruses as she is a really good cook.
My aunt (whose daughter died at age 30 of Hodgkin's lymphoma) wrote that when
she had TB she lost 30 pounds and had to eat lots of small meals.
My Macedonian friend wrote that her boyfriend of five years tested positive
(in Bulgaria) for stomach cancer and plans to come here where he has a doctor
friend. I have no idea how he could afford treatment here. My latest
full-body CT scan was $3800 (before discount). My friend makes $300/month.
I offered to help pay for her daughters' college expenses of $200-1200/year
tuition and room and board in a few years - wish I could promise to be around
until they graduate.
My Slovene friend writes that her sister is getting stronger after stomach
cancer treatment.
My oldest cousin, whose mother had breast cancer at age 86 shortly before
dying of other caues, that she also had breast cancer.
Everyone (under 80, anyway) seems to be surviving cancer nowadays. Except
for brain tumors (my mother, mother in law, and a 20 year old daughter of a
friend). I don't know if they can be treated with chemotherapy.
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keesan
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response 282 of 480:
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Nov 19 17:59 UTC 2003 |
My those chemotherapy drugs work fast. I have lots more hair coming out
today. About 10-15 hairs each time I pull on a new section of head. Apart
from sleeping odd hours I still feel fine and hope to go for a nice long walk
in the park while it is still sunny. Jim just biked off to deliver a computer
and pick up potatoes from a farmer friend who gives us his culls, leaving me
with oatmeal and prednisone in pear sauce. I am starting to get used to the
bitter taste.
Our Chinese cook arrives tomorrow and I can still taste things properly.
|
anderyn
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response 283 of 480:
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Nov 19 18:27 UTC 2003 |
My mother has had two brain tumors (both noncancerous, thank God) and had
surgery and radiation and some chemo for them. A friend of Rhiannon's from
high school that I met earlier this year also had a brain tumor (cancerous)
but will be five years in remission this spring. I believe she said she had
chemo. Unfortunately, she seems to have ended up permanently bald.
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keesan
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response 284 of 480:
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Nov 19 18:38 UTC 2003 |
I am very glad to hear that they are doing better at treating brain tumors.
By noncancerous I think you mean nonmalignant (did not spread). My mother's
started as a pituitary tumor and spread.
It is always encouraging to hear that people have been successfully treated,
baldness or not.
I still have hopes of regaining my voice. Yesterday I could actually sing
low notes (softly) and a friend commented how much stronger my voice was.
Today (less than 48 hours after treatment) it is much softer and higher
pitched again. Which sort of implies that after the last treatment it wil
stop getting worse and continue getting better. But as I tell people, I can
live with laryngitis (or baldness).
How does one administer chemotherapy for a brain tumor? It is supposed to
be difficult to pass anything between the brain and the rest of the body, and
they usually inject chemicals into a vein on hand or arm. My mother was told
that her tumor could not spread outside the brain or spinal cord, all of which
they irradiated.
Two other people have told me they had surgery for nonmalignant brain tumors
and they never recurred.
The potatoes just arrived - a bushel full, by van. Too much for a bike
basket (too much volume, tho Jim has carried 100 pounds before - he once biked
into the local brick place and told them to load up a 100 lb sack of mortar).
I traded a few jerusalem artichokes to our farmer friend so that he can sell
their offspring at $6.50 a pound. He gets $2 for organic potatoes (or at
least the coop sells his potatoes for that). Also a green sweater that Jim
says makes him itch from a foot away (and through three layers of shirt).
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keesan
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response 285 of 480:
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Nov 19 20:46 UTC 2003 |
Our neighbor down the block called to remind me that we had a date to go
walking together. She gets out on good days and watches the cracks in tbe
sidewalk very carefully so as not to trip and fall. We spent 30 min going
around the block, including a chat with some men waiting to repair the asphalt
in the road. There was a large construction vehicle parked over the spot to
be repaired, with a very tall pumping crane coming out of it and descending
into the cellar of a house under construction. One friendly man exchanged
farm stories with our neighbor and called us both 'young ladies'. We then
stopped to see what she meant by having such a mess in her house that there
was no room to set up a computer. Former reference librarian who cannot bear
to part with anything printed and has bookshelves over every door and some
narrow passages between things to walk through.
The 70s duplex street (that we walked on without her) is now lined with red
and yellow katsura leaves. One tree had small green fruit - they must come
in female and male varieties. The fruits hang on the tree all winter and are
edible later on when they are black and wrinkled.
While watching for cracks, we read the names or initials of many companies
that had built or replaced sidewalk in this area since 1941. There is always
something new to look at.
The neighbor would like to go walking with us again but I may be taking a few
days off first as my legs are feeling numb again. My hands have also gone
from nearly normal to tingly all over (from vincristine) since yesterday.
I can now be grateful that I can walk more than a block, don't need to worry
so much about falling, and don't have a colostomy and have not had five
strokes. One cannot bend at the waist with a colostomy so has to bring a
chair out into the garden to weed.
Next time it is too cold or icy to walk to the library, I can walk to the
reference librarian and borrow some Kipling.
Time to feed and water myself.
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keesan
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response 286 of 480:
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Nov 20 14:06 UTC 2003 |
I managed to sleep part of the time between 2:30 and 7:00 am. It is sort of
hard to tell whether or not I have been sleeping because I am so jittery from
the prednisone but I remember dreaming a bit before 7:00. Something to do
with the book I was reading - Two Years Before the Mast - about a freshman
who took a couple of years off to recover from measles by becoming a sailer
in 1831. It was a five month trip around South America from New England to
California. They made sure to round the Cape during the worst winter weather
(mid-summer here) and then spent a couple of years trading things for hides
at the 'ends of the earth' - California - where the Spanish-speaking rulers
all had Indian slaves and bought Massachusetts wine, shoes (made from their
California hides) and clothing. Sailors had to wash and mend their own
clothing, kill and chop up their own cows, and work about 16 hours every day.
They got to California during the northern winter and their only time off was
after dark, with no artificial lighting provided.
I have not yet figured out from context the meanings of loose, reef, double
reef, and furl - can anyone explain? These are verbs that take as their
object about ten types of sail.
I just got an email inquiring about a Bulgarian translation and had to explain
that I would not be awake to do it until maybe Tuesday. Friday's prednisone
may wear off by Sunday night but Monday is garbage day and the trucks start
on Jim's street.
We are finally working on a computer for Jim. First we installed a 2M Linux
that includes a dialer and browser and can be used for downloading any files
that might be needed for Win98 to run the CD writer and scanner. I have
nearly forgotten how to use that linux since July. The chemotherapy
interferes with memory but I think it is only recent memory (I am losing my
vocabulary and need to talk around missing words once in while, like the
neighbor who had five strokes).
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rcurl
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response 287 of 480:
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Nov 20 16:57 UTC 2003 |
"to reef" is to shorten a sail with the use of a row of short lines, reef
pendants, that are sewn into the sail. The sail is lowered a little and
the reef pendants are tied around the boom. This reduces the sail area,
which becomes necessary in high winds. There are parallel rows of reef
pendants so the sail can be shortened different amounts. A "double reef"
uses the second row up of reef pendants.
"to furl" a sail is to lower it completely and fold it up and tie it to
the boom. The sailor will say to furl the sail you stretch out the foot
and then flake down the sail by the luff and leech backwards and forwards
onto it.
I'd have to see "to loose" in context, but it can refer to shaking out a
reef or unfurling the sail.
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gelinas
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response 288 of 480:
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Nov 20 17:04 UTC 2003 |
"Reef" is to make the sail smaller, so it catches less wind. Every sail
had sets of reef-points at different distances from the foot of the sail,
so to double-reef was to shorten it to the second set of reef-points.
"Reef-points" are short bits of rope attached to a sail, used to lash
the sail to the boom (the spar along the bottom of the sail) or yard
(the spar at the top of the sail) when reefing.
"Furl" is to store the sail against the yard, removing it from the wind's
effect completely.
"Loose" meant what it means now: to set free.
(Trivia: A 'loose cannon' was one that had broken its restraints and
so went rolling across the deck as the ship moved.)
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keesan
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response 289 of 480:
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Nov 20 19:30 UTC 2003 |
Thank you both. The book will make more sense now.
Can you translate the following passage about stringing up wet hides to dry
them? Apparently they made the ship into a giant clothesline.
We got up tricing-lines from the jib-boom-end to each arm of the fore yard,
and thence to the main and cross-jack yard-arms. Between the tops, too, and
the mast-heads, from the fore to the main swifters, and thence to the mizen
rigging....tricing-lines were run. The head stays and guys, and the
spritsail-yard, were lined, and we got out the swinging booms and strung them
and the forward and after guys with hides. Our ship was nothing but a mass
of hides, from the cat-harpins to the water's edge, and from the jib-boom-end
to the taffrail.
Is a yard a sail? I think stays, lines, and guys are ropes. The sailers
spent a lot of time unravelling old rope and making it into newer rope.
Today I walked the neighbor again. We spent a lot of time looking at rough
spots on the sidewalk. She cannot handle downhills or steps well. We passed
the same black cat three times in three places. We also passed people out
walking a baby and a dog. My legs are really wobbly and sort of numb today.
My hands are getting numb again and I am dropping things but I don't care as
I know it is temporary and Jim is still doing the cooking. He has discovered
that if you leave out the 'online signup' from the Win98 CAB files it will
install without AOL and Compuserve advertising, and that WORDPAD will not read
WORD files, all of which helps make Win98 smaller. None of this, of course,
gets us to being able to use the CD writer any quicker so I think I may copy
the ten nearly due library CDs to tape. I was going to record some
information about them via a microphone but I can't hear myself too well.
There is an interesting section of my novel in which the incompetent captain
manages to sail into two of the other three ships in harbor and break pieces
off of them, and is headed for the third one (while trying to anchor) when
the captain of the latter rows over and politely takes command of anchoring
the rogue ship. 'Our captain gave a few orders, but as Wilson [the other
captain] generally countermanded them, saying, in an easy, fatherly kind of
way, "Oh no!. Captain T-, you don't want the jib on her" or 'It isn't time
yet to heave!" he soon gave it up.' The author eventually transfers to
another ship and sails home earlier.
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response 290 of 480:
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Nov 20 20:42 UTC 2003 |
We say there are no ropes on sailing craft: they are lines in general and
otherwise they all have names according to their functions (stays,
shrouds, halyards, sheets, lifts, --hauls, etc). The fixed rigging, which
holds up masts, are stays; lines used to set sails are halyards; and lines
used to control sails are sheets. A tricing-line is a short line used to
fix something to something else. I didn't know the term so had to look it
up. I guess an outhaul - used to pull the sail taught along the boom - is
a sort of tricing-line, but since it has its own name, that is used.
A yard is a spar (pole, rod) set at right angles to a mast, usually
holding the top and bottom of a square-rigged sail on both sides of a
mast. (A "yardarm is an end of a yard.) There are specific forms of
"yards" that are just on one side of a mast, such as the boom (holding the
bottom of a sail) or a gaff (holding the top), or spreaders (holding the
shrouds (which are the side supports for the mast) away from the mast near
the top.
This nomenclature is great fun for sailors as it is so unique to ships.
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