response 45 of 480:

Oct 2 17:20 UTC 2003

(I like the smell of woodsmoke.)

response 47 of 480:

Oct 2 20:50 UTC 2003

U of M has agreed to pay the $38 billed by St. Joe's, on the assumption that
the pap smear slide that I brought to U of M with a form labelled St. Joe's
was accidentally sent from U of M to St. Joe's.  The doctor is supposed to
get the correct U of M requisition forms.

We went for a walk and nothing in this area has frozen.  There was a purple
butterfly bush in full bloom with an orange butterfly on it.

response 49 of 480:

Oct 3 13:20 UTC 2003

Today my head does not hurt and I slept with one blanket instead of three (in
a heated room) so I don't need to worry about being sick during chemotherapy
on Monday.  (I may push my luck by going to a church rummage sale - warmer
place to walk than outdoors anyway).

response 51 of 480:

Oct 3 17:04 UTC 2003

My mother used (well, I assume she still does) such shaped tupperware for rice
and other such things.  They line up well in the cupboard or on top of the
fridge so that you can see many more containers than if they were square (and
you'd have to put some in front of the others).  Hers were somewhat taller,
though, I think.

response 53 of 480:

Oct 4 12:53 UTC 2003

(Square ends probably would have worn out at the corners of the lid, since
there would be a lot of stress there.  Tupperware did actually worry about
quality of their stuff.)

response 55 of 480:

Oct 4 16:55 UTC 2003

Our freezer containers are all square.  They also tend to break.
Are all tupperware containers rounded?

response 57 of 480:

Oct 4 23:14 UTC 2003

Today for exercise we walked to Huron near 8th St. to one of the houses on
the solar homes tour, where we knew the owners (one of whom translates Russian
and Ukrainian).  We stopped at a yard sale and paid 50 cents each for a
microphone (which included a small to large adaptor plug) and a digital clock
(which needed a new battery).  We then admired the four solar panels
(amorphous, set up to work on cloudy days when only a few cells actually
produce energy - the crystal ones need all cells to get sun), and a box with
8 6 volt batteries, and a 48 to 12 volt convertor, and a breaker box with
DC/AC breakers, and the 12 cu ft. refrig/freezer with good insulation that
these are all operating.  There were only 5 days they needed to use house
current for it.  Total cost somewhere about $5000, system good for maybe 20
years with 1 or 2 battery replacements (cost unknown).

Also a gas tankless water heater that has the drawback of only working when
you run 1 gal/min through the faucet.  It won't work with a low flow shower
head, or to wash dishes in the sink unless you waste lots of water or fill
the sink (but they use a dishwasher).  I shower at 1/2 gpm (hot and cold
combined - we measured once).  So instead of wasting heat when it leaks out
of the tank, you get to waste hot water.  

I walked 1/3 mile each way.  On the way back Jim found at the curb a windup
Big Ben clock that does not work (he is happy to have a chance to take it
apart) and a large plastic container that is not Tupperware (it has squared
corners).  And three long 2x6's that he left there.  

The other five solar sites were too far for me to walk and we have already
been to Leslie Science Center anyway.  The Reuse Center has some new solar
power exhibits that will probably stay there.  

The total cost was only for the panels and 12V DC refrigerator (Sunfrost).

response 59 of 480:

Oct 5 17:20 UTC 2003

All the way from Jim's house to Liberty is great improvement!

response 61 of 480:

Oct 6 15:52 UTC 2003

jor (see another item) who is looking for some place cheaper than a hotal in
Ann Arbor while he is in town seeing a doctor phoned in response to my offer
of my apartment (which is quiet this week while the upstairs neighbors are
away) just as I was plugging in the phone so the answering machine got it.
He was at the U of M Hospital (somewhere) and I am going there shortly and
we have missed each other until tomorrow.  Unless he checks email at the
hospital (not having left us the phone number there).  This seems like a
perfect way to stop wasting my apartment.

Jim is packing applesauce into which to grind up my 7 pills.

I wish it was the back of my hand rather than my fingertips which was numb
so I could feel things other than the IV.

response 63 of 480:

Oct 7 02:52 UTC 2003

The benadryl is really bitter, in fact I almost choked on it, but I washed
it down with cranberry juice to get the taste out.  They let me take just one
instead of two Benadryl because I am small.  The three nausea pills were
nearly tasteless.  What sorts of pills did you take and why?

Not my luckiest day.  The blood draw person hit a nerve or something and it
hurt a lot for half an hour afterwards.  The IV went in and maybe also hit
something and it hurt continuously for all 4 hours (better than the 7 hours
last time).  The drugs went in without any problems.

We managed to get hold of jor and if he does not do surgery tomorrow we will
show him apartment and try to get it livable so he can stay there while
recovering (if he can manage teh basement steps and being on his own).  There
is also a spare room possible at Jim's house if he needs more help, right next
to the bathroom, with food in the kitchen.  It can't be any fun to be sick
all on your own.  JOr is willing to help dig up weeds before surgery.

Jim is calling me for 'supper' - I did not feel much like eating with a needle
in my hand.  High in fiber and liquid and potassium - cauliflower etc. soup.

response 65 of 480:

Oct 7 15:03 UTC 2003

But I don't need to go around with some foreign matter in my arm, and wrap
it up with saran wrap and tape to shower, and I can use the tub instead.

Yesterday they agreed to give me just one Benadryl instead of two (but two
Tylenol) before the Retuxan (I had no side effects and my pulse sitting is
now 72 or 80), and I stayed wakeful in the recliner chair (which was as usual
too big for me so I sat cross-legged).  Benadryl in applesauce tastes so bad
I almost gagged on it.  The three antinausea pills before CHOP were tasteless.
They infused Ativan (sp?) to protect me from the next three anticancer drugs.
That acts like prednisone - 5 lb fluid retention and keeps you awake.  At 10
pm the Benadryl won out (I felt asleep on my feet) assisted by the 5 hours
sleep the night before.  For the next four days prednisone (with Prilosec an
hour before to protect the stomach lining) will keep me from sleeping and
cause slight constipation, followed at discontinuation by rebound symptoms
after which oral thrush for three days while my immune system recovers.

They say the first week is when people are most tired, and the tiredness is
cumulative.  So far I am okay.  Got to clean up my apartment for a guest.
Jim is off to purchase four days' worth of prednisone.  They won't give us
a larger prescription because some people take them too long by mistake.  The
first pharmacy did not have them, Village Pharmacy did - not on the list that
the insurance pays for at $10/month supply but they are only $8.

While waiting from the 1:00 blood draw until they found me a space at 5:00
pm, after the doctor's appointment (he said I am doing amazingly well) and
talking to the pharmacist (who thinks the laryngitis will clear up next year),
we met a man who JIm asked if he heats with wood (he does) from Grass Lake.
He has multiple myeloma and has been coming for treatment and sometimes
hospitalzation for 4 years and gets infused every other day.  This was the
wrong day - he was waiting for nothing.  There is an occasional week off. 
He says he lost 75 pounds and was in a wheel chair for a while and still
cannot crouch but they are trying a new drug and he is hopeful.  

We got out after 9:00 pm and the cashier at the parking structure was no
longer taking the $2 fees so I bought bread with it instead.

Got to get off by 11 for jor.

response 67 of 480:

Oct 7 16:10 UTC 2003

Perhaps a better questions is, "Benadryl comes in liquid form, doesn't 
it?"

response 69 of 480:

Oct 7 19:24 UTC 2003

They thought about giving me liquid benadryl but had already checked out the
pill and besides I needed two (solid) tylenol so Jim just mashed them all up
together.  I choke when I swallow even plain liquids - something probably
related to the pharyngitis/laryngitis.  The pills would stick and choke me
too.  Heating the liquid a bit seems to help but I just choked a bit on warm
tea I was using to get down the Prilosec that I need to take an hour before
the prednisone which I need to take with FOOD (says the bottle).

Jor stopped by, dialed mnet to check his email, talked to us over a brunch
of more oatmeal than he normally eats at one time, and went off to get a cell
phone so people can find him until he gets settled again.  We went off walking
to Village Pharmacy about 3/4 mile each way with a short rest at Vet's Park.
At the pharmacy I talked to someone purchasing Neuopgen for his neutrophils.
He has had AIDS symptoms since 1982, treated with various regimes since 1989.
I hope I last that long.  Someone in the chorus that I can't sing in this year
said her mother was treated 18 years for lymphoma and found it helped to go
on increasingly longer walks and also do weight training.

Kiwanis Club sent flowers.

Near the pharmacy is Value Village.  They have $5 printers, a $4 scanner, and
a $8 6-CD Pioneer CD player.  My 1-CD Pioneer used was $80 in 1991.  Perhaps
we don't need to fix CD players any more.  Also found a stainless steel
pressure cooker like our two aluminum ones in which the lid has the gasket
on top and is pushed up instead of turning.  It should be easier to use and
not wear out as fast but I doubt we can find replacement parts.  

Also found half an apple tree at the top of the Vet's Park hill - the trunk
is over a fence.  Nice tasting.  Three blah red delicious at the movie
theater, with pink flesh.  The sour green apple tree near Jim's house still
has most of its apples.

I am supposed to drink 12 glasses of water a day but I think oatmeal and
apples and lentil stew will count towards that and besides I am smaller than
their average patient who is probably 200 pounds.  Have to flush out the
chemotherapy drugs and whatever cells they killed.  Three down plus 2 cups
of oatmeal.  Lemon-grass tea seems to make me choke.

Jim is taking aphoto of me dressed for winter with the new flowers.  The
batteris seem to be dead.