11th round...

of chemo yesterday. The PICC line still doesn't work right, but we figured out there is a kink in it right where it goes in the arm, so cut one stitch and stood it up a bit and at least things worked better. After round 12 they're going to pull it and I'm going in to have a port surgically implanted in my chest. It's less maintenance and the only time there's adhesive on it is when I'm actually being infused, so that would be nice as well!

The last round was pretty rough between skin reactions, stronger than usual nausea and more blurred vision than usual. Perhaps the flu shot I had the week before was messing with me, or the respiratory but I picked up the week after. Finally started feeling human again on Thursday.

My only reading of late was "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke. I'd loved the movie, and of course the book is better. I bought the three book set at a great discount, and needed a break from all the war related stuff for a bit. Now I've started Erich Maria Remarque's "Flotsam", a lesser-known novel of his written in 1939 and translated in 1941, set in 1937 Europe and revolving around all the poor souls being punted from country to country as their papers were revoked for being Jewish or too outspoken or some other perceived flaw. Very good so far, I got about 5 chapters in yesterday at chemo.

Our newest grandbaby is now due November 5th, he will be our 4th but Bill and Laura's first. Very much looking forward to this! John and Noel plan to renew their wedding vows in February, so there's another date to look forward to-I kind of plant these milestones out there to keep my focus somewhere other than my immediate "goings on".

The battery in my truck is 8 years old now ('07 truck built in late '06 and the '14's are out now) so I'm going to try to slip out to Sears in a minute and bring home a new Die Hard to put in it. It's not being driven much, but the idea of going out to go somewhere and having it not crank doesn't enthuse me. After that I need to put a set of tires on Dottie's Malibu. It has 80,000 on the Goodyear Assurance's I put on it almost 6 years ago; they aren't down to the wear bars, but don't have the wet traction they did when newer and they're predicting a wet winter for us. She credits the aggressive traction tread with saving her at least 3 times in heavy downpours and traffic, so we're going back with exactly the same tires again.

I hope this finds each of you enjoying a lovely fall!

May the world be kind to each of you!

alan

I've been lost in the pages...

of some great reads these past few weeks. I finished Remarque's "Three Comrades" and lept into Ken Follett's "Fall of Giants"; it covers much of the same time frame as "All Things Quiet on the Western Front", "The Road Back" and "Three Comrades", but written across 5 families and countries. I finished it just after the sequel "Winter of the World" hit paperback and drank those thousand pages as well. Follett sucked me in a few years ago with "Night Over Water", a novel that takes place aboard a Pan Am flying boat, a plane I've always had a love affair with. I only wish one had survived the war. Then I ran across another he'd written, "Hornet Moth" that involved fleeing from the Nazi's in a biplane that shouldn't have stood a chance.

    On the heels of those, I read Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days" because I found a copy my grandson had bought in a book sale a few years ago and figured I'd better read it while it was at the top of the shuffle.

    For a while I'd been reading many comments about "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak so I've spent the last few days devouring it, finishing it when I got up today. I probably should have known better since I also have been taking Prednizone most of the last couple of weeks to keep me from scratching my arm wrappings off, and today had started the pre-chemo steroids as well. My eyes have been a bit puffy this afternoon, lol.

   Now I'm trying to decide what to start tomorrow! I need to get away from the WWI and 2 for a bit, and have a couple of things I'd like to start, but it may rain tomorrow and don't want to take a chance on getting a few of them wet. So I may just put my Kindle in a freezer bag and take it to chemo tomorrow and read some short stories instead, then start something else on Saturday!

   I got the Kindle because I had thought I'd be in the hospital a lot more than I have been and it would be easier than trying to keep a stack of books around. I haven't read it a lot yet, more because I've been getting to the library while the weather is good, along with picking up a few books of my own through the summer as well. I have more than enough things on it to keep me busy as well! I've been amazed at how many complete volumes of classics can be picked up for a few dollars, or even for free!

    Tomorrow is my next round of chemo, and if I haven't lost count, I have two more after it, then another PET scan to see what's going on inside me. Sometime around Thanksgiving, perhaps I'll know something, which will also mark the anniversary of the beginning of all this. Hopefully I can prove the statistics on the fibrosis wrong and this doesn't mark a halfway or quarter point, but I try not to think about that too much!

    May the weeks be kind to each of you!

alan