A fun day!
As I mentioned before, we went to the Boston Museum of Science today with two of the grandchildren and had a great time. Having paid for a family membership at the planetarium last week, there is a recriprocal deal with the Museum of Science allowing us to get in for free. Such a deal!
You can't see the whole museum in a day, but the kids did what they wanted to do so it was fun for them. For my grandson, it was the first time that he had ever been!
As for me, walking up and down stairs (and everywhere else) poses no problem which says to me that everything seems to be going well inside of me. As for the outside, the soreness from my vaccinations only lasted for one day - so everything is going well there also.
Tomorrow is a hockey game for all of us which will complete the weeken trifecta. It's nice to be active again and get out and do things.
May everyday be this good...
Bob
March 5, 2010 11:45 PM
It makes me feel somewhat awkward!
When people see me for the first time in a long time and they know they full story they often seem to become overcome with emotion and just want to hug me for the longest time. I don't necessarily mind the hugging(especially when it's women) but it does make me feel funny as it seems to elevate me to a status that I don't deserve. Feeling like I'm getting closer and closer to normal, this just seems to set me apart and that's not what I'm looking for. But, I know that it's hard for people to do and I understand that. Accepting it is the difficult part for me.
This was prompted today by a woman from our church that we met at the Currier Museum. I know that she is very religious and she views me as representing all the best that God can do for us. But I am not a special person. I'm just someone who has been given special treatment which continually poses the question - why me?
We went to the museum to see the opening of a new exhibit and to have lunch with friends. With my wife being a docent and my now taking docent classes, we know quite a few people there and it does make for an enjoyable time - which we had.
Tonight we took the grandchildren to a movie theater wherein you can order food as well so we had dinner there. The kids liked the movie so I guess that we made a good choice.
Tomorrow it's the Museum of Science in Boston. I'm looking forward to a good time as the kids have never been there before.
These are the moments that I appreciate the most...
Bob
When people see me for the first time in a long time and they know they full story they often seem to become overcome with emotion and just want to hug me for the longest time. I don't necessarily mind the hugging(especially when it's women) but it does make me feel funny as it seems to elevate me to a status that I don't deserve. Feeling like I'm getting closer and closer to normal, this just seems to set me apart and that's not what I'm looking for. But, I know that it's hard for people to do and I understand that. Accepting it is the difficult part for me.
This was prompted today by a woman from our church that we met at the Currier Museum. I know that she is very religious and she views me as representing all the best that God can do for us. But I am not a special person. I'm just someone who has been given special treatment which continually poses the question - why me?
We went to the museum to see the opening of a new exhibit and to have lunch with friends. With my wife being a docent and my now taking docent classes, we know quite a few people there and it does make for an enjoyable time - which we had.
Tonight we took the grandchildren to a movie theater wherein you can order food as well so we had dinner there. The kids liked the movie so I guess that we made a good choice.
Tomorrow it's the Museum of Science in Boston. I'm looking forward to a good time as the kids have never been there before.
These are the moments that I appreciate the most...
Bob
March 4, 2010 9:35 PM
Such a deal!
Sometimes good things come to those who wait. They had to back order the vanity that we wanted for our bathroom back on January 25th. It still hasn't arrived yet and there is at least another two week wait until it is projected to arrive. So we went to the store and told them that that was unacceptable as it was now delaying everything and that we wanted the floor model. This they gave us and cut the price in half! We were looking for a hundred or two so this far exceeded our expectations.
I'm a little sore today in the places where they gave me the vaccinations yesterday(2 on each arm). But, there have been no fevers or anything so I think that I'll make my way through this as with everything else. Thank God!
I had week two of my docent course and that is proving to be fun. Though I am no Frank Lloyd Wright fan, you meet very nice people and you learn something with the expectation that you'll meet many more nice people when you actually start doing tours.
Likewise, I've closed the day by going to choir practice so Thursday is a rather busy day for me - just the way that I like it!
Tomorrow starts our 3 days of activity with my grandchildren and we're looking forward to it...
Bob
Sometimes good things come to those who wait. They had to back order the vanity that we wanted for our bathroom back on January 25th. It still hasn't arrived yet and there is at least another two week wait until it is projected to arrive. So we went to the store and told them that that was unacceptable as it was now delaying everything and that we wanted the floor model. This they gave us and cut the price in half! We were looking for a hundred or two so this far exceeded our expectations.
I'm a little sore today in the places where they gave me the vaccinations yesterday(2 on each arm). But, there have been no fevers or anything so I think that I'll make my way through this as with everything else. Thank God!
I had week two of my docent course and that is proving to be fun. Though I am no Frank Lloyd Wright fan, you meet very nice people and you learn something with the expectation that you'll meet many more nice people when you actually start doing tours.
Likewise, I've closed the day by going to choir practice so Thursday is a rather busy day for me - just the way that I like it!
Tomorrow starts our 3 days of activity with my grandchildren and we're looking forward to it...
Bob
March 3, 2010 5:10 PM
Everything is AOK!
That's the doctors' verdict after looking at my counts this morning. With that being said, I then went and had my first series of vaccination shots - 4 in all - H1N1, bacterial meningitis, DPT(diptheria, pertussis, & tetenus), and pneumonia. Not a real problem getting the shots and the doctor said that I really should not have any complications from then either - no fever, no rashes, etc. We'll see!
He had us change my May appointment to the end of April as I'm supposed to have round 2 of the vaccinations in two months. Round 3 will occur 10 months after that.
As for my other medications, I'm to cut my prednisone in half down to 5 mg/day and when that is completed we'll start to cut my prograf(an immunosuppressant) down to zero. This is going to take a while especially since my appointments now appear to be at two month intervals. I'm also cleared to travel anywhere - now all I need are the tickets! A lot of good things happen after a year.
It's still a pain in the neck if you have to do anything beyond getting your blood drawn and seeing the doctor. These two activities were completed by 7:50 this morning. However, it was another hour before they had the vaccinations ready! Why it takes so long - heaven knows! I do know that they try to be thorough with the paperwork and that does take time - but the vaccinations are plain vanilla - there's nothing to them! We'll see how it goes at the end of April.
Otherwise, somewhat of a quiet day as I completed putting in the molding around the bathroom door. Next is the beadboard for the walls. Still haven't gotten the vanity in yet which is going to be a problem in a little bit as I'm slowly inching to where I'm going to need it.
We have my grandson and his sister for the next week as my daughter and her husband are now in Mexico for the week.
It's easy to write these entries on days when I go to Boston as there is meaningful information to be imparted. Today's entry is early as we'll sleep over at my daughter's house tonight so I won't have access to a computer later on.
Gotta go now as it's dinner time...
Bob
That's the doctors' verdict after looking at my counts this morning. With that being said, I then went and had my first series of vaccination shots - 4 in all - H1N1, bacterial meningitis, DPT(diptheria, pertussis, & tetenus), and pneumonia. Not a real problem getting the shots and the doctor said that I really should not have any complications from then either - no fever, no rashes, etc. We'll see!
He had us change my May appointment to the end of April as I'm supposed to have round 2 of the vaccinations in two months. Round 3 will occur 10 months after that.
As for my other medications, I'm to cut my prednisone in half down to 5 mg/day and when that is completed we'll start to cut my prograf(an immunosuppressant) down to zero. This is going to take a while especially since my appointments now appear to be at two month intervals. I'm also cleared to travel anywhere - now all I need are the tickets! A lot of good things happen after a year.
It's still a pain in the neck if you have to do anything beyond getting your blood drawn and seeing the doctor. These two activities were completed by 7:50 this morning. However, it was another hour before they had the vaccinations ready! Why it takes so long - heaven knows! I do know that they try to be thorough with the paperwork and that does take time - but the vaccinations are plain vanilla - there's nothing to them! We'll see how it goes at the end of April.
Otherwise, somewhat of a quiet day as I completed putting in the molding around the bathroom door. Next is the beadboard for the walls. Still haven't gotten the vanity in yet which is going to be a problem in a little bit as I'm slowly inching to where I'm going to need it.
We have my grandson and his sister for the next week as my daughter and her husband are now in Mexico for the week.
It's easy to write these entries on days when I go to Boston as there is meaningful information to be imparted. Today's entry is early as we'll sleep over at my daughter's house tonight so I won't have access to a computer later on.
Gotta go now as it's dinner time...
Bob
March 2, 2010 10:45 PM
Up in the morning!
Tomorrow it's back to the doctor for another evaluation and the first of my vaccination shots. What I'll be getting, I have no clue. But, this is it until the end of May. Seems funny to think that I'll be having only 1 visit to Dana-Farber from the end of January until the end of May. But, I'll take it - it's definitely progress.
We had friends over for dinner tonight and my son and his daughters are sleeping over as they still have no electricity. Supposedly, it might be restored sometime tonight - let's hope so. It's been a long time to be without electricity having started last Thursday night.
Not a whale of a lot to address - but at least tomorrow will bring some more meaningful news.
As an aside, I can definitely feel that spring is just around the corner.
Brighter days, warmer temperatures...
It's great to be alive...
Bob
Tomorrow it's back to the doctor for another evaluation and the first of my vaccination shots. What I'll be getting, I have no clue. But, this is it until the end of May. Seems funny to think that I'll be having only 1 visit to Dana-Farber from the end of January until the end of May. But, I'll take it - it's definitely progress.
We had friends over for dinner tonight and my son and his daughters are sleeping over as they still have no electricity. Supposedly, it might be restored sometime tonight - let's hope so. It's been a long time to be without electricity having started last Thursday night.
Not a whale of a lot to address - but at least tomorrow will bring some more meaningful news.
As an aside, I can definitely feel that spring is just around the corner.
Brighter days, warmer temperatures...
It's great to be alive...
Bob
March 1, 2010 11:55 PM
Finally!
And a day early at that! We got our internet service back about 5:30 this evening. Even though you can talk to people by cell phone, you feel so disconnected to the world when you can't see the news on the web and on television. Newspapers are fine - but the delay until the next day seems like an eternity in today's instant world! Of course, I've been trying to avoid eternity for the past year and a half so maybe that's why I'm so sensitive to the situation.
Otherwise, a good day as always. As each day goes by and nothing negative appears to be happening to me healthwise, I guess that I can be a little more confident about the outcome of all of this. I am now eagerly looking forward to another spring and the start of new life once again.
One of my daughters and her husband are leaving for Mexico on Wednesday so we have their two children for the week and we've planned a whole series of activities for the weekend. These are the things that I value the most. I'm really looking forward to it.
Tomorrow I'll continue with my bathroom project and we have friends coming over for dinner later in the day.
Life seems to get better and better...
Bob
And a day early at that! We got our internet service back about 5:30 this evening. Even though you can talk to people by cell phone, you feel so disconnected to the world when you can't see the news on the web and on television. Newspapers are fine - but the delay until the next day seems like an eternity in today's instant world! Of course, I've been trying to avoid eternity for the past year and a half so maybe that's why I'm so sensitive to the situation.
Otherwise, a good day as always. As each day goes by and nothing negative appears to be happening to me healthwise, I guess that I can be a little more confident about the outcome of all of this. I am now eagerly looking forward to another spring and the start of new life once again.
One of my daughters and her husband are leaving for Mexico on Wednesday so we have their two children for the week and we've planned a whole series of activities for the weekend. These are the things that I value the most. I'm really looking forward to it.
Tomorrow I'll continue with my bathroom project and we have friends coming over for dinner later in the day.
Life seems to get better and better...
Bob
February 28, 2010 10:00 PM
The way Sunday should be!
That's right, up and out and off to church. It was great to reconnect with more people this morning who were not there last Sunday and be able to benefit from the whole churchgoing experience once again. As you are all fully aware at this point, going to church and singing in the choir werethe two things that I missed most during this whole time. I did make a big splash, however! I knocked a full cup of coffee out of someone's hand!
Wednesday, it is back to the doctor again for the last time until the end of May unless something totally unexpected happens.
It's now time to start thinking about attending our next bone marrow registration affair which will be held at Hampshire Hills once again. This year it will be on Sunday, April 18th, from 10 until 2. If you have already had your mouth swab taken then you do not need to do so again. Once you areregistered - you are registered! If you could not make it last year, please plan to attend this year's event. There will be other activities there as well. I know that a raffle is planned for one thing.
Please help save a life - take advantage of the opportunity and register. Unlike last year, I can attend this year.
I hope that you feel that that is a plus...
Bob
That's right, up and out and off to church. It was great to reconnect with more people this morning who were not there last Sunday and be able to benefit from the whole churchgoing experience once again. As you are all fully aware at this point, going to church and singing in the choir werethe two things that I missed most during this whole time. I did make a big splash, however! I knocked a full cup of coffee out of someone's hand!
Wednesday, it is back to the doctor again for the last time until the end of May unless something totally unexpected happens.
It's now time to start thinking about attending our next bone marrow registration affair which will be held at Hampshire Hills once again. This year it will be on Sunday, April 18th, from 10 until 2. If you have already had your mouth swab taken then you do not need to do so again. Once you areregistered - you are registered! If you could not make it last year, please plan to attend this year's event. There will be other activities there as well. I know that a raffle is planned for one thing.
Please help save a life - take advantage of the opportunity and register. Unlike last year, I can attend this year.
I hope that you feel that that is a plus...
Bob
February 27, 2010 11:00 PM
Kindred spirits!
My wife was supposed to have a business meeting this morning with one of her artist associations. Because of the aftermath of the huge storm that we had Thursday night, only one woman showed up at the house. As it turns out, she is also a cancer survivor. Of course our conversation turned to our respective journeys. She began to share her feelings and opinions with me about how she has handled herself during her transition into remission.
It's amazing how many of her feelings mirror so closely those of my own and also those of other cancer patients,. She found an inner snse of peace when she was diagnosed; she vowed to keep a positive attitude abot the whole experience; and, most importantly, though she would not have desired to have the disease, she is grateful fior it because it revealed to her how many friends and acquaintances that she had who really cared about her and it helped her to get a better understanding of who she was as well. All of these threads seem to run through so many of us cancer patients that it just seems so uncanny! Or is it?
She is also very religious and cannot escape from the fact that God most certainly did not cause her illness but that He has played a huge role in gher overcoming it. Asd I said yesterday, even if I had not been a religious man, this experience would have turned me into one. There is no other explanation as to why things have gone so well for me. Luck! I don't think so!
By the way, a neighbor friend of ours says that Comcast will have us up and running by 6:00 PM on Tuesday. How can they be so precise about the time? And will they credi us for the days that we've had no service? I wouldn't count on it!
There is only one thing to count on - God...
Bob
My wife was supposed to have a business meeting this morning with one of her artist associations. Because of the aftermath of the huge storm that we had Thursday night, only one woman showed up at the house. As it turns out, she is also a cancer survivor. Of course our conversation turned to our respective journeys. She began to share her feelings and opinions with me about how she has handled herself during her transition into remission.
It's amazing how many of her feelings mirror so closely those of my own and also those of other cancer patients,. She found an inner snse of peace when she was diagnosed; she vowed to keep a positive attitude abot the whole experience; and, most importantly, though she would not have desired to have the disease, she is grateful fior it because it revealed to her how many friends and acquaintances that she had who really cared about her and it helped her to get a better understanding of who she was as well. All of these threads seem to run through so many of us cancer patients that it just seems so uncanny! Or is it?
She is also very religious and cannot escape from the fact that God most certainly did not cause her illness but that He has played a huge role in gher overcoming it. Asd I said yesterday, even if I had not been a religious man, this experience would have turned me into one. There is no other explanation as to why things have gone so well for me. Luck! I don't think so!
By the way, a neighbor friend of ours says that Comcast will have us up and running by 6:00 PM on Tuesday. How can they be so precise about the time? And will they credi us for the days that we've had no service? I wouldn't count on it!
There is only one thing to count on - God...
Bob
February 26, 2010 10:00 PM
Powerless!
We can feel powerless in so many ways. But for us, this time, it was the loss of electrical power from just after I made my entry for yesterday until about 8:00 this morning. A terrible rain and wind storm went through the area uprooting trees and knocking down power lines and telephone poles.
And we are the lucky ones! So many people in my town are without power that of our friends thought that our condiminium development was the only place in town that had power.
Of course, we are without our cable provider which gives us our television, internet hookup, and telephone. I can live without that to some extent - but not forever. The only damage that we suffered was the transformer on one of our monitors blew out so I will have to order another one. But the internet is the only way to do so. So that will have to wait until we get our service back. Who knows when that will be?
As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, we were to play bridge with friends at their house. But they had no power, so we did it here.
I received a wonderful letter from a friend today(though it was really late - we finally got our mail) about my talk of last Sunday. He starts with the total number of people who populate the earth today(about 6,000,000,000) and by process of elimination winnows the number down to "scarce numbers who are certain of God's presence and fewer still who have evidence of their certainty" He gracously places me in that latter category. He concludes the letter by saying "Recognozing believers and wishing to have them deliver messages of hope and genmerosity, He waits in knowing anticipation."
I have to admit that I was not always so convinced. For most of my life, when I went to church, it was for other purposes - social reasons, to provide my children with a religious upbringing, etc. But, for whatever reason, God has without a doubt been there when I needed Him most. Why me!
I have now spoken twice on Sunday morning about some of these occurrences and I could do so several more times if called upon to do so. For someone who was never one to speak in front of people - let alone witness as to what has gone on in my life - my life has taken some interesting turns over the past almost thirty years.
With God always being with me, I am not so powerless after all...
Bob
We can feel powerless in so many ways. But for us, this time, it was the loss of electrical power from just after I made my entry for yesterday until about 8:00 this morning. A terrible rain and wind storm went through the area uprooting trees and knocking down power lines and telephone poles.
And we are the lucky ones! So many people in my town are without power that of our friends thought that our condiminium development was the only place in town that had power.
Of course, we are without our cable provider which gives us our television, internet hookup, and telephone. I can live without that to some extent - but not forever. The only damage that we suffered was the transformer on one of our monitors blew out so I will have to order another one. But the internet is the only way to do so. So that will have to wait until we get our service back. Who knows when that will be?
As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, we were to play bridge with friends at their house. But they had no power, so we did it here.
I received a wonderful letter from a friend today(though it was really late - we finally got our mail) about my talk of last Sunday. He starts with the total number of people who populate the earth today(about 6,000,000,000) and by process of elimination winnows the number down to "scarce numbers who are certain of God's presence and fewer still who have evidence of their certainty" He gracously places me in that latter category. He concludes the letter by saying "Recognozing believers and wishing to have them deliver messages of hope and genmerosity, He waits in knowing anticipation."
I have to admit that I was not always so convinced. For most of my life, when I went to church, it was for other purposes - social reasons, to provide my children with a religious upbringing, etc. But, for whatever reason, God has without a doubt been there when I needed Him most. Why me!
I have now spoken twice on Sunday morning about some of these occurrences and I could do so several more times if called upon to do so. For someone who was never one to speak in front of people - let alone witness as to what has gone on in my life - my life has taken some interesting turns over the past almost thirty years.
With God always being with me, I am not so powerless after all...
Bob
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