Monday, February 4, 2013

Medical Update,Snow adventures and the lovely Kim Poirier

Its 1:20 pm

    Its another snowy day here in SE Michigan. This is our 3rd straight day of snowfall and today's storm is supposed to drop 2-3 inches of new snow. Yessir,fun and excitement here in our area of the world.

Woke up at 6 am to take Lori to Ann Arbor for her labs and to see Doctor J. It couldn't come soon enough as last night after I got home from watching the Super Bowl at my neighbor's house,I sat down while Lori was sleeping in her chair.
  Suddenly she woke up and had a scared look on her face,she thought she was going to get sick...as she tried to hurry to the bathroom,her legs gave out and she started to fall,I caught her but it was a scary moment. We checked her port and she commented that she would be black and blue on her legs the next morning.
   I got her up the stairs and into bed,then cleaned up the kitchen and turned off all the lights.
A light snow was falling as we headed to Ann Arbor,traffic was a bit heavy as we got got closer to the hospital. We got to the lab at 7:40 am,just in time for our appointment. I sat down and read a story about the 2nd Hunger Games movie,"Catching Fire",while Lori had her labs done. Then back up to the 2nd floor and wait to see Doctor J. The wait went by fast and then we were ushered into the room,now normally I wait outside but I had questions and so I stayed with her this time.
  Well,the check-up wasn't the good news we wanted to hear,Dr. Johnston can still feel the tumor and wants us to go see another to have Lori's bladder checked. She has had a lot problems as of late with urinary tract infections and I think Doctor Johnston just wants to make sure everything is clear. What bummed me a little bit was the fact the last visit,another doctor examined Lori and couldn't feel the tumor. Maybe its just that Dr. J knows exactly where to go...but hearing "I don't feel it" to "Yep,I feel it" is pretty depressing. And the fact she can feel it means this chemotherapy may not be working as well as we had hoped and that radiation may back on the menu in March.
  The other news also wasn't the best but not earth shattering,our last chemo treatment has been pushed back until next week,her platelet levels are too low for a safe chemo. This also happened last time so we weren't too alarmed. The good news is that Lori won't need a 3rd transfusion but will be getting hydration 3 times this week. We also got 3 new meds to start taking,we are starting to look like some of folks who we first saw when we started this little adventure,we need a tote bag to hold our meds now *L*.
After getting the exam,I went to the pharmacy and picked up the meds and then we left. The snow was falling much harder now and I drove carefully out of Ann Arbor.
  Lori asked me to take a small detour through tiny little Dixboro and stop at the Moon Winks Cafe. Its a very small but cute cafe that features some great food and kick ass coffee.

It has free WiFi and the baristas are perky and very generous,they were kind enough to give Lori a free refill of her coffee instead of charging her. We each had a bagel and talked about the exam before we headed back onto the road and headed home.

Starting tomorrow,Lori will be on stay home rest for her last treatment,Doctor Johnston wants her to rest and try and eat a little more before next Monday.

  A few hours after I started this entry,I hear a loud ATV outside my window,I look out just in time to see a ATV come onto my lawn and then out over my driveway. I go downstairs and outside,my neighbor Larry,who is shoveling snow tells me what happened,the guy was trying to be a "good sam" by sweeping off our sidewalks but decided to run over our lawns to do so. Now I have blogged about Larry before,he and his wife Kathy,are some of the nicest people and in really heavy snow,he will use his heavy duty snow thrower to clear our driveway. His house happens to be at a corner and in the 5 years we have been here,he has lost a tree and had people drive up on and over his lawn. Naturally he is a little defensive about this. But this time our lawn was hit as well.
I didn't see which way he went but Larry did and he headed down there while I shoveled our neighbor Marlene's (The woman who we cat sit for) driveway. 10 minutes later Larry comes back and says he asked the man to not come on our property,he explained that his lawn has been damaged in the past. The dude got cocky and told Larry if he didn't like it to call the cops. I told Larry that I would agree with him if he did. He said he would think about it and went home. I finished shoveling and headed to the garage myself,as I did,a van drove past me and parked by the stop sign.
  I had a feeling it was the guy so I walked slowly and soon enough he walked over and started to try to apologize. I admit,I was pissed....I told him if he did that again,I would press charges. Part of what pissed me off is if the damn fool falls off his ATV and breaks his leg,guess who gets held liable??? Yep,we would.
So I tell him why we are so defensive and suggest he apologize to Larry,he says he tried but Larry was "aggressive" unlike me,with whom he had no problems with. He says the "whole street thinks he is aggressive". Which is an outright lie and I told him that and said if there is another incident,I would be the pressing charges. He backed off,mumbled "sorry sir" and left. He just didn't want to understand why we were so upset. What good is it to sweep the snow off the sidewalk when you're destroying the lawn besides it?
  Since I'm not about to go out on a low note and just got blocked on Twitter by ex-Detroit mayor Kwame "Truth" Kilpatrick (I felt a little like Charlie LeDuff/SteveWilson/AmyLange when that happened),I thought I would plug  one of my favorite actresses latest interviews.



The website site Celebzter just published a cool interview with Kim and I thought I would help push it along a bit. So after you read this,go read it already!
Here is the link to the interview....

That is all for now.....will be back when I can.












Book List 2013




BraveHearts - Bud Withers   (NF) 220 pages
Misty - Misty May-Treanor w/Jill Lieber Steeg  (NF)  296 pages
The Law of Nines - Terry Goodkind   502 pages
Full Service - Will Weaver    231 pages
Cat Facts - Tabitha Jones (NF)  64 pages
*Chief of Station,Congo - Larry Devlin (NF) 288 pages.


*currently reading

Friday, February 1, 2013

Of snow,Love and Compassion and a book review!

Its 4:00 pm

    Looking out over a light snow that is following here in SE Michigan. In the past week we had 3 inches of snow fall in a 2 hour burst on Sunday night,had two days of record high temps,a day of rain,another burst of snow yesterday that was so intense that it caused a whiteout which led to a 30 car pile-up on I-75 that killed 3 people and wounded over 15 more. Now its a deep freeze as the temp is 16 degrees that combined with the wind chill is about zero degrees outside.

  It was weird yesterday,we had an hydration therapy session at the infusion clinic. As Lori dozed off I was reading my first book of 2013,BraveHearts,when I looked up and saw the whiteout. You couldn't even see the cars in the parking lot to give you an example of how bad it was. It only lasted about 10 minutes but that was enough to cause the huge mess on the freeway.






Note that despite being hammered by two semi-trailers,this PT Cruiser hung tough and kept its driver alive? Good to know since we both drive PT Cruisers!

The local media covered this crash from top to bottom and at work,all my co-workers were all abuzz about what happened. I just shook my head,being from California,I know what a REAL pile -up is all about as does anyone who ever driven the I-5 over the Grapevine when its been foggy. Talk about holding one's breath in fear,yeesh! That is one nasty cluster to get caught up in,every year there is always one or two massive crashes that can involve 50-70 cars and trucks.
  Its a miracle only 3 died yesterday,the way the cars were speeding when the snow it,they had little to no reaction time to slow down and pull to the side,they just had to depend on God's blessing and their own skills to make they didn't die.
   Of course we didn't know the extent of this because we were at the infusion clinic for hydration. It provided a little relief for Lori but once again she has to fight off a bladder infection. This plus having no taste for much food is causing a rough time right now. But with the last chemo coming up on Tuesday,we can see the light at the end of the tunnel...so happy to be leaving this behind us. Lot of tears have been shed this time around to say the least. But I know this battle hasn't been for nothing,there has to be a reason for it...and in time I'm sure it will be revealed what we went this through for.

And speaking of life.....actress and animal activist Elaine Hendrix has posted her latest video blog in her Love and Compassion series!

She raises good questions about how we see animals and the words we use in discussing them. I admit,I love calling all dogs "mutts". I tease dog owners all the time about how much better cats are then dogs. I mean my cat Derek Jeter is the best cat ever and I tell him this every day. But I'm compassionate to many living creatures,I don't like killing anything for the sake of killing. I find that very disturbing and many times its just not needed. My wife and I pride ourselves on our live rescues,be it a wild bunny in the middle of the street,to the colony of cats we had in Northville to feeding the birds via a bird feeder out back,its so much easier to help a animal then it is to harm it.
  I know certain parts of society doesn't always see it that way but since we can't control that,we can only lead by example and show Kindness and Compassion to those animals we can.


As I mentioned,I just finished my first book of 2013 called "BraveHearts" by Bud Withers




I got this from my local Dollar Tree last year and finally got around to reading it...it was much older then I realized as it only covers the rise of Gonzaga University basketball until 2002. But I stilled enjoyed this book very much as Withers chronicles how Gonzaga has slowly risen to be a annual elite program in college hoops despite being located in Spokane,Washington and not being able to land the players many higher profile programs do. The struggles of the coaches to get money to recruit,schedule a decent and fair schedule and get a new arena built while staying within the rules of the NCAA and the school itself really one shaking their head and asking why more programs don't do the same.
  The last three coaches,Dan Fitzgerald,Dan Monson (who left after two years) and the current coach,Mark Few all have worked very hard to make the program more about the TEAM then the player. While its true that other then John Stockton,no Zags player has had a huge NBA career,Withers shows how the players at Gonzaga are more about getting the degree  and enjoying the school experience then it is chasing down the big money from the NBA.
  What I think is really cool is that while book came out in 2002,Mark Few is still the head coach and has shown no desire to move to a "name" school. Gonzaga has stayed an elite team and are annually ranked in the Top 25 despite never making anyone's top recruit lists. Its absolutely refreshing to see that a coach stays out of loyalty to both his school AND his players. This is a book worth checking out,I'm sure you can find it on Amazon.com for a very low price.

I like to thank those folks who read my last interview with my friend Michelle. The Mouse River flood was grossly under reported by the mainstream media simply because no one died and it was in North Dakota. It still merited the same coverage and help that New Orleans,Nashville and New York/Jersey did but didn't.
By showing what one family went through and still survived,I hope it raises awareness of how much even the most regional disasters can affect us. Thanks again Michelle for sharing your story.

 I went out yesterday after tucking Lori in bed to rest after her hydration. I had to pay bills and then go grocery shopping. I gathered my coupon book and headed to the store. I filled Lori's car with gas and then went inside to shop. The store was pretty quiet so I was able to shop at a good pace...I was in there for a hour,my bill came to 83.00 at the register....but after my coupons,I walked out only paying 44.50. The lady behind me was pretty impressed and told me so. Made my day to be sure.....


Question: Does anyone have Seasons 6 and 7 of the Mary Tyler Moore show on DVD that they want to sell or perhaps barter? Please let me know....