Week Forty-Six and Forty-Seven

Hi folks,

Thanks for your patience during my memory lapse.  Things got very busy the last couple of weeks:  Drew and Mel took off to Australia for six weeks, we had a visit from Scott, Heidi, and Jojo, I took my annual trip to the desert for some golf, and Carol and I went to San Francisco for our annual get together with old USF friends for an ACT play and dinners out.

Mel and Drew will be visiting Mel’s family ‘down under’ and watching their house while Mel’s mother makes a trip to Turkey.  They should be back the last week in June.

Scott and Heidi drove down from Grant’s Pass just for a visit, and to introduce their puppy, Jojo, to our cats before Jojo got too big.  Well, Jojo may already be too big!….Goose and Garbo were not super-excited about meeting her.  They disappeared while Jojo lounged about the house.  But, amazingly, they reappeared very shortly after Scott, Heidi, and puppy departed.  Jojo is a good doggie, and an excellent proxy for acclimating parents-to-be.

 

Carol, Chris, Heidi, Scott….and Jojo chewing some grass

Then I went on my annual trek to Palm Desert with Jerry from USF days, and his cronies, mostly from Marin County.  This sort of marked the one-year anniversary of my esophageal issues.  While in the desert with this crew last year, I had a major choking incident at dinner, and called my doctor from the golf course the next morning saying I needed to get an endoscopy.  That’s when the cancer was discovered!

Condo roommates in Palm Desert…Gordie, Charlie, me, Jerry

When Jerry and I returned from the desert in our Prius, we drove to Jerry’s brother’s house in Marin County and met Carol there, as she drove Jerry’s truck down from Woodland.  We swapped cars, left ours in Marin County and took the Larkspur ferry to San Francisco for two more days of excitement in the City with other old USF friends.

Unfortunately, one of the couples could not make it this year….Kenny (of Kenny and Gudo) is recovering from a major operation to remove some yucky stuff from his lungs, and subsequent complications that shut down his kidneys for a while.  He’s doing much better, but still has a ways to go.  We missed them. And look forward to getting back together in 2019.

It’s amazing how many ‘things’ there are out there that can get you, as one grows older.  Watch out!

Health-wise, I feel like I’m doing better.  I went about 10 days without a scale, and wasn’t sure how my weight would be.  But this morning’s weigh-in was 132.5 lbs.  Pretty happy about that.  Now I need to start eating more healthy food, and cut down on stuffing myself with any kind of calories just to add on the weight (like those tasty In ‘N’ Out  Double-double burgers, animal style, with fries).

I’m definitely feeling stronger.  The trips to the gym (I try to go 4 days a week) seem to be paying off, although my masseuse hasn’t yet said, “My, you sure are getting buff.”

I have a telephone consult with my UCSF prostate doctor on June 14th, and a meeting with my regular urologist on June 15th.  After those conversations, I expect we will know the seriousness of the situation, and will figure out the action plan accordingly.

Saturday is Carol’s birthday, and we are heading back down to SF for a couple nights and a Giants game on Sunday.

So, that’s about it for this two-week entry.  Sorry about my lapse of memory regarding week 45.

I’ll close with a goofy ditty from Lenten writings in 2017:

Lenten Writing #14

The cat wants to help

That’s plain to see

He’s up on my desk

Right next to me.

 

He looks at my work

And checks out my pen

He sits on my pad

Like an egg-hatching hen.

 

Then he turns and he pushes

His head against mine

While I struggle to write

My next bit of rhyme.

 

He seems quite concerned

About what I’m writing

He stands on my pad

And my pen he starts biting.

 

Maybe he wants me

To write a few words

About proper napping

Or how to stalk birds.