Week Thirteen

The Header picture is Chris and Carol at the Masters in 2013.

 

Greetings from Week Thirteen…..weight last Friday was 139.8 lbs.  This Friday it was 140.5 lbs….we’ve broken the 140 barrier!

 

I was feeling pretty good on Friday.  The fever and sore throat from earlier in the week had gone away, and I felt ready for the wedding festivities.  About mid-day on Friday we headed down to Cambria for the start of the wedding weekend.  I took my brand new, never worn, handsome grey suit, as I had the responsibility to walk the bride down the aisle…quite an honor, for sure.

Chris and Mel walking down the aisle

We rented a house in Cambria for Friday and Saturday night, and there we hosted about 20 people at a ‘rehearsal’ dinner Friday night.  Scott and Heidi prepared an outstanding meal for everyone, Moroccan chicken, tabouli, tzekei, mounds of homemade hummus, and we bought some frozen blueberry pies from our local farmer’s market.  We started with libations (none for me) and snacks about 7pm, ate about 8:30 or 9 pm, and then talked, joked, and laughed until about 11 pm.

I neglected to read the fine print in the VRBO contract until we were pulling into the driveway of the  rented house.  It said ‘no parties’, ‘no loud noises after 9 pm’, and ‘no pets’.  Near the end of evening, one last party-goer straggled in, late, with a dog….Making us 0 for 3 on the ‘do not do’ list.

Wedding pie

I was able to eat some of the Moroccan chicken and the tabouli, and a bit of the pie as well.  I did a couple cans of Osmolite/Jevity drink through my stomach peg before people started arriving, so I had sufficient nourishment.

I was feeling pretty good through all the festivities, managed to visit with everyone, and even made a few remarks to the assembly, thanking them for coming and thanking Scott and Heidi for the outstanding dinner.  Then I read a short poem about when we first met Mel, the bride-to-be.  By 11 pm I was fading, and said good night to the few folks who were still around.

Saturday, before the wedding, I downed two helpings of Osmolite and Jevity through the stomach peg, and then figured I’d have to survive the rest of the day on whatever I could get down comfortably at the wedding.  I certainly didn’t want to walk around chatting with folks with my stomach peg hanging out.

Mel’s friends were all from the LA area, and they were an eclectic, fun-loving, interesting group of people, with many of them in the TV or movie industry, as actors, writers, or lighting experts. They were a friendly bunch, and very fond of Mel.

The wedding ‘re-celebration’ on Saturday (remember, Andrew and Mel eloped in Las Vegas on Cinco de Mayo)  was a memorable affair.  It was outside, under an arbor beneath a couple of cypress trees, with the ocean in the background.

Mel saying her vows to Andrew, with Jess officiating behind them

Afterward, we wandered over to the open bar for drinks and hor d’oeuvres (I did not partake of either), then across the road for pictures of the bride and groom with the ocean and sunset in the background (sorry, I don’t have any pictures of that yet).

Then dinner for 28 outside in a rustic setting, with heaters and properly subdued lighting.  Scott as best man made an excellent, humorous speech, the food was outstanding, and then we danced the evening away, stopping only for the cutting and eating of the wedding cake.  One of the dining choices was a three-cheese, baked polenta dish, which I ordered, and of which I ate about half.  Quite tasty.

Again, as the eleven o’clock hour approached, I started feeling very tired.  All that dancing, including a few leg-lifting renditions of the 1960’s twist, had worn me out.  So Carol and I said our good-byes and headed back to the house.

Sunday we packed up all the coolers, leftover food, beer, and wine, had a good brunch at Linn’s in Cambria, and headed back up north.  It was a good weekend.

Bride and Groom with clown noses from Jess, the Officiator

 

Well, my goodness, this wedding dissertation has been a major digression from the cancer narrative….but that’s okay!  On Monday, after all the excitement of the weekend, I was pretty tired, but otherwise felt fine.  Ate a little cottage cheese for breakfast, spaghetti for dinner, and only six cans of Osmolite/Jevity through the peg.

The painful dreariness of the earlier weeks had finally passed.  I made it out of the doldrums and was feeling quite positive…no more need for morphine, antibiotics all used up, no more call for nausea pills.  Stool meds were unnecessary….BM’s were excellent.  And I was ready for the next step, the operation.

Tuesday, my nephew Tim and wife, Pam came up from Berkeley for a visit.  With Scott and Heidi here, and Drew and Mel, we had four Mr. and Mrs. Gray’s in the house.  Quite nice.  Tim and Pam stopped at the Nugget for some lunch fixin’s, and we had quite a big spread for lunch out on the patio on a very pleasant afternoon (and we forgot to take a picture…so no documentation).  I had some farro salad and quinoa/rice combo, which went down okay, supplemented with a couple cans of my peg drink.

Wednesday feeling even better, smoothie for breakfast, spaghetti and tapioca pudding for dinner (along with my Osmolite/Jevity combo).

Thursday had an egg, more spaghetti, and some ice cream.  Also ventured out to Blue Note Brewery to meet with the food and drink committee for the 10th annual Tunes for Trees fundraiser for the Woodland Tree Foundation.

Friday still feeling good, ran some errands, ate half a burrito, and had a massage.

It was a good week, the best one so far, actually, as I should be past the worst, and I’m feeling good about the surgery next Wednesday.

Next week’s blog posting will be late.  I’ll be in the hospital for seven days, so will miss the normal posting date.  I might end up doing a two-week blog next time, with a recap of the surgery, if I can remember any of it!  So, until then, have a very pleasant first two weeks of Autumn.