Latest News for the Month of
November 2006
Hi Ya'll. For those who may have missed last months updates, I am back in Florida enjoying the sun and nice weather. I am finally settling in and getting back into a routine around here and meeting new residents at the resort who are pulling in every week. This place seems to be a hot bed for Snow Bird's and they are now starting to flock to the sun. After Thanksgiving I am sure they will start coming in numbers. The office said they are booked solid for the winter, as always.
On the personal front there isn't much to report. Same old thing just a different day. The family is all happy and healthy, Ally is busy at school and loves her new assignment, The students are all charmers and the Administration and staff very supportive. It is a great school and she is finding it much easier to teach there versus a public school.
On the health front, my blood took a nose dive and I got into a danger zone for a brief time. My blood volume, platelets and red cells all climbed while at the same time my INR ( clotting factor ) dropped. I was a stroke waiting to happen so I took a few extra doses of blood thinners, Ally did another Phlebotomy on me and now all seems to be well again. I am still getting a few cluster headaches, but those too shall pass. I hope anyways.
The exciting news is that many of you may remember that we both owned a motorcycle. They were small and a handful in the wind and lately there has been allot of windy days here. We really enjoy riding the back roads together so we decided to trade them off on bigger bikes that had more horsepower and were heavier and more stable in traffic and the wind. Words cannot explain how much better I feel on the new bike. It is so much more stable and much heavier then the old one. Ally's new bike is awesome and cannot even be compared to the little bike she had before. Both are labeled " Cruisers " and are Harley styled. I ordered some saddle bags for her bike so she can carry her lap top and books back and forth to school on sunny days. Here is the link of the pictures of our new bikes - Shadow Heaven
On the website front, I had no idea people who are using Firefox as their internet browser could not read my website. Lindy is looking into the problem to find out what is going on. I will let all of you know here what the problem is. For those of you using Microsoft's Internet Explorer I am sure you can view this site in its entirety.
I wanted to give everyone a quick update as to what was going on so no one wondered if I may have died and forgot to send out invitations to the funeral. :) I hope this finds all of you doing well and in good health. Please do drop me a line and let me know how your doing. Until later,
I hope this finds all of you happy and healthy and for those of you in the USA coming off a great Thanksgiving holiday. Our " Turkey Day " was spent here at the resort where we enjoyed a group dinner with other resort residents. The traditional " bird " and all the fixings was provided and it was a good time filled with socializing and allot of eating.
Ally and I have been busy enjoying our bikes and with her having the week off we have been riding nearly everyday. The weather here has been awesome with the cold front moving on and warm weather returning. The temperature has been perfect for me as I thrive in 70 - 75 degree weather. We have been riding allot by ourselves but also have taken a few short local trips with one of our favorite riding buddies, Bruce. He installed headlight modulators on our bikes for us and also tail light flashers as well. The headlight modulators alternate the headlight between bright and low beam during the daytime making the bike's headlight flash back and forth as your going down the road. This makes you much more visible to cars that are waiting to turn or approaching you.
Friday, the 24th we took a ride out to a Flying J truck stop for breakfast and also visited the Marathon Coach distribution center located next door to the truck stop. This is the place where million dollar coaches are parked and we enjoyed walking around looking at how the " other half " lives and enjoys motorcoach travel. We also took some pictures of us on our bikes and I have uploaded them now to the website. They can be seen here. ( click here ) If any of our relatives or friends want to copy these photos off our website onto CD and have photo's made at Walmart, Walgreens or where ever, please feel free to do so.
On the health front I am waiting for my lab results from a series of blood tests I had a week ago. Going to this new lab down here in Florida makes me miss my girlfriends back in Bristol at the Doctors office who always take such good care of me. The lab at Dr. Brockmyres office handed me my results immediately while this new lab ( Quest labs ) mails them to you ( so they say ). Quest labs is a large chain of labs located throughout the USA and are about worthless when it comes to customer service. You end up chasing down your results and it can be time consuming to say the least. They love to hide behind the privacy laws in the USA to afford them the opportunity to forget customer service. Its a great excuse for them to avoid helping patients like myself. Dr. Brockmyre provided them with a note saying to release the results to me directly, but I still haven't seen them yet and really do not think I will. I may end up switching labs and trying to find a small lab with good customer service and personal attention. Quest seems to be so large and cumbersome they cannot find their rear ends to save their souls and their employees could care less if you ever get the results. It's frustrating when you have these tests and your waiting on the results so I can adjust my blood thinners accordingly or have Ally perform another phlebotomy on me.
Irregardless I expect the results to show an increase in the hemoglobin level as I am back to having bad cluster headaches again. I am also finding myself growing more and more tired each day and I seem to get exhausted with little exertion. I normally can go till 1 or 2 PM in the afternoon before needing a power nap but lately I am completely worn out by 10 am. I believe its a classic sign of being very low on iron as well as my bone marrow being in bad shape. I plan on starting chemo ( Interferon ) this coming Friday ( Dec 1st ). I can hardly wait for the chemo flu to start and the sickness to begin, but it's just part of the game. I had originally planned on starting Interferon this coming Sunday but realized Ally has to work the next day so postponed it till Friday when she will be off for the weekend. During the first two night's she normally has to stay awake all night and keep a constant vigil on my temperature. We have a routine where she bundles me up in bed when the chills hit and then wraps me up and holds me to give me body heat. The chills and fevers I have with this drug normally produces mini convulsions and seizures so it always a good thing to have her right there next to me to help me when I need it. She also monitors my Tylenol and pain killer intake and hands them to me at the correct time intervals. Normally I am so out of it I cannot keep track of it myself and more times then not, during the worse phase of the drug I do not even know where I am at. It is very rough on her and she normally breaks down and cries watching me go through the initial stages of the drug on the first day or two. I typically cry along with her because I feel so miserable and helpless. Some patients can take this drug and experience little side affects, others like myself experience violent side affects that requires 24 straight hours of care by someone. In some cases patients are hospitalized for the first 24 hours so they can be monitored closely, but that is becoming a rarity as insurance companies are refusing to pay for the hospital stay. It's very rough for us both and it makes me feel bad for her because I know how heart wrenching it is for her to watch me convulse and go through the fever seizures and not be able to do anything but hand me meds, keep me warm or cool me off when I am hot. In the end we always make it through it and we will again as we have been down this road before many times in the past. Handling this drug is all in the mind and how you battle the effects psychologically. While it makes you physically feel horrible, you work through it with a positive attitude and allot of heavy duty pain killers. Typically for me the drug causes excruciating bone marrow pain which lasts for a month or two. That's the hardest part to deal with sometimes along with the profound fevers and chills. But not to worry, I will battle and work through it and come out the other end. I always do. I am also going to be starting my antidepressants this week to counter the effects of the Interferon. This drug works wonders on my bone marrow and has produced miracles for me in the past, but it is a known depressant that can cause people to slump into a very deep and debilitating depression. It has that effect on me as well as other patients using it so this is countered by using antidepressants. There have been far to many suicides with people using this chemo drug to play games with it so its better safe then to be sorry. I have learned through experience to use the anti depressants. All in all, I am ready for it all and will carry on like I always do.
There isn't much more news to report. Lindy, Kim and Ella traveled to Natalia and Matt's for Thanksgiving and they had a great time together. Lindy said Natalia made one heck of a meal and really out did herself. I am proud of her as she has come a long, long way in her cooking. She is now turning into a great cook and can really make some awesome meals and baked goods. It also does my heart good to know that these kids remain so close to one another and spend their holidays with each other. I ask very little from them in their adult lives except to stay close to one another and love each other till the end. Ally and I will be loading the coach up and heading to Lynchburg, VA for Christmas. We both cannot wait to see everyone, especially that little Grand Daughter of ours, Miss Ella. She is really growing and becoming a real chatter box. We both got to talk to her over Thanksgiving and we both remain amazed at how fast she is growing. This is what I have been waiting for, when she gets to the point that I can interact with her through conversation. Kids at this age just crack me up and provide me with heaps of laughter over the things they say. Kid's, unlike adults say what they think and never correct themselves to be politically correct. Instead they speak straight from their hearts and minds which provides some interesting and hilarious conversations. Christmas cannot come fast enough for us. :)
I truly hope all of you reading this are doing well. I hear from some of you while others seem to have fallen off the face of the earth. To those who are missing, I do think of you often and hope your doing well. To those who still write or call, thank you because you always brighten my day. Please do enjoy the holiday season and be safe out there. Drop me a line when you can.
Thank God. We finally found the problem with some of these pages not loading properly. I wished I could take the credit for that as I poured hours into trying to find the problem. But alas, it was Lindy who found the problem ( albeit in 10 minutes time ) and corrected it. I hate to even see the bill on this one but I do have one factor in my favor - I am his Daddy and he is way behind on his " Daddy Tax ". :). Thank you son for saving me allot of aggravation, your the best.
Sunday morning was a great day as we took the bikes and rode up the coast to Pine Island. The ride ( on motorcycles ) is what we call a nice gentle ride because the road's are winding and the speed slow and easy. The entrance to the island is a long road ( approx 5 miles ) that runs through wetlands ( everglades type scenery ). We got to the park and had something to drink and then just enjoyed the view out at the Gulf. We took a back road that went through a few very small towns and that was a gorgeous ride as well. These type of rides are what bikers like us live for. None of our riding buddies are speed freaks since we are all middle aged so nice slow and scenic rides is what we live for. Here is a picture taken of us at the beach that day. ( Click here for picture )
On the home front, I decorated Bella Mina ( the coach ) for Christmas and for some reason or another I have an abundance of that Christmas spirit this year. I talked to one of our friends the other day and she said " I just cannot get into gear this year. It seems to be so much work decorating when your so busy at work and home, but I am going to get it done ". I know the feeling as the last three years we have really skimped on holiday decorations. Before, our home on Taylor St. was really decorated to the max, with two Christmas trees, garlands everywhere, bows, and on and on. I believe we still have 4 or 5 large storage boxes filled with Christmas decorations. We had nearly every part of that 3,300 sq ft. home decorated, but then Natalia was around then and helped us allot. Either way, I do seem to have the spirit this season and I believe some of it can be attributed to that I get to spend it with my Kid's and Grandaughter. It's probably another bloody holiday to them, but to me its important as I do not get to spend ,much time with them anymore. This year we are making the BIG trip up to VA and I cannot wait to see them all. I miss them terribly.
It's been a sick house here lately. Ally came down with a bug Sunday and promptly got worse. She of course passed it on to me, but surprisingly I fought it off quickly and felt much better then her so we reversed roles and I took care of her. She has had a rough week with very high temp's, a sore throat and has been worn out. She took two days off from school and slept allot but is returning today ( Wednesday ) as she feels guilty placing her class work on Sub teachers. Late last night her fever finally broke ( 101 degrees ) and she started to feel a bit better but her throat was still killing her when she left this morning for school. Hopefully she can make it thru the day fine.
Tomorrow ( Thursday ) my buddy here at the resort ( Bruce ) and I are riding our bikes to Hooters for lunch. Both of us are about the same age so it will be two old men drooling over wings and coke. :) Bruce is a great guy and a ton of fun to be with. I think we hit it off great because we seem to have walked the same paths in life ( Married, a messy divorce, disabled, etc. ). Either way I am very glad he is here as I have someone during the day time to talk with and shoot the breeze with. He is a great, loyal and trusting friend.
My chemo plans may end up altered as I didn't plan on Ally getting sick. I have a few items I need to take care of here on the coach before I start Interferon and I know I wont be able to do them once I start the drug so I am behind schedule at the moment. I also hate to leave it for Bruce, though I know he would help me in a heartbeat if I asked him. I just hate asking others for help and Bruce has enough to do on his own coach.
For those of you in the North, I see you have had a great week. That kind of ruins my day in some ways as I always get a big grin when ya'll are freezing up there and its 70 plus down here. Good Gawd I am terrible sometimes but you have to understand the harassment I take from some of my buddies. Speaking of being nasty, last winter I had it all backfire on me. I enjoyed calling people who were getting snow and telling them about the warm California weather. Well one day I see that Akron, Ohio is getting clobbered with a snow storm so I decide to call my pilot buddy Jay who happens to live in Akron. He answers his cell phone and I go on and on about the rotten weather he is getting in Ohio and how arm it is in Chula Vista. My wonderful friend ( really he is a close buddy ) then reveals to me that he is sitting in Ft. Lauderdale Fl. for a few days waiting for the group he flew in a private jet there to finish off their vacation. Obviously he ruined all my fun and we still laugh about it. He was doing allot of Southern trips that winter so I scratched him off my harassment list.
I hope all of you have a great week. If the weather cooperates we are riding up to Weeki Wache for a Corvette / Bike show which is being sponsored for Toy's for Tot's and the Marine Corp. Should be a great time and I will surely post pictures. Speaking of which if you go to the photo page you will see that I have added several pages of pictures.
I am going to sign off and will write more in a few days. Until then, be safe, be happy and enjoy your week.
As always I wish you the best,
Chris