…until May, saying all the bloodwork looked good; and my GI doc set me up for a year from January.
So we’re doing great. I’m still having finger and foot pain from the chemo, but the doc handed me something that might help. We’ll see. It may go away over time. At least I can still type without a great deal of discomfort.
I get my next Covid shot the evening before I drive Jane to the surgery center for her next hip replacement; and if the soreness on shot 1 is an indicator of how bad shot 2 could feel in the morning, well, I just grit my teeth and drive, eh? She is so looking forward to being out of pain (and having both legs the same length.)
Today Finity managed a good one—crawled into my down jacket, then into an arm, then stuck her head out the wrist hole, and couldn’t go backward or forward. We had a struggle getting her out of it. Poor kitten! She’s an adolescent now. And into everything. She darts doors. I had to chase her yesterday around the front yard, but at least the traffic noise from very busy Ash Street stopped her and she WILL let me pick her up quite easily when she’s reached something she sees as dangerous. The little rat.
I sure hope this new med works to reduce the discomfort of fingers and toes. That would be nice.
The weather warmed all the way to 40 today, and I made a drugstore run in a sweatshirt—while Finity swiped my jacket. Nice.
Otherwise we’re doing great. Looking forward to milder weather. I love winter, but the cold is hard on the fingers this year.
We’re looking forward too, to making some driving trips, just to get out and see scenery. We go nowhere and then turn around and go home, but the trips are nice. We sort of think of 2020 and 2021 as what it’s REALLY like to be stuck in a slow ship to Mars…
Good on the both of you for getting your vaccinations. Despite being ‘essential workers’, my staff is still waiting for theirs, as am I. Also good that your bloodwork came back all clear!
We are now in the ‘rains’. The past 3 weeks we have had 2 large storms blow though, with a third projected next week. We needed the rain desperately, but the weeds are the fastest thing to recover. It appears that one of the tree seeds I planted is actually growing; I think it was a custard apple. We are also trying to grow wasabi plants, Japanese horseradish beloved of sushi fans.
Cassius is still attempting to insert himself into the clowder, with limited success. Little Brother still doesn’t like having him around, and has many bad words for him.
This is multiple levels of great, health news… even if Finity can’t think through consequences until after she leaps… the front door dash sounds quite the worry-inducer.
We’re anticipating more snow here in the Boston area on Sunday. While the storm early in the week brought a decent amount of snow to many inland (~20 inches for some lucky towns), we got about 3 inches of slush on the coastal, north side of Boston=booo! (I grew up skiing and love snow.)
“We sort of think of 2020 and 2021 as what it’s REALLY like to be stuck in a slow ship to Mars…”
What’s our ETA? I can’t wait to get out and stretch my legs.
So glad to hear all the good news
“I resemble that remark!” Over the past year I’ve found much to criticize about decisions I’ve made “in the heat of the moment”, e.g. getting my pickup stuck in my (large, large enough that I awoke this morning to find a “herd” of 6 deer camped out!) backyard on wet grass and thoroughly muddy earth the day before yesterday. It’s “not like me”! It’s an age thing, with pretty scarey implications!
Great news, CJ! I read though most find the second shot after effects worse, so much so doctors keep saying, “That just means it’s working!” Keep a taxi service number at hand?
Theoretically, I’ll be allowed to get shot #1 in a week, though the state/county handling of the whole thing has been pretty amateurish. Haven’t heard any citizens not critical. I’d say odds of it happening are maybe 1:10?
Wishing the best outcome for Jane’s surgery.
Oh, those three little words: We have remission.
In ref: cold fingers, fingertip-less gloves might be helpful. https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Fredericks-Original-Arthritis-Gloves/dp/B01LR4VO16/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3E2Y4HT5TPQPW&dchild=1&keywords=gloves with no fingertips women&qid=1612585721&sprefix=gloves with no fingertips,digital-text,197&sr=8-8
Guess your “Storyteller” is so hard wired to go round your brain and out your fingers that something like “Dragon” text to speech wouldn’t be much help . . .?
Re: snow, as a result of the last storm, Haleakala, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa all had snow on their summits. Wet season storms often produce blizzard conditions on the Big Island mountaintops. One hopes that the astronomers are safely down off the mountain when that happens!
I often used fingerless gloves when the air conditioning at work had two settings: off and arctic. My favorite pair looks like cat paws, with paddy-palms.
I thought they did everything non-mechanical from down in Manoa?
Sound like cute gloves.
They do a lot of observing remotely on Mauna Kea, both from Manoa and UH-Hilo, but there is still a staff who must be on hand at the summit. Our tame astrophysicist does much of his work on Haleakala from the Institute for Astronomy about a third of the way up, in Pukalani, and still goes to the summit a couple of times a week to tinker with the telescopes. Nothing the fine folks at Saigiadi would be unfamiliar with 🙂
ReadyGuy and I are happy to hear your remission results and are hoping that Jane’s surgery goes well, with a speedy recovery. We are both jealous that you have gotten your vaccination. We’re registered but there is no availability within 220 miles. The state capital and its county environs keep on getting prioritized and everyone else’s expected doses keeps on being shorted. At least we now have three locations where vaccinations will be administered to us if we ever get doses in the county.
CommentCJ, my husband had neuropathy in his feet following chemo for colon cancer. It did improve over time, and he became able to ignore the lingering effects until they disappeared. It did take a while, though.
Mine (also from chemo) is slowly improving. I can tell from year to year, but it *is* slow.
I get blood tests quarterly, and mammos at least once a year, but we’re into the long-term treatment: another five to seven years with an estrogen blocker.
Me too, PJ. I am seven years from diagnosis, which is amazing to think, and six years into the ten year + estrogen blocker protocol. I never had the neuropathy, tho, so I was fortunate that way. Still seeing oncologist and surgeon every four months, leapfrogging the appointments, and annual mammo. Good luck to all of us!
Good news, and here is hoping the spring will soon arrive and gentler days await
I’ve heard that with Moderna, the second-shot aftereffects can really hit hard – about the second or third day after, you feel like you have flu. I don’t know about availability in my area, but I signed up for updates through my local pharmacy. Meanwhile, I stay masked and at home as much as I can. (Salads don’t keep, so it’s at least twice a week to get groceries.)
I’m down to once a year with the radiation guy, after mammos with the surgeon, and once a quarter with the chemo people.
Congratulations on good blood work. I just had my annual follow-up visit with my oncologist today and she says everything is looking good. We are on the waiting list at Johns Hopkins and with the county health department, but Maryland just doesn’t have enough vaccine for everyone who is eligible. Wishing Jane a speedy recovery from her upcoming surgery.
Congrats, Teegan, on your own, annual “All Clear” from your doc… and good luck on scoring a vaccination. My spouse and I are 2nd Phase in Massachusetts and are unlikely to get shots until April or later—but both my small city and my day job are hard at work alerting folks who are eligible where to go to get the vaccine. I’m moderately hopeful that snafus will have been worked out by the time I’m eligible.
I have a neuropathy in my feet as a result of very powerful antibiotics I took to kill the infection that was trying to kill me. The good news is that the effects will lessen over time. The bad news is that probably they will not fully dissipate. I took gabapentin for it.
Monday morning at 8 o’clock I have to be at the vaccine location in Utrecht so my dad, who is nearly 85, can get his first vaccination. Then again in 6 weeks, same early time.
Since we’re having the first really cold and snowy spell in a long time, and small residential streets don’t get cleared, I hope we get there without damage.
Last winter we had no snow at all, and the last time we had this much , that stayed for more than a week, was more than a decade ago. I got 8 inches here, where it hasn’t been compacted into icy hardness (like on the roads). So it is pretty to see the snow, and the kids enjoy it. Dad (and I) have been staying mostly inside, with some advance shopping done the day before the cold arrived, though yesterday and today were lovely and sunny, and we both took a short walk, with cleats under our shoes.
But when he got the letter saying he should call up to make an appointment, it didn’t occur to him to ask for a later time, after the sun will have re-melted the night’s frost from the cleared roads. The highways and through roads get salted, but we’re still in strict lockdown and with fewer cars on the road the salt works less well. He lives an hour and a half away from me; then a half hour to the vaccination place. Otherwise I’d never have gone driving that early, but he doesn’t want to try to change the appointment… I’ll just try to drive really carefully.
I am glad he’s getting his vaccination; the roll-out here has been slow. The Netherlands is performing at a very meager average level for Europe in this pandemic, not nearly as well as a lot of us would have expected, as far as infections, deaths and vaccinations go.
I’ve been keeping safe anyway, working from home, wearing a mask in the shops, keeping my distance, and so has dad; no need to worry about me.
So, with continuing frost as well as precipitation predicted for monday, dad moved his first appointment to friday the 26th. I’m glad I won’t have to drive in icy conditions.
Meanwhile we’ve had a few sunny-but-freezing days, and everyone is out enjoying the ice and the snow.
Skating on the natural ice on all the ponds and ditches is a favorite winter passtime for Dutch kids and adults; one we don’t get to enjoy often anymore, as a lot of winters don’t get enough consecutive freezing days for the ice to get thick enough for mass skating.
In every town and village, this is what you see and hear all around you these last few days: “skating fever”, kids of all ages, skating and sledding and sliding on the ice, and sometimes taking their bikes on the ice too. https://youtu.be/0uNxD5SKxk4
In villages that don’t have a pond or canal, there’s often a specific field that has a little dike aound it, so it can be filled with a layer of water when the weatherfolks announce a few days of deep- enough frost, so it becomes a safe ice rink for the kids. Even if the ice isn’t that strong, the water beneath it is only a few inches deep.
And in the more rural areas, with the longer distances of the frozen canals, you get the serious adult distance skaters enjoying themselves.
https://youtu.be/S6pOf2LXovo
Everybody is enjoying it while they can, as halfway through next week the cold is expected to go away, and we’ll be back to daytime temperatures above freezing.
Here in the Boston area of Massachusetts/New England, we’ve been celebrating the frozen ice too. My small city has a large pond known as “the Rez” (for reservoir) and folks have been skating there. I saw a nice, pick up hockey game going on when my spouse and I took a walk around it a week or so ago… and others were practicing their figure skating and just plain enjoying sliding on the ice!
Hanneke, is the ice solid enough for the great, Dutch 11 City Ice race via the canals to be held this year? That would be something!
(p.s. Glad your Dad decided to reschedule, hopefully for a later hour as well as another day!)
@Raesean, no, there won’t be an Elfstedentocht this year. The committee had already decided it wasn’t possible to organise one within the Covid restrictions, even if the ice had become strong enough.
The BBC reporter talked up the chance anyway, and it would have been impossible to stop people from trying to skate the 200 km route even without official support, as everybody gets so exited at the chance, so I guess it’s good the ice never got that strong along the whole route, this year.
The last time it was held was in 1997, it really is a chance you only get at most a few times in your life (and getting rarer, with climate change) – even without the checkpoint stamps and commemorative medal, an enthousiastic long distance skater would love to be able to tell their grandkids about skating it all.
In the 1700s, during the “little European ice age” this was something that happened every winter, as you can see in old paintings, and skating on natural ice became a part of our national identity; but after that cold snap ended it became less certain, and in the last half century it went from maybe on average once a decade to maybe never again.
Today the thaw started (with rain on frozen ground, so I’m staying indoors), so the ice never did get to the 15 cm (6 inches) they need for the masses of people who would try to come anyway; and some of it was cloudy white snow ice (i.e. less strong than the clear dark ice).
There were quite a few long-distance skaters out enjoying themselves anyway, over the last few days (check out “schaatsen natuurijs 2021” if you want to look at clips).
Use “natuurijs” (natural ice) in your search as it’s the natural scenery they’re moving through that makes long-distance skating enjoyable – endless circles on an indoor arena are just boring.
Combine that with “schaatsen,” (skating), “schaatskoorts” (skating fever), “ijspret” (ice-fun), “schaatspret” or “schaatsplezier” (skating fun or skating pleasure) if you want Dutch pictures or videos, both of kids having fun close to home, and of distance skaters out along the canals and lakes.
I’ll end this with just one very iconic picture taken last week by a professional photographer: Dutch winter as we all like to remember it, until the next time the ice comes.
PS. The Covid rules here in the Netherlands are laxer than most places: adults keep 5 feet distance, unless you’re in the same family or ‘bubble’ (i.e. students sharing student housing), kids don’t have to keep distance at all until 12 y.o., and for teenagers it’s advisory until 17 y.o. (so high school kids can still hang out with their friends); masks are mandatory only indoors in public spaces & on public transport, unless you’re crowded together at less than 5 feet outside.
There’s a reason we’re not doing so great at combating the pandemic, but they’re trying to balance the harm done to kids by social isolation with limiting the spread of disease and protecting the vulnerable. Though pictures make it look crowded on the ice, most people were staying within those rules.
The very well known, but entirely unofficial, Portland motto is “Keep Portland Wierd”. In keeping with that, and the idea of unofficial fun races, this weekend it pulled off its Third (’14, ’17, ’21?) Bierkebeiner Race.
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/skiers-take-over-nw-portland-for-stumptown-birkebeiner-race/283-c437b1f4-94c3-4ff7-b871-049f1c5c8867
@Paul, that looks like great good fun!
It’s the same spirit that takes over here on such sunny and snowy/icy days.
Celebrate those days! They’re rare enough everyone really wants to enjoy them. If it was like this all winter, every winter, it wouldn’t be so special.
I had to look it up, as the link doesn’t work for me – the ‘original’ Birkenbeiner in Norway and Wisconsin sounds like our Elfstedentocht, in that it’s based in an old tradition and taken seriously by all the racers and spectators, while the Portland version sounds like the ‘just have fun!’ “skating fever” that grips our nation whenever there’s real natural ice or snow that stays for a few days.
Maybe, but you don’t have a Darth Vader helmeted, kilted, unicycle riding, bagpiper with flames coming out of his chanter & drones! I’m absolutely sure of that! 😉 And not because 2020 was wierd–he’s a Portland “institution”, showing up when we most need him.
https://youtu.be/cnVjkE87FDY
http://www.globalgeeknews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Unipiper.jpg
I’ve seen him before; first on BoingBoing, then elsewhere. He seems to be a ‘strange but harmless fun’ institution. We need more like that these days!
Did something rude to my back, so spent most of the weekend (plus Friday) thanking the befeathered gods I had some Flexoril left from the last time I tweaked it…
Evidently they’re doing a series of articles on the Foreigner series of books:
https://www.tor.com/2021/02/17/disruptions-in-communication-disrupt-atevi-society-in-cj-cherryhs-foreigner-series/?utm_source=Feedburner%3A+Frontpage+Partial+RSS+Feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Torcom%2FFrontpage_Partial+%28Tor.com+Frontpage+Partial+-+Blog+and+Stories%29
@WOL, thanks for the link!
I like that article series, they are looking at the whole Foreigner series three books at the time, looking specifically at the linguistic elements.
Is everyone in the south getting through the cold safely?
I know we have several Wave commentors who live in that area.