A Catch-up Day

Yesterday I spent most of the day at Lutheran Medical
Center in Denver. Susan Wayland was having breast
cancer surgery and I was there for support and to
drive her home. Her friend, Connie, had taken her
to the hospital in the early morning. I didn't
get there until 9 AM. Everything went smoothly
and the lymph nodes are not affected so it looks
good for a complete cure.

Kirsten, Susan's daughter, was waiting for us at
Susan's house when we got there. I had called
her earlier to report. Kirsten doesn't drive
or she would have been there for her mom, I'm
sure. As it was she spent the rest of the
day with Susan thinking up ways to make things
easier for Susan. I talked with Susan this
morning and she is doing fine.

Today was a catch-up day. I had gotten my flu
shot yesterday while Susan and I were waiting
for her antibiotic prescription to be filled.
Flu shots a couple of years ago were $8.00,
then $10.00, then $20.00 and now $28.00. I
had checked with our insurance and they'll
pay for it. I have sent in the forms today.
I talked at some length with Connie. She
was home nursing Meara who had had oral
surgery to repair a gum tissue that had been
torn sometime back when one of her baby teeth
had to be extracted. Now she needs orthodontic
work and they are afraid that her gum tissue
isn't strong enough, hence the surgery.

Jared Polis' campaign manager called earlier
to see if I would attend a brain-storming
session on the 16th. That sounds like fun.
Dinner will be served and after that the
meeting. Robert and I had planned to go
to a conversation at Boulder Book Store
on "The Fermi Paradox." Robert will
go to that and I'll go to the political party.

I find there are so many issues that need
to be attended that it is hard to know where
to start. With limited energy I have
decided that working for Jared is probably
the best I can do. The ACLU has a documentary
they are trying to get people to see and
asking for folks to have a house party and
show the film. I'm going to check with
Allison and see if they would donate the
use of their projector so we could have
a showing of the film at the schoolhouse.

Dr. Ho reports

I have talked to Dr. Ho this morning and the
diagnosis is that I have a superficial basal
cell carcinoma. We decided that he would scrape
the area more thoroughly. He already took a big
chunk out of my leg. In addition to the scraping
I would apply a special cream to it for the next
few weeks. My appointment is November 27th.

Today is a gorgeous day and a good one to be
outside, after it warms up a little.

After lunch Robert and I walked up to the
Church Road via the Hut. We are trying to
make a new path. Robert used his small axe
to chop off dead limbs. On our way back down the
Church Road we took down the sign that said "Private
No Motor Veh." Since it isn't private; it's an
unmaintained County road and we want to keep it
that way. We drive the truck up there to get wood.

Pete was working at the Church. The new foundation
is coming along. The Inspectors are supposed to
come tomorrow to check it out.

Regular 4-month VA visit

Today was our every 4 months visit to the VA. The last time
we went, I didn't go, because I was in Rochester because of
Jeanne's death.

Robert checked out pretty well with everything. His white
count is up to 112,000, but it goes up so slowly that Dr.
Braun pointed out that young doctors get really alarmed
about that, but he has seen Robert-like patients that just
go on and on and the red count doesn't drop, as expected.
And likewise, Robert probably has prostate cancer, but it is
so slow-growing that something else is likely to be the
killer, neither the CLL nor the prostate cancer.

We had lunch at the museum, as usual. The place was mobbed
with school children to see the Titanic Exhibit for which we
did not have tickets. We didn't have time, either.

We returned in time for our 1 o'clock appointment and waited
until after 2 PM Dr. Braun was clearly upset; he made a
call and described a patient whom he expected to bleed to
death over night and later explained to us that race had
been an issue and that the patient's family and he had
lost trust and he didn't blame them. Other than that we
don't know, but it all sounded very tragic.

On our way home we stopped at Namaste and picked up a
temporary "mate" because ours had been declared faulty,
which Robert had decided long since. It is the vehicle that
communicates between the solar electronics and the computer.
They gave us a loaner and are ordering us a new one.

We then went to Orik and bought some bags for the vacuum
Robert uses to clean out soot from the furnace. We also
went to Barnes and Noble to get Tom Brokaw's latest book
about the 1960s, "Boom." The clerk asked if I wanted to
renew my membership and I said yes without checking the
price. It had been $15.00 last year. When she said I owed
$36.00 I questioned her and found the "membership" price was
$25.00 and the book was 10.00. I cancelled the membership
and took the book. The membership and coupons do add up,
but somehow the $25.00 really stunned me.

When we got home I had a message from Dr. Ho. The biopsy
was back from my skin caner and I have to come back to
discuss further treatment. I know, or hope, I'm wrong, but I
don't think it is basil cell because of where it is. I'll
call in the morning to make an appointment. I really fear
it is melanoma.

The good news is that I received my Amazon order for three more of the Diane Gabaldon series books, real bodice rippers which are great escapist literature.

A quiet week

It's been almost a week since I have entered anything here.
Not much has been happening, I guess. I did have lunch with
Susan Wayland and we always have a good time with much
chatter and laughter.

On Friday Robert and I met the "Chervin Birthday Club." We
meet approximately once a month to celebrate any one's
birthday, if anyone has had a birthday since the last
luncheon. We went to Jill's at the st. Julien which was a
pleasant change from the Tsing Tao where we usually go.

Ruth and Buck were there and Ruth had just come from having
electroshock therapy. She was very talkative so I assume
they had given her something to make the experience less
painful. She suffers from depression and that must really
be awful. It was good to see her chatty and kind of up.
Sarah and Dennis, Suzanne, and Chervin completed the group.

Susan Solomon came in with a group while we were eating.
She and a bunch of others have received the Nobel Prize
for their work on Global Warming. I spoke with her
briefly. She was a postdoc back when I was at NCAR.

After lunch Robert went home and I went to Aspen Eye wear to
get my new eye glasses adjusted and then on to Louisville to
have my annual skin-check with Dr. Ho. He gave me some
salve for the sores on my left leg that haven't healed up
since I fell in the creek in September. He also spotted a
possible Basil cell cancer on the back of the same leg. That
seems an unlikely place for a skin cancer since it is almost
always covered up. I suppose there were times when I wore
shorts a lot and other times when I sun bathed. I'll hear
the results of the biopsy sometime next week. He took quite
a chunk out of my leg.

We had a call from Alyssum. She's coming on the train and is
schedule to arrive in Denver on the 20th at 8 PM. That's the
same schedule that Connie and family came in on. She'll
either take a bus to Boulder or we or Robyn will pick her up.
I don't think we should make her take the bus after coming all
that way on the train.

Robert continues to juggle the solar input trying to maximize
our use of it. He's also designing another rack for the last
of the panels to be mounted. He's hoping that while Alyssum,
Robyn and Janis are here he'll be able to get enough help to
move one of the racks to the roof of his study. It'll get
more sun there.