Lisbon and At Sea, Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday—Today the second part of the trip begins with an evening departure from Lisbon.  Our friends Rick and Nita should be on board and on their way down the coast of Africa.  We would have enjoyed the at sea day as the first part of the trip was non stop shore excursions and sight seeing.

Another beautiful day so Sue and I did some errands and went down the hill for an early lunch at our local restaurant-Polar Cafe.  Nancy has been enjoying their blueberry oatcakes left over with added blueberries.  Seems like a good way to start the day. 

We put the 350 Z away for the winter, parked in the garage, covered and attached to the trickle charger.  Of course I had to make my yearly call to Jeff to find out how to make the connection.  Thanks Jeff.

I spent the afternoon at a genetics counselor, two people in one family with pancreatic cancer throws up some questions.  If any of my genes show inherited mutations then my brother, niece and nephew might want to consider testing.  It might help them figure out methods of early screening and/or preventative actions.  I should get the results in 4 weeks. And I, Sue, think that even now in this time of great stress Nanc is pretty special to be thinking of her family.

Present moment aside—Jessie, the cat, slept all morning while we were out, now she is up and determined to be between Nancy and the computer screen or trying to climb on her shoulder, or trying to type.  She makes us smile but she can be a pest.  A lovable pest.  And she can barely keep her eyes open sitting here….

Caught up on some taped tv shows last night, tried to remain calm, took a bath and watched NCIS—a Tuesday mainstay.

Wednesday—Big chemo day number one.  I went in a nervous wreck. All anticipatory but I couldn’t shake it.  Blood draw, saline, anti nausea med, shot, first chemo drug, second chemo drug—that one was uncomfortable going in, more saline.  9-12.  IV came out and my stress melted, I really was wound tight.  We have received lots of emails, texts and calls from family and friends all over the country.  We can’t thank you and every one enough for good wishes, pictures, jokes, and thoughts.  Home for lunch, Sue is off the grocery store and I went down to the treadmill for twenty slow minutes before deciding it was enough.  Will try again later.  Came home with more books on chemo and chemo eating ideas.  And of course my kit for shots—I think I can, I think I can, I think I can….

Sue just called, we can not figure out where we bought a certain kind of chicken noodle soup, she is on the hunt, two stores down, one to go.  I seem to do better with an afternoon nap, so I am headed upstairs to do just that.  

Probably will not post again till next week.  Jan from Mayne Island and her sister Jeannie from KC are coming up to a 90th birthday party but will come see us for the rest of the weekend.  I get no new cancer marker numbers for a month though Dr Dan said they may go up the first month as dead cells are pumped into the system and still register. He puts more stock in the second month numbers. Blood tests weekly to see if I can tolerate another round of chemo that week and to monitor both the standard chemo and the trial treatment.  Hair cut Friday, a fun short cut for two weeks or so.

Oh by the way Nancy has a uniform for Chemo and Doc visits. Lynx shirt and hat because they are Champions and so is she says Sue. And on Chemo day socks that came from Jill....Well, this sucks. The nurses  loved them.