Good News!

This winter has been hard not only because of the abnormal weather but because of abnormalities which showed up on my routine post-cancer CT scans.

On December 30 I went for a routine CT scan - this was just over one year from the last one as I was switching to a once a year scan from every six months. The results came back indicating there were at least two lymph nodes which were larger than seen on previous scans. Sharon and I visited my oncologist, who put a real scare into me. He was concerned that the Hodgkins lymphoma was back and if it was, would require more chemo followed by a bone marrow transplant. Scary stuff.
I had a PET scan to help with the diagnosis, and the PET indicated a number of lymph nodes "lighting" up with an uptake of the radioactive glucose. Still scary. This scan was followed up with a needle biopsy of my left inguinal lymph node last Tuesday.

We got the results this week and met with the oncologist yesterday. His determination and that of the pathologist is indolent follicular lymphoma. This is not great news, but it is indeed good news. This is a slow growing lymphoma which does not require treatment unless I become symptomatic. I have no symptoms - just signs of enlarged lymph nodes in my CT scan and lymph nodes that lit up on my PET scan. So, while it would have been best to have no lymphoma, I do not have a recurrence of Hodgkins which was the worst possible diagnosis. I will see my oncologist in three months, plan on a CT scan in six months, and watch for symptoms. It is difficult realizing that I have moved beyond or past having Hodgkins lymphoma to having non-Hodgkins lymphoma. But, of the many types of non-Hodgkins lymphoma to have, what I apparently have is not a bad one to have. Slow growing and treatable with an antibody if necessary.

We are OK with this diagnosis and feel we can now continue living and planning life after taking about six weeks off. Now we can plan a trip or two to Europe this summer, trips to Oregon, and where ever else we want to go!

Enough!

Enough cold. Enough snow. Enough winter. Enough already. As of this morning we have had 23 below 0° days in Chicago. And, with this weekend's snow we are up to 62.1" of snow for the season. We are promised a warmup to as much as 32° in the next week or so but the wether pattern that has produced all of our cold this winter may well continue into March.

The saving grace for me is a higher number of days with sunshine than we normally see in a Chicago winter. Today for example we have loads of sun and blue skies. Ice and snow is melting on the south facing roof and we have fantastic icecicles. But right now, 3:45 in the afternoon it is a whopping 10° outside.

BRRRRRRRRRR!

More Snow, Damn.

The sky opened up and it started snowing late yesterday afternoon and it is still coming down. Looks like about six inches here and I am done but the snow isn't. We seem to be done with the system snow now and are getting lake effect snow. We are due for more snow this weekend. And that one, as this one and the last one, are followed by plunging temperatures. This is a winter for the record books.

I am taking a break from blowing snow. There is so much piled at the end of our driveway it is hard to blow snow over it - and it is slowly blocking the end of the drive. Bless Carl for doing the sidewalks in our block, that made it a bit easier. I did Linda's sidewalk and stopped and had a nice chat.

Shelby ran out the back door a while ago. He looked at the snow and realized there was no escape and headed back in. Sometimes he does the right thing.

Yesterday and the day before I sat in our back room and watched activity at the bird feeder. On both days there was little activity early in the day, but by midday there was much activity. Late yesterday, around sunset, the bird activity peaked the feeder and the snow pack underneath was very busy. This morning in the snow, there was a squirrel on the feeder but no bird activity. Are they just hunkered down? I will be, but U have more snow to blow and shovel. Later.

 

Polar Vortexing!

For the second time this winter we are being hit with the effects of he polar vortex. This morning Sharon flew off to Denver, Colorado where it is tankfully warmer than here! Last time the vortex did its thing she was scheduled to fly to Cleveland and her flight was cancelled. This time her flight was a go - except for the fact that the toilet froze before they got off the ground and they had to change planes.

It was -1 degrees when we left the house today at 5:00am. Even though the sun was shining through most of the day, the temperature dropped during the day and now at 9:00pm, the tempertature here in Glen Ellyn is down to -8. We are supposed to get down to -18 by morning. Yikes!

I spent the day inside except for the trip to O'Hare and one trip out to bring in the garbage and recycling bins and to get the mail. And, I was thankful that I put plastic film up on the inside of windows and put up the last storm window yeterday. The house is chilly, but there are few drafts. I was thankful that Shelby wanted to cuddle on my lap when I was on the computer and watching TV. He knows how to keep warm and keep me warm. I can take this time to pull of income taxes together and other paperwork tasks. I need to finish laminate in the basement but it is even too cold down there at 60 degrees.

Bring on warmer weather!!!

 

Welcome Home!

Last night we arrived home from our trip to find a driveway full of snow and two very hungry kitties. Our cat sitter must have mistaken when we would arrive home and left our kitties a day early. They forgave us though and we are not being punished.

Darn it is cold here! This winter has been one of the coldest in a long time. Last night Sharon said that if our winters were going to continue to be this uncomfortable, we should consider moving. But where?

I'm off to a fast start with blog entries so far this year. I'm on number five and we are not even done with January.

I just came inside after a short session with the snow blower. It is too cold to do the whole driveway at one time. I've got perhaps 1/3 of it done and my fingers were so frigid in my really good gloves that I had to come inside for some warming. I guess my fingers have recovered because I am typing.

I read online today that 24% of Americans didn't read a book this past year. Or is it 25% did read books? Whichever it is, it is a sad number. Read more books! I do most of my book reading on my iPad now after making the transition a couple of years ago. I'm on my third book this year. I've finished up the series on the life of a Roman Legionary by R.W. Peake and have started on an AI series by William Hertling. There is a big difference between historical fiction and science fiction, but I do enjoy both genres.

Enough, back to blowing snow!

 

Long Weekend in Redmond

Sharon and I spent a long weekend in Redmond with John and Kristie and Avery and Anika. We got to see Kendra too. The purpose was to celebrate birthdays - mine on January 15th , Avery's on the 31st, and Anika's on the 27th. One visit and we take care of three of us. We flew into Redmond at 11:45PM on Friday and left at 5:10AM Tuesday. This gave us three full days with the whole crew.

On Saturday Avery and John were entered in a fly tying contest and Avery was one of the winners! He will go to the semi-final on February 1st. In this contest the tiers (or are they tyers?) are presented with identical bags of fly tying materials and then one mystery object. They can use any of the materials in the bag but they must incorporate something of the mystery material. The mystery material was a toothbrush!

Avery's Winning Fly

Congratulations Avery!

Saturday was also our birthday dinner. Sharon and the kids baked a cake from scratch - chocolate, with vanilla icing and raspberries between the layers. Yum. And one of the high points of my day was sitting on the back porch soaking up sun while drinking a Red Chair from Deschuttes Brewing. Good company, good beer, good sun - warm and sunny and delightful.We entertained ourselves with music - Avery on the trombone, John on the mandolin, and me on the ukulele. Avery and Anika and I all took turns on the kazoo. We learned that no matter what John is singing, he sounds like Bob Dylan though I think he wants to sound like Jerry Garcia. We ended the day with a delightful dinner, singing "Happy Birthday" and sharing cake and cards.

Sunday was another laid back, lazy day. We started with a pancake feast for brunch. We had buckwheat and sweet potato pancakes. Ever had sweet potato pancakes? I haven't had them before but will certainly have them again as they were a real treat. John and Sharon and Anika were our official pancake artists. Kristie took charge of the sausages, and Avery and I took care of being slugs.

After our big brunch we went for a walk in the canyon to work off our calories. Sharon reported our walk was about 2.5 miles. We had a great time enjoying the beautiful weather. John took a tumble on the long board and became the only casualty on our walk. John and Anika had to hustle back home when they remembered that Anika had a Girl Scout meeting to go to!

The Wounded

Monday was another lazy day. Kristie headed off for work at around 7:00 and the rest of us did nothing but snooze, and read, and play games until after 9:00. It was a cold and foggy day so we were not very interested in going outside. As the outside temperature was not going up the inside temp didn't either until we gave in and started a fire around 11:30. After that it was cozy inside.

Sharon and I along with Avery and Anika headed to Bend for lunch with Kendra. We saw as we approached Bend that the freezing fog made the trees quite lovely. And, after lunch, the sun peeked through the layer of fog in Bend. But, as we drove back to Redmond the fog closed in again. We took the kids to Kendra's at 6:00 and then John, Kristie, Sharon and I headed to dinner. I was not a late night because we had to be out of the house at 4:00AM - we packed and went to bed. Thank you John and Kristie for getting up before the crack of dawn to take us to the airport and, thank you for your hospitality all weekend.

Sun and (Relative) Warmth

Sunday morning I looked out our kitchen window and saw that there was an area of the pond where the snow had melted, there was a bit of open water, and goldfish were congregating at that spot. The pond has been covered with snow for a few weeks and the fish have been living in darkness. I am sure they were thrilled to see light again, much like us when it has been cloudy for days and then we have clear skies.