Cabernet and Carboplatin

While I have been wearing my leg at home and when I go to PT, I thought it was time to take it out for a spin. Sunday was a BARCS fundraiser, Pours for Paws. Local breweries, a winery or two and some hard liquor purveyors would be on hand to pour drinks. There would also be some food, including one of my favorites, Blue Pit Barbecue. While Jerry and I are not beer drinkers, we thought it would be a fun event to attend. I would see friends, and, of course, adoptable dogs. So I put on a long skirt to hide most of my prosthesis, and off we went. I knew I would not be walking at this event, but I took the opportunity to stand a couple of times, and it felt great. We spent a couple of hours there. We drank some wine, had some snacks, petted some dogs, and we headed home very happy. When we got home I took off the leg, and much to my disappointment, it had sprouted some blisters, two of which had opened. Considering I had not been walking, I was surprised, but then I remembered I for...

I just finished a zoom call. It was a shiva, perhaps a wake, honoring someone I have known since my days in Missoula. More than 100 people attended. Stories were told, songs were sung. Lots of laughter and tears. It was incredible, made even more so because the person we were honoring is still with us. Ken recently received terrible news. He has Stage 4 cancer and has only a short time left to live. Maybe weeks, a month. So he and his family decided to organize this event. Funerals, shivas and wakes are really for the living. We tell stories. We remember the loved one we lost. So today was incredibly special because Ken got to hear these stories and feel so much love. I wrote in the zoom chat that my face hurt from smiling so much. I learned so much about Ken, listening to relatives, former coworkers and friends. He did, indeed, live a righteous life, and it made me so happy that he was witness to this outpouring. I also got to see his wife Fran, whom I have not seen in years, a...

More firsts and I'm still so excited and hopeful. This past weekend Jerry and I were invited by our friends Kim and Dave to join them in the Finger Lakes. They have a vacation house up there, and this Saturday was the Saperavi Festival, featuring wines from Georgia and the Finger Lakes. It went very well. The first challenge was getting into the plane with one arm, but it turned out to be easier than I had imagined. I settled into my seat and began a library book that was almost due. Before I knew it, we were there. Kim and Dave met us at the airport and we piled our stuff in, and on, their car. My wheelchair was lashed to the roof rack, and everything made it safely. We did go to one winery that day, and it was delightful. While Jerry and I are primarily red drinkers, we had an aged reisling that was delicious, so we bought a couple bottles. Saturday was the Saperavi Festival and it really exceeded expectations. And arriving with a person in a wheelchair can have its perks...

Many years ago in faraway land (northern California) I had my left knee replaced. I knew I needed to get my quads strong to make it work well and to put off having the other replaced, at least for a while. Jerry and I had a tandem that I had never been on, but I came up with this bright idea: Let's do the Aids Ride on the tandem. Jerry thought, yeah, right. But he underestimated my commitment. The ride, offically known as Aids Lifecycle, starts in San Francisco and ends in Los Angeles. While it is a supported ride-- meals, rest stops, sag wagons-- it is by no means easy. The hills are killer. Headwinds, 60-110 mile long days, sleeping in tents. But Jerry and I trained hard. In reality riding a tandem is harder than riding a single bike. But if we rode solo Jerry would be out front with the big boys and I really needed him with me if I was going to do it. And on our first ALC, and on subsequent rides (we did seven) we rode EFI- every fucking inch. At the end of the ride in LA ...

not walk, but at least stand, and that's a start. I started back at physical therapy today and my therapist seemed pretty pleased at how well I stood and balanced on my prosthesis. I'm pretty pleased as well. Our assigment is to wear the leg an hour at a time, three times a day, practicing standing and balancing each time. Right now I am standing about a minute at a time, doing that three or four times. The goal is to stand longer each time, and get used to shifting my weight while I stand. This week it's an hour wearing it. Next week two hours. And so on until I am wearing it all day. All this lying around since my shoulder surgery has taken a toll on my quads. I need to work on getting them stronger. I need to work on my glutes as well. Since muscle memory is a wonderful thing my hope is they will regain strength fairly quickly. It will likely be about five weeks before I can start working on walking. While I can't wait to get going, the last thing I want to do is...