Ah, goodby March!

March has been quite busy for me and the family.

We have four family birthdays spaced evenly throughout the month, so every week we are getting together. Plus Caitlyn had three friends with birthdays in March.

Blogging has been light because I am working on the yard, which has been neglected for a year, and un-crashing my computer.

I somehow managed to trash both hard drives at once. Not a problem, I have Carbonite... right? Well, I restored some files (thankfully my Turbo Tax file restored), but I have 204,000+ files NOT restored, waiting in the pipe for replacement. It's just stuck. Won't transfer.

Grrrrr.....

I guess I will have to interface with someone on the subcontinent to fix this, but I just haven't had the time.

Stay Well!
jc

Neat manipulation of the picture

kinda cool, eh?

Spring Training

Well, what can I say?

We went to see three games of Cactus League action. The Angels won two out of the three. Not bad. We met some players, and saw all the coaches and staff.

I saw:
Arte Moreno ( about 20 rows in front of me )
Tim Meade (was the MC of the BBQ we went to)
Two pitchers (to be named later)
Rex (the Hud Dog) Huddler
Tony Regins
William E. Dannemeyer

Oh, and we also saw the games.

It was definitely a different vibe at these games.

The Angels had a huge turn out at the Cubs park. Cub fans are a strange lot, I tell ya! And they don't believe in good beer... Bud and Bud Lite. That's it. We didn't spend ANY money there!

But, we are back home and gearing up for Ms. Caitlyn's big 6th party. Clean, clean, clean, garden, garden, garden.

Gotta Go Hoe!

jc

What a weekend

We just got in from a long weekend of Spring Training Baseball.

Way cool.

Way tired.

I'll tell you all about it later.

jc

Yep, that about sums it up...

I think some folks are being too generous...

jc

One year ago...

... I was flat on my back in a hospital bed.

All anyone knew is that I couldn't walk, and had "something strange" on my MRI of my back.

It would take several more days before I was diagnosed with Multiple Myloma (IGD).

During that time, I had to have help doing even the most basic of all functions. Modesty and pride go out with the hospital gown.

I was fitted with a back brace, that kept me together for about six months. I was so glad to progress away from that.

Since then I have had three rounds of radiation, several different chemo therapies, and the big whopper, the massive chemo with stem cell regeneration of my bone marrow that happened at the City of Hope.

Lasting effects? Yea, a few.

• After a year of various forms of sitting on my ass, I have little momentum.
  
• I am up to 271 pounds, the heaviest I have ever been ( in April I was below 220, and had to use a belt to keep my pants up).
  
• I have some memory lapses -- also known as chemo brain.
  
• My fine motor skills are very shaky.
  
• My legs swell up in the evening, so when I take off my socks for the night it looks rather shocking.
  
• I have tattoos, but they are the remains of the radiation treatment.
  
• I seem to have difficulty hearing things.
  
• I smell smoke, a nice BBQ kind of smoke (the doctors are puzzled by this one).
  
• My back is stiff (see the second item), and twitches when I stand still or lay down for the night.
  
• I have a scar on my chest where the Hickman catheter was inserted in my chest and neck for 6 or so weeks.
• I take chemo pills every night, and will have to for the rest of my life. A 28 day supply costs Kaiser $5200.

Perks? Some important ones.

• Family and friends. Without them I would be long gone. Each well wish and prayer counted.
• I can park in the blue spots (at least until June).
• New perspectives, new attitudes.
• I can pick up the girls again.
• My wife.

All in all, it has been an emotional 365 days.

Looking forward to another few thousand days ahead.

jc