by Judy Handley | Mar 21, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 151, Year 11: Doesn’t Look Like Spring
Date: Monday, March 21, 2016
Weather: Snow Overnight & AM, Turning Sunny, Hi Temp 40’s F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
We awoke to a ground covering of 3-4 inches of snow this morning. So the first full day of spring sure didn’t look like spring. But the snow ended during the morning, the sun came out, and by afternoon it still looked like winter, but it felt a little more like spring. My niece Lynn came over this afternoon and we once again worked on going through the boxes of her things that must be sorted, thrown out, or packed to be kept. We filled another three huge bags of stuff to be trashed and the box of things to go to the Salvation Army has grown to two boxes and both are overflowing. At one point in the afternoon I just had to sit and laugh. We were going through a box of Lynn’s things and there were these laminated file folders that looked way too familiar. As we dug deeper, I realized I was looking at things I had thrown out years ago but had been retrieved by Lynn. One man’s trash is another one’s treasure and then it becomes trash again! Lynn and I are way too much alike in that we are both keepers. Maybe that is why we are working together so well. I feel her pain in throwing things away as much as she does, but I am very proud of both of us for the progress we are making.
Mark sleeps through the afternoon while Lynn and I are working in the spare bedroom, but somehow in the evening he seems to rally. We have tried to tie his stomach pain to food that he eats, but there is just no correlation that we can make. Tomorrow morning we will take a good walk before he ‘retires’ for the afternoon. We’re really hoping that we will find out about his eligibility for the drug trial on Wednesday, but if not, we are prepared to wait just a little longer.
We talked to Ollie on the phone this evening to wish him a happy birthday. He was so excited that he was cuddling in a crocheted blanket that his mom had finished for him just in time for his birthday. Sam’s blanket was completed before he was born. Jonah’s was completed by his first birthday. And now Ollie has his heirloom blanket that Heather has been working on for four years. Perspective changes once you start having children! But one thing that doesn’t change is the beautiful memory of the first day of life. Sam was five and Jonah was two-and-a-half when Ollie was born. They were so excited to welcome their little brother to their world. The love and excitement of that welcoming is seen in the photo from March 21, 2012. And Ollie’s excitement for life is shown in the photo of him wearing a mask he made from a birthday present kit.
by Judy Handley | Mar 20, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 150, Year 11: Happy 4th Birthday to Ollie (a day early)
Date: Sunday, March 20, 2016
Weather: Sunny AM, Then Overcast, Hi Temp 40 F, Snow on the Way
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
Today was Ollie’s birthday party. Ollie planned the whole party and it was really a lot of fun. He wanted an obstacle course, wanted to eat birthday cake with his friends UNDER the dining room table with a tent on top of them, wanted the theme to revolve around knights, and wanted a camouflaged castle cake. Somehow Heather and Jed pulled all of that together and gave Ollie exactly what he wanted. And after his little friends left, he was presented with the green John Deere ride-on tractor with a trailer that he has been wanting. What a lucky and very happy little four year-old Ollie was this afternoon. Simon, one of Ollie’s classmates at the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative, was at the party this afternoon. He was born on the same day as Ollie a couple of doors down at the Falmouth Hospital. Simon and Ollie’s real birth date is March 21 which is tomorrow, but they have both had a full weekend of celebrating. And today is actually Ollie’s Grammy Goldstone’s birthday, as well as the first day of spring. So Happy Birthday to Grammy Goldstone, to Simon, to spring, and to Ollie!
Unfortunately Mark was really not feeling good today. He made ‘cameo’ appearances at the important times at the party, but as soon as it was over, we headed north. We were also trying to beat the snow, but it is now 11:30 pm and we still have no snow. Jed just emailed and said they were having sleet on the Cape. The prediction was for anywhere from 3 to 11 inches on the Cape and much less here, so it will be interesting to see what we have in the morning.
by Judy Handley | Mar 19, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 149, Year 11: Adding a Little Humor
Date: Saturday, March 19, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny, Hi Temp 40’s F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
One ingredient in the recipe to feeling good is humor and today we added that to our mix. Actually our friends Ed and Lynne Kirwin in Nyack added it by sending us a series of five DVD’s of The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show, circa 1965 to 1974. Admittedly, neither Mark nor I were big Dean Martin fans in the day, but today we thoroughly enjoyed watching the guests on Dean Martin’s Variety Show. Comedians Lucille Ball, Woody Allen, Bob Hope, Don Rickles, Jonathan Winters, Bob Newhart, George Gobel, Rowan and Martin, and on and on. Actors, actresses, and singers Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Florence Henderson, Petula Clark, Rosemary Clooney, John Wayne, Goldie Hawn, Kate Smith, and on and on. We still have lots to watch but we are really enjoying the trip down memory lane. I think the thing that struck me the most today was Lucille Ball’s youthful appearance when she was in her 50’s. In the first DVD, she appeared as a chorus girl with very long, thin legs—certainly not the image I had ever had of Lucille Ball. I had to look up her age and found that she was born in 1911. So in 1965, she was 54 years old. Evidently she aged with grace! I don’t think the humor of those days would be much appreciated in today’s world, but just seeing the familiar faces was a fun walk down memory lane. And I have to admit that Woodie Allen was truly funny. Thank you, Ed and Lynne, for adding this most important ingredient to our lives at this point when it is much needed.
Mark’s days are tougher than his nights right now. He had a tough afternoon and was certain that he wasn’t going to be able to eat any dinner tonight. But I persisted and we had a late dinner of broiled salmon and artichokes. By the time we ate, he was feeling better and he really enjoyed the rather strange choice I had made. I boiled the artichokes and we dipped the leaves in curried mayonnaise. The ‘arties’ were delicious, but I’m just a bit biased as artichokes are my very favorite food choice.
Tomorrow morning we are off to the Cape for Ollie’s birthday party. The weather forecast has changed and could change again. But at this point it looks like we will drive home tomorrow evening as the snow is now slated to begin at midnight and go on into Monday. Our travel decision on land will be made just like our travel decisions when we are sailing. On land or at sea, the weather rules.
by Judy Handley | Mar 18, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 148, Year 11: A Good Friday
Date: Friday, March 18, 2016
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Hi Temp 50’s F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
It is not Good Friday, but it was a good Friday here. The increased pain meds are helping Mark a bit, but he is still uncomfortable for a part of each day. And he is sleeping through most of the night without pain. So that is definitely good.
I had about zero energy today, but my niece Lynn came over and we spent the afternoon going through her things in the extra bedroom. I keep writing about living in Lynn’s condo and people keep asking me how I am related to Lynn. She is the daughter of one of my two brothers, Bennie. Bennie died at age 33 when I was still in high school. He left behind three children, Lynn, Candi, and Ricky. My brother’s wife, Sue, moved back to Massachusetts (from West Virginia) with the three children after my brother died, but my family kept in close contact over the years. Lynn was the first born of my seven nieces and nephews and is only seven years younger than myself. Due to health issues, she recently had to move out of her condo, the one in which we are staying, and has moved into an apartment complex closer to her sister Candi. The hope is to get this condo on the market by May 1. But when Lynn left the condo, she left behind most of her things. So we made a great start today in going through things and deciding what goes with her, what gets thrown out, and what goes to the Salvation Army. I’m obviously much better at helping others get rid of things than I am in getting rid of my own things! But that is good for Lynn and we made a lot of progress today. That’s the second good thing that happened on this Friday.
Tomorrow is going to be a day of rest for both Mark and myself and on Sunday morning we head back to the Cape to celebrate Ollie’s fourth birthday. I truly cannot believe he is going to be four, but the calendar tells me that it is so. He planned his party and it is supposed to revolve around an outdoor obstacle course for knights. The one issue we have to contend with is the storm warning that has been issued for Sunday. A nor’easter is headed our way and 3-5 inches of snow are forecast for Sunday afternoon through the night and another inch for Monday morning. Hopefully the knights can complete their obstacle course before the snow begins. Otherwise, the obstacle course will have to moved indoors. Could be interesting! And it looks like we will need to spend Sunday night on the Cape and return here after the snow ends on Monday.
by Judy Handley | Mar 17, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 147, Year 11: Exhausted
Date: Thursday, March 17, 2016
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Hi Temp 60’s F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
I used to say “Home is where the heart is.” But these days I say, “Home is where my body is tonight!” This morning we were with the Goldpebbles discovering that leprechauns had visited during the night. Tonight we are back at the condo in Lowell—no leprechauns here! We left the Cape this morning and drove north to have lunch with my niece Lynn at her new residence (just a few miles south of Lowell). She lives in a complex called Summer Place. Residents can take advantage of three meals a day that are served restaurant-style and we had a great corned beef and cabbage lunch to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Thank you, Lynn. Mark and I then drove back to Boston for a 3:30 pm appointment with his oncologist, Dr. Kwak, and radiation oncologist, Dr. Hong. Unfortunately there is still no word from the trial sponsor, Novartis, about Mark’s eligibility for the trial. In the meantime, Mark’s cancer is growing at a fast rate. The dilemma is that if he is given any chemotherapy or radiation at this point and then finds out that he is eligible for the trial, he would have to stop the chemo and radiation and wait a full month before entering the trial. But something needs to be done as soon as possible to reduce the size of the tumors to give him some pain relief. The plan we came up with today is to meet again next Wednesday and hope that we know about his eligibility for the trial by that time. If he is eligible, hopefully the trial treatment can begin immediately. If he is not eligible, he will start a second round of a chemo treatment he has had before plus two weeks of daily (5 days a week) targeted radiation. That will mean daily trips to Boston. At this point I think both of us are mentally and physically exhausted and need to just chill out and think about nothing for a day or two.
PS: I have to apologize again to all of you that have written emails to us in the past couple of weeks. I still have not had a chance to get back to you, but just know how much we appreciate your suggestions and well wishes.
by Judy Handley | Mar 16, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 146, Year 11: Searching Housing Possibilities
Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Weather: Overcast, Hi Temp 40’s F
Location: At Home with the Goldstones, East Falmouth, MA
We spent a bit of today searching housing possibilities in Falmouth. Heather pointed out that no matter what I saw, I immediately found something wrong with it. She’s right, but this is difficult. Finding something, actually anything in Falmouth that is in any way suitable and affordable, is not easy. The cost of housing here is 44 per cent higher than the national average and our budget, at least until Windbird is sold, is quite limited. So the search will continue. We are also going to see if there is any place we can find a slip for Windbird. There is only one place where she can stay in the water for the winter and that is Fiddler’s Cove where we have spent two of the past four winters. But their summer cost is quite high and the likelihood that they have an open slip for the summer is slim. The same is probably true for the two places that have a little dock space in Eel Pond in Woods Hole. But we will check. Mark does not feel that he has the energy to live out on a mooring, but living at a dock would work. So the search will continue.
Tomorrow we head back to the condo in Lowell. We will first stop to have lunch with my niece Lynn and then we will go to Mass General for Mark’s 3 pm appointment. I sure hope we come away with more answers than questions. After all, it is St. Patrick’s Day, and we are need of little good luck.
