by Judy Handley | Mar 10, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 123, Year 7: All About Food
Date: Saturday, March 10, 2012
Weather: Snow in the Morning, Partly Sunny Afternoon
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Today was all about food. We went food shopping in the snow in the morning,
and then I spent the afternoon washing, drying, and putting food away as
well as doing some ‘experimental’ cooking. I made a carrot pineapple cake
with no sugar, substituting agave which is a liquid. Agave is a plant-based
and is low on the glycemic index. When you eat refined sugar, your body
gets a sugar high, but agave and maple syrup don’t do the same thing. Of
course, sugar is also plant-based, but it is refined, and that is what
causes the problem. I’m wondering if pure cane syrup has the same
low-glycemic index properties as agave and maple syrup? But I am wondering
so many things about so many different foods right now that I don’t have the
time to find the answers. What I have learned is that when you are going
through chemo you lose muscle mass and that can lead to diabetes if you
don’t adjust your diet. In addition, when you’re given your chemo drugs you
are often given a steroid. That is the case with Mark. And that steroid
really increases the body’s response to sugars, so it is even more important
to avoid blood sugar spikes and insulin surges. Thus, the agave and maple
syrup. Most recipes are written for granulated sugar, so when you use a
liquid like honey, agave, or maple syrup, you get a different consistency.
So the carrot pineapple cake I made was yummy but very, very moist. I’ll
adjust the ingredients slightly the next time trying for a product not quite
so moist. My other food experiment was making quinoa pilaf. Quinoa
(pronounced KEEN-wa) looks like a grain (tiny little balls), but it is
actually more closely related to beets than any grain. It cooks like
couscous but is jam-packed with essential amino acids. And the pilaf recipe
called for a diced fennel bulb. Evidently fennel is soothing to the
stomach, and that makes it a good food to eat while undergoing chemo. Mark
is having no problem eating anything and everything, but he keeps saying his
stomach feels just a bit tenuous. So I’ll keep finding ways of
incorporating fennel into our meals.
And while on the topic of stomachs, I’ll mention that Heather has been
unable to eat anything since late last night and definitely needs something
to soothe her tummy. She has been nauseous and often sick to her stomach
throughout this pregnancy, but late last night she got really sick. She
thinks it is just another stage in this cold/flu that the two of us have,
but I surely hope not. My cold is much worse today, but my stomach is fine
and I hope to keep it that way. I talked to Heather this evening and she
sounded much better than earlier today, so hopefully she is on the road to
recovery. And hopefully Mark will be spared and won’t get nasty little bug.
by Judy Handley | Mar 9, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 122, Year 7: Windbird Becomes a Greenhouse
Date: Friday, March 9,2012
Weather: Mostly Cloudy,High Temp in the Upper 40’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
The weather today was mixed, most cloudy, but there were patches of sunshine. Mark and I took a short walk over to Dick and Claire Wiklund’s. I had left my new cookbook with Claire and I wanted to get it back for the weekend. Claire has been doing some research for me into where to find some of the more esoteric ingredients and we are planning a shopping expedition next Tuesday morning to go buy some of these things. After returning from the walk, I went to pick up Sam and Jonah and brought them back to Windbird for the afternoon. When they got up from nap, Mark and I took them home along with the seedling pots full of potting soil so they could plant the seeds with Heather. Heather has the same cold that I do, except worse, and by bringing the boys to the boat, she got a bit of a nap this afternoon. We made up for lost time when we got there by making a dirty mess in the kitchen with the potting soil, but we got lots of yummy vegetable seeds planted. My favorite was a type of pumpkin called a Red Warty Thing. Can’t wait to see that one. The seedling planters are in the cockpit tonight as we are expecting freezing temps, but tomorrow they will go out on the deck and Windbird will become an official greenhouse.
Mark is doing great. So far he is not feeling as tired as he did after his first chemo treatment. By the fourth day after the first treatment, he slept much of the day. But today he took the aft cabin apart to work on an electrical issue, went for a walk, and then went with me to take the boys home. It’s after 10 pm and he is still up reading. Even though he did have an initial strong reaction to the Oxaliplatin this time with what I called the lock-jaw syndrome, he has not been quite as cold-sensitive. The mouth sores he had after the first treatment have disappeared, but we expect those might return this weekend. Mark hates vinegar, but he has been faithfully gargling with warm water and vinegar in the hopes that he can keep the mouth sores at bay. We’re planning a low key weekend and then if he is still feeling good next week, we will launch into the teak deck repairs.
by Judy Handley | Mar 8, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 121, Year 7: The Sunshine Dilemma
Date: Thursday, March 8, 2012
Weather: Beautiful, Warm Day, High Temp 62 degrees F, VERY Windy
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
I could have named this log, “Another Day, Another Health Issue—Ugh.” That would be the glass half-empty look at today. But I changed it to reflect the glass half-full view and focus on the dilemma that deliciously warm sunshine presents to us. I am definitely a sunshine person. I love it. But as we have all become aware, along with those wonderful rays of sunshine come the problems with too much exposure. Mark doesn’t like sitting in the sun. In fact, he avoids it at all cost. I sit in the sun every chance I get. But I wear sunscreen; he doesn’t. I’m fair-skinned and he is dark-skinned, so I should be the one with the greatest likelihood of having problems. But when we went to the dermatologist this morning for routine check-ups, it was Mark, not me, that had some issues. He had four places on his nose and forehead that were frozen to keep squamous cell carcinoma from developing. These spots are called actinic keratosis and are precancerous skin lesions caused by chronic sun exposure. Mark also has a spot on this leg that was biopsied. The examiner thought it was nothing but said it should be checked. Hopefully it is nothing, but I will certainly be glad to hear that officially next week when the biopsy report is back. In the meantime, Mark does have one more little health issue to worry about.
We came back to Windbird after the dermatology appointments and Mark rested while I prepared pots for planting seeds. I mixed soil from Heather and Jed’s garden with organic potting soil I purchased and then I filled the pots with this mixture. Tomorrow I’ll bring Sam and Jonah here to Windbird for their naps, and after nap I will have them plant the seeds. We are starting pumpkin, watermelon, squash, cucumber, broccoli, Swiss chard, kale, and hot pepper seeds for the garden at Heather and Jed’s. I am planting mesclun greens, spinach, arugula, and basil in pots that will stay on Windbird. Mark and I both went to pick up Sam and Jonah and after nap we planted sugar snap peas in the garden. We still expect some freezing nights, but the peas should fare just fine. Sam got up from nap early, so he and I prepared the planting areas. Then he and Jonah, as well as Molly from next door, planted the peas. It was great fun. We are supposed to have a couple of days of rainy, ugly, cold weather, but next week looks good. So hopefully those peas will make it through the cold time and poke their little leaves out sometime after St. Patrick’s Day.
Tonight we talked to Justin, Jo, and Ziggy on Skype with video. Our internet connection here at Fiddler’s Cove has been down for a couple of days, so we got online using Mark’s phone. It wasn’t a perfect connection, but we did get to see Ziggy and the two new hamsters he got today. He showed us the first hamster and told us its name is ‘Hamster’. When we asked the name of the second hamster, he replied ‘Hamster’ using his most proper English accent. So as of now, we have Hamster I and Hamster II. He also showed us Thanksgiving dinner. Justin and Jo have been raising baby chicks and a baby turkey in boxes in Ziggy’s room. I’m afraid that turkey is becoming a bit of a pet, so it will be interesting to see if it really becomes Thanksgiving dinner.
by Judy Handley | Mar 7, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 120, Year 7: There’s a Moon Out Tonight
Date: Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Weather: Gorgeous, Warm Day but Very Windy
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
“There’s a moon out tonight. Whoa-oh-oh-ooh.” If you know the tune that
goes with those lyrics you were probably a teenager in 1961 when The Capris
made those words mean more than that shining orb in the sky. The full moon
tonight is incredible. Technically it is not full until tomorrow at 9:39
GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), but that is 4:39 am Eastern Standard Time. So I
think we can agree that the moon tonight is full-and beautiful. I kept the
boys here at the boat this afternoon and then Heather and Jed came over for
dinner. When they left I stepped outside to see the moon. I love having
the protection of our plastic covering, and although it is translucent, it
is not clear and you have to step outside to see anything.
You can definitely tell that it is March. The weather is fickle and the
wind blows constantly. Today was warm, almost 50 degrees F here on the
water (warmer in town), and tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. But
Friday night will dip into the low 20’s. That’s fine with me as long as the
sun shines and warms up the days.
I didn’t get seeds planted today. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow. But
I did get the soil ready and I bought the planting pots, so everything is
ready as soon I have the time. We went for a long walk this morning and
talked about what we are going to do about Windbird’s teak deck. It really
needs to be replaced, but the cost for that simply precludes it ever
happening. Another year in the future we might pull the teak up and replace
it with fiberglass, but not this year. So we are going to repair and
re-caulk what we have. We checked today with Fred, the manager here at
Fiddler’s Cove, to make tentative arrangements for getting the bottom
painted. While the boat is out of the water, we want to replace the
thru-hulls. So our spare time in the next two months while we are still
here at Fiddler’s Cove is going to be spent working on the boat. We need to
do the deck work while the plastic is still on, but at some point we are
going to have to cut some holes for circulation. Today it was almost 90
degrees under the plastic, so when the daytime temperatures reach 70 degrees
outside, it will be stifling on deck. We need the protection of the
covering to keep the deck dry while we are working, but the plastic has to
come off before Windbird is hauled for painting. So I think we’d better get
busy.
by Judy Handley | Mar 6, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 119, Year 7: Still Feels Like Winter
Date: Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Weather: Cold Overnight, Sunny Day with High Temp in the 40’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Even though the sun was shining and the temperature got into the 40’s today,
it doesn’t feel like spring is coming. It is supposed to warm up tomorrow
and then be really nice on Thursday with daytime temps in the upper 50’s.
It is still cold enough at night to run the bubbler, so life in the
champagne glass continues. We are both ready for spring, but we must be
patient. We did, after all, have spring-like weather for most of the
winter. So we shouldn’t be greedy.
Mark is still feeling fine after his second chemo treatment. I have some
sort of cold or sinus drainage issue and am feeling a bit under the weather.
Nothing major, I’m just not quite up to normal energy level. My biggest
problem is that I sound like a frog in a barrel, and Heather has the same
thing. Sam hasn’t been up to par either and Jonah was sick last week, so I
think we all just have some form of what Jonah had. Hopefully it will
disappear quickly and Mark will avoid getting it. We picked the boys up and
went to Heather’s this afternoon. Mark wanted to give the bee hive another
coat of paint and take a shower there. The thought of taking a shower in
the club house and then walking to the boat in the cold wind with wet hair
did not appeal to him. He has to be very careful about exposure to the cold
for a few days after each chemo treatment to keep neuropathy at bay. That
is the tingling sensation he gets when he touches something cold or even
breathes cold air. And I think that is why both of us are so desperately
hoping for an early, warm spring. It can’t hurt to hope. Mark is having
one symptom after this treatment that he didn’t have before and it is
something we have read nothing about. When we called the nurse at the
oncologist’s office today, she hadn’t heard of it either. When he takes the
first bite of anything his jaw tightens like it wants to lock. Then the
sensation goes away and he has no problem eating. He then forgets all about
it until sometime later when he takes a bite of something else and it
happens all over again. He has decided that it must be his taste buds
reacting, but we’ll have to research this one further and hope it doesn’t
get any worse.
I promised the boys that I would bring them to the boat for nap tomorrow and
I invited Heather and Jed over for dinner. I’m hoping to finally get my on
deck ‘garden’ planted tomorrow, so it will be a busy one. On Thursday when
the weather is really warm, Heather and I hope to get peas and scallions
planted in the outside garden. So we’re proceeding as if spring is coming
soon.
by Judy Handley | Mar 5, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 118, Year 7: Addition to the Birthday Log
Date: Monday, March 5, 2012
Weather: Beautiful Day, Windy, High Temp in Lower 40’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
I got so carried away with Easton’s birth that I totally forgot to talk about my own birthday in today’s log. So I just want to thank everyone that called and emailed with birthday greetings and I want to share photos of my birthday cakes. Justin, Jo, and Ziggy sent a photo of a ‘cake’ produced by Ziggy and Jo. So cute. And there is a photo of blowing out candles on the ‘hot lava’ cake with Sam and Jonah. Thanks to Claire Wiklund for the Joe Frogger ginger cookies. I spent part of the morning while Mark was getting the chemo treatment at Claire’s getting advice on where to buy ingredients for the recipes in the new cook books I am using. Claire is a wonderful cook and knows all the secret places here on the Cape and in the surrounding area to buy quality foods and some unusual foods called for in the recipes.
