by Judy Handley | Feb 28, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 112, Year 7: Sitting in a Pot of Bubbling Water
Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Weather: Windy Night, Sunny Day
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
For some reason, the bubbler under the boat came on around 8 pm tonight and
it literally sounds like we are sitting in a pot of bubbling water. It is
only supposed to get down to 32 degrees F tonight, and that is not cold
enough to activate the bubblers. So we’re not sure why they came on, but
the sound might drive us crazy by morning! Glad it wasn’t a really cold
winter requiring the bubblers to be on more frequently. They keep the water
from freezing but that just hasn’t been an issue this winter. But it looks
like March is definitely going to come in like a lion with cold weather and
even snow. And since we are traveling further north for a long weekend, we
will get more snow than we would if we stayed here on the Cape. Yuck! We
are looking forward to seeing friends, but we are definitely NOT looking
forward to the wintry weather.
And while I’m on the topic of weather, I’ll take this opportunity to boast
about our daughter Heather. She has a series of programs airing on the
radio this week addressing the issue of climate change here on the Cape.
This morning she was the guest on the morning talk show. She has made it
her life’s work to try and help the general public understand the science
behind what is happening in the world around us and we couldn’t be prouder.
The message about climate change is not a positive one and it is important
that each of us understands what we are doing to contribute to global
warming. Maybe once we understand that, we can start to each do our part to
get things under control. But the first step of getting each of us to even
acknowledge that climate change is real has proven to be a huge stumbling
block. Evidently scientists have labeled this phenomenon of people ignoring
or denying what scientists know to be true on a number of issues as cultural
cognition. Here’s a quote on this issue from yesterday’s program, “The
theory is that if the implications of a scientific finding conflict with our
inner sense of what’s right and fair, we tend to dismiss it.” So go,
Heather. Do what you can to get us all to acknowledge the problem, and then
spur us on to take action to do something about it.
Mark got the first coat of paint on Heather’s beehive today and I got
curtains for Heather and Jed’s bedroom made from pieces of recelet from
Madagascar. Jonah didn’t go to school yesterday as he was recovering from a
bout with an ear infection over the weekend, but today he was back at school
and seemed to be feeling good. Mark took the car in to get the oil changed
yesterday and they discovered a back tire with a slow leak. This afternoon
he took the car to Midas to have them look at the tire. The oil change
folks had written down “right rear tire.” Well, after checking that
tire and finding nothing wrong, the folks at Midas checked the left rear
tire. That was it. It had a nail in it. So Mark is feeling great, lots of
energy, and now the car should be feeling great as it has gotten its share
of attention for a bit.
We continue to look for good sources on the best foods to eat while
undergoing chemotherapy, but the further we get into it, it becomes obvious
why there is no easy plan to follow. There are many different types of
chemo and each person reacts different, so you have to put together your
particular type of cancer, the particular chemotherapy regimen, and the
side-effects you are having. And, of course, those side effects change from
day to day. We did order a book from Amazon that arrived today and it has
some great recipes. But as someone who rated the book on Amazon pointed
out, it is not the cookbook you want is you are the one with cancer and you
are having to do your own cooking. The reviewer pointed out that if you
pick a recipe because it is good for fatigue and then it takes you a frantic
hour to prepare it, “.it kind of misses the point.” Obviously the author of
The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen understands that many of the recipes are labor
intensive. At the beginning of one recipe, Rebecca Katz states, “Pretty
much everyone has a neighbor or friend (kind of a June Cleaver type) who
loves to cook and also somehow manages to be a CEO and raise three Rhodes
scholars while spending three hours a day (minimum) in the kitchen. This is
the recipe you give that person when she says, ‘Oh, I’d so like to make
something for you.’ This (recipe) is a labor of love, and while not quite
as physically intensive as, say coal mining, it takes a bit of effort.” I
like the humor and the recipes look great. Now I just need to find the time
to do the cooking.
by Judy Handley | Feb 27, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 111, Year 7: Fluky Weather
Date: Monday, February 27, 2012
Weather: Freezing Overnight, Slowly Warming During the Day
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
After such a mild winter, we are suddenly having a spell of erratic weather.
Overnight it was cold enough to trigger the bubblers under the boat to come
on. It sounded like we were in a pot of boiling water all night! When I
went out this morning, the entire bay was slushy. It got cold enough
overnight to cause the water to freeze and it’s only the second time that
has happened this winter. But by late afternoon it had warmed up
considerably. When we left Heather’s after dark Mark said it felt balmy
out. On Wednesday we will get rain, or possibly snow is the temperature
dips again. So it looks like we are in for a period with lots of
fluctuation. I can be happy with that as long as there are more ups (warm
times) than downs (freezing weather).
Mark is having the same type of fluctuation in how he is feeling. We were
told to expect days 3 and 4 after treatments to be the low energy days. For
Mark it was days 4 and 5, but it was only two days and it really wasn’t all
that bad. He just didn’t feel quite up to par. I think there are many who
never have the high energy level that Mark has on a normal day, so he was
probably just feeling much like other people feel on a normal day. He is
back in full swing today and hopefully he will be that way until next Monday
when he has the next treatment. We know that the lows will get lower as he
gets further into the treatments, so we just have to prepare for that.
Today we took a nice walk and he assembled a storage unit at Heather and
Jed’s. He did get his first mouth sore yesterday and we are learning to
deal with that-lots of mouth rinsing with warm salt water and application of
vitamin E. We had bought the alcohol-free mouth rinse that was recommended,
but in the end the simple salt water solution seems to work better. My
mother always swore by an ‘almost hot’ salt water rinse, and that seems to
do the trick for Mark.
Tomorrow morning we plan to go into town and buy paint for Heather’s bee
hive and get that paint project started before I go to pick up the boys.
Hopefully that will be done before we leave town on Thursday so we can order
those bees and start making honey. And before he head into town tomorrow
morning, I’m hoping to get lavender seeds planted. Bees love lavender and
it grows like a weed in Heather’s herb garden. So putting in a few more
plants this spring should produce quality honey by fall.
by Judy Handley | Feb 26, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 110, Year 7: The Quiet Before the Storm
Date: Sunday, February 26, 2012
Weather: Sunny Day but Cool, Windy Morning Settling in the PM
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
I first titled this log, “Another Quiet Day on Windbird.” But as I started writing, it became evident that this is just the quiet before the storm. I’m thinking of all of the boat projects we need to do before we leave here (Fiddler’s Cove Marina) in May to go back to Eel Pond in Woods Hole . . . and I am thinking of the bee hive we got Heather for Christmas that we promised to paint before time to order the bees (which is now) . . . and I am thinking of the things that need to be packed to go back to storage in New Hampshire before Thursday of this week . . . and I am thinking of all of the articles that I had intended to get written by now . . . and on and on. We have been focused on Mark’s health issues since early December and have let everything else go to the back burner, but it is now time to figure out how to get all of these other things done. And that is probably a good thing. Mark is doing some public radio consulting work, but it will be good to have other things to focus on while going through chemo. And we have enough boat projects to keep him focused for quite some time.
This is going to be a busy week. We are going to get that bee hive painted between now and Wednesday, and then on Thursday we are headed to New Hampshire to a Concord Yacht Club meeting. Over the weekend we will be visiting with friends before heading home. On Sunday we will meet Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah at the New England Aquarium in Boston on our way back to the Cape. My 65th birthday is on Monday, and since that is a chemo treatment day for Mark, I requested that the aquarium trip on Sunday to be my birthday present. Since I can’t go snorkeling here and now, the aquarium is the next best thing.
So, it has been a quiet week, but I can see that the activity level is going to become a little more normal (normal to us) in the next week.
by Judy Handley | Feb 25, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 109, Year 7: Windy Saturday
Date: Saturday, February 25, 2012
Weather: Mostly Sunny with LOTS of Wind, Gusts to 60 mph
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
If this were next weekend, we’d definitely be able to say that March is coming in like a lion. But it is still February-just feels like March. The winds have been blowing a steady 25-30 mph with gusts to 60 according to
radio emergency broadcast warnings. I can tell you from the way Windbird is healing at the dock, that it certainly is windy. But people were out and about in town, kids playing in the parks, disregarding the wind and acting
like spring has sprung.
Mark was having a low energy day, his first since his chemo treatment on Tuesday, so I left him on Windbird while I went into town to do some shopping and to go to the Saturday Farmer’s Market. It is much more expensive to buy at the Farmer’s Market, but we are trying to support the idea of eating locally when possible, so I paid the price. I got locally, organically grown kale, a mix of cooking greens, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. I also got free-range eggs. I will go to the grocery store tomorrow to get broccoli, cauliflower, scallions, and fruit, and even some of that is organically grown. The choices are not as great here on the Cape as they are in Boston, but we certainly aren’t going to starve. We continue to read everything we can find about diet recommendations while on chemo, but there are so many variables that it is very difficult to figure out just what to eat. We are trying new recipes that are plant-based and using meat sparingly for now. Fish, like Pacific
salmon, seems to be okay on every list, so our plan is to have fish a couple of times a week, chicken used in stir fries and curries a couple of days a week, bean-based meals twice a week, and pizza on Fridays. But it’s not as
easy as that. When Mark’s blood count gets low, which it will, then you have to eliminate eating things like nuts, and that eliminates our staple of granola for breakfast. And that is just one example. The next six months
are going to be challenging, to say the least, in terms of food choices.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a bookstore in Falmouth and the local library didn’t have any cookbooks for people on chemo available. I’m finding lots of books that have dozens of chapters explaining the science behind food
choices, but you have to assimilate all that information and come up with your own plan. And since each person’s situation is constantly changing, I guess the answer is total education, not an easy step-by-step cookbook. But
still, that would be nice, and I’m looking at the choices on Amazon and thinking of ordering one. If anyone knows someone who has gone through chemo for colon cancer and found a great “what to eat” guide, please let us know.
by Judy Handley | Feb 24, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 108, Year 7: Bruce Woodin’s Retirement Party
Date: Friday, February 24, 2012
Weather: SNOW Overnight, Rainy Day
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Old Man Winter is rearing his ugly little head and giving us a tad of wintry
weather. It was cold enough overnight that the precipitation turned to
snow, but by noon it was starting to warm enough to melt it away. We didn’t
see the sun today and it did feel like winter. We did this and that on the
boat this morning and then went to pick up Sam and Jonah. We took them home
for naps and then turned around and headed back to Woods Hole for Bruce
Woodin’s retirement party. Bruce has worked in John Stegeman’s lab as a
Research Associate for 32 years. Our daughter Heather worked in John’s lab
while getting her PhD and our son-in-law Jed has worked in John’s lab since
his post-doc days. Both know Bruce as a work colleague and good friend.
Bruce and his wife Jane have welcomed Mark and I to stay at their home
multiple times when we were home visiting while on the Voyage of Windbird.
So Bruce is a good friend of the Handleys, the Goldstones, and scores of
other people. The number of people who came to honor him and the words that
were spoken are certainly testament Bruce’s open, kind nature and his
dedication to science research. Bruce and Jane are the most welcoming
people we have ever met and we wish Bruce the best in his retirement days.
Bruce’s daughter, who lives in the Boston area, had twins last summer and
Bruce has timed his retirement so he can be a Granny Manny three days a week
every other week. I can think of no better way to spend those retirement
days. But Bruce is a man of many talents and will certainly not have any
trouble keeping himself busy.. He has been a knitter, a potter, a
fisherman, a musician, a gardener with a specialty in orchids, a sailor and
motor boater, and on and on. Bruce, we wish you all the happiness that you
deserve in your days of retirement. But we all think you will still be
spending a lot of time in Woods Hole. No one is sure the lab can survive
without him!
by Judy Handley | Feb 23, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 107, Year 7: Work Day
Date: Thursday, February 23, 2012
Weather: Mostly Sunny Day with Temps in the Low 50’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Yesterday and today were relatively warm and breezy. The forecast tells us
that the daytime temps are going to settle into the 40’s for the next ten
days or so and the nighttime temps will be above freezing. If it is sunny,
then we will certainly be plenty warm on Windbird during the day without the
help of the heaters, but we will certainly have to keep the heaters going at
night. A main goal right now is to keep Mark warm in order to minimize the
side effects of the drug Oxaliplatin. Mark had a “cold” experience today
when he reached into the freezer to get out a pot of soup stock. The cold
pot jolted his fingertips so that he decided to nix the idea of soup for
lunch and have a peanut butter sandwich. Mark is not used to limitations
and the fact that he has not been allowed to lift more than 10 pounds since
his surgery in early January does not make him happy. Add to that the fact
that while undergoing chemotherapy he can’t allow himself to touch anything
cold, eat or drink anything cold, or use cold water to wash his hands and
you have another limitation that he doesn’t care for. The cold sensitivity
caused by the drug Oxaliplatin is a tough one. He will be especially
sensitive for the first five days following each chemo session and he has
now learned that he has to wear winter gloves anytime he gets into the
refrigerator or freezer and he has to run the water until it is warm before
washing his hands or washing dishes. We have to keep water sitting out at
room temperature to fill his water glass and who knows what other
adjustments we will have to make. I left early this morning to go shopping
and didn’t get home until after 7 pm tonight and I could see that Mark had
let these little inconveniences get to him. I guess he deserves to be a
little grumpy once in a while, but I can definitely see that it is easier to
be grumpy when you are alone than when you are with other people. He stayed
home today because he had a lot of calls to make for his consulting job and
the visiting nurse was coming in the afternoon to “unhook” him from all the
paraphernalia. He did have a successful work day and the nurse did come and
he is now a free man until March 5 when he has his next chemo session. And
this did make him a happy man.
I went into town early to go to the library and to do a little downtown
shopping. I had hoped to also get to the grocery store, but I ran out of
time and had to go get the boys. I did the food shopping in the evening
after leaving Heather and Jed’s, but that meant I didn’t get home until
after 7 pm. It was a long day, filled with way too much shopping, but once
in a while it just has to be done. Tomorrow Mark and I will both go get the
boys and after their naps, we will head back to Woods Hole for Bruce
Woodin’s retirement party. Bruce has worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institute (WHOI) for his entire career. Jed has worked with Bruce since
arriving in Woods Hole in the late 1990’s and Heather worked with him until
she switched from scientist to journalist reporting on science after Sam’s
birth. And Mark and I have become good friends with Bruce and his wife
Jane. So we are looking forward to a festive retirement party at WHOI
tomorrow afternoon.
