by Judy Handley | May 24, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 215, Year 9: Call from Mark’s Surgeon and a Visit from Friends
Date: Saturday, May 24, 2014
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy, High Near 70 (but felt cooler with the wind)
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Mark and I spent the morning together on Windbird which doesn’t seem to be a common occurrence these days due to work schedules. But even though we were home, we were working! Mark was working on his consulting job and I was cleaning ‘house’. I’ll have to continue working on that tomorrow as just after noon our friends Tom and Detta Porat arrived. They drove down for the day from New Hampshire. We took them to Woods Hole for lunch and to see Heather, Jed, and boys who were there for May Fest. Then we returned to Quissett and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on Windbird. Mark and Tom took out the watermaker to inspect it. We ran it in the morning and it was working, but was overheating. They didn’t really find any particular problems, so we will wait for the rebuild kit to arrive in the mail and will continue that project then. Tom went up the mast for us and installed boots on the ends of the top spreaders. It was the first time he has ever gone up a mast and when he got down his knees were shaking. Hanging up high and reaching out to the ends of the spreaders is not an easy job and Mark really appreciated Tom’s offer to do it for him. We then just sat and talked and ate and drank the evening away. We tried to talk them into spending the night, but sometime after 9 pm they headed home. Their daughter Sarah is home from college and their son Matthew is coming home to tomorrow morning, so Detta felt the need to get home to do those things mom do. So even though we had a short time together, it was great to see them and catch on what has been going on in our lives over the winter. Sure wish New Hampshire was just a bit closer. It takes almost three hours to drive there, so it is not an easy one day trip.
Mark called his surgeon, Dr. Sylla, on Friday and was told that she was in surgery all day and would return his call on Monday. But to our delight, she called yesterday morning. She explained that she has reviewed all of the information forwarded to her by the oncologists and their team and has met with her team of doctors. Their assessment is the same as the oncologists. Traditional surgery to remove the cancerous tumor is just not safe. Dr. Sylla’s assessment is that the tumor is too close to the pancreas and still too close to the three main veins that feed the small intestines. If those veins were damaged in surgery, you could lose the use of the small intestines and the risk is just not worth it. She explained that the new procedure recommended by the oncologists is so new that she has not seen it done, but that there are two doctors in Boston that do this and one happens to be on her team and feels that Mark is the perfect candidate for ‘this’. Mark has yet to ask any of the doctors to explain the details of the procedure so we really don’t know exactly what ‘this’ is that is being recommended. We know it is some sort process that can totally destroy the tumor, but we will have to wait until Tuesday when we meet with the new surgeon at 1 pm to find out the details. Her name is Cristina Ferrone and when I looked up her credentials I find that one of her specialties is Immunologic Treatment of Solid Tumors. This is a totally different procedure than the ablation procedure which we have been assuming was the recommendation. Needless to say, we are very anxious for Tuesday’s meeting.
by Judy Handley | May 23, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 214, Year 9: Connecting with Friends
Date: Friday, May 23, 2014
Weather: Mostly Sunny and ‘Lukewarm’
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
The upcoming weekend is going to be a time of connecting with friends. Tomorrow our good friends, Detta and Tom Porat, are driving down from New Hampshire for the day. Tom is hoping to help Mark work on the watermaker and Detta and I will probably spend the entire afternoon just catching up on what has been happening in our lives over the past few months. Mark works on Sunday, but on Sunday evening we are getting together with local friends, Bruce and Jane Woodin. We are looking forward to a fun weekend.
Today I took Ollie to the library for Tots ‘n Tales storytime. We always have a good time doing that. And later in the afternoon, Ollie and I went to pick Sam up from school and enjoyed a festive bike parade and races. Children participating decorated their bikes and rode them around the track. Then there were races by grade level. This was a race to see who could bike the slowest without putting down a foot for the whole time around the track. Sam did an amazing job. He came in third in the first and second grade race. I couldn’t believe he could do so well at controlling his natural impulse to go fast. It was 5 pm by the time we got back home and the next activity began. Friends from the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative were arriving at Heather and Jed’s to cut up five flats of strawberries for tomorrow’s May Fair in Woods Hole. Heather is the coordinator of fundraising for the Coop and selling strawberry shortcake at the May Fair is one of their yearly events. We’re hoping to go sample the strawberry shortcake once Detta and Tom arrive. It always tastes so good!
by Judy Handley | May 22, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 213, Year 9: Cool and Rainy
Date: Thursday, May 22, 2014
Weather: Cool and Rainy
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Not much to report today. Mark worked at West Marine and I hung out with Ollie. The morning was partly sunny, but sometime during Ollie’s nap, the rain started and continued on through the evening. We had dinner at Heather and Jed’s (artichokes—my very favorite) and then we stayed with Jonah and Ollie while Heather, Jed, and Sam went to an event in Woods Hole. We headed home to Windbird around 9:30 pm. Thankfully the rain had stopped, but without the afternoon sun, it is chilly onboard tonight. Mark is already in bed and he called in to let me know that he is really glad that we didn’t take the winter comforter off the bed. It’s only 63 degrees F in here tonight. And actually, I think we will need that comforter until July.
by Judy Handley | May 21, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 211, Year 9: Joys and Frustrations of Living on a Mooring
Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Weather: Mostly Sunny Day
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today was only our third full day here on a mooring in Quissett Harbor and we feel like we are beginning to settle in. Leaving the convenience of being at dock for the winter takes a bit of an adjustment. There are joys like the constant fresh breeze and the lovely sunsets, but there are also frustrations. Being on a mooring here is so very different from being on a mooring in Woods Hole. There we were in a little pond surrounded by the village of Woods Hole. Getting to shore was a very short trip. And when you got to shore, there was a little market. Here we have to drive into town to get to a store, so you’d better not forget an important ingredient for dinner. Being here is much more like being at anchor in a lovely little harbor—because Quissett is a lovely little harbor. But it is a harbor and not a protected ‘pond’ which makes it much more open. The trips to and from shore can be quite interesting. It is a very long distance from here to the dinghy dock and when the wind is blowing it can be a choppy, wet ride. And we still don’t have a source of water. There will be water at the dock, but it is not installed yet. Our watermaker needs an overhaul, so it is not working either. We have enough water for another week or so, but then we will need to have this problem solved. But slowly we’ll work out the kinks and acclimate to not being on a dock. It is a big change and change takes time.
by Judy Handley | May 21, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 212, Year 9: Falmouth to Hyannis—Short Distance, Long Trip
Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Weather: Still Mostly Sunny Day, High Near 70 degrees F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Google Maps tells me that it is only 16.7 miles from Heather’s house to the shopping area in Hyannis, so it is a short distance, but a very long trip. It always seems to take about 35-40 minutes no matter what you do. The trip today was necessitated by the brakes on the Honda Civic that was purchased a couple of months ago. The brakes had to be replaced sometime after the purchase and this week the brakes started making strange sounds. So Heather needed to take it back in and I volunteered to drive in a separate vehicle so she could drive Jonah and Ollie home if the repair was going to take all day. The plan was for me to stay and drive the car home once repairs were done. So we all drove to Hyannis, but it wasn’t really necessary. There was nothing wrong with the brakes. There was just a rock causing all of the strange noises. Once that was removed, all was well. But since we were in Hyannis, we decided to go check out the new Whole Foods store. Whole Foods is not cheap, but there are some specialty foods you can get there that you can’t get anywhere else. And until now, the closest Whole Foods to the Cape was just outside Boston. So it is exciting that there is now one a little closer to home. Jonah enjoyed looking at the yellow raspberries, the yellow, purple, and green cauliflower, and the purple, white, and green asparagus. He loves raspberries, but the yellow ones just made him say, “Yuck!” After the shopping spree, Heather headed home with the boys but continued shopping for things that have been on my Hyannis shopping list. By the time I got back to Heather’s it was nearly 2 o’clock. I wanted to do a bit of gardening before returning to the boat, so I did that and watched Jonah and Ollie while Heather went back out to shop for some running shoes. She and Jed are determined to find a way to incorporate some serious exercise in their schedule, but both needed shoes. Heather’s current running shoes are as old as Sam and were causing some difficulties, so a new pair was definitely needed. She had a successful trip and when she returned, I headed to Windbird to do a little cooking. I’m still trying out new vegetarian recipes which are taking hours to prepare. Tonight I fixed yellow peppers stuffed with potatoes and corn—sounds simple, but somehow it still took almost two hours from start to finish. I think I must just be a s-l-o-w cooker. Mark had a monthly meeting at the end of the work day, so I drove back into town to pick him up at 7:30 pm. On the way from Windbird to shore, I somehow miraculously ran aground in the dinghy. I was trying to be polite and stay far away from a kayaker when I hit. Evidently there is a sand bar that extends far out into the harbor at this one point. I couldn’t see it in the evening light, but now I know it’s there and will try not to make the same mistake again. Thankfully the prop was fine, so no damage was done.
by Judy Handley | May 19, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 210, Year 9: Crazy Day
Date: Monday, May 19, 2014
Weather: Sunny Morning, Partly Cloudy with Sprinkles in the PM
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
This was a bit of a crazy day, or at least that was the case for me. I took Mark into work at 7:30 am and then came back home to get ready for my day. I had intentionally scheduled three different annual medical appointments on the same day. There was plenty of time between each one, but the dentist, the imaging center, and the primary care physician were all running late. It wasn’t the relaxed pace I was anticipating, but at least I got most of my annual appointments over with in one day. And I ran a few errands in between the visits. So far, so good. After the last appointment I had only an hour and a half until it was time to pick Mark up at 4:30 pm. If I went home to Windbird, I would have had less than hour until I had to turn around and go back into town. So I decided to go clothes shopping—something I almost never do. I’ve had a gift certificate that Heather and Jed gave me for my birthday that has been burning a hole in my pocket, so I went for it. But this is when the crazies set in. I did some successful shopping, stopped at the Post Office to mail some packages to Justin and Jo, and got to West Marine to pick up Mark a few minutes late. But he was even later getting out of work and didn’t even notice that I wasn’t there on time. We headed to Quissett and when we got there, Mark took time to go talk to the “powers that be” to see if we chose the correct mooring when we came in on Saturday. Well, it is the correct one for now, but we might have to move later. We also found out that there will be water, but not until the line is run out to the dock which might be later than sooner. By the time we got out to Windbird it was almost 5:30 pm and time to start dinner. I got things started and then called Heather to find out the starting time of a meeting that I had promised to attend with her. Surprise! The meeting was at 6 pm, only 15 minutes away. So it was back in the dinghy, back to shore, and back to town. The meeting was about the possible restructuring of the schools here in Falmouth. I was amazed at how much things have changed in the world of education in the past ten years and was glad I attended the meeting just to remind me that learning never stops. After the meeting, I hurried back to Quissett. As I was driving the dinghy out to the boat, I got a phone call. I could see Mark standing on Windbird’s deck and thought maybe he was calling, so I tried to get my phone out of my pocket. Somehow in doing so, I did a 360 in the dinghy and felt like I almost turned it over. The phone call was not from Mark, but from Helaine Kanegsberg. I didn’t tell her about my crazy 360, but instead told her I would call her back. My little stunt left me a bit shaken, but when I got back to Windbird I called Helaine and we had a wonderful chat. Now it was getting late and we still had no dinner. I scrapped the original dinner plans and went for left overs, but then my niece called and we talked for a bit. I think it was after 9 pm when we finally ate, but that was fine with Mark as he had used the time to do some work on his newest consulting job. So all is well. It just wasn’t the relaxed day with an early dinner that I had planned.
