by Judy Handley | Nov 7, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 18, Year 9: So Far, So Good
Date: Thursday, November 7, 2013
Weather: Rain, Rain, Rain; High Temp in the Low 60’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Overnight the weather went from sunny and gorgeous to rainy, but at least it was warm today. That is not going to be the case for the next few days. The weather forecast looks like cold nights and cool days are coming our way along with some heavy winds. We haven’t heard from Shambala today, but we assume they are still here. Mark will drive down tomorrow to check in with them just after he has his infusion pump removed. We can’t call them because the reception is so poor in the Quissett area. So Mark will just drive down and yell across to them from the beach. Sometimes the old methods work better than the new.
Mark is still feeling great. So far, so good. He had the three-hour infusion yesterday and when he left, they hooked him up to a little pump that fits in a fanny pack and will continue to pump chemo drugs into his body for 48 hours. Tomorrow morning he will go back to the Hematology Center and they will disconnect the pump. He has not experienced any of the possible side effects, and we can only hope that will continue to be the case. In the meantime, we continue to enjoy our days with Ollie. He is just such a delight to be with. And I know his delightful giggles and hugs will get Mark through this winter.
by Judy Handley | Nov 6, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 17, Year 9: One Resilient Man
Date: Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Weather: Gorgeous Fall Day
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
It was a glorious day. The weather was just perfect, and more importantly, Mark made it through his first chemo infusion of this second round with no side effects. He is just one resilient man. And he was very encouraged by the oncology this morning. She said that after studying the CT and PET scans that Mark had done at Mass General, her analysis is that the current growth is a left-over from a few cells that were not cut out by the surgery. This, in itself, is not good news, but it is good that the original cancer has not really metastasized. She emphasized over and over that we are working for CURE. It can be hard to be hopeful when you have cancer, but with news like this, it is hard not to be. And it is just naturally part of Mark’s personality to see only the bright side. The oncologist went over the side effects that can be experienced from the current regimen, but Mark was lucky and had none of those today. That doesn’t mean that he won’t on subsequent days, but he made it through this first day with no issues. Fantastic!
by Judy Handley | Nov 5, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 16, Year 9: Shop ‘Til You Drop Day
Date: Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Weather: Sunny with No Wind, but Still a Bit Chilly
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
We picked up Ollie this morning and then drove to Quissett to pick up our friends Geoff and Chris. We then headed off Cape to do some serious shopping. It takes an hour to get to Brockton (two-thirds of the way to Boston) where there is an IKEA, a Home Depot, and a Costco. Chris wanted to find some area rugs for Shambala at IKEA, we wanted silver-backed bubble wrap insulation from Home Depot, and I wanted oats and Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon from Costco. We have resisted buying a membership at Costco for many reasons, but today we decided to cave. A membership costs $50 but in one shopping trip we more than paid the membership cost in food savings. We also have to factor in the cost of fuel, but normally we would only go there when traveling to or from Boston. But know that Chris and Geoff get very little opportunity to shop, we decided to make the trip today. Once Heather and Jed found out we were going, they added items to the list as well. So we came home with the back of the Taurus laden with goodies. And we actually had time to stop by the boat to take down the headsail on this gloriously windless day. Chris and Geoff helped Mark with this task while I stayed in the car with a sleeping Ollie. I ran back and forth from the car to the boat delivering the things we had bought, but eventually Ollie woke up and I stayed with him. But thanks to Chris and Geoff, one of the jobs Mark has been trying to get done for more than a week is checked off the list.
I’m afraid I bragged too soon about Ollie being healthy. When we got to Heather and Jed’s this morning we found out that Sam stayed home from school yesterday due to a cold and this morning everyone else in the household had runny noses and a cough. ‘Tis the season. But even though he wasn’t feeling quite up to par, Ollie was an excellent shopper today. He hung in there right up to the end. Tomorrow is Heather’s day off work, so hopefully he will get some good rest to help him fight off this cold.
Round Two . . . Tomorrow Mark has the first chemo infusion in this second round of treatment for his colon cancer. I worry. I anticipate all possible problems. And he just goes on as usual. He has always adhered to the philosophy of not worrying about something until it is a problem. You would think I might have adopted his same philosophy. But someone has to worry! He had no side effects during this first round of chemo until he was more than halfway through the regimen. This time the drugs are different, so we shall see if he is as resilient as he was the first time around. Hope with us that he is.
by Judy Handley | Nov 4, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 15, Year 9: Surprise Visit and Good News
Date: Monday, November 4, 2013
Weather: Windy and Chilly During the Day; Evening Temps in the 30’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
The surprise visit and the good news have nothing to do with each other. So I will begin with the good news. Ollie had a follow-up to his 18 month check-up this afternoon and in the three or four weeks between appointments he has made great gains. He has gained 1.5 pounds, his ears are totally clear and his hearing appears totally normal, and he has no respiratory infection. The doctor said to continue to do whatever we have been doing, as it has worked, so that is what we will do. Hurray for Ollie!
Now I’ll explain the surprise visit. Mid-morning we got a call from Chris and Geoff saying they were biking up to see us. It is about ten miles from Quissett to here and with a headwind, it was a harder trip than they expected. But what a nice surprise. We all enjoyed the beautiful, sunny weather and we enjoyed having lunch together in Windbird’s cockpit. Mark had a 2:30 pm appointment for his pre-infusion blood test. Wednesday morning he will have the first chemo treatment and the blood test is always done just before a treatment to check various blood levels.
We had a fantastic dinner aboard Shambala tonight. Since they are moored and have no shore power, they have no heat. But the boat was actually quite warm and comfortable. The owner of the Quissett Harbor Boatyard dropped by to say hello to them this morning and told them they were welcome to stay for as long as they like at no cost. He told them anyone crazy enough to be out cruising at this time of the year should never have to pay! So since it is such a lovely spot and they are enjoying the fall colors so much, they have decided to stay another couple of days before heading on to New York City. Being from Queensland in Australia, they don’t get the fall colors back home. So this is real treat for them.
by Judy Handley | Nov 3, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 14, Year 9: AM with Grandkids, PM with Friends
Date: Sunday, November 3, 2013
Weather: Windy and Chiiiillllllyyyy
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
The north winds are blowing and it feels downright cold, so I guess it is time to dig out a winter coat or put on more layers. By mid-week it will moderate some, but it looks like we are now into days in the 50’s and nights in the 30’s for the next week or so. The boat is cozy inside, so that is no problem. It is just going outside that is the challenge!
As anticipated, Sam was up at the crack of dawn. But he has learned to lie quietly until he is ‘invited’ to get up—at least that is true when he is on the boat. I heard him coughing around 6:30 am, and when I went in to check to see if he was ready to get up, he said he would stay in bed a bit longer. But sometime before 7 am I heard him talking softly to Jonah, so I figured it was time to get up. We played inside and the boys went outside with Mark for a short time to do some work on deck. But before we knew it, it was noon and time for lunch. We needed to get Jonah into town by 12:45 for a play date with his friend Luke. We arrived ten minutes late at what we thought was 12:55, but no one was at the appointed meeting place. We waited a few minutes before calling Heather and Jed to see if they were on the way. That is when we learned that we had gone by the one clock on the boat that we hadn’t changed last night and we were an hour early. Hopefully we are now fully on Eastern Standard Time. We took Sam and Jonah home, and then we headed to Quissett Harbor to pick up Chris and Geoff for a food shopping spree. We picked them up, drove to Woods Hole to try and find a sweatshirt Jonah left on the playground there yesterday. The sweatshirt was still hanging off the end of picnic table, so that was good. Then we drove into Falmouth to do the food shopping. Afterwards we drove Chris and Geoff back to Quissett to unload the groceries and then back to Windbird for dinner. While I finished getting dinner ready, Geoff worked with Mark to get the Max Sea navigation program working on Mark’s computer—success. And he copied a winter’s worth of movies onto our external hard-drive. Thank you, Geoff!!!
Tomorrow we are taking the morning and early afternoon off to do just nothing. Mark has a blood test mid-afternoon at the hematology center where he will start receiving his chemo infusions this Wednesday. After that, we will go to Quissett Harbor to have dinner aboard Shambala.
If my father were still living today, he would be 110. I always think of my deceased parents on their birthdays and thank them for giving me the gift of life. So thank you, Hayes Winfred Martin. And happy birthday.
by Judy Handley | Nov 2, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 13, Year 9: Soccer, Friends, and a Grandkid Sleepover
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2013
Weather: Mild Fall Weather, Mostly Cloudy, No Wind, High 60’s F, Low 40’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today was a mild fall day and people were out in droves riding bicycles, walking, and just generally enjoying the weather. And this was the last soccer Saturday of the fall season so we went to see Jonah play at 9 am and Sam at 1:30 pm. We are amazed at how both boys have grown as soccer players in the past few weeks. Jonah’s first game was all about try to get the kids to kick the ball toward the correct goal. They just wanted to kick! Today Jonah showed that he gets it. He anticipates where the ball is going and works hard to get there. He LOVES playing soccer. Sam’s team is older, therefore a little more aggressive, and they have learned a lot about playing as team. In fact, at the end of the game today, they just didn’t want to quit. So the parents got out there with them and they continued to play. They even made plans to get together for brunch and soccer at each other’s homes on Saturdays until the weather makes it no fun.
We took Sam and Jonah after the last game and headed to Quissett Harbor to see our sailing friends Chris and Geoff of Shambala. They arrived in New Bedford from Nova Scotia a couple of days ago and sailed across to Quissett this afternoon. This is between us and Woods Hole. They will spend a couple of days here and as soon as the weather permits, they will sail through the Long Island Sound to New York City. They want to see the big city before heading to the Chesapeake for the winter. This afternoon at Quissett, we walked out to The Knob. This is a little hump of land connected to the mainland by a thin spit of land jutting out into Buzzards Bay. Friends of Heather and Jed’s were out there with their two children, so that made it all the more fun for Sam and Jonah. Ezra has been a classmate of both Sam and Jonah at the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative and little Simon was born on the same day as Ollie in March of 2012. On our way back we took a path down to a pebble beach and Sam and Jonah went straight to throwing rocks in the water. Jonah wanted his rocks to skip and thankfully Chris and Geoff were great at this. Mark and I are just not ‘skippers’—our rocks just went ker-plunk. By the time we left Quissett, the sun was low in the sky and we realized the boys had been outside the entire day. In between soccer games, they had an outdoor going away party for friends leaving Woods Hole to return to France. Sam and Jonah were tired and hungry, so we picked up a couple of pizzas and headed to the boat. The boys are now fast asleep and I will be interested to see if they still get up at the crack of dawn. As tired as they were, you’d think they might sleep in tomorrow morning, but it will be a first if Sam does that.
We’ll spend tomorrow morning with the boys and then meet up with Chris and Geoff in the afternoon. It looks like we are going to have a drastic dip in temperature in the next two days as the wind switches around to the North. Geoff told us that some women in Nova Scotia are predicting a colder than normal winter as the wild bees there are moving their homes from ground level to high in the trees. I’m not sure I understand the logic there, but I’m sure those ladies in Nova Scotia know what they are talking about from years of observation. I can only hope they are wrong this time.
