Day 343, Year 10: Home for the Weekend
Date: Friday, September 18, 2015
Weather: Beautiful Summer Weather
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

Mark’s home for the weekend—hurrah, hurray, woohoo, yay, yippee! I love Windbird, but she is just not the same without her captain. And the Hope Lodge is nice, but it is not home. Tomorrow is soccer morning. First Sam plays at 10:30 and then Jonah at 12 noon. And, of course, they don’t play at the same field. There is also a PTO sponsored school carnival at Sam and Jonah’s school and Heather has to be there manning some of the booths. I guess that her reward for being a PTO officer. So we will help with the soccer shuffle and watch Ollie while doing that. After the soccer games, Jed heads to Maine for a couple of days to help his mother close down the summer house and I think the boys will come home with us and spend the night on Windbird. That will leave Heather with a little well-deserved time to herself. We have thought about going to Newport on Sunday to the Boat Show, but I’m not sure we have the energy. We might just stay right here on the boat and on the beach with the boys and enjoy these glorious last days of summer. It is still in the 70’s and 80’s during the day and in the 60’s at night—a lot warmer than usual. But it looks like starting on Sunday, the temperature will start slowly dropping. Wednesday is the first day of fall, so I guess the drop in temperature is coming right on cue.

I once again spent my day in Heather and Jed’s kitchen. Today I was canning the mineral broth and chicken noodle soup I made yesterday. The oral chemo drug that Mark is on is affecting him more than he remembers it did during the first round of radiation in the spring of 2014. This time his stomach is just not settled and on many days, soup is all he wants for lunch. Thus, the canning/freezing of chicken noodle soup for him to take with him to Boston. I canned some and froze some so I can compare and see which is best. I barely finished in time to head to Boston to pick him up. He took the T out of town to Quincy where I picked him up. There is always a lot of traffic at rush hour on Fridays, but there was more traffic leaving the Cape than I expected. Mark will be here until Monday morning when I will take him back. At the end of this coming week, he’ll be half-way through the radiation treatments. Another big HURRAY.

Day 342, Year 10: Day in the Kitchen
Date: Thursday, September 17, 2015
Weather: Still Sunny and Warm
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

I spent my day in the kitchen (Heather and Jed’s kitchen), making Magic Mineral Broth, roasting beets, cooking kale, and baking acorn squash. I’ll bet you can guess what we’ll be eating this weekend. I feel bad about invading H & J’s kitchen, but I really can’t make and can the broth on the boat–at least not in the volume that I am doing. Yesterday I used their grill to roast the chickens, today I used their kitchen to make the broth, tonight I am using their refrigerator to chill the broth so I can skim off the fat in the morning, and tomorrow I will return to use their kitchen to can the broth and chicken soup. This is definitely a three-day process, but we are convinced that it is worth the effort. Something in that broth seems to be one of the things that keeps Mark healthy, so I’ll just keep invading kitchens and making the broth!

Mark is feeling so much better than he did last week. He met with this Mass General urologist on Tuesday and he got the report back on the urine culture today. The infection is gone, so the antibiotics worked, even if they did upset his system a bit. He’ll be coming home tomorrow evening on the bus so that I can stay here and complete the canning process. It will be wonderful to have him home for the weekend.

Day 341, Year 10: Back in Business
Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Warm
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

After almost an hour of messing around this morning, I’m back in business with a propane cook stove that works. Miracles of miracles, it was not a big problem. The propane tank was simply empty. Changing tanks was not as easy as I had hoped, but with a little help from Mark via phone, I got the job done and had a nice, hot cup of coffee. The microwave is still a mystery. But since I almost never use it, the microwave not working is certainly a problem I can live with. I spent the afternoon in the storage unit, v-e-r-y slowly going through things. My goal is to get rid of enough things to move into a 10 x 10 unit instead of the 10 x 20 we are in now. I’m not certain I can get that done this fall, but I’ll keep working on it and hope that it can happen. I stopped at 3 pm to go pick up Sam and Jonah from school and then I changed gears and roasted a couple of chickens on Heather and Jed’s grill so that I can make Magic Mineral Chicken Broth tomorrow. Of course, while doing that, I played with the boys in the backyard. Ollie played with Joey from next door and wanted me to take a picture of them (included here).
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150916 Day 341 Cape Cod, USA–Ollie and Joey

The oral chemo that Mark is on during radiation is evidently going to keep the stomach issues coming along, so I’m going to make chicken soup with the broth and freeze and/or pressure can it so he can have it while living in Boston. It is a three day process, so I’ll finish up on Friday. Mark might take the bus home on Friday evening so I can spend the day here getting the soup canned and in the freezer.

Day 340, Year 10: Back Home on Windbird
Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Warm
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

I left Windbird last Thursday and returned this evening. Five days is about as long as we can go without being here to run the engine to charge the batteries, so the engine has been running ever since I got home. And that wasn’t until after 7 pm and I have had a few challenges since arriving. When I got to the dinghy I found it full of water. It takes forever and a huge amount of energy to empty it with the hand pump, so I searched other dinghies for a gallon jug bailer I could borrow. I found one and that helped tremendously. By the time I got to Windbird, it was almost dark, but all was well. I immediately started the engine while I put things away. And then I attempted to fix dinner. But that didn’t work. I cannot get the stove burners to light. We should not be out of propane, so I think it is something else. But I was not going to battle with that in the dark. So I tried to turn on the microwave . . . and had absolutely no luck with that either. We hardly ever use the microwave, but tonight I couldn’t even get it to turn on. I called Mark and he asked if I had turned on the inverter. Oops! I had not. So I turned that on and the microwave did turn on, but I still could not get it to work. With no stove and no microwave, I decided to eat cold meatloaf and call that dinner. I’ll tackle the propane problem in the morning and hopefully by tomorrow night, I’ll have some way of cooking.

This morning I took Mark to Mass General for an 11 am appointment with his urologist. It will take a couple of days to get the culture results to see if he still has the urinary tract infection. And once the doctor is sure that the infection is gone, he will go in and take a look around to see if all is well. So we have that issue under control. I then left Mark at Mass General, took some groceries we bought this morning back to the Hope Lodge, and headed home. I stopped at Costco to do more food shopping and got back to Falmouth just in time to pick Sam and Jonah up after school. Heather had a late afternoon meeting and Jed had a doctor’s appointment, so I played with the boys until time for dinner. We had fun biking (them biking and me trying to keep up by walking very fast) and playing football and swinging in the backyard. Sam has a new bicycle that he is very proud of, so I’m including a photo of that with this log. I’m exhausted, so I think it will be an early turn-in for me tonight.
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150915 Day 340 Cape Cod, USA–Sam's Bicycle and Backyard Fun

Day 339, Year 10: Happy Birthday to Justin
Date: Monday, September 14, 2015
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Windy, and Cool—Feels Like Fall
Location: AstraZeneca Hope Lodge, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood, Boston, MA

‘Happy Birthday’ to our son Justin. And ‘Happy Birthday’ to the other two men in our lives that share Justin’s birthday—Justin’s Uncle Steve (Mark’s brother) and our good friend Kevin Russell. We had planned to spend last night with Kevin and Claire in Ashburn, Virginia to celebrate, but at the last minute we had to back-out and drive on so that we could make it home in time today. Getting Mark back to Mass General by 3 pm this afternoon for his radiation treatment had to take precedence over visiting with friends, but we sure hope Kevin had a happy birthday celebration without us. Mark talked to his brother Steve this morning and we talked to Justin tonight. Justin, Jo, and kids spent the weekend at a resort on the southwestern tip of Puerto Rico and had a wonderful time. They rented a Hobi Cat yesterday and all enjoyed sailing about in it. Justin has never really enjoyed sailing all that much, but evidently messing about in boats of some kind prevails. He’s actually working on converting a canoe they have into a sailing trimaran. The sailing gene dominates!

We started out at 8 am this morning and had absolutely no traffic—very different from our trip south on Friday afternoon. We were approaching the Tappanzee Bridge in record time so we called our friends Ed and Lynne to see if they could meet us for a cup of coffee. We only had a bagel for breakfast and on Google Maps we found a diner in Nyack where we could have breakfast for lunch AND visit with Ed and Lynne at the same time. We didn’t make this decision until we were almost there, but when we called Ed and Lynne and they came straight away. It was great to see them. Ed is feeling better than he has for weeks and we really enjoyed our short visit. We didn’t have much time, but it was sure worth the stop. And we still made it to Mass General with 30 minutes to spare. It is amazing how different travel can be when there is not bumper to bumper weekend traffic.

While Mark had his radiation treatment, I walked to Whole Foods to buy groceries. At the time I thought I needed to fix dinner for us tonight. But as it turned out, some people who work for AstraZeneca (the biopharmaceutical company that sponsored the building of this hope lodge) were providing dinner for everyone here at the Hope Lodge tonight. It seems that at least once or twice a week dinners are provided by one group or another which is great for the people staying here. Late tomorrow morning I will take Mark to Mass General and then I will head home to check on Windbird. I’ll then return here on Friday morning.

Day 338, Year 10: 100 Years of Perfection
Date: Sunday, September 13, 2015
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Cool (overnight temp in the 50’s)
Location: EconoLodge, Harrisburg, PA

This afternoon Aunt Ethel’s 100th birthday party was held at the Hidden Valley Country Club in Salem. The napkins said it all, “100 Years of Perfection.” When you see the photos of Aunt Ethel you will understand part of that. She is still beautiful on the outside at age 100, but more importantly she is just as beautiful on the inside. What a special thing to be related to such an amazing woman. She has always been a staunch Democrat and she received a card from our current President today. That delighted her. When asked what she would have done if either of her husbands had been a Republican, she simply replied, “I wouldn’t have married them.” My family is related to Aunt Ethel through her first marriage to my mother’s oldest brother. Her second marriage was to John Lamanca and it was his family that had the party today. They lost their mother and then Aunt Ethel came along and became their second mother. It is obvious how much they love and respect her. It was a long drive down to Roanoke, but it was well worth it just to be there today. In addition, we got to visit with my sister Patsy and brother-in-law Joe and some of my nieces and nephews. We had a wonderful time and are now on our way home. We drove about four and a half hours today and have six and a half to go. So we have to get an early start in order to be at Mass General by 3 pm for Mark’s radiation treatment. And by the way, he is feeling stronger each day so maybe the trip was good for him.
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150913 Day 338 Roanoke, VA–Aunt Ethel's 100th Party

Day 337, Year 10: Tracing Our Past
Date: Saturday, September 12, 2015
Weather: Overcast and Rainy, Lots of Rain Turning to Drizzle
Location: Comfort Suites, Salem, VA

We are staying in Salem, Virginia which is right next door to Roanoke. The 100th birthday party for my aunt is less than a half mile from here, so my nephew Rex chose a great location. He made all the arrangements for the family to stay here. Thank you, Rex.

As we were driving south today, we made arrangements with some of my nieces and nephews that were already in Salem to meet them in a place called Laurel Branch. My father grew up in Laurel Branch and some had never seen the home where he lived. It was a bit out of our way, but the trip was well worth it. It was so much fun tracing our past together. Both my mother and my father were from Monroe County, West Virginia. This is in the southeastern corner of West Virginia bordering on Virginia. My dad was from the south side of the mountains and my mom from the north side. We know lots about her side of the family and how they came to the region from Europe when the Shenandoah Valley was still America’s frontier. We know less about my dad’s side of the family and today’s side trip shed a lot of information on that. We drove to the huge farm house where my dad grew up and luckily found the current owners at home. They are a retired couple from New Jersey but have been in my Grandpa Martin’s home since the early 1990’s. The woman was extremely knowledgeable about local lore and filled in lots of gaps in our information. I can’t wait to return at some point and talk with her at length. But we just had a short amount of time today, so we said our goodbyes and went in search of the cemetery where my grandmother was buried. She died in 1910 when my dad was only eight years old and we have really never known a lot about her side of the family. The stories passed down say that she was of Native American descent but none of us have really ever even known her actual first name. It seems she had more than a couple of English first names. So we thought finding the gravestone might solve the mystery. We found it but it didn’t help. Only her initials were on the stone—FECM. Her sister’s gravestone which is right next to hers had her name printed clearly. So we are still left wondering. One of these days when I have oodles of free time, I must return there and spend a few days delving further into the past.

We had a nice evening with my family and then Mark had to turn in early as he is still not feeling great. We are adjusting our plans for the return trip home. We were going to stop tomorrow night to visit with good friends Kevin and Claire in northern Virginia, but after the trip down, we realize that we need to get further north tomorrow night if we are going to make it home in time for Mark’s radiation therapy on Monday afternoon. So we’ll leave here at 4 pm and drive as far as I can make it before we stop for the night.

150912 Day 337 Roanoke, VA–Laurel Branch Visit & Tribute to Diane Stout

Day 336, Year 10: On the Way to Roanoke, VA
Date: Friday, September 11, 2015
Weather: Overcast with Drizzle Early, Then Partly Sunny
Location: The View Inn & Suites, Bethlehem, PA

Mark was feeling better this morning, so we decided to go ahead with our road trip to Roanoke, Virginia, just after his 1 pm radiation treatment. We didn’t exit the parking garage at Mass General until 1:50 pm and walked into our motel room here in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania about eight hours later. That time included a stop for snacks, a stop for dinner, plus a lot of slow going due to the always heavy traffic north and east of the Hudson River. Once we crossed the Hudson, the traffic thinned a bit, but there were still a lot of cars and a huge number of big trucks on the move this evening. We ate dinner in Phillipsburg, New Jersey which is the last exit before you enter Pennsylvania. While we ate dinner we searched for a place to stay using hotwire.com. We have never used it before, but my niece Candi recommended it to me today. Her mom, my sister-in-law Sue, recommended it to her. She stayed in a nice motel in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania last night and payed about $50. We went super cheap and searched for a hotel for under $40. It is a little disconcerting because you only get to choose a type of motel in your desired price range. You don’t find out the name or exact location until you have booked. The only promise is that it will be within a 9-15 mile radius. We were a little skeptical, but it worked perfectly and the motel is very nice. Breakfast is even included. I think the last time we paid $35 for a motel room was in the 1970’s. What a deal! Thanks, Candi (and Sue) for the tip. We’ll definitely use hotwire.com in the future.

I said at the beginning of this log that Mark is feeling better, and that is true. But he still has very little energy and he still has an upset stomach and really doesn’t want to eat much. But the pain is gone and that is what concerned me the most. He wasn’t able to sleep in the car today so he was pretty grumpy by the time we got into the motel room. But he is already fast asleep. We should have stopped sooner, but I pushed to drive until dark before stopping for dinner. We had planned to stay in Nyack, New York with our friends Ed and Lynne, but we cancelled those plans last night when I got to Boston and found out that Mark had thrown up a couple of times yesterday. Ed is also going through chemotherapy and certainly doesn’t need a stomach virus. So ‘just in case’ we cancelled. But we called them as we crossed the Tappenzee Bridge and told them to wave to us as you can see their apartment complex across the Hudson from the bridge. I’d love to get an early start in the morning as we still have four hours to go, but I’m sure the prudent thing to do is to let Mark sleep in as long as can. So for once in my life, I’ll be prudent.

Day 335, Year 10: Happy 100th Birthday to Aunt Ethel
Date: Thursday, September 10, 2015
Weather: Overcast and Rainy
Location: AstraZeneca Hope Lodge, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood, Boston, MA

My Aunt Ethel had her 100th birthday today. She had been called by the NBC Today Show to let her know that they would be airing a tribute to her this morning, but that didn’t happen. I think she got upstaged by Justin Bieber. Unfortunately, no one called her to tell her what happened, so we’ll hope the tribute is aired tomorrow morning. But tribute or not, she is an absolutely incredible person and we are looking forward to seeing her this weekend. She is my aunt by marriage so unfortunately we don’t share the same gene pool. But regardless–Happy Birthday, Aunt Ethel!

Heather had to be in Boston today, so I picked Sam and Jonah up from school. Once Jed got home with Ollie and the rush hour traffic was settling, I headed for Boston. When I got here I found that Mark is not doing as well as I had thought. The issues with his stomach persist and he is totally wiped out—no energy. The plan is for us to leave here tomorrow after his 1 pm radiation treatment and head for Virginia for Aunt Ethel’s birthday party, but we’ll just have to wait and see how he is doing tomorrow. One day at a time.

Day 334, Year 10: Acclimating
Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Weather: Sunny, Temp in the 80’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

Both Mark and I are spinning our wheels acclimating to this new living situation. And the fact that we are driving to Virginia this weekend will probably put us back at Point Zero on Monday when we return. But after a week or so, we will get used to this unique living situation. Neither of us pushed ourselves too hard today. Mark had to get up and on the trolley by 6 am to make it to his 7 am radiation treatment. Although the trolley is convenient, it takes a while to get to Mass General. So he was back at the Hope Lodge about the time I left Windbird to go to the hospital to get a mammogram and a bone density scan. Mark is feeling better, but he still slept most of the day. I went to Heather and Jed’s after leaving the hospital and did some laundry. Then in the afternoon I went to the storage unit. I spent more time sizing things up than I did actually doing anything. But the whole storage thing is just so overwhelming. I’d really like to move into a smaller unit this fall, but Mark thinks we won’t make that goal. We shall see.

I also spent a great deal of the day on the telephone discussing family matters. I found out early this morning that my Aunt Ethel’s 100th birthday will be featured by Willard Scott on the Today Show tomorrow morning sometime between 7 am and 9 am. So I contacted family members that might be able to record the feature so those of us who miss it will be able to see it later. Later in the afternoon I talked with my nephew Tommy’s wife Marilou. Marilou lost her sister this week to cancer and a rare disease called Dermatomyositis. Diane was only 55 years old and no one really expected to lose her this soon. It was the cancer that killed her and they didn’t even know she had cancer until recently. Our hearts go out to the Stout family.

Mark is still not feeling all that great, but he reports being at least 10 per cent better. He is spending most of his time in Boston sleeping. He’s hoping that is going to give him the rest needed to fight the infections—urinary tract and a split on his big toe. I’ll head back to Boston tomorrow evening and hope that Mark is enough better by Friday afternoon to make the car trip to Virginia.