LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

[grapeman]

I agree that waiting at the doctor's or hospital is the hardest thing to do. Keep up the spirits and you will be back to 100 % soon. After all it won't be long an you need to harvest the grapes!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thanks guys!!!!! I am not a patient with patience...but am working on it...Just want to be up and doing something.

On the plus side++++++We went up town to the Health Food Co-op/LHBS [Local Home brewing Store]....In the brew area they sell mostly stuff for beer brewers, but are getting a few more wine supplies.....They still had a 6 gallon carboy at the old price...$21.90....So got it and few small items...and a carboy handle of course....[reminds me...my yeast is still in the car]

I noticed they are getting their organic apple juice in one gallon glass jugs....So, they must be pressing someplace....So...anyone who needs 1 gallon jugs...this will be the time of the year you can pick them up with apple juice.....
Let the good times roll!!!!

 

[rgecaprock]

NW,


I think that while you are trying to be patient and go through your treatment. You have the gift, based on your experiences and the peoplethat have crossed your path to write a very inspirational book...."Life is Good". You could include Waldo's poems and talk about your beautiful home and your gardens. And about preservation.....Which is a theme that seems to run through you daily life. Wether you are preserving the day in pictures of sunsets and moons, or showing your bounty of juices and vegetables. It is very healing and uplifting to see what you do.

Even the trying times.....the waiting for treatment, worrying about the outcome...you always find a silver lining.

I think that every one of your Forum Friends would love to read your story ...over and over....

Regards......RamonaEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[NorthernWinos]

Gee Ramona...That is nice things for you to say.....Maybe some day I will write some notes of this very strange and blessed life I am living.

My life has been a very good one...at least most of it....I have said for many years..if I die today it was a blast!!!

There were some very difficult times and when I look back at the many years that I lived in cities and traveled I am sometime surprised that I lived through some of it....

Looking back I did some very foolish things and charmed my way through some situations that could have been very uncomfortable....I seem to always have been blessed with meeting good people who helped me out of some very strange situations...for example..hick-hiking alone around the USA and Mexico...Duh!!! What was I thinking????

A Guardian Angel and a contagious smile have been my life saver.

Life goes on and is always GOOD!!!

This came in an Email today...
<dl><dd>Life is short,
Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love
truly,</font> </font>
</font>
</dd><dd>Laugh
uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you
smile. </font></dd></dl>

 

[rgecaprock]

See you even have a mysterious, intriguing side that we would love to know about too.



Ramona

 

[swillologist]

I was just setting here thinking about you NW. How did things go today? I hope you found out all good things.

 

[NorthernWinos]

I was just setting here thinking about you NW. How did things go today? I hope you found out all good things.

Today was good!!!!!

We went early as a friend was leaving today to go back to Alaska and we wanted to go to the airport for awhile....

So had the Lab work done early....Went to WalMart to pick up some 1 hour photos I took yesterday of the baby and sent OnLine...Then went to the airport for awhile to see Mom and baby and then back to the clinic....Luckily the airport is just 1/2 mile away and WalMart is in between.

I usually have my Chemo in the mornings...In the mornings my veins are pretty small. So usually I get up about 5AM and start drinking water to rehydrate. In the evenings I have huge veins....So last night I took a fine magic marker and marked a little arrow with some tracks up my arm....It was a dandy vein and saved some time....Usually I sit for half an hour with my arms under a heating pad.

They did the 90 minute bag in 30 mins today...I got a pretty good buzz of of that one, but didn't say anything....The other drug was the usual 3 hours and the 'roids' are 30 minutes...and then there is the flushing between drugs as they are incomputable with different carriers...so one gets dextrose one gets saline [or something else]

Friends stopped by to visit, so that is always nice....Didn't see some of the usual folks today but ran into the 'Blue-berry' lady late this PM while picking up some groceries...she said her hubby's blood is out of whack and he hasn't had a treatment for 2 weeks....he got a blood shot today, hope to see them next week ....so got to get a hug there too.

One of the IV drugs I take [Avastin] is really hard on the intestines...can actually wear thin enough to rupture them......They are reducing my dosage of the Chemo pills always I take for 2 weeks after treatment.....so that should help with my appetite and weight loss....I was down to 105#...I kind of like being thin...like the 'old days'...skinny knees and no back fat....a little weak.....but I am wearing some good pants I just couldn't put in the Goodwill bag when I 'out-grew' them.....

So...I am kind of wired up on drugs right now....will have more drug induced energy for the next few days...so hope to get out in the garden tomorrow and clean out a few things.....After the heavy rains last week a bunch of cabbages exploded...so along with trophy size cukes and zucchini I have a few wheelbarrows of compost to haul of before the next heavy rains tomorrow night.

So all in all...I would say 'Life is Good!!!!
Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[grapeman]

It is always good to hear of your progress. I hope your treatments are sucessfull and end soon. Don't overdo it in the garden. Just take it slow- or at least slow for you.

 

[Waldo]

NW....are you seeing music and hearing colors?

 

[moose]

Take care NW.

 

[NorthernWinos]

NW....are you seeing music and hearing colors?

Waldo...I know what your saying....I too have been to one too many concerts......But, You, I worry about...I think you are still going to those concerts.....

I was a bit woozy and out of focus during the infusion...tonight I am just really 'chatty'....Lucky for me a girlfriend called who is having some problems and we got to talk for almost 2 hours...Sometimes other peoples problems are very important too.

Tonight I just took one of those sleeping pills....so according so some of the possible side effects....I could possibly

"preform certain activities while not fully awake...which could include...sleep driving [

] making and eating food [

] making phone calls, and having sex [

"] So...the night is young.
There are other side effects that come with those type of drugs..all I really want is rest. I took those pills the last 2 nights and got plenty of sleep....I do not recall anything else you might find interesting....

 

[rgecaprock]

Waldo, Enjoy the concerts....Nw....I know that you have a miriad of trips you must be on and I don't mean that in a bad way.....but drug induced and I'm sure it is effecting you in various ways. I hope that rest and sleep are the most welcome side effects but not so much that you miss out on a momentyou were looking forward to. Keep us posted on "Your Book"

Ramona

 

[NorthernWinos]

'My Book' would read like.....

A happy child 'tom boy' romping through the farm fields of Canada ....

A young girl in a big city living like a rock star...
.
A person who woke up one day and finally realize she didn't 'fit in' and left the city on the first train to the mountains with a handful of clothes and a full wine skin...[and never looked back]..

A 'North American Nomad'...Hippie....hitching Canada, USA and Mexico alone and with others [glad I lived through that...I was 24 to 27 years old, so had a few more smarts than the teenage run-away I looked like]

Then through a friend I met Jim in California...He and his friend whom I had met in Mexico and together they were moving to Minnesota to 'Homestead' [Jim would have become the 'freway killer' had he stayed in California, flipping the finger was a constant traffic signal]....Minnesota sounded good to me...I headed back to Canada and kept in contact. When the friend died sky diving I came here and the rest is History.

Then 25 years of farming...Jim worked construction and I took care of the livestock..every time there was a good year we'd build another barn and increase our production...We created a monster....both of us worked 24/7...finally burned out and with high real estate prices we split up the farm and bought this place....and life became GOOD!!!

You fill in the spaces...
We have lived very good lives....Some city life with lots of money and world travel, [but lacked true happiness].....Some years of very hard work and no money...Some years of good times and no money....some years of the Good Life and still no money.

The years of raising livestock we were stuck with our responsibilities that consummated our lives 24/7....I looked at the 'week-end' people coming to our area enjoying their hurried weekends at their cabins, condos and lake homes...I was envious...they had TIME...time to come up and enjoy the beautiful lake country we almost took for granted.

Then times changed, more and more boats and motor homes were in our space...they were as hurried as us....We were trying to get our tractors and equipment to our fields to tend our crops...They were in a hurry to make the most of their weekend TIME...To pass us on the hiways was a challange as we were as wide as the roads...I drove support vehicles and sometimes I drove the tractors and grian trucks down the hiways...When we tarted getting the finger evry trip to the road our attitude changed....When we both were giving back the finger back it was time to move...So here we are in one of the quietest parts of the state...enjoying the Good Life....not flashy, but more conforable than before.

Everyone has a story of 'why the heck do you live there for'.....LIFE...interesting isn't it????

Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[rgecaprock]

That is a start.....YourBook, Your Outline!!!Fill in the Blanks.


.................................!!!!!!!!.....................?????????...........!!!!!!!!!





RamonaEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[swillologist]

I'm glad things went well for you today NW. I hope sleep will come to you tonight with no incidents.

The rituxan gives me a fit all the time. It's the big one for me. I'm not sure how long it is supposed to take but I have not normal transfer yet.I sail right through all the rest of them.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Let's hear others stories....
I am sure there are some really interesting 'chapters' in all our lives here on this forum that has brought us together.

LIFE IS A TRIP...ENJOY THE JOURNEY!!!

 

[rgecaprock]

Swill,
Those drugs must reek havoc on you....during the treatment....I hope all will be peaceful and restful for you soon. And hope that you will be feeling your old self...........before long.

RamonaEdited by: rgecaprock

 

[NorthernWinos]

Swill... Rituxan sound like a really heavy duty drug.....Hopefully it doing it's job. Some of the lists of side effects of these drugs are so long a scary that it's hard to read them all and you just hope for the best. Guess they have to list them all to cover themselves....

I usually get a few side efects from each drug. They very first treatment was a killer for me, so they changed it.
Now I am feeling chnges in my body and attitude.....Some days I am really crabby....I blame the 'roids' and lack of sleep and hope it passes.
Last week I had a gas factory going on in my upper stomach....I could play bon-gos on my belly....then would go past a 5 minute gas attack that if ignited could have heated the house for the winter....noting else.....just air....So they expect the intestines are inflamed from one drug and the pills are hurting it....They are also going to do tests for a Clostridium infection that can hppen with your body is under stress and in contact with bacteria, from hopitals, clinic, the air, dirt and everything outside in the living World. That will be ineresting to see if I have a bacieria in my body accounting or the weight loss, sleeplessness and lask of appitite. I wash my hands so much Ia don't think I have any finger prints left.

I get a CT Scan in 2 weeks, so am anxiously awaiting that. The body is recting to somthing...let s hope we have killed of some bad cells along with these 'speed-bumps' that go with it.

Take care of youselves.....NEVER ingnore any warning signs or changes in our body....Medicine has come a long way and miracles do happen.

 

[hannabarn]

While I feel so very sorry for what you,NW, and Swill are going thru, I have somewhat of a success story on my end of this. Last spring, my closest friend of the last 66 years, was diagnosed with colon cancer. He was ready to give up. I gave him a good lecture and we all prayed for him. He got his chemo all summer long and just received the news that he is cancer free!! I am so happy and I pray for the same results for you two good people! I am going to southern Wisconsin to visit him and his family this weekend. As NW says, "Life is good"&gt; And the Packers beat Minnesota!! Life is really good!!!

 

[NorthernWinos]

I had colon cancer 2 years ago...mine was a tumor on the outside of the colon....a bit different than the usual cancer inside the tube. I had a colonoscopy a few months before and it wasn't detected. I had 2 other small tumors removed along with the big one.....There was a tiny spot left and after 3 months treatment it was gone...we did another 3 months just to be sure....

18 months later it's back...this time on some lymph nodes in the pelvis...So it goes.