Just a short note to let everyone know the good news: I have just had a CAT scan with good results!

The cancer has stayed away and I have graduated to the next step.

My next scan is in a year!!!

In the vernacular of our 20- and 30-something friends and family:
So!
After a month long photo- and then gaming- excursion, we are now homeward bound, or perhaps home by the time you see this (Sunday night NY time). There is no way to encapsulate this experience in a few words. It’s been a great month with VERY different experiences! We are so glad we went! Hawaii was phenomenal and, while we expect to go back at some point, I think we both feel as though we have seen some of the Hawaii we had not seen before and it was quite satisfying! The gaming cruise (JoCo 2018) was a revelation and may become a somewhat regular thing. It was a cruise filled with like-minded people of all ages, shapes, and sizes as well as some extremely talented and intelligent musicians and writers. We can’t go next year as we hope to be doing an entirely different trip next March, but the following year, health permitting, we hope to return.
Being away for a month was not insurmountable. We were able to pack enough of everything and do laundry a few times to get us through without a problem. There are things we missed, but it was well worth the sacrifice.
This was the dry run for our next planned trip, again- health permitting, to New Zealand in March of 2019!
Of course, we will have to learn how to drive on the other side of the road from the other side of the car!!! But that’s an issue for another post down the road...
At any rate, it will be good to be home and boyoboy (girlohgirl?), do I have a LOT of photos to go through!
I will ease my way back into games as I can!

About 10 months ago, young son asked us if we’d be able to join him on a board games cruise run by an outfit named JoCo (after it’s founder Jonathan Coulton). It sounded intriguing. Despite my reluctance to plan beyond 6 months, the circumstances were such that we’d save a bundle if we booked then. Cheap almost always beats logic and we booked. The cruise starts this Feb 18th and it sails out of San Diego- land of the dreaded drizzle! (When we were there in 2000, the weather forecasters were in a tizzy about the imminent threat of dangerous road conditions that might arise over a threatened drizzle to light showers as though it were an impending blizzard!)

But WAIT! There’s MORE!!

On the heels of my good PET scan in November, I was asked by our good friend Michele where we were traveling to celebrate this one. I reminded her of the cruise, but she got me to thinking…
Y’know, NYC to San Diego is halfway… Halfway to what...?

Halfway to Hawaii!!

I wondered if we could change our plans and let Dev return to NYC whilst we headed west, but Cheryl had a commitment to a glass-class 2 weeks after and that seemed too short for Hawaii. She suggested going first, but I was hesitant because that would’ve meant trying to book flights and accommodations for a trip only 5 or so weeks away. I mulled it over and said what the HEY! (well almost that) and started the research. The end result was that with 3 days of intensive research and planning, we booked a 3 week vacation with multiple photo tours on 4 different islands!

We will start in Oahu, highlighted by a recommended photo tour by a photographer/tour guide of parts of the island that most locals don’t know about. Next will be 6 days on Kauai, which we’ve only been to once and very briefly. There will be 2 photo tours there as well as a snorkeling “cruise”. We then head to Maui for 3 days and 2 more photo tours. And we finish on the Big Island with 2 more tours in the Volcano area plus several other sites we want to see. It is nicely paced with many relaxing days mixed in. We will mostly stay at Air BnB’s, and they appear to be good.

When that’s done we will meed da Kid at the hotel in San Diego and then be off on the cruise!
So it’s all YOUR fault, Michele!!! (Thanks a LOT!!! )

We depart on Thursday January 25th on a non-stop 11-½ hour flight (whew!!)

A note to my GT friends and fellow gamers. While I have been trimming my games down, I expect to play my games, although somewhat more intermittently than normal, but I will have vacation days in place for at least some of the trip. Certainly during the cruise at the end where ‘net connectivity is spotty at best.

At long last, after about a month that included a trip to Virginia to see my cuzzes, an incredible run by the Yankees, and several weeks of intense culling and work on my Iceland photos, I am ready to present them. I’m not finished, but I rarely am. I am including a few shots here, but you can go to one of my sites to see the whole presentation:

http://www.marcmandy.net/Travel/Iceland-2017

In most of the galleries there, I’ve written a bit about that day to give some context to the photos, but it isn’t required reading!
It was a wonderful trip and we hope someday to return. There is much that we haven’t seen, but we saw a great deal and it is an extremely photogenic region.

These two shots are pf the Northern Lights we experienced! We actually saw them on two different nights!

Aurora 1


Aurora 2

One of many


Somewhere over…

IR ocean


Black Sand Beach

Exterminate


Mrs. Grimm, I presume?

This is a 3 for 1 post, and, at least on one count, long overdue.

Not counting a wicked-bad cold that just went through our family, my health is good! I had my last PET scan in May and I was clean.

Other than some seemingly permanent chemically-induced neuropathy in my fingertips and feet, I am feeling fine and am living life to the fullest (at least, until the next scan in November).


This brings us to the second part of the post: We are headed to Iceland this Friday (9/15) in search of the Northern Lights and all sorts of other goodies!

We will be there for a week. When we return, we will then head to Virginia to visit my cousins, who will themselves be vacationing!

All in all, it’ll be two very full weeks ending 9/30. As such, while I won’t be out of ‘net range, my time will be limited and my play will be sparse.

So, don’t fear if you don’t see me play, know that me, my wife, and my camera will be very busy cavorting on vacation!

I have, incidentally, put myself on vacation here for the first full week. I may extend it if time requires it.

and finally, the Pièce De Résistance:

Do you remember how, a little under a year ago, and just below this entry, I wrote an ode to my sadly deceased K100 and a sorrowful piece called The End of an Era?

Well…

My plan to retire from riding only lasted until the first 70° day that we encountered last February. Only about 3 or 4 months.

I was feeling better than I had for a long time with the effects of the chemo mostly dissipated and opened the car windows and said

“Why on earth am I in a 4-wheeled sardine can?!?”

That started the process of looking for a replacement. I didn’t need a large bike anymore since most of my riding would be local.

No more trips to Nova Scotia or New England, but stuff in and around The City.

Long-story-short, It didn't take long to find a new ride: a 2-wheeler called a hybrid. This doesn’t refer to gas/electric, but to a blend between a bike and a scooter.

The BMW C-650 is not quite a bike and not quite a scooter. It's a full sized bike with a 650cc engine, but it has no clutch and no foot controls.

At all.

So I ride and my feet have nothing to do. And I have to be real careful not to squeeze the clutch that is now a brake with my left hand!

I have taken to calling it a “Booter” (or a non-gender-specific “Bootsy” for short)! Me and Bootsy have been toodling around NYC whenever appropriate. It’s not my K100, but it is still two wheels!

So, at least for now, life is good and life is fun!

This is a long one. No apologies, but read as much as you’d like:

After 45 years of riding and 30 with the same bike, AND after a couple of years of vacillating over whether I can/should continue to ride, my bike made the decision for me. All of a sudden, in mid-ride, but very local, I lost my clutch. Something just went -pop- and the only way to move was extremely low throttle and eeeeeasy release of the clutch. This would get me up to 5 mph at best, but not uphill. At all. I was able to go to my doc appt and then nurse it home. I had it towed and the end result is that it will take over $2000.00 to repair. For a bike I've been riding less than 10 times a year, it simply made no sense to put out that kind of money. I am not a happy camper, but I'm also not distraught over it, which I guess says it all. I will obviously have my neuropathy issues for the rest of my life and that made it uncomfortable, mostly on my hands.

Machismo be damned... An era has ended.

Biking has been in my system for more years than I've ridden:
-from the long walk to the Woodstock Festival when I watched with envy as bike after bike cruised past us where no car could go,
-to my first ride of learning on a tiny Suzuki 125cc;
-to passing my Bike license test because I had the good fortune to follow my still best-bud who had a rough time starting the bike because of a wrongly set petcock (I, the worser rider, passed- he did not, for which he has yet to forgive me);
-through my romance with Cheryl which ran through five different bikes before we wed;
-to seeing the Dead at Englishtown and BEING the bike that was watched with envy as we cruised past people where no car could go;
-to my commutes to school in Brooklyn and then Lehman College;
-taking several tours through New England and then Nova Scotia (some of the prettiest country I had ever seen up until then);
-and to the Alps for 3 weeks of riding in heaven on the BMW touring bike that would inspire me to buy my own Beemer;
-through the birth of our young-un, who always had a spot reserved for him on my bike- I even measured the trunk to see if he would fit in it (LOL), but, shucks, no helmets available in that size;
-through years of a nightmare commute to the Times plant in Edison, NJ [which I still think of as the "Curseded Place"] passing though the fumes of Elisabeth, NJ or the dumps of Staten Island;
-with year upon year of winter riding as well as summer;
-getting me to my last work location at the Times in College Point, where, when we were all moved to a temporary parking location during construction of a new press, the Times laid down a cement pad just for us motorcyclists so we could park safely!
-and then, finally, to my moments of escape as I fought through the cancer. They were few and far between, but boyoboy were they welcomed…

The photo above was taken by my good friend Andi. It’s the absolute best shot I have of me ’n’ my Beemer.

My heart is sad, but it's been a great run. I may not be riding anymore, but I am still a biker.

Some vignettes:

I recall the astonishment of my co-workers waaaay back as I rode off after a night's work into the snowy sunrise to get my bike home in a couple of inches of snow.
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There were many winter rides to Fort Lee, NJ or Pearl River as Cheryl and I froze our way home in co-o-o-old weather on the Palisades Interstate Parkway.
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I got so many stares and laughs as I carried a Boston Rocker on the back from the store to our apartment.
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Whenever I had a longing for Bagels and Belly Lox, I would get on the bike, go over the 59th Street Bridge (Feelin’ Groovy all the way!) and up to 81st Street and 2nd Ave, park between cars and walk in with a smile and my helmet under arm to a big welcome from the employees. Could be summer or winter- it mattered not, the lox must be had!
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I still recall the disguised look of Horror! on Cheryl’s father’s face when this long-haired, bearded biker brought his daughter to visit on an evil Suzuki 250…
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I spent hours and hours rigging a wiring system to accommodate the CB’s and Walkman output so we could listen to both on our earplugs or speaker phones in our helmets, long before there were speakers on motorcycles. It looked really strange with our portable CB’s attached to the handlebars, but WoW! it worked like a charm for at least three different tours!
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Before my sister-in-law’s first marriage, I rode from NYC to Baltimore solo (my longest ride to date) without the benefit of a fairing or windscreen. It took a ½ hour of massage to get the kinks out of my shoulders. This was despite a half-hour lay-down and stretch on the grass at a rest area half-way down. That was my last trip ever without some form of windscreen!
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My father first rode the bike with me to Yankee Stadium and had an absolute ball! I took him to work a few times and his co-workers were astonished!
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My mother stopped calling it a “thing” after her first, but short, ride. Her bad back wouldn’t allow her more than a couple more rides, but I b’lieve she finally understood after those rides. (She even offered to help me with the cost of the repairs to revive the bike, but the money wasn’t the point, the value was…)
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I remember well young son’s first ride with a helmet that fit him. If I recall correctly, I even took him to school a few times. He and I rode to Connecticut see God (Bob Dylan) in a phenomenal concert!
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There were a few spills that I’d rather not recall too well, but I invariably got back in the saddle and continued onward. My shoulder, with it’s slightly torn rotator cuff will always remind me of my bike…
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There was one dark mid-winter morning’s ride to the Times at the 43rd St plant in Manhattan where the temperature was below zero, but the roads were dry. I was going garage to garage, so starting the bike was not an issue on either end. As long as I rode, there was a bubble around me and I didn’t really feel the cold. Unfortunately, I finally hit a red light at 5th Avenue and 57th Street. For those of you unfamiliar with the location, it is just below the foot of Central Park and the Fifth Avenue Wind Tunnel, where the winds come down from the north unfettered. In the 30 seconds or so that I had to sit there, I lost any semblance of warmth, despite my layers of clothing and commenced the Longest Mile I have ever, in my entire life, ridden.
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In that same vein, I had a choice of a 2-½ hour subway ride or a ½ hour bike ride to get to my dentist in the Bronx. I chose the bike ride. In five degrees. It took me an hour to warm up to the point that I could sit still in the dentist’s chair. The ride home saw a 10 degree increase, and it was a piece of cake.
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The bike was my errand machine. I never had to worry about parking. ever. Saddlebags and Backpack covered almost all contingencies. A shopping cart in the garage got me and the stuff the rest of the way home.
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It was also my instrument of commuting whenever possible.
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I used the bike to go to ballgames at Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, and Citifield. Traffic and parking were never a concern. And parking was free at Yankee Stadium, because I could park 2 blocks away on the street. I have taken ‘most everyone to games there. I never had vandalism or theft issues when I parked there.
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Riding as the Over-the-Hill “gang” Jim, Cheryl, and our close friends Michele, and Michael rode to Nova Scotia on 3 bikes one summer. We even had t-shirts designed for us. Sadly, the wood sprites were unhappy with one of our party always knocking on wood and contacted Thor, who apparently has close ties to Nova Scotia, and he gave us more rain in 9 days than we ever hope to see again! When we got to the ferry terminal there were several long lines and one short line for tickets. I went to check out the short line and it turned out to be the line for cabins. I grabbed the last cabin and we got to take showers, HOT showers after a week-plus of camping and lukewarm showers. It was also a good thing we got the cabin because it turned into one of the roughest ferry rides I’ve ever taken! When we got off in Bar Harbor, Maine, the sun was shining and we found a place to lay out all of our gear and watch as they steamed dry. Incidentally, the CB rig was up and functional for that tour.
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In 1984, we were going to do a Motorcycle Tour of the Alps, covering Germany, Austria, Italy, France, and Lichtenstein. My sister-in-law, Dale, and her hubby wanted to join us, but they didn’t even have bike licenses at that point. I made a sort of condition that they had to get their license through the MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) and that we would also take a tour of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This would give them an idea of the kind of riding to prepare for. On that trip, one evening we found ourselves in the middle of an enormous herd of deer in fields surrounding the road. Of course, they didn’t recognize the road as any form of border so we had to crawl our way through the fearless herd. It was absolutely fascinating!
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On the tour of the Alps there are a ton of remembrances, but three stand out:
- Over the preceding 12 years or so, my best bud and I developed our own style of riding. The style was not up to MSF standards. Thusly, when we were on our very first switchback in Austria, in the deep turns, I put my foot down in a balance maneuver. Oops. When Walt (sis-in-law’s hubby) saw that he thought I was going down and came to an awkward stop almost causing Jim (best-bud, and caboose) to almost go down. I continued merrily up the road and was completely baffled when I reached the top and there was nobody behind me…!
- Through the first half of the trip, Jim rode caboose while I took point. The theory being that you put the least experienced riders in the middle. During that time, he was convinced there was something wrong with his bike. It didn’t seem to respond right and felt very awkward. Until… Dale and Walt decided to take a side trip while we went up the backside of the Matterhorn. All of a sudden Jim, who customarily, from a navigational standpoint, rode behind me, charged up from the rear and shouted “There’s nothing wrong with the bike!!! I’ve been following the wrong rider!” and zoomed ahead! It turns out, that after riding with me/us for all these years, he knew my cues intimately and was subconsciously following Walt’s cues which was throwing him off balance.
- and lastly there was the time on that trip when Cheryl pointed up at a beautiful mountain view, Jim looked up from the rear and then watched in astonishment as Walt turned right thinking that we had signaled a right turn… If anything it would’ve been an up-turn, but these bikes weren’t choppers, so there was no rotor to go up…
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Whenever there is one of those perfect 70-ish days with white puffy clouds, I call it a Nova Scotia Day and threaten to get on the bike and just head north.
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I know there will be more vignettes that I will think of- there’s 45 years of riding in me, and mayhaps I should write a book that probably 5 of my closest friends might read, but this all sort of sums up those wonderful years. As I said above, I may be sans bike, but I’m still, at heart, a biker!

Roughly a year ago I posted a pre-holiday upbeat update. I think it’s time to do the same this year! As in last year there will be no holiday music in the background. At the moment, my music is of Leonard Cohen.
Last Friday, I went for my 6 month PET scan. Because my doc moved up in the world to a new position at a new hospital, the process was slightly different. He got to see the images that same day before he saw me, but there was no written report until later. He looked at the images and they looked good, but there was still the uncertainty of it not being properly pronounced by the Radiologist.
There is no longer any uncertainty. A year out of chemo and I remain clean! Yippee! Deep sigh of relief! I can relax for six more months until the next scan.
For those of you who haven’t been in contact lately, know that I’m physically doing well, so much so that I’m taking a “Spinning” class, and have been for about 2-½ months. Mind you, I’m ‘the old guy’ and can’t even dream of keeping up with the rest of the group, but my endurance has greatly improved and it really seems to be making a strength difference!
My mind has also finally shaken off most of the effects of the chemo and I’m in a much better place. The neuropathy in my extremities is still a thing and I now expect it is a permanent thing to get used to.
It’s been a good travel year for us which has included a week in Aruba (soon to be repeated- a week from Saturday, as a matter of fact!) a wonderful trip to Florida for a cousins visit and an absolutely phenomenal trip to Paris! I also spent an agonizingly hot and humid weekend in South Carolina learning a great deal about Long Exposure photography. I’ve updated my website a bit to show my LE stuff.
We had our kitchen redone, a process I wouldn’t recommend to anyone, but the end result is phenomenal! We have spare cabinet space! Who’d o’ thunked it possible? We still are trying to remember where we put stuff, tho…
I also celebrated my 65th b’day this past February and our 36th anniversary this past October and am looking forward to 66 and 37! It’s a pleasure to be able to say that!
I hope all is well with all of you and that you have a happy holiday season regardless of your persuasion!

We are home! but not necessarily as pleased to return as wishing we had another week in Paris! Be forewarned that this is a bit lengthier than I might normally do, but, well, Paris, y’know…! Read on at your own risk.

Where to begin without giving a travelogue… I will grant that we were tourists in a tourist laden area, but I can’t think of a single time where I was made to feel unwelcome or a burden. Even when I did touristy things like stop in the middle of a sidewalk for a photo I never heard the grumbling that I freely admit I would be guilty of doing when encountering a tourist here in NYC who did that!

We spent the first week in a resort in the suburb of Paris immediately next to Paris Disney courtesy of my sister-in-law and her hubby. They graciously put up with our idiosyncrasies so that we could get the most out of this trip. It was a nice resort with helpful, attentive staff and well thought out accommodations. Interestingly, their 3 bedroom time-share was a 2-bedroom (2 story) town house adjacent to what I laughingly called the “maid’s quarters”, which was essentially a 1 story studio apartment- just right for our needs. The only thing lacking was enough outlets for all of the device and battery charging we had to do. Unlike US outlets, each outlet is a single-tap, so we had two free outlets and (L O L) had to unplug things left and right!

With no children present we managed to almost completely avoid Disney, only passing it on the way to catching the 45 minute suburban rail ride into Paris. Even though we travelled the trains at slightly off hours, they were remarkably uncrowded by NY standards. At no time going in did we have to stand at all and on the return, someone would Always offer Cheryl a seat and almost always offer me as well. My funky feet appreciated that, but, as an aside, my neuropathy had almost no effect on my ability to walk so long as I was careful to take breaks. We made good use of the excellent metro (subway) system, but found it entailed a great deal of walking and many stairs in transferring between the suburban rail and metro, and often between metro lines as well. The stairs were harder for Cheryl with her knees, so we tried to find accessible stations whenever possible and made use of cabs as well.

The second week we were in the heart of Paris, thereby eliminating the need for the commute and were able to learn how to take advantage of the extensive, if complex, bus system. Thank goodness for my phone and iPad where I could load PDF’s and enlarge them on the screen to see the details! I paid to have data accessibility on my phone so we made good use of Google maps and the Parisian Metro app for guiding us around- an absolutely invaluable modern tool!

Without going into details, over the 2 weeks, we took extensive hop-on/off buses on several days to get the feel for and lay of the city, we saw Notre Dame both outside and inside, we covered museums (the Musee’ D’Orsay- WOW!!!, The Louvre- tooooo much to absorb and too large to comfortably traverse), did neighborhood walks, the Eiffel Tower, The Montparnesse Tower- “The ugliest building in Paris- the best place to see Paris from above, ‘cause it’s not in it!”, saw the requisite sites and did night-time faerie-light and long exposure photography- with sunset at 10:30(!!), I truly didn’t have enough time for that. When next we go it will be closer to the equinox rather than the solstice. We made it to the top of Montmartre via public bus, thereby avoiding the incredible number of steps both up and down! I heard one young man saying he counted over 1600 steps (the kind of thing I’d do!). When you consider 10-15 steps per floor in a building, that’s a lot of steps!

We also spent far too little time at Monet’s Giverney (a 1-hour trip from the center of Paris). Where we spent 2 hours, I could’ve spent the whole day. We were lucky enough (although my compatriots would disagree, I suspect) to have a damp day with one cloudburst making for extraordinary plant photography! I did fog up my lens and it took fifteen minutes to defog…

I also got a 2-day loan of a new lens that will be released late this summer. It was a wonderful opportunity and will be in my arsenal when it is released. It was, however, quite a trip trying to locate the store!

As an aside here, Paris is a round city with very little in the way of grid-work, and streets change names unmercifully, so in a 3-block walk you could conceivably be walking on 4 different streets without turning a corner!

We found some marvelous food and found that cafe’s are as prevalent in Paris as dirty-water dog stands are in NYC. They are remarkably consistent in quality, yet each having their own preparation for their standard foods. I lived on Omelettes and Quiches and Croque monsieur and madams (basically open grilled cheese and ham sandwiches-madam has an egg on it as well. You could make it a closed sandwich by moving the bottom slice of bread to the top. I was in heaven doing so. We had too much (welllll, not enough really, but too much) of the wonderful baguettes with ham (jambone) and cheese (most often emmentale). The French take on cold cuts is different from ours as they don’t put things like salami on the sandwiches. Occasionally we’d find prosciutto, but that was rare. We sampled breads and cookies (biscuits) and had some fun in markets and supermarkets.

Incidentally, the travel to Paris and back to NYC was a delight and without complications.

There is, I hope, another trip there in our future. In the words of the immortal Roland Burton Hedley, III (of Doonesbury journalistic fame) “Only time will tell.” In the meantime, I am keeping my towel and guide readily available! Never Panic!

We hath arrived!

We had a nice, uneventful flight. We left the gate at JFK on time, but waited to take off for most of a half hour. I think I slept a total of almost 4 hours with a break in the middle when I woke up ravenous. Cheryl slept only a little at best, but stayed reclined and resting. We are both in okay shape now, so I guess it was enough. We got to see a very hazy Eiffel Tower as we were landing.

The line for passport entry was a literal mob scene; there must’ve been 7 or 8 flights arriving at the same time, but strangely after we got through that, there was no customs for our luggage. Probably all thoroughly x-rayed.

We thought we just missed the bus that would take us most of the way, but it turned out that it was 15 minutes late and we ended up waiting all of 3 minutes! It brought us to the train station that we will be frequenting this week (we will be taking a bus to and from the resort) and after a bit of a wait it was a 15 minute bus ride to the outside of the resort.

It’s nice to be here!

Tomorrow, the adventures start!

marc

We hath arrived!

We had a nice, uneventful flight. We left the gate at JFK on time, but waited to take off for most of a half hour. I think I slept a total of almost 4 hours with a break in the middle when I woke up ravenous. Cheryl slept only a little at best, but stayed reclined and resting. We are both in okay shape now, so I guess it was enough. We got to see a very hazy Eiffel Tower as we were landing.

The line for passport entry was a literal mob scene; there must’ve been 7 or 8 flights arriving at the same time, but strangely after we got through that, there was no customs for our luggage. Probably all thoroughly x-rayed.

We thought we just missed the bus that would take us most of the way, but it turned out that it was 15 minutes late and we ended up waiting all of 3 minutes! It brought us to the train station that we will be frequenting this week (we will be taking a bus to and from the resort) and after a bit of a wait it was a 15 minute bus ride to the outside of the resort.

It’s nice to be here!

Tomorrow, the adventures start!

marc

I am a very tired camper today, but I must send this out: I just had my 6 month PET scan. All is good! I'm clean! The doc likes what he doesn’t see!

We can go to Paris on June 9th without this hanging over our heads. No morbid thoughts and no short term fears! I can look ahead a bit again. Still going day to day and week to week, but still going!

I will sleep well tonight…

We are back! It was a fun cruise and would’ve been much more so had we not both gotten sick… Cheryl developed a cough and cold that hasn’t gone away yet, and I got the cold and cough for a week in the middle. We’re pretty sure this didn’t come from any contact on the ship, tho’ I might’ve gotten it from her (4 days later).

There were 4 days before the first island, so we got to feel the growing warmth and it was very nice to shed our jackets after a day. As described in the previous entry, we had to skip the first one (San Juan, Puerto Rico) because we had a sick patient and had to divert for a helicopter pickup. sigh...

It was enjoyable once you get beyond the colds. The room, sadly did not have a comfy chair to sit at with my computer, but the boat had a nice little library with a desk and chair.

I got to do some of the photo experimentation I set out to do, though I didn’t have it in me to do some of the more major stuff that I was fantasizing about, and, in addition to the class, I finally got to complete going through all of last year’s shots! More work to be done, but the junk is junked!

We got off for exploration of 3 different islands, and I got off at Tortolla just to not be sitting on the boat (while Cheryl napped on the boat). They had a museum about the island that gave a pretty good and concise history. I also enjoyed about an hour on the pier just soaking in the air on solid ground. On Barbados we ended up taking a taxi tour by a driver who was not pushy, but knew some very nice photo stops. That one we’ll remember for a long time. Horace the driver was a big Hillary fan and was absolutely delighted that we like her as well. We also visited a Botanical Garden on the island of Martinique that was very hilly, but equally beautiful and had fun cable suspension bridges to traipse across.

By the time we started back on Wednesday, I was pretty much ready to be home. Two weeks is a long time, especially if you’re not feeling well, but overall, I would call the cruise a success. There are always little things that bug you, but we were able to get by all of that and enjoy it. As has been our consistent experience, the crew were all incredibly friendly and helpful. Norwegian is also very good with the little amenities. We found where the good food was hiding, found the good places to go to sit and read, and, most importantly, found out when the cookies came out!

We were fortunate to have the fun of coming home through a low pressure system with active seas, and even more fortunate not to face what the poor folk on the RC Anthem went through. It was fun watching the wave action and the sea smoke and the brief blizzard-like snows from the fully insulated ship. It was odd how little motion we felt compared to what we were seeing. It did, however, delay our return home by a couple of hours.

The egress from the boat was, as always, a long, drawn out, and cluttered affair, but once we got out we were “accosted” by a livery driver who convinced us he was the man to drive us home. He was right. and as Dorothy says, oh-so very often: “There’s no place like home!"

Good morning people!

We are now in our fourth day at sea. On Monday we had a sick passenger, clearly critical, and we had to slow down and divert about 170 miles east so that we could be in range of a helicopter to pick up said passenger and remove him/her to the mainland and a real hospital. The unfortunate side effect of that was that we would not be able to get to San Juan, Puerto Rico in time to make the stop worthwhile, so we have to bypass it. This is sad 'cause it was something we were both looking forward to. Ah well, such is life. We have no idea how the ill passenger fared...

I had one last assignment to complete in a Photoshop layers class and was able to spend some hours in the (relatively) quiet library working on it. I'm including that and the one from the previous assignment just 'cause they're fun!

In the first one, Mickey and Minnie were shot from a moving train in Skagway, Alaska. Apparently, one of the engineers sets something different up every day as a sort of easter-egg for observant passengers. It was my job to pull them out of the background and put them on the arm of a man shooting a butterfly a few days later.

The second and last was to add my clowning niece Shannon and her most S-O to a composite I had created earlier of a creepy christmas decoration peering through a bedroom window. Lotsa fun.

Cheryl caught a cold and spent a lot of time sleeping, so I was able to neglect her and she never knew I was doing so!

We are settled nicely and I've done a little experimental shooting as I had intended with some moderate success. More on that in another posting perhaps.

At any rate, we are doing well and are enjoying putting last year behind us and getting this one off to a wonderful start!

Good morning people!

We are now in our fourth day at sea. On Monday we had a sick passenger, clearly critical, and we had to slow down and divert about 170 miles east so that we could be in range of a helicopter to pick up said passenger and remove him/her to the mainland and a real hospital. The unfortunate side effect of that was that we would not be able to get to San Juan, Puerto Rico in time to make the stop worthwhile, so we have to bypass it. This is sad 'cause it was something we were both looking forward to. Ah well, such is life. We have no idea how the ill passenger fared...

I had one last assignment to complete in a Photoshop layers class and was able to spend some hours in the (relatively) quiet library working on it. I'm including that and the one from the previous assignment just 'cause they're fun!

In the first one, Mickey and Minnie were shot from a moving train in Skagway, Alaska. Apparently, one of the engineers sets something different up every day as a sort of easter-egg for observant passengers. It was my job to pull them out of the background and put them on the arm of a man shooting a butterfly a few days later.

The second and last was to add my clowning niece Shannon and her most S-O to a composite I had created earlier of a creepy christmas decoration peering through a bedroom window. Lotsa fun.

Cheryl caught a cold and spent a lot of time sleeping, so I was able to neglect her and she never knew I was doing so!

We are settled nicely and I've done a little experimental shooting as I had intended with some moderate success. More on that in another posting perhaps.

At any rate, we are doing well and are enjoying putting last year behind us and getting this one off to a wonderful start!

Hi and happy new year! It certainly is for me!

It’s been over a month since I’ve given an update, so now is a most appropriate time to do so. As we approach the 3 month point since my last chemo, I continue to improve in stamina and general health. The daily nap is now more of a luxury than a requirement, general walking is much easier and I don’t really require a cane anymore. My appetite is better and I’m once again able to eat slightly spicy foods without my whole mouth blooming in pain! I am still taking Neurontin and still dealing with neuropathy issues on my hands and feet, but I think there is improvement. I still have some of the side effects from the Neurontin, but the trade-off is worth it. I continue to shoot frequently and have a looooong list of photos to look through and process! I just successfully did a shoot for friends of their collector plates for possible sale, and I’m very pleased with how I was able to stay with it and properly plan for it. I am taking (and absorbing!) another on-line photo class; this time dealing with Photoshop layers and masking. and most importantly, when I look at myself in the mirror, I don’t see a frail old man, but my old bearded self! As a dear friend pointed out, I have eyebrows again making it a LOT easier to see my facial expressions! Yay hair!!

So, as the northeast is about to get pummeled by another potentially perfect storm, Cheryl and I are going to spend the blizzard-time packing. (We’ve already bought our requisite 17 loaves of bread and 7 gallons of milk to get us through the approximately 12-hour storm. But, uh ohhhhhh… We only have 2 jars of peanut butter and 3 packages of Oreos! Back to the supermarket we go!)

On January 31st, we will be taking a 2-week cruise to the Southern Caribbean! It will be a combination “escape from the cold”, “rest and recuperation”, and “get some projects done without the distraction of daily life” (like maybe go through all of these photos I’ve taken?). It’s the longest cruise we’ve taken to date, but I think it’ll be an absolute delight to just unwind after all of the fun and joy of last year!

All is good. The next PET scan is the end of May, so there is no further thought being given to it until that time!

Incidentally, on the cruise I will have only limited 'net access, so I will probably be putting my games into mostly vacation mode for the 2 weeks. Until I figure out how much it will cost to play, I will play very sparingly. I will check in periodically, and if it doesn't eat up too much data, I'll play some games.

Very quick note to explain my delayed play.

We are having a recuperation vacation. Cheryl's sister invited us to join her for a week in Aruba. I am currently spending my Sunday afternoon sitting on a back porch (veranda?) protected from the sun and taking time away from my time-intensive photo work to play games here. It is beautiful today with temps in the high 80's but with a very steady breeze to keep it from feeling tooooo hot!

This will be a gym-less "gorp" week wherein we get to just-plain unwind. Of course, my 'puter is never far from me, but today the mind unwinds. And who knows where my camera will take me?

I am continuing to improve overall, but the neuropathy is still an issue. I'm trying to ease back on the neurontin, but that brings it's own issues. Nothing's easy, but everything's workable, so I'll just keep on pluggin'!

Back in a week!

marc

To be perfectly honest, I still haven’t absorbed this, but the results from the PET Scan were negative! All is good! Everything that I went through was worth it for this result.

I am overwhelmed by this and not thinking clearly about it yet. I went in prepared for the worst, having heard about “virulent” cancer cells, so I was fearful that something else might’ve popped up, and I would have to go through more treatments, but it didn’t! All of the chemo and the radiation worked! I will not have to continue treatments! Now, if only the neuropathy would clear up…

That nets a big WHEW!!

Now I have to completely change my mindset and focus my concentration on my own personal rehab program that I started in earnest a couple of weeks ago. Oddly, I did not lose very much upper body strength and I’m pretty much back to my pre-April levels, albeit with a bit more resting between sets. However, my leg strength is significantly lacking. On the Elliptical, I’ve managed to work my way back to half the duration of the pre-April levels, and I find it more tiring, but I will be able to get back. I know this because I’ve already doubled the elliptical from where I was a month ago!

Once again I thank you for all of the support and help I was given through this 8 month ordeal! This would have been a great deal more difficult without the help, support, and incredible good vibes I got from sooooo many friends, family, and acquaintances.

Onward and Upward! Time to go celebrate Life, the universe and EVERYTHING!!!

It’s time for a pre-holiday upbeat update! There will be NO holiday music in the background of this particular missive. Let’s simply imagine a Ripple-fest going on in the background. (For the uninitiated, "Ripple" is a wonderful song on the Grateful Dead album "American Beauty" written by Robert Hunter and covered by many other performers).

As I get further from the chemo - 3 weeks now - I'm getting much more clear-headed. The physical will return and I've been going to the Y twice a week at minimum to aid that. My leg strength and stamina were weak (but now getting stronger), yet, surprisingly, I haven't lost much upper body strength. I use the Elliptical as both my first and last exercise of the “workout.” The first one has me doing as many as 4 minutes plus at a medium stress level (which is less than half of what I had been doing when this started). The second go at it has me doing a minute plus of going backwards on it- and that’s the exclamation point of the workout. In between I have a series of upper body and abs exercises which I am doing just about as well as before at the same satisfactory weight levels. I also have a series of stretches that are mixed in. When I'm done w/the gym, I'm wiped, but I feel better for it. A lot of my lower back and leg soreness eases or disappears afterwards. It’s probably related to my relative dormancy during the treatments. I’m going to be doing a more intense version of my workout as the weeks progress to better build up my stamina and hope to have this all behind me once my hair and beard come back...! Mind you, a true body builder would laugh at my regimen, but it works for me!

My wife says I'm my more-normal goofy self, which is a good thing! My writing is clearer and it flows more freely and my mind is allowing me to focus better on things that need doing. Slowly but surely the house is returning to some semblance of organized and I’m more able to work on my photo projects.

The medication Neurontin (for the below-mentioned neuropathy) still has side effects like light-headedness and grasping for words that I normally wouldn’t (sort of chemo-brain magnified), and I'm still dealing with the Stage 2 neuropathy, which involves numbness and tingling on my fingers and my feet. I have to be careful handling things from silverware to heavy kitchen things (like somewhat slippery bottles) because I can’t really feel how much pressure I’m putting on them with my fingers, but as long as I’m careful, all is good.

So overall, I’ve gotten over the hump I believe, and as we approach the December 2nd PET scan, I improve in almost visible increments. I shall enjoy and participate in Turkey Day (tho’ we’ll be having a rib roast instead- no stuffing sadly, but Yorkshire Pudding in New Jersey instead!) and shortly after the scan we will be returning to Aruba for a week’s vacation and photo expedition! We are all getting back on track and having a muuuuuch better time of it!

11/2

Okay gang! Good news at last! or mostly good news at any rate: The chemo and all other treatments are officially over! (Great BIG sigh of relief here in our household and mostly from ME!) We won’t know anything about it’s success or failure for 1 month.

On December 2nd I have a PET Scan and see the doc later that afternoon. I will also have a follow-up visit with my Oncologist the following week to check on my various blood levels and get his take on the scan. We don’t expect anything to show on this scan. It’s more the subsequent scans that we need to pay attention to, but we’re in new territory here, so I’ll probably dip into my pool of scariness as I go in for the scan on the 2nd.

As of now, it is my intent to take it easy for the next week or two to allow my body to clean out as much as possible. I’ll go to the Y a few times in that period, but once I feel strong enough I will kick it into a higher gear. I have a lot of stamina to regain and a lot of strength to re-find. I’ve not lost as much as I did last time, and my mental clarity is significantly better than it was then as well. (I can still write a coherent sentence or two!)

The path back is much more clear, and, I think, easier. I know what I need to do and I am not in a state of depression at all. I need to regain my appetite for the foods I normally love. overall, as of this morning I lost about 8 pounds, which under normal circumstances would be fine. However, hard as I tried, my protein and vitamin intake was reduced, certainly in the last few weeks, because the foods that provide ‘em were too rich for my mouth to accept. Back to V-8 and cheese ASAP! Might even try tonight. As the Xeloda cleans out, my appetite usually returns.

So, even though the original plan would’ve had me ending next Monday, I am quite satisfied that I did all I could to make this happen, and my body just plain could not handle it. I come out of this with temporary (fingers crossed!) Stage 2 hand and foot neuropathy and an almost total loss of all my hair (beard included). We are treating the neuropathy as best we can and I’m putting extra effort into re-growing my beard! After all, winter approacheth!!

So! Onward! Upward! Excelsior! and all of that-there stuff! I’m done with the ick and it’s time to return to Life, the Universe, and EVERYTHING!!!

!0/20

An eventful week. For one thing, I've got this blog going! For another, the Mets have moved on to the League Championship, and, well, more in a few...

On Friday, I was suffering enough from the foot pain that was making it difficult to walk and experiencing more ill-effects on my fingertips and mouth that the docs decided to skip the last 5 pills of the chemo drug Xeloda. So I started my week off a bit earlier and basically did nothing until Saturday evening, when we bundled up and went to the Mets game to see them take on and defeat a very good Chicago Cubs team. It was a lot of fun but a lotta wind and cold!


As a result of the rest before and the cream I mentioned below, the Neurontin and a good dose of Advil all of my symptoms continued to ease. For those of of you who know Lil Moosie of the Wolf Pack, he and I went to the game the following night armed with even more layers and I once again I got to see my Mets win! This time the temps were about 10 degrees colder and we had a steady wind of 10-15 mph. A nifty wind chill.



Overall, I am steadily improving. While I still have numbness in my feet and fingertips, the pain seems to be completely gone, and the side-effects from the Neurontin are far lessened as my body adjusts to it. We have come to our place in Shawnee, PA for a few days of rest and relaxation. It's away from home and "stuff-to-do". I slept 8 hours last night which is absolutely unheard of for me and woke up feeling much better!
If I had to guess, I will be resuming the chemo on Monday, perhaps with lower doses, though unlikely, I suspect. It will be the final 2 week round and then it'll be over... It's possible that it might be delayed a week if my platelets and white blood cells are too low, but, the way I'm feeling now, I would guess they won't be.
Tonight I get to watch the Mets in Chicago in the warmth of my house and may get through the game without a single shiver!

Beware The Murph and Let's Go Mets!!

10/14

Monday was “Just-show-up day” (name courtesy of a neighbor- thank you Pam!) and I (reluctantly) did. I had my scheduled iv chemo session, but it was only half of the previous weeks dosages. Apparently the regimen is somewhat altered now (I am maxing out on one of the meds) and in 2 weeks, assuming no delay due to bad blood-work, I'll have a final full dose and then in 3 weeks, the same as this one.
What that did for me was significantly ease the side effects such that it was possible for me to not only drive to and from the Mets playoff baseball game on Monday at CitiField that I was so lucky to get tickets to, it also allowed me eat with an appetite! We left the game after 7 innings (and after midnight!) assuming that a 9-run lead would hold. Fortunately it did. We got to watch the post-game stuff in full when we got home. and still get to bed at a (halfway) reasonable hour. We also went to last night's disappointing game, but ya can't win 'em all- hopefully the Mets win Thursday night.

This morning I am still feeling much better, but am also still under the influence of the oral meds that continue. A bit wobbly and jittery - I keep missing keys on the keyboard without realizing it (thank goodness for red, squiggly lines under mis-spellings!) - and a slight headache, but overall, I do feel more sharp and functional than I have after previous sessions!) Overall, I’m feeling better! The foot pain that I’ve been experiencing has also been greatly reduced thanks to an (icky-sticky) new cream that was designed specifically to fight this chemically-induced neuropathy. The mouth pain has dissipated except from some fairly extreme sensitivity at the tip of my tongue requiring me to eat very mildly.

The bad pill has one more week to go and then I get another full week off all chemo drugs before starting the final cycle, so the end is within sight. What comes after that will be dealt with then, but some pretty intense rehab is pert-darn likely. Not to mention a follow-up PET scan a month after the end of the chemo. (oops- I mentioned it).

10/4

Well, it's time for yet another one of my periodic updates.
This segment of the treatment has been rougher. I've been getting mouth soreness, foot pain, and lightheadedness. And that is after 5 days off. On the days that I’m supposed to take the pills, it is getting harder to open my mouth to ‘em, and it’s all a general drag. When they sang “Kind of a Drag” way back when, they had no idea!
It turns out my pulse is a bit low, as is my white blood cell count. My platelets are still ok. As a result of this, my restart of the treatment has been delayed by a week.
I cannot say that I am sorry. I think I welcome the extra week to recover. I have been given a new drug, called Neurontin, that has helped with the foot pain and the mouth. It made me a tad more light-headed. I think I can handle that. The additional week has improved the rest. I am now ready to face the chemo again. We shall see if my blood and body are, too tom'w...
On the upside, I am very pleased to say that I have tickets for the Mets post-season run and the Yankees (maybe) run as well. So I have something good to look forward to!
Unless both teams disappoint…
I am trying to stay upbeat and engaged as much as possible, as was evidenced by my recent posting regarding Hot Tuna and music in general. I am continuing to work on my photographs from the summer trips (I may have gotten a few good shots…), and I am of course following my baseball teams with great interest!!
I am getting incredible support from Cheryl, Lil Moosie and all of you. You cannot know how much it helps and I thank you very, very much for it!
more as the fun continues... Excelsior!!

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