February Boating Adventures

Janie and David were here this past weekend and, we were so busy, I have not been able to find time to make a blog entry! On Monday I was busy at work; I had a 3:3o doctor's appointment with John Rioux to check out my port and then Monday night I had a St Vincent De Paul board meeting from 5 PM. (Mondays are always busy because they are "catch up" days following chemo Fridays. ) Tuesday I was busy all day at work, still trying to catch up from Monday. In fact, I had people waiting for me at the office when I arrived and never stopped running all day. Tuesday night I had a "Project Graduation" decorating committee meeting and did not get home until after 8:30PM

This morning (Wednesday) I was up at 6 AM for my normal Rotary breakfast, which starts at 7 AM. I had an Advisory Board meeting for St Vincent de Paul at noon and tonight was the "leaders" dinner in Estero -- a monthly Morgan Stanley event for the top producers in SW Florida. The dinner in Estero was at Ruth Chris' Steak house and went from 6PM until 9PM. I did not get home until almost 11PM because I was stuck in traffic on I-75 following an accident.

So here I sit at the end of a long day trying at least to make one blog entry before bedtime. Tomorrow --Thursday -- is the last day of my work week. Friday is chemo. Saturday I am planning to go to Cape Canaveral to visit Uncle Sam and Aunt Sue, who are down here from Buffalo. (Yoko and I are planning to drive over on Saturday morning, stay overnight, and drive back on Sunday.)

Who knows when I might have time to make another entry, so let me bring you up to date. This past Saturday Jane, David, Yoko and I were up around 9 AM for a leisurely breakfast --- except it wasn't all that leisurely because we had to be in Boca Grande by 11AM. (I made pancakes and bacon on the George Foreman grille Yoko gave me for Christmas.) The plan was to meet Brian and Lori Brunderman at Elridge Marina just before the Boca Grande causeway and then head out. Brian and Lori were planning to trailer their boat to Boca Grande from their house in Charlotte Harbor, but the trailer wheel had fallen off, so they had to motor over, which took them more time than expected. We met up around 11:30 AM and took the intercoastal to Stump Pass Marina, where we stopped for stone crabs and beer. From there we went to the beach at Stump Pass and hung out there for a while before heading home. We saw a manatee at Stump Pass Marina (a first for me) and generally had a good time just visiting and enjoying the sun and company.

When we got home I decided to make Korean barbque for dinner. David and I got cleaned up and went shopping for the key ingredient (a skirt steak). We served dinner around 8 PM. (Once again I found a way to use the George Foreman grill.) We finished dinner around 10 PM. At that point, David, having been exhausted by sun, a strong Manhattan, and garlic, retired to bed. (He also had a cold and was a bit under the weather.)

Sunday morning we were up again by 9AM. I made arrangements for us to go kayaking on the Orange River at my golf club in Ft Myers. We left the house around 10 AM, drove down to Ponce de Leon Park in Punta Gorda, showed Jane and David our other house on Bal Harbor, and got to Verandah by noon. We kayaked up and down the beautiful Orange River for about an hour and a half, cleaned up and then had lunch at the River House Restaurant. We hung out at Verandah for a couple of hours, did a quick tour of the neighborhood, and then took Jane and David to the airport, where we said our goodbyes. Yoko and I had a good time visiting with Jane and David and entertaining them with Florida boating adventures! It is the first time we have had visitors here from up North in many years. We are looking forward to seeing them again this summer at Paula and Brian's wedding if not up at their place in Virginia.

So that is what has been going on since my last blog. How am I feeling? All in all, I feel fine. I have had a cold since before chemo started, but it seems to be better. After I got home from dinner tonight, I exploded in the bathroom -- from both ends. It may be something I ate or a bit of the bug. Either way it is unpleasant. As I type this I am noticing that my fingers don't have feeling in the tips and my feet are "tingling" on the bottom. I guess the cisplatin is working -- and I guess I should be glad. (On the way home tonight I was listening to a show on CNBC XM radio called American Greed. Tonight's show was about the case of pharmacist in Kansas City, a fews years back, who diluted life-saving chemo drugs in order to enrich himself. Can you imagine?) Anyway, all in all, I feel pretty fit. Janie was surprised at how well I am doing; I hope I can continue to manage my treatments well and "surprise on the upside."