Rarely do I get such opportunity to play, and with my little Brother who is bigger than I am to boot. I took the day off to be with him and had several options for entertainment. Friday early AM I found myself out of sorts and did not feel up to the rigors of a long drive to KY to surprise Rex who would likely be too exhausted after his week for us, not that such consideration would enter my head. So I opted to go to a driving range I wondered about in Muncie, then downtown to the toy store I wondered about buying a toy in. This was an adult toy store, not the kind with things you do to horses but the kind with electric trains, airplanes and the like. Paul schmoozed the owner and the owner schmoozed him. In the end there was a lot of schmoozing going on but no money spent. Got me a new kite so I will be going to go flying again. Didn’t think I would be able to but I am able to. Have to run that by Vanessa later, unauthorized purchase and all that, you know how it goes. I can’t pull the C card for excuses. Then on to the AMA museum on the east side to show him the history of model aircraft, RC and line gas powered. We had a great beer and some fantastic loaded wedges at the Whitewater downtown, flew flight simulators, escaped serious injury at the driving range and laughed until we cried. Somewhere in there we fired off rockets, including the Hays Screaming Eagle lovingly assembled by yours truly and miraculously recovered all and they will all live to see the wide open skies again.
At least two episodes we were reduced to tears of laughter. Me hitting the roof of the driving range was one of them. When I suggested I put up a sign saying Mike Courtney Asshole to go along with the neighbors sign, Suzi Cross Country. Vanessa responded that I shouldn’t put up a sign because there might be neighbors that don’t know. I think that was a true high point for Paul during his visit. This being his first time ever I think spending so much time with us he seemed intrigued by the mechanics of our relationship. He told me Vanessa looked good, I don’t know if he told her. I carried a stick when I needed to, if I was going to stand for a long period of time just in case during the weekend but only really used it a couple of times. We topped our Friday off with a trip to the local casino where I came out six dollars richer and full of myself.
Many would champion the American way striking us all as individuals in the John Wayne mold who on our own and against all odds scrape up the ladder and a few every year break the constraints of poverty to a state where money is not a day to day matter of thought. The fact is no such path or progression exists in America and I imagine it does not exist any where else. Odds are astronomical. The reality for the masses is born poor, die poor, born privileged, die privileged. Liberals hate it, conservatives champion it.
That being said the cancer has visited upon me another blessing, the blessing of my Brother Paul, who made it a point to arrange his travel to allow for a couple of days to stay with me. For my part I was thrilled to have an agenda and alternative agenda bringing up many of the highlights and tourist attractions that surround me right here in Indiana. Let me just point out an entire day can be spent in Muncie at a year round driving range, excellent restaurants, a big boy toy store, a big boy modeling museum with flight simulators. On a bright sunny day one can enjoy a beauty pageant of young men and women on campus at BSU for free, just for driving through. It is great to be a wealthy man.
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
30.8.10
August 14 2010 Another Great Weekend And Encounter
Sun rise with Vanessa this Saturday morning. A light rain washing the humidity from the morning air gave a moments respite from the oppressive humidity and heat that has draped us for the past many days.. I had a great workout at the gym but passed some solids with my urine afterwards. Not blood per say, not sure what the hell it is but when it passed it made me jump. Flakes of something, tissue, dried blood, parts of a kidney, who knows. I took pictures of it for posterity.
What I do know is it is very disconcerting to have anything but urine coming out. As for the gym it was 10 minutes on the elliptical, first time back followed by a 30 minute round through the gym. I feel great as I write this, though a little weak kneed from my whizzing experience. Oh well, off to breakfast as we always do and today hopefully visit the Colts practice.
In the line waiting for our golf cart to transport us back to parking he stepped up and out of the blue ‘What’s going on with the leg?’ he asked with a smile. ‘I’ve got a condition called lymphedema caused by cancer in some nodes. His eyebrows raised and a smile of recognition came over his face, like he had just run into an old friend he handn’t seen in a long time and always liked. With a grin he proclaimed ‘Look at this leg. It’s twice as big as the other. Prostate cancer, but yours looks a lot better than mine’ he said.
‘We got hooked up with a great therapist at Clarian North’ I explained. ‘Doing the massage thing?’ he asked. ‘Yes, and with the compression stockings it has got it under control. She trained Inger, my massage therapist to do this at home. Her name is Deanna. She taught me that it wasn’t just ‘part of it’. I paused, struggling to remember the last name. Vanessa, aka Inger, jumped in with details. ‘Have you ever heard of Reids Sleeve?’ he asked. ‘No’ was my reply. ‘Well, they’re expensive, about 1800 bucks and you wear them at night. You wake up and take it off and your leg looks like a waffle iron but it breaks down those proteins. ‘I’ll check it out’ came my reply. A Grandfather likely in his 70’s, he jumped out of the cart when it stopped at his car and came around to shake my hand. ‘Prostate cancer, 13 years and still going strong’ he said. ‘Bladder cancer and just getting started’ came my reply. ‘You’ll make it’ he bellowed with a big grin, ‘have you got a card?’ I gave him one of my awareness cards with my blog address and off he went.
What I do know is it is very disconcerting to have anything but urine coming out. As for the gym it was 10 minutes on the elliptical, first time back followed by a 30 minute round through the gym. I feel great as I write this, though a little weak kneed from my whizzing experience. Oh well, off to breakfast as we always do and today hopefully visit the Colts practice.
In the line waiting for our golf cart to transport us back to parking he stepped up and out of the blue ‘What’s going on with the leg?’ he asked with a smile. ‘I’ve got a condition called lymphedema caused by cancer in some nodes. His eyebrows raised and a smile of recognition came over his face, like he had just run into an old friend he handn’t seen in a long time and always liked. With a grin he proclaimed ‘Look at this leg. It’s twice as big as the other. Prostate cancer, but yours looks a lot better than mine’ he said.
‘We got hooked up with a great therapist at Clarian North’ I explained. ‘Doing the massage thing?’ he asked. ‘Yes, and with the compression stockings it has got it under control. She trained Inger, my massage therapist to do this at home. Her name is Deanna. She taught me that it wasn’t just ‘part of it’. I paused, struggling to remember the last name. Vanessa, aka Inger, jumped in with details. ‘Have you ever heard of Reids Sleeve?’ he asked. ‘No’ was my reply. ‘Well, they’re expensive, about 1800 bucks and you wear them at night. You wake up and take it off and your leg looks like a waffle iron but it breaks down those proteins. ‘I’ll check it out’ came my reply. A Grandfather likely in his 70’s, he jumped out of the cart when it stopped at his car and came around to shake my hand. ‘Prostate cancer, 13 years and still going strong’ he said. ‘Bladder cancer and just getting started’ came my reply. ‘You’ll make it’ he bellowed with a big grin, ‘have you got a card?’ I gave him one of my awareness cards with my blog address and off he went.
25.8.10
August Starts Good
First of August walking through Menards on Sunday morning working on things from the ‘things we can do’ list and some things that aren’t even on the list I again am struck by my progress. Walking through Menard’s again, only a dream just a few weeks ago and now here I am wandering the aisles aimlessly as always without so much as a stick to hold me up. My mobility and overall comfort level seems to be improving on a daily basis now. Sensation in my left leg has changed considerably. While still a very strange feeling it no longer has the fatigue and ache at the bone level it had. I’ll enjoy it while I can have it.
August 2, 2010
A guy just passed me on one of those homo ninja motorcycles, the kind where you have to stick your butt up in the air and put your chin down behind the handlebars, kind of in a crouching position with the big fat boy tire on the back and the reeeeep, yaaaahmaaah haulll sound, the guy just passed me standing up on it, and the say I’m terminal, holy cow. Dog days continue in this hottest of hot summers, with air so humid you breathe by cutting a cubic foot out and wringing the water out. I mean it is humid. Our weekend included entertainment by an Elvis impersonator and biographer. When on key you could close your eyes and almost envision an Elvis impersonator. I went to Vanessa’s gym event, an open house of sorts and she showed me her routine. After a few years she is often mistaken for my niece. The program works.
I removed a door in the house. Making interior doors work is on the ‘things we can do’ list and in this heat working in the AC makes a lot of sense. After removing the unit I horsed around a few hours in hopes reinstalling would be a walk in the park and trying to do it the wrong way for lack of sense. Finding that not to be the case I retired for the evening and a wonderful time with Van. Sunday I awoke a little later than usual. Before I got up in my half sleep one of the many who occupy space in my head said ‘Wow, at last, you’re over it’. Another replied ‘at last, and with only one treatment.’ Then the fog of slumber rolled off of me entirely and I laid in the reality that for the first time in my life I have a sickness I am not getting over, and I am in my eighth month since diagnosis, and perhaps my second or third year or more since contracting the dog gone thing.
August 2, 2010
A guy just passed me on one of those homo ninja motorcycles, the kind where you have to stick your butt up in the air and put your chin down behind the handlebars, kind of in a crouching position with the big fat boy tire on the back and the reeeeep, yaaaahmaaah haulll sound, the guy just passed me standing up on it, and the say I’m terminal, holy cow. Dog days continue in this hottest of hot summers, with air so humid you breathe by cutting a cubic foot out and wringing the water out. I mean it is humid. Our weekend included entertainment by an Elvis impersonator and biographer. When on key you could close your eyes and almost envision an Elvis impersonator. I went to Vanessa’s gym event, an open house of sorts and she showed me her routine. After a few years she is often mistaken for my niece. The program works.
I removed a door in the house. Making interior doors work is on the ‘things we can do’ list and in this heat working in the AC makes a lot of sense. After removing the unit I horsed around a few hours in hopes reinstalling would be a walk in the park and trying to do it the wrong way for lack of sense. Finding that not to be the case I retired for the evening and a wonderful time with Van. Sunday I awoke a little later than usual. Before I got up in my half sleep one of the many who occupy space in my head said ‘Wow, at last, you’re over it’. Another replied ‘at last, and with only one treatment.’ Then the fog of slumber rolled off of me entirely and I laid in the reality that for the first time in my life I have a sickness I am not getting over, and I am in my eighth month since diagnosis, and perhaps my second or third year or more since contracting the dog gone thing.
18.8.10
July 26, 2010 Fun, Music And Homeowner Hell
Monday and I arose a little before 4 am after an early down last night. The weekend was filled with many events, including Vanessa’s weedeater training, which she picked right up on and I failed to get a picture of. I am not sure how much of this she will do in the future. Friday night was symphony night with a singer, Belinda, Bella, Betty, Brin, Bonnie, hell, I can’t remember her name. Who cares, the evening was wonderful after a sweltering few days, with a picnic provided by my Son in Law and Daughter, their company and my relative comfort level. Saturday I engaged in sweat therapy, much to Van’s dismay, with a heavy dose of the heavy yard work. A hundred bucks at Lowes gives me materials to work with this week as I go down the list and find a few things not on it. Vanessa is in closet mode, a condition that only afflicts her every 7-10 years, so we will be remodeling two, and are already winding up the first on her accelerated schedule.
16.8.10
July 21, 2010 Battle Status
July 21, 2010 and the heat is still on. The e mail to my cousin Jeff in answer to his question on my battle status sums up my state I think.
Hi Jeff,
Much better thank you. No longer require daily wrapping. Off pain meds and back at it full bore at present. Still walk with a stick and a step slower but that is alright. Got a handicap permit so we park in front of the gate at Verizon. Got to see D Matthews, S Winwood and Santana so far. Van made me up a honey do list, on a legal pad. I did the plumbing under the house, embellished with a string of obscenities. I might have pulled a muscle scraping gutters. Life is a wonderful thing.
As for my condition chemo is done. Scan had some positive light. Improvement to left kidney and reduced lymph node size by a little. We scan again 9/20, if no new spread and some more improvement we discuss going for the cure with the surgeons. Until then, soldier on like a good salesman and have a good time.
Mike
ps: and get some orders
Hi Jeff,
Much better thank you. No longer require daily wrapping. Off pain meds and back at it full bore at present. Still walk with a stick and a step slower but that is alright. Got a handicap permit so we park in front of the gate at Verizon. Got to see D Matthews, S Winwood and Santana so far. Van made me up a honey do list, on a legal pad. I did the plumbing under the house, embellished with a string of obscenities. I might have pulled a muscle scraping gutters. Life is a wonderful thing.
As for my condition chemo is done. Scan had some positive light. Improvement to left kidney and reduced lymph node size by a little. We scan again 9/20, if no new spread and some more improvement we discuss going for the cure with the surgeons. Until then, soldier on like a good salesman and have a good time.
Mike
ps: and get some orders
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