Digging Out For Homeowner Hell

Thursday, now 4 days and at last the vehicles are free from the ice and a path has been partially cut to the door with a ten pound sledge hammer.  I am none the worse for wear for the effort, although it probably took twice as long as it would in a healthier day.  The workouts the past 3 days in the ice seem to help with the lymphedema and certainly help my overall attitude.  Friday and I am back on the road, at last able to make it to the main road.  One disadvantage is there is only one way out in this weather.  There is a ford going the other way that is closed when it is inclement.

I find driving uncomfortable and it is fortunate my territory to cover is not more than a 2 hour drive any direction.  Much of the time this week I have suffered mild nausea, although things move along ok and my diet has not changed.  The abdominal pain is the same every day and at times during the day seems worse than others, so I move when it feels better and don’t when it feels worse.  With the weather and the animal I have found it a little tough at times to keep my spirits up but Vanessa has nothing of it.  Today she got out of the house for the first time in a week.  We went to breakfast and did some errands in town.  A blinding snow storm set in and we felt our way home in the Pontiac, what a snow horse.  We spent some time outside after getting home, which was neat.  The tool of choice for the ice is a pick axe which I just happen to have, don’t ask me why, along with a big scoop shovel which I also have.  Together we cleared a path on the front from walkway to doorway.  As a reward we cuddled on the couch and watched a movie we had seen before.  This storm ranks as one of the worst I have seen in my lifetime, and certainly tops the weirdometer big time.  Snow but no tracks, the glistening frozen surface for as far as one could see, the night lights reflecting, even a couple of miles away on the alabaster surface are visions I will never forget.  Tomorrow a hired gun will come in and move the snow off the drive, sparing us the labor. 

Monday morning arrives with a functional albeit uncomfortable me.  I am struggling to keep my spirits up.  It is February 7 and a gloomy day indeed with a dark gray sky over a white landscape.  So I went out and took a pick axe to the ice on the deck and walkway first thing, then set up the workmate and did some handyman wood work for Vanessa and topped it off with a session with Inger to correct my shitty attitude, if you will.  It worked, although given how much pain I have through the middle I may have to give up the pick axe, at least for a while.  Nothing like busting your ass first thing to get it right the rest of the day.  Yesterday at 6 am I was greeted with a water softener overflow.  It took me until 11 am to clean it up, do the research, teardown and clean and reassemble the brine valve, which seemed to be the culprit.  And yes, I had a great day yesterday. 

Inger made no comment on my condition, but my left leg was left beat red from ankle to knee if left vertical for any length of time so today is a full press compression garment day.  I broke some ice, made some calls and fought to keep at it today.  I have a general queasiness about me that I attribute to pills for lack of anything else I care to blame.  Today I grew tired easily through the day and napped through lunch.  

February Is Here

January slipped away without my knowing.  Five AM Monday as I sit here feeling rested and ready for a new month.  I have a difficult Client situation to deal with today.  I find it interesting that many of my Clients seem to believe that nothing in the plant ever wears out unless it is production equipment, yet they understand the cost of a plumber, electrician or auto technician in the private lives.  Today is also chemo day, last of the series.  While I have a tentative date to restart in a couple of weeks I want to discuss my status with Dr. H after the CT scan and then decide if we proceed with this course of action or not.

Chemo went off OK except for the infusion nurse blowing a vein.  This is the second time she has been my nurse and the second time she has hurt me.  As I have learned in the process no two nurses poke the same way.  Some are painless, some are clumsy, slow and/or make it hurt more.  Chemo starts with the taking of blood to test to determine my fitness for the poisons.  Van noted a drop in white and red blood cell counts and a drop in creatinine in my blood report.  I figured that was just part of the chemo consequence.     

Tori, normally my Nurse for the initial inspection and blood draw is moving to Denver.  I told her had I lived in Denver we would not be going through this today, as there are cliffs in Colorado.  She laughed but I was most likely serious.  Her ability to stick and hit the first time with minimal pain, sometimes no pain is extraordinary.  I only wish she could teach her technique to some of the infusion Nurses who need the lesson.  She will be sorely missed I fear, so to speak. 

The roads are solid ice and the weather continues to punish this first of February.  The vehicles are encased in ½” of solid ice.  The snow is covered by a laminate layer of clear and white ice and sleet, supporting my 200 lb frame with ease and barely a creek or crack.  It is perfect for sliding and tomorrow I am likely going in search of something to slide on around here.  Vanessa may lose a Rubbermaid tub lid.  We only had the office open for a few hours today and by afternoon this part of the state was pretty much hunkered down.  The weather people on television continue to threaten us with massive power outages.  Even I have been spooked into charging all batteries for lights, putting 10 gallons of water in the tub for flushes, getting sandwich makings to eat if we cannot cook.  We are all electric and I have a Majestic gas log stove in the fireplace running on propane, which this last fill was a stunning 4.55/gallon plus a few bucks in administrative and tax cost.  The stove gives us nominal back up heat.  The power is now flickering on and off so I will shut down for a while. 

In the dark of night I took a rubber mallet to the car and truck carefully tapping and breaking the shell of 1” thick ice that encased both.  It took about an hour but I did get windows and doors cleared and vehicles started and warmed in the even we need them.  That same ice also coats the roads out here, yard, deck, roofs etc. so I hope I do not have to go anywhere.  All of the working out allowed me to sleep well although I was up very early and unable to go back to bed.  We have not lost power to date through this storm most likely because we prepared for it.  Today the storm is passed.  Once again Angela the weather comedian missed the mark.  No wide spread damage or power outages from ice that never materialized.  We got sleet and snow instead.  Oh I know it could have been ice but it was not, and once again her certainty has totally missed the mark.  This morning I watched as a TV reporter wandered a grocery store.  At last the connection between the TV news and the milk and bread team has been blatantly exposed.   

I went out at 3P and with my trusty bin lid carefully maneuvered to the top of the hill in the front yard and road the lid down on the solid glaze.  The sun today melted the top and it quickly refroze with the afternoon cloud cover, now harder and more difficult than ever.  I managed to do it 3 times and rested for about an hour.  I took a pain pill before I started and now I am in great shape.  Vanessa is on a tear around the house cleaning like mad (cabin fever).  Fortunately she has a lot of tutoring scheduled tonight on line to keep her mind occupied.  I must admit the place looks great and it is difficult to find a dust bunny anywhere.  I put a finer filter in the air handler this time and got the genuine OEM elements.  The house has always been a dust haven and I am experimenting with ventilation as a way to alleviate some of that.  Bad enough we have a feline dander bomb roaming the castle. 

Work is keeping me hopping which is good.  I am talking to a lot of really nice people and it is a ton of fun.  The challenge is of course to make orders happen.  Oh well, I am getting half of it done.  Thursday morning and the Government has appeared with plows and chemicals to dig us all out. 

Routines, Chemo And Working At It

With chemo scheduled for Monday I am upping my water intake for a couple of days ahead to make sure we can find a vein.  This means more frequent trips to the porcelain so it looks like I will finish a book I am reading in record time. After the treatment we will meet with Dr. H.  My work calendar has filled again with some of it backing up on me.  A few good days will get me back on even keel.

The lymph is on the march and managing it is an ongoing challenge.  Since the surgery I have a significant issue with my left leg, groin and lower abdomen in keeping lymph from collecting.  Inger spends extra time every day now.  With the training we gained through the occupational therapist last year and web sites such as lymphedemapeople.com we have a great deal of information and support for battling this condition.  I have to wear my stocking daily.  Admittedly since the surgery I have not been to the gym (now 12 weeks or so I guess) so I do need much more exercise.   I have fallen down on my gab dosage, and Saturday my feet told me to get back on the program.  Now as Saturday night falls upon us I can reflect on the past couple of weeks and rejoice in the fact that tonight I feel pretty good.  Certainly my appetite has returned.

Chemo day at last.  Last night I got a stomach ache that did not abate until around 4 AM Monday.  Tough night for sure but I was back on my feet again by morning.  Now my third round of chemo and I was able to make it without cane today.  Through the miracle of modern medicine I enjoyed a deli sandwich and coca cola while having poisons directly injected into my blood stream.  Not a hint of sickness although a stomach ache again cropped up in the early evening. 

I was greeted warmly by the two infusion nurses on duty who knew me.  One asked how my exam went and I responded that I turned my head and coughed and Dr. H smiled.  After a moment of shock as they looked at me it hit them, we all laughed and it set the tone for the next 3 hours.  I know them well enough now to enjoy throwing them an answer they do not expect when I get the chance.  In addition they got new pumps.  Although I only had to visit the comfort station a couple of times I do have to drag along the chemicals and pump on the rolling coat hanger.  All of the old pumps alarmed whenever they were moved.  For a self conscious old man in a small clinic the twangy beep of the alarm is an orifice closer, usually coming at some critical time in the transaction. The new pump did not fail or alarm and by the third trip I had gained confidence and lost the sitting in dread feeling just waiting for it to go off and the door(s) to slam shut.

We met with Dr. H.  After next weeks final dose we will wait a couple of weeks and then I get to have yet another CT scan to see where we are.  At this rate I am confident I will be able to kill flowers, illuminate a small room and charge cell phones simply by putting them in my pocket in no time.

I layered up, debating whether to wear the boots or not and decided not, I would not go that far.  Ah the advantage of dogs, for so many years the demanders of this twice a day at least every day.  Without them walks lose purpose and are hard for me to get into the groove of doing.  Busy schedules prevent me coordinating with Vanessa, and I can never find Inger.  Rarely in the winter do the walkers come out and even in the best of weather they are sparsely scattered in my neighborhood.

With two t shirts, pullover fleece, hoody, lined all weather coat with padded hood, underwear, long underwear, heavy warm up pants, dress socks and tennis shoes I ventured into the winter with Mom’s walking stick.  Clouds obscured the moon and other than lights emanating from a couple of houses only the reflection of all the light from town kept the street from total darkness.  I want to see how it goes with the tummy and if some of this can be walked out.  Short steps and a slow pace took me up the hill and around some 400 additional feet.  That’s how it is when I start walking again after a long respite from it, progress is measured in feet not miles. The air was sharp with no wind.  As I turned to walk back turning west I felt the gentle flush of fresh air in my face.  I had to stop for a moment to take it in.  When your mind is wandering and you are out of place and time something like a change in the air can be a dynamic experience to say the least.  With the air some of the pain went away, progress.  After tending to Tucker I went in for the night, the better for a walk of 30 minutes including prep.  When I hurt I find it sometimes most difficult to suck it up and work at getting over it.  This makes me a real wuss because the pain is so minor comparatively a pain pill knocks it out in a few minutes for hours so I certainly have nothing to complain about and it should not prevent me from trying anything to control and diminish it.  In short the walk helped a lot and I enjoyed a comfortable evening including about 4 hours of real sleep in pj’s and everything.  Life is good.